The Discourse of Bipartisan Confrontation in Modern American Media (A Case Study of Fox News and MSNBC Television Channels)

The article is devoted to the specifics of the use of linguistic influence techniques by the American mass media involved in the bipartisan political discourse. The article provides an overview of research related to the confrontation in political discourse, as well as the direct involvement of the media in political processes. The conclusion is made about the bias of many modern media and their use of manipulative techniques to influence the audience. A brief historical summary is given of the two main opposition parties in the United States, the history of their emergence and the ongoing confrontation since then. The news releases of the pro-Republican Fox News channel (hosted by Jesse Watters) and the prodemocratic MSNBC (hosted by Jen Psaki) devoted to the re-election of Donald Trump were selected as the material for the analysis. The study uses the classification of communicative strategies in political discourse by O.L. Mikhaleva, as well as the «classic» American list of manipulative influence techniques. The article makes use of general scientific methods, descriptive method, method of discursive analysis, contextual analysis, interpretive method, methods of comparative analysis. The author comes to the conclusion that none of the presenters adhered to the standard of impartial news broadcasting, on the contrary, both actively used communication strategies in order to influence the public. The article describes the similarities and differences in the choice of manipulative tactics and techniques by opposition commentators, most of which are aimed at denigrating the opponent. The same political event is given a diametrically opposed assessment by media representatives, which makes it difficult for the voter to make a choice. The analysis of political confrontation discourse in American entertainment television shows seems promising in terms of further research of this topic.

The present chapter proposes to build bridges between political discourse analysis and corpus linguistics. We intend to bring to light methodological benefits arising from the synergy of (political) discourse analysis and corpus linguistics, pointing to fruitful contribution from French text statistics. Taking the discourses of Nicolas Sarkozy as an example, we show how political discourse analysis can benefit from a reflection on corpora (their constitution, their role in the research process); on linguistic analysis and processing methods (particularly the computer-assisted methods of text statistics); and finally on the interpretative paths at a time of establishment of a numerical hermeneutics.

Metaphor scholars have widely explored metaphor use in political discourse. Nevertheless, the current research does not account for the ‘gradable metaphoricity’ in political discourse analysis. This dissertation fills this gap by addressing this specific issue in two frameworks: (1) viewing political metaphor from a static and gradient perspective (Source-Target mapping; Conventional vs. Novel vs. Dead), and (2) viewing political metaphor from a gradable and dynamic perspective (a matter of salience and awareness of metaphoricity). A systematic literature review in chapter 2 points out that the static and dynamic perspectives differ significantly in underlying assumptions and organizing principles, although both are indistinctly referred to by metaphor scholars as constituting a ‘gradable’ view. The former takes metaphor as a static conceptual unit or lexical unit, but the latter tends to accord a central role of activation of metaphoricity to metaphorical expressions. To launch a theoretical advancement about the dynamic view in political discourse, chapter 3 offers a usage-based model of gradable and dynamic metaphors—the YinYang Dynamics of Metaphoricity (YYDM). In addition, this thesis investigates political metaphors from an interdisciplinary angle, incorporating theory from the field of International Relations. An empirical evaluation of political (discourse) studies in chapter 4 shows the large absence of transdisciplinary perspectives. Addressing the abovementioned gaps, this dissertation reports on two empirical analyses of trade metaphors in a big corpus that represents the official trade positions of the United States and China during the presidencies of Bill Clinton and Jiang Zemin (1993-1997) as well as Donald Trump and Xi Jinping (2017-2021). Based on a codebook of a cross-linguistic metaphor identification procedure in chapter 5, the first empirical part contributes to the static and gradient perspective and includes two corpus-based studies of metaphorical framing about trade (chapters 6-7). The diachronic and cross-linguistic use of source domains from a socio-cognitive approach in chapter 6 reveals that source domains are semantic fields that vary with trade discourse contexts (interests, power, and power relations). Chapter 7 shows that the use of trade metaphors (source domains of Conventional and Novel metaphors) to construct and legitimize political ideologies correlates with differences between political genres. The second part contributes to the gradable and dynamic view by applying the transdisciplinary model of YinYang Dynamics of Metaphoricity in chapters 8-10. In chapter 8, an evaluation of the new model in the Clinton-Jiang trade discourse shows that the dynamic cognitive process (transformation of metaphoricity) and rhetorical process (argumentation and persuasion) mutually develop with the evolution of the socio-political process (trade perspectives and trade events). Chapter 9 investigates the transformation of metaphoricity in the Trump-Xi trade discourse and finds that cognitive processes (patterns of metaphoricity activation) and affective processes (emotions or sentiments) mutually develop with the evolution of socio-political processes (trade perspectives and trade events). Based on the findings in chapters 8-9, chapter 10 further shows several phenomena in the Clinton-Jiang and Trump-Xi trade discourses: the movement of metaphors on the metaphoricity spectrum, the bodily motivation of gradable and dynamic metaphoricity, and the interconnected political discourse systems. Drawing on all the theoretical and empirical insights revealed in the dissertation, the final section of the thesis outlines a future direction, i.e., moving towards a transdisciplinary and dynamic approach to metaphor in political discourse analysis.

