Курсовая теория на тему Лингвистические особенности политического дискурса (на примере речи Президента США Д. Трампа перед Конгрессом от 4 февраля 2020 г.)

Содержание:

CONTENTS
Introduction. 3
Chapter 1. The phenomenon of
discourse in linguistics. The concept of “political discourse”. 6
1.1 Discourse as subject of linguistic research. 6
1.2 The essence of “political discourse”. 7
1.3 Functions of political
discourse. 10
Chapter 1 Overview.. 12
Chapter 2. Analysis of the actualization of the political
discourse of US President D. Trump (based on Union Speech of February 4, 2020) 13
2.1 Thematic components and concepts in Donald Trump’s
Union Speech. 13
2.2 Lexical units constituting D. Trump’s political
discourse based on his Union Speech  17
Chapter 2 Overview.. 18
Conclusion. 19
List of references. 20
Appendix. 22

Введение:

Introduction At the beginning of the twentieth century F. de
Saussure’s “Course in General Linguistics” marked the beginning of a new era in
linguistics. From now on, the language system has become the main topic of linguistics;
speech phenomena and processes have been moved out of the focus of attention of
researchers, and the terms discourse and discourse analysis appear on the pages
of the works of European and American linguists. But it’s required to pay
attention to the existing priority in the use of the term “discourse” to
designate the real speech process (i.e. mechanisms of its deployment and
result).

It should be noted that traditionally the political
activity of a person occupied an important place in any society throughout the
whole course of development of human civilization. The political position of
the country’s leadership largely ensured the country’s position in the
international level. Furthermore, it is the political discourse that denotes
the essence of the country’s image outside its borders. Through speeches,
politicians have the opportunity to reach out to both the international
community and the citizens of their country.

Speech writing is an extremely complex process that is
based on many different factors and aspects that are the key to success and
productivity. Any speech of a politician is intended not only to inform the
audience about any aspect of public life, but, more importantly, to win the
audience’s favor, convince listeners to accept this or that position, and also
enlist the support of citizens. Within the analysis of the speeches of
political leaders, it is possible to identify strategies and tactics of
argumentation used to persuade the audience. Scientific linguistic research of
speeches allows also to predict the future actions of a politician, and still
to establish the most effective ways of influencing the audience.

The relevance of the
research is determined by the role politicians play in modern life, as
political statements use strategies and tactics of persuasion, elements of
argumentation in their speeches. Taking into account the political discourse
prevailing in the United States today, the relevance of the study is beyond
doubt, since the policy pursued by US President D. Trump shapes the political
discourse of both the United States itself and, to a large extent, the
entire modern world.

The object of the research
is the features of speech communication in political discourse.

The subject of the research
is the system of linguistic means, typical for constructing a political text
with crucial argumentation potential based on the Union Speech by President D.
Trump.

The goal of this research is
to determine the linguistic features of the political discourse of US President
Donald Trump on the example of his Union Speech to the US Congress on February
4, 2020.

The set goal implies the solution of the following
tasks:

1. Clarify
the concept of “discourse” in general and “political discourse” in particular;

2. Identify
the main characteristic features of political discourse;

3. Identify
specific linguistic and thematic-ideological components in the speech of US
President D. Trump.

The theoretical basis of this study is the works by E.S. Kubryakova,
Yu.S. Stepanov, E.A. Popova, P.B. Parshin, K.M. Denisov, P.N. Khromenkov, A.A.
Karamova, E.K. Pavlova, E.Yu. Voyakina, P.A. Chilton, G. Seidel, N. Fairclough
and others.

The research material is the text of the Union Speech of the President of the United States of America
Donald Trump before the US Congress on February 4, 2020.

The theoretical significance of this study comprises the generalization
of information about discourse in modern linguistics in general and of
political discourse in particular. In addition, the implementation of the obtained
generalized data to the text of President Trump’s speech to Congress is also
valuable.

The practical significance of this study lies in the fact that its
results can be applied within the framework of practical classes in
linguistics, stylistics, political science, and discourse analysis.

The structure of this study is determined by the set goal and tasks. The
work consists of introduction, two chapters, conclusion, references list and
appendix. Each of the two chapters ends with a short summary.

The introduction contains the relevance of the work, sets the goal and
tasks of the research, formulates its object and subject. This part of the work
also comprises its practical and theoretical importance as well as the list of
the names of scientists who made great effort in this field.

The first chapter analyzes the features of the implementation of the
phenomenon of discourse in linguistics, identifies the distinctive features of
the concept of "political discourse".

The second chapter identifies thematic and ideological tendencies and
identifies the lexical units that constitute the political discourse of US
President D. Trump.

In the conclusion the key findings of the research are presented.

The appendix contains the full text of the President’s Union Speech to
Congress on February 4, 2020.

