CC BY
67
MECHANISM OF SPEECH INFLUENCE IN POLITICAL DISCOURSE
Mala Yuliia
graduate student of Ukrainian Language and Applied Linguistics, Vinnytsya
АННОТАЦИЯ
Целью данной работы является изучение механизмов социального воздействия в политическом дискурсе. Применены описательный метод с приемом систематизации, а также структурный и дистрибутивный методы. В результате выявлено, что сила социального влияния политического дискурса опирается на имплицитную прагматическую составляющую. В условиях современного информационного пространства технологии воздействия на сознание постоянно усложняются и совершенствуются.
ABSTRACT
The aim of this work is to study the mechanisms of social influence in political discourse. In the study were used such methods as descriptive method with the technique of systematization, as well as the structural and distribution methods. The result revealed that the strength of the social impact of the political discourse is based on the implicit pragmatic component. In today's information space the technologies of influence on the minds are becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated.
Ключевые слова: адресат, адресант, дискурс, политический дискурс, текст, суггестия, предложения.
Keywords: addressee, addresser, discourse, political discourse, text, suggestion, sentences.
The influence of the media on the public conscience, pragmatic use and modification of language as an instrument of social influence is one of the topical issues of the day.
In the twentieth century information space has changed dramatically as compared to previous centuries. For most people the XXI century began against the background of a free access to dozens of television channels and radio stations, amid the information from a wide variety of newspapers and thousands of sites on the Internet. At the same time the increase of the number of channels of obtaining information has opened more opportunities of influence on people.
In modern scientific literature the problem of speech influence on the minds has not been thoroughly studied. Despite the interest of many researchers the issue of linguistic aspect of manipulation has been studied rather fragmentarily and needs the academic detailed research. Thus the study the special aspect of influence in political discourse is very relevant and important today.
Some aspects of media language have been studied in the works of such researchers as A. Adesanya, G. Grachev, O. Dotsenko, I. Melnik, H. Marcuse, H. Pocheptsov, V. Terin, N. Chomsky, G. Schiller, M. Braithwaite, R. Cirino, J. Elridge, R. Jacquard, J. Kitzinger, Ph. Viallon and K. Williams. As for the actually linguistic research, the newspaper texts were analyzed in terms linguostylistics by G. Solhanyk, I. Halperin and others. The problems of referencing, truth and lies in the language, including the language of media, were highlighted by R. Blakar, D. Bolinger, W. Lutz. The linguistic analysis of hidden meanings in language structures is of significant value.
The studies of S. Megentesov were dedicated to linguistic mechanisms of suggestive influence. They are based on the psychotherapeutic model developed by specialists in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). To the mechanisms of influence the author includes the concept of presupposition which is realized in the construction with a secondary predication that „distracts the attention of listener to itself' [7, p. 25]. Although the NLP model has no experimental verification, it is widely used to explain many mechanisms of influence. As a suggestive technique can serve a process of overloading the consciousness with information. Following the psychotherapists S. Megentesov [7, p. 34] admits the importance of metaphors in the process of
influence. According to the author, the main means of inducing trance are nominalizations and their genitival congestions.
The aim of the paper is to study the mechanisms of social influence in political discourse. To achieve this goal were set the following objectives: 1) to review the papers on the defined topic; 2) to compare the views of researchers about the nature of impact on consciousness; 3) to identify the ways to manipulate the human mind; 4) to systematize the mechanisms of social influence in political discourse.
The object of research was the category of psychological impact.
The subject of the study were linguistic mechanisms of influence on human consciousness.
The data for the research were taken from the texts of political content from modern mass media.
Analysis of the literature shows that researchers distinguish four ways of psychological pressure on the addressee: 1) generalization to avoid critical perception; 2) disguised as presupposition; 3) indefinite referential index; 4) communicative sabotage (dispelling stereotypes) [7].
Within the confines of suggestive linguistics were developed psycho-programming principles and revealed the factors of forming of suggestive empathy, strategies of notions, typology of myths that are used in texts [10]. Thus, O. Romanov distinguishes a more specific area of using suggestion - a political linguistics, the subject of which is the speech discourse of authority.
The basis for understanding the process of influence is the mechanism which is described in NLP. Therefore, the schematic structures of influence of psycho-programming discourse also rely on NLP rules that need serious empirical verification.
The psychological approach to the study of the process of influence is represented by three models:
1. The model of social influence.
2. Model of methods of psychological influence.
3. Applied model.
The main focus the psychologists place on studying the conditions under which a person is subject to pressure, and also on the balance between cognitive attitude and real behavior, on the correlation between situational and dispositional factors, as well as between attitudes and cognitions. To explain the changes in human behavior were involved theories of social comparisons,
cognitive dissonance, defence activity, psychological reactance and attitude forming.
Thus, V. Sheinov [11] considers that the basis for hidden control over people is the exploitation of human needs, weaknesses, psychological features, stereotypes. T. Kabatchenko [4] distinguishes different types of influence: on the source of activity, on the processes of meaning-making, on factors-regulators of activity display.
The basis of manipulative influence in interpersonal communication - „the sceleton" - was described well in the study of E. Dotsenko [3]. It is the basis that consists of five elements:
- using the information;
- concealment of manipulative influence;
- the extent and means of compulsion;
- use of force;
- targets of influence;
Psychologists, E. Shostrom in particular, are building up a typology of individuals who are prone to manipulation. However, the information component of the process of influence has not received adequate coverage in these researches. Furthermore, the problem of creation of images that affect the psyche of the recipient has not been investigated.