The subject of the article is the history of discourse development, the current situation, the characteristics of language at different stages, and its problems. The object of the study includes various practices of political media discourse in Chinese and foreign communication space, including traditional media, documentaries, virtual space and other media. We accomplished the following tasks in the research : 1) Described the history of the development of political discourse in China and the characteristics of each stage of its development in both Chinese and international dimensions. 2) Identified the problems and challenges facing the development of Chinese political discourse at present. 3) Attempt to find ways to solve the problems of discourse development and look into the future. The paper uses the methods of case analysis, comparative and descriptive analysis, as well as generalization and outline. Critical discourse analysis, multimodal discourse analysis, cognitive linguistics, narrative theory and intercultural communication methodology served as the theoretical basis. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that it presents a comprehensive picture of the development and transformation of Chinese political media discourse in recent years from a macroscopic perspective, and summarizes the features and new trends in Chinese political communication. The results of the study show that Chinese political media discourse has achieved the transition from unidirectional ideological output to diversification of content and form. From a linguistic perspective, it can be determined that Chinese political media discourse at this stage faces developmental challenges such as monotonous vocabulary, limited narrative, lack of audience adaptation and cultural differences. In the context of the new era, Chinese political media discourse should enrich vocabulary and sentences, utilize different linguistic styles of speech, change narrative perspective and adapt to cultural differences.

Background. The political discourse of modern society is a complex, multi-faceted and multi-level entity characterized by a variety of goals and objectives and functioning within the framework of current political, economic, geopolitical, cultural and other realities. Linguistic analysis of modern political discourse and, in particular, identification of the most frequent linguistic means of implementing manipulation in political discourse, is of particular relevance today and is important not just because it expands the theoretical scientific base, but for its practical value for the formation of a mature point of view and critical thinking when dealing with the texts of political discourse. Purpose. The analysis of manipulative techniques is of particular scientific interest. The purpose of this study is to analyze the phenomenon of manipulation from a psychological and linguistic point of view, to identify the main pragmatic strategies of manipulation and to identify the most frequent linguistic means of their implementation. Materials and methods. The empirical material was interviews and individual statements of leading Russian and Western politicians, as well as the works of domestic and foreign political scientists and journalists presented in modern media. At certain stages of the study, in the course of the work, such research methods as discourse analysis, linguistic description, contextual and semantic analysis were used. This study relied on the descriptive method in order to interpret the research material, classify the identified communicative scenarios and systematize the language means used. Results Having analyzed in detail the empirical material of the modern political discourse in Russian and English, the authors identify three main pragmatic manipulative strategies, for each of which they provide characteristic tactics, supporting them with examples of statements by outstanding Russian and foreign political figures of our time: the strategy of promotion (tactics aimed at forming a positive image, leveling the critical narrative, hidden presentation and presentation); the strategy of demotion (tactics aimed at forming a negative image, abuse and infringement, imputation of guilt and exposure); the strategy of neutrality (tactics with the potential for motivation, constructive joint activity and full awareness). The analysis of the empirical material also made it possible to identify the most frequently used linguistic means verbalizing the tactics listed above. These include: the use of epithets and metaphors, lexical repetitions, quotations from famous and outstanding personalities, phraseological units and emotionally charged lexemes.

