Russian Political Discourse in the Focus of Linguistic Ecology

In: Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Serija 2, Jazykoznanie = Lingustics, Heft 3, S. 76-92

Abstract

The article provides an overview of typological mechanisms in the arrangement of communicative practices in modern political discourse and methods of verbal explication of its axiological and symbolic constituents, determining mental universals in individual/collective consciousness. The study provides a systematic characterization of linguistic and social-and-cultural dominants in political interaction. Verbal indicators of social asymmetry are identified. The description of the language of political discourse aspectual data are summarized. A multilevel analysis of the component structure of political interactions is carried out. The genre specifics of legitimate and illegitimate communicative acts is taken into consideration. The combination of the methods applied in discourse analysis, such as linguistic cognitive projection, linguistic-and-cultural interpretation and functional-and-pragmatic examination of text units, enabled the researchers to identify and qualify linguo-semiotic elements of political practices. Hence, an ecolinguistic typology of basic linguistic components of political communication acts characterized by various legitimacy degrees has been carried out. The study revealed a possibility to single out a specific communicative range in Russian political discourse, in the framework of which linguistic and cultural resources of ideologically charged discursive practices would be actualized and the area of possible communication risks would be significantly expanded.