RELIGIOUS VOCABULARY IN THE AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL DISCOURSE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Abstract

The article highlights the research methodology of religious vocabulary in American presidential discourse. The relevance of the work is due to the priority of communicative-pragmatic approach to the study of discursive formations of different genres and formats in modern linguistics. The study of discourse is an important area in modern linguistics in connection with the change of scientific paradigm that has taken place in linguistics, namely: the dominant system-structural and static paradigm has been replaced by the anthropocentric one. Religious vocabulary functions in both domestic and institutional communication in three main forms, namely: general religious vocabulary, biblical (set expressions, phraseology) and quotations from the Scriptures. This tendency is observed both in the political discourse in general and in the presidential discourse in particular, which emphasizes the relevance of our work. The search for effective ways to analyze and describe the semantics and functions of religious vocabulary in American presidential discourse has led to the choice of basic approaches to the object of study. Regarding the genre space of presidential discourse as a kind of political discourse, we note that it is determined by the general political system of the country, historical and political traditions of the presidency, socio-cultural conditions of political discourse. The methods used in linguistic studies involve the implementation of a system of procedures for studying the object and verification of the results. Typical guidelines for systematic philological analysis include attention to the semantic side of the text represented by textual categories, and the communicative immersion of the text in discursive reproduction. For systematic analysis, the following methods are used in the work, which take into account the communicative essence of the discourse text, reflect the significance of the text in the light of its generation and interpretation. That is why the work uses both general and special research methods.