The article examines the key differences and similarities between political and diplomatic discourses, their goals, functions, as well as linguistic features. Particular emphasis is placed on the analysis of lexical and grammatical means used in both discourses and their role in achieving communicative goals. Political discourse is oriented towards a mass audience and is aimed at attracting support and shaping public opinion. In contrast, diplomatic discourse is characterized by restraint, neutrality and a desire to find compromises in interstate interactions. Diplomatic and political discourse have many intersections, and they complement each other, but their communicative acts and goals differ a lot. The differences and similarities considered allows to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of communication in these areas and their impact on public perception and international relations. The study employs methods of content analysis, discourse analysis, comparative analysis and lingua-stylistic analysis. The results reveal the main stylistic features and communicative functions of each type of discourse. The obtained results allow us to deepen our understanding of the essence and role of political and diplomatic discourses in modern society, and they can also be useful for specialists in the field of political linguistics, international relations, intercultural communication and translation.

The study of political communication in the current international situation is in the focus of the interests of many sciences, including psycholinguistics. The article is devoted to the study of modern political Internet discourse as a specific form of communication. The general approaches to the phenomenon of discourse in modern linguistics are covered. The concepts of "political discourse" and "political Internet discourse", their similarities and differences are clarified and analyzed from the point of view of system-forming features and cognitive-discursive activity of communication participants. The peculiarities of nominative metaphors used for naming political events participants and their potential for speech impact in conditions of "information warfare" are investigated. The author stresses the fact that the correctly chosen method of speech influence can significantly affect the political views of the addressee. The article concludes that political Internet discourse is a syncretic phenomenon that modernizes and transforms the functions of political communication through the possibilities of the Internet. The dominant role of the factor of noninstitutionality, informativeness, emotionality, semantic uncertainty and theatricality of the political Internet discourse is emphasized by the functioning of political metaphors reflecting the specific characteristics of the object and having a psychological effect on the recipient. The specific characteristics of communication and the peculiarities of cognitive-discursive activity of political event participants allows us to distinguish the political Internet discourse as a separate type of dis-course.

The article examines gender stereotypes and speech aggression in political discourse, reflecting generalized judgments about the qualities and properties inherent in men and women, and the differences between them in the modern information society. This study is devoted to gender differences in the manifestation of aggression in political television debates, thereby revealing gender differences in aggressive behavior, stereotypes and features of linguistic manifestations, as well as communicative strategies present in the speeches and television debates of female and male politicians. This article analyzes the problems of gender stereotypes in the modern information society, the academic significance of which is associated with the need to study the factors of political culture and discourse. In this sense, the analysis of the nature of political power, its resources and methods of its legitimacy have not been sufficiently studied in terms of the role of political, social and cultural discourse in maintaining gender stereotypes and the gender agenda of the modern information society. In social terms, the relevance of the problem is associated with the need to study those resources of political power that do not involve open violence, but, nevertheless, act as an effective means of social control and a tool actively used, in particular, in political struggle. The implementation of a political analysis of the role of gender stereotypes in the modern information society involved studying their properties, content and functions, identifying the conditions and reasons that allow them to act as a factor in political relations and social inequality.

Political discourses have always been part of the daily lives of those directly involved in the process of governing, be it on paper, on-air or online. These days, however, they have become part of everybody’s life. The recent overwhelming events such as the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine now, have glued people to the screens, eager for information, reassurance, or guidance. More often than ever, political discourses are spread throughout the media trying to either give comfort or incite people to action. Some discourses provide answers to the questions raised by other discourses, others offer explanations in a desperate attempt to communicate efficiently in what looks like a gapped conversation with various interruptions. Most discourses are accompanied by pictures, either representing the speaker or the topic. The aim of this paper is to analyze such discourses caused by the outbreak of war in Eastern Europe with a focus on pictures and to show how much can be said without actually saying it, and how the perceptions related to culture and stereotypes can be manipulated. The paper starts from the premise that the techniques of manipulation in discourses have always been the same, irrespective of the type of discourse (advertising discourse, medical discourse, political discourse, etc.). However, the political and social context greatly influence the structure and content of a discourse thus reflecting the very beliefs of the people who write or deliver them. In other words, this paper aims to show how cultural and political ideologies are deeply rooted in political discourses, both reflecting and being a reflection of the society that produces them.