Заключение:

Political
activity, is a speech activity, and any politician cannot but realize that his
practice is associated with a word. The word is the main weapon of a
politician. That is why the speech of a politician is to a greater extent
subject to normalization — not only in terms of articulation or accentology,
but ideologically, since one incorrect phrase may be quite enough to nullify a
long-term successful political career.

Discourse is a type of speech communication focused on discussion and substantiation
of actions, opinions, and positions that are significant for those
participating in it.

Political discourse is a specific type of communication that involves
movement from the speech community of participants in political and social
interaction to constructive political agreement in the field of socially
significant topics and ways to resolve existing problems on the basis of a
broad, voluntary, free and reasoned monologue. Political discourse is also the way
to regulate political conflicts in a democracy and achieve socio-political
harmony through the formation of public opinion.

The practical analysis performed in the second chapter of this research
demonstrated the key ideas of the US President D. Trump’s political discourse.
The concepts identified after a thorough examination of the Union Speech
demonstrate his commitment to the idea of the efficiency of his political
course. Furthermore, Trump’s political discourse claims for the necessity to
follow this course in the future thus allowing the country the efficient and
stable renovation and enforcement. The specific lexical units found out in the
text of his Union Speech are the clear illustration of the key concepts of
Trump’s political discourse. The frequent use of pronouns “we” and “our”
demonstrates that the US nation is unified, while the specific verbs and
adjectives used by Trump show that the country is on the way of empowerment and
demonstrate the efficiency of the President’s policy compared to the previous
US administrations.

Фрагмент текста работы:

Chapter 1. The phenomenon of
discourse in linguistics. The concept of “political discourse” 1.1 Discourse as subject of linguistic research Political discourse can be characterized as an
extremely complex and multifaceted social phenomenon, in which many different
factors and distinctive features come together. For this reason, in the
research literature, the concept of political discourse is quite wide, from
various points of view. Before moving on to the characteristics of political
discourse, it is important to outline its basic concepts. Discourse as a
phenomenon is characterized by an extreme degree of versatility, therefore,
there is still no single interpretation of this term in the research
literature, which could simultaneously take into account all its features and
aspects. [Voyakina, 2013].

In the Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary, discourse
is interpreted as “a coherent text in combination with extralinguistic,
pragmatic, sociocultural, psychological and other forms; the text taken in its
event aspect; speech, considered as a purposeful action, as a component
involved in the communication of people " [Linguistic Encyclopedic
Dictionary, 1998, p. 136].

In fact, discourse is all possible forms of speech
interaction, formal and informal, verbal and non-verbal, as well as written
texts of all kinds.

In linguistic literature, discourse stands out in
comparison with other linguistic phenomena. In particular, most often refer to
the dichotomy "discourse (oral) — text (written)" [Denisov, 2011]. It
should be noted that, as a rule, the category of discourse is regulated by
sociolinguistics, and the text is more likely to be related to linguistics. At
the same time, the text can be assessed as a verbal representation of some
communicative event, and discourse is perceived as a text in the event aspect [Denisov,
2011, p. 19]. Text and discourse are linked by relations of actualization:
discourse finds its expression in the text, discourse arises and is revealed in
the text and through the text [Voyakina, 2013].

At the same time, this relationship is not
unambiguous: any text can be an expression of the realization of several,
sometimes competing and contradictory discourses. Each specific text, as a
rule, bears the features of several types of discourse. In turn, the text is
devoid of rigid attachment to real time, and it is an abstract mental construct
that is realized in discourse [Stepanov, 1995].

In some works, discourse is opposed to speech [Popova,
1995]. Speech is treated in two ways: both the speaking process itself (speech
activity) and its result (a speech fixed by memory or writing). The main
difference between the two is the social / individual opposition. Discourse
belongs to the category of “social”: it is characterized by typical
communication situations with a normatively fixed sequence of speech acts
(institutional forms of communication). The most important feature of speech is
its individual character (tempo, duration, timbre, loudness, etc.).

So, discourse is crucial for modern linguistics as it
allows to work not only with particular text, but with various sets of texts,
the human speech itself as a communication phenomenon. Linguistic analysis of
discourse allows to gain more well-grounded results and conclusions as
discourse operates in the social layer of human communication. 1.2 The essence of “political discourse” In the ontology of studying political discourse, it is
important to highlight the problem of differentiating political discourse in
relation to other types of discourse (legal, pedagogical, military, etc.).
Political discourse is a phenomenon that has a much greater frequency
manifestation in society compared to other types of discourses. [Shapochkin,
2012]. In this regard, the phenomenon of political discourse does not lend
itself to an unambiguous definition, since, firstly, the category of politics
does not currently have a clear definition, and secondly, the selection of
political discourse is not possible on the basis of a set of narrowly
linguistic features [Grushevskaya, 2019].