Actualization of Confrontation in Political Discourse

УДК 81-119 ББК 67.539

Abstract

The article concentrates on the actualization of confrontation in political discourse as a manifestation of asocial dominance, which can potentially be conflict-instigating depending on the subjective perception of the addressee. An important role in this perception of the listener is played by a number of factors, for example, the level of education, nationality, party membership. The paper is a case study of the texts of parliamentarian speeches of various parties of the State Duma from the transcripts of meetings of 2022. The results of the study of the Russian-language political discourse made it possible to identify the following communicative strategies and their corresponding communicative tactics that actualize confrontational dominant behavior: the disapproval strategy (tactics: negative assessment of the opponent’s intellectual qualities, criticism of the opponent’s actions, disagreement with the opponent’s opinion, insult, labeling), the accusation strategy (tactics: accusation of injustice, accusation of ignoring moral norms and values, reproach for understatement and dishonesty, accusation of the current negative situation), the strategy of intimidating of the opponent (tactics: exaggeration of consequences, formation of fear, warning of a threat, reference to the past), the pressing strategy (tactics: showing off one's own merits, teaching the addressee by the addresser, calling the opponent to the opposite behavior, opposing oneself to another person by status). In all the communicative strategies and tactics above, the phenomenon of dominance is actualized in the aspect of confrontational communicative behavior, not aimed at cooperation, but emphasizing the personal ambitions of a politician or a corresponding political party.