The war unleashed by Russia in 2022 is widely presented in online versions of English-language newspapers; Ukraine is constantly in the epicentre of the world news. This study highlights political and ideological contexts of the war in Ukraine, the sociopolitical and cognitive aspects of news according to an interdisciplinary approach considering the language as a social practice. The article highlights the polarization in the presentation of the events and the main actors entitled in the discursive strategies, representing the dichotomy In- versus Out-group. The study is aimed at the investigation of the ideological structures and their manifesting linguistic devices in political discourse based on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of discursive strategies for constructing the images of Ukraine and Russia in the British and American press. The integrated Critical Discourse Analysis was applied to the research of the news to study the media discourse and the language, where CDA focuses on social practice, social power and ideology. Political Discourse Analysis (PDA) is used to research the ideology of war images presented in the language of news reports. The relevance of this study determined by the aim is to show the main discursive strategies of polaeization in political media discourse. The research methods of the article combine three vectors of the analysis by Fairclough with explanatory tools (by van Dijk), and the elements of stylistic analysis and Critical Metaphor Analysis. The illustrative material was collected by information search and continuous sample from the open access newspapers and magazines issued in the US and Great Britain (The Daily Mail, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and others). Conclusion. This research argues that polarisation is being demonstrated in the media discourse on the war in Ukraine in 2022. The taxonomy of the identified discursive strategies of polarization deployed in the media political discourse includes labelling, evidentiality, number game, hyperbolism, victimization, personalization and analogy, that can either be used singly or intervened. The discursive strategy of evidentiality is applied to authorities, officials, witnesses that are accepted as trustworthy sources of data; the number game strategy combined with victimization are verbalized by metaphoric simile, metonymy, enumerating and magnifying the numbers with the modifying adverbs; the strategy of hyperbole conveys the positive impression of the in-group and negative acts magnification of the out-group verbalized by metaphor, metonymy, metaphtonymy; the personalization strategy is deployed with the purpose of foregrounding the positive actions of the in-group that implies negative out-group actions; the strategy of analogy is applied in the comparison of the war in Ukraine and the struggle of the Ukrainians for their independence with other historical events. Linguistic means used to realize the discursive strategies of polarization include the conceptual metaphor, metonymy, simile, idioms, metaphtonymy, intertextual allusion and personification.

The research aims to determine the pragmatic potential of basic metaphorical models in shaping the image of leading foreign government representatives in British political media discourse using artificial intelligence tools. The article examines the mechanisms of metaphorical modeling used in the creation of political texts, the primary goal of which is to exert manipulative influence on public consciousness. Special attention is paid to assessing the validity of language models as a tool for applied analysis in political discourse research. The scientific novelty of this research lies in the development of a hybrid approach (human-artificial intelligence) to political discourse analysis. Using neural networks, a complex of metaphorical models for the targeted construction of the image of political figures in the British press was identified, and their pragmatic effect was established. Based on the analysis results, data were obtained regarding the capabilities and limitations of neural network models (ChatGPT and DeepSeek) when performing cognitive-discursive analysis tasks, and the role of applying artificial intelligence in researching the cognitive mechanisms of political discourse formation was clarified. As a result of the study, the repertoire of metaphorical models aimed at creating positive and negative images of political figures was examined. Through these metaphorical models, ideological influence is exerted, which involves constructing a specific political worldview and shaping readers’ emotional response to the politicians’ activities. Analysis of the neural network interpretations confirmed their potential as an applied tool for political discourse analysis, while emphasizing the need for critical interpretation of the results by the researcher.

The article is devoted the study of methods and techniques of invective language transformation in political discourse. The paper describes psychological and linguistic approaches to the analysis of profanity. The article deals with the verbal features of invective vocabulary in modern political discourse. This study, based on the material of the American, British and Russian political discourse of recent years and allows us to draw conclusions about some of the features in the modern political discourse. The following research methods are used: functional and semantic analysis, contextual analysis, elements of discourse and component analysis, general scientific conceptual modeling, descriptive (observation, interpretation and generalization) and comparative method. It is established that invective vocabulary is used as a means of speech aggression and of establishment of successful interpersonal interaction in situations of contactless communication, where it can express negative and positive emotions and assessments. Invective vocabulary has a number of functional and pragmatic features that should be considered in intercultural communication and translation theory. The sphere of realizing of obscene language in English linguoculture is wider than in Russian, which is revealed in the high tolerance and degree of tolerance to its use, including in political discourse.

The article is devoted to the analysis of emotional language as a key tool of political discourse that determines the nature of speech influence and the formation of public opinion. Emotional language is considered not just as an expressive means, but as an important mechanism for constructing meanings. In today's mediatized politics, emotions are becoming a powerful resource for influencing the electorate: they help politicians build trust, increase engagement, and evoke an emotional response from the audience. The research is based on the provisions of modern political linguistics, pragmatics and discourse analysis, which consider language as a tool of persuasion and manipulation. Using the example of Donald Trump's 2016 speech, it is shown that emotionally colored words and expressions perform the function of not only enhancing expression, but also structuring a political message, setting a framework of interpretation for listeners and forming a stable emotional image of a politician. The evaluation analysis model developed by J. Martin and P. White is used as the main method. Within the framework of this approach, all emotionally colored units of speech are identified, classified into three categories – affect (emotions), judgment (assessment of human behavior) and appreciation (assessment of phenomena and objects), and their quantitative and qualitative analysis is carried out. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time the model of evaluative analysis by J. Martin and P. White was applied to the study of emotional language in political discourse based on the material of Donald Trump's 2016 speech. This approach made it possible to identify patterns of the use of emotionally colored vocabulary and to determine its role in the formation of moral and ideological assessments. The analysis showed that emotional language performs not only an expressive, but also a strategic function – it is used to construct a political identity, mobilize support, create a positive image of a politician and discredit opponents. Special attention is paid to the category of judgment, especially its subcategory social sanction, reflecting moral judgments and social expectations. The results obtained clarify the ideas about the pragmatic potential of evaluative vocabulary and demonstrate its importance for shaping political influence in modern conditions. The findings of the study can be used in a comparative analysis of emotional language in different cultural and historical contexts.

Children’s literature is recently regarded as an emergent vehicle for the expression of opposing political views (Simpson, 2020), becoming an up-and-coming part of contemporary political discourse. To examine the discursive properties of agendas and political discourse in fairy tales and their translation particulars, this study adopts the political and critical discourse analysis (Schäffner, 2004; Van Dijk, 2003) with the method of micro-textual lexis analysis and macro social-historical analysis. It is found that: 1) political discourse in children’s literature exhibits a marked discursive property of substantial adjective usage; 2) denotation expansion, trivialization, and contrast explicitation are three recurrent translation strategies under the strategic functions of dissimulation and delegitimization; 3) translation initiation manifests political awareness with local, ideological, and political implications. The study, with a specific focus on the Chinese context, foregrounds the empowerment of translation with local, ideological, and political implications, highlighting the delicate strategies adopted by translators in a likewise delicate genre of children’s literature.

The notion of shameless normalization is applied in the paper to argue that the Serbian ruling party’s press releases introduce shameless normalization of expressing sycophancy toward the leader. Within the framework of critical (political) discourse analysis postulating that social actors’ use of language is vested with interests that need to be linguistically managed, the paper focuses on how the proposed strategies in political discourse – coercion, legitimisation and (mis)representation – manage the interest of the authors of press releases in realization of sycophancy. The analysis shows that the shameless normalization of sycophancy is realized by coercing the recipients to accept the exclusive right of the leader to represent the homogenized people of Serbia (the ingroup). This exclusive right is legitimized through positive representation of the leader as the self of the ingroup. Such legitimisation is enabled by misrepresentation both in terms of quality and quantity of the information conveyed.