A third approach to the study of social influence on mass consciousness can be defined as semiotic. One of its ideologists is G. Pocheptsov [9]. The author creates typologies of communication, spheres of communication functioning and methods for their analysis. This approach is notable for the integrity of different areas of knowledge: philosophy, psychology, semiotics, political science. The limitation of it is that the abstraction interval of a semiotic model does not allow penetrating deep into the sign construction of discourse that has impact on the communicant.
Emphasizing the narrative genre in information and political technologies, G. Pocheptsov describes their functions which involve maintaining or modifying the model of the world. However, the main methodological principle is the existence of symbolic space between man and the world; it contains the space of information and knowledge and is called by G. Pocheptsov a virtual space. „The virtual world contributes to the structuring of the real world. As a result, we see (through the eyes of the media) what we should see and don't see what does not exist in the structure of the virtual world" [9, p. 40]. Between the people and reality exists pseudo-reality and it is this pseudo-reality we respond to [6, p. 112]. In this case, glorification and demonization are the methods of managing virtual space. Despite the theoretical validity of the information model, most of its ideas require experimental verification. Such kind of verification is necessary because of the requirements to the construction of propaganda messages or conclusions on the fact that „our actions are not based on a specific and direct knowledge, but on the pictures of the world which are usually represented by someone else" [6, p. 112]. This does not fully correspond to psychological reality because different psychological types have different picture of the world, and also actions and cognitions do not necessarily coincide in the practical behavior of a man, what was illustrated by L. Ross and R. Nisbett.
In terms of the theory of communication the emphasis is laid on the political system as the information and communication system. All information flows have three levels. „The third level is addressed directly to public opinion, mass consciousness, political behaviour" [1, p. 517].
The impact on the public consciousness can appear in two basic forms - explicit and implicit. The main type of explicit influence on social and individual consciousness is a rhetorical construction of the statement. But lately, more and more importance and significance have been assuming implicit forms of influence on the public conscience. The most common and the most effective kind of implicit influence is the linguistic manipulation of public consciousness. Mass media implement the opportunity of influence so intensively that a number of researchers [8, p. 24] distinguish manipulative influence as one of the most important functions of the media along with informative, educative, articulatory, criticizing and other functions.
Manipulation can be performed by verbal, visual and acoustic means at three levels: individual, group and mass. The media are an active subject of manipulation in modern society. By manipulating the consciousness they implement ideas, images, and associations, stereotypes that can completely and at the same time invisibly for the object of influence change his attitude to the world or to the whole picture of society.
The paper uses the following meaning of linguistic manipulation: the implicit informational and psychological influence on people by means of linguistic tools that is made at three levels (individual, group and mass), which is aimed at inducing people to actions that conflict with their interests and worldview, as well as their linguistic world-image and value system of the whole society.
The study of methods of influence of the media on the minds was conducted mainly on the material of printed press, i.e. written speech. The ways of visual and audio forms of influence (on the television and radio) as well as neuropsychological aspects of perception were represented fragmentarily, because these issues lie within the competence of psychological science.
One of the fundamental works on language media is the research of T. Dobrosklonskaya which is developing the direction of western media linguistics. She has discovered a number of patterns of mass media text building: syntagmatic segmentation of utterance, grammatical variation and its relation to interpretation of the text, specifics of expression of the author's opinion and several linguoculturological features of discourse. An important aspect of her work is the analysis of concept of media competence.
Very interesting is the interaction of verbal and non-verbal methods of influence of the media on the minds. Thus, T. Dobrosklonskaya notes that with regard to the sphere of media the traditional definition of the text as a unified with semantic connection sequence of signs, the main qualities of which are coherence and integrity, goes beyond the verbal level and approaches the semiotic interpretation of meanings which implies any sequence, not just the sequence of verbal signs. A text in the media consistently develops simultaneously on several levels: verbal, video-graphical and audio levels that form a single whole.
Most articles in periodicals are completed with photos and illustrations which create together with a text a single semiotic row. The visual image that quickly and effectively affects the mind and the subconscious often can change the entire content of the article. Viewers forget what they were told about the main character of the article, but remember the accompanying visual image. One of the possible implementations of this method can be a presentation of true information accompanied by showing false video clip or the video with manipulative content. The truth
fades from memory because visual impressions have stronger impact on the consciousness.
An important factor is the font. There are highlighting fonts (titles, headings, logos, addresses and underlining) and text fonts. The text which is typed with both uppercase and lowercase letters is easier to read than the one typed with only uppercase or lowercase letters. Based on the research of M. Oklander, we note that people are inclined to selective modification of information. Selective modification of information is the tendency of people to transform and interpret incoming information by adding to it a personal coloration so that it supports rather than denies their own ideas and opinions. The researcher proves that a person often hears only what he wants to hear. As a result, there are speculations and diffuseness.
The phenomenon of selective modification of information plays a significant role in psychology of influence, because recipients can pay attention or, conversely, ignore something about the provided information according to their judgments. Selective modification of information can be caused by much too creatively encoded message that may not be decoded in the predicted way. It may also be caused by the fact that the recipients already have their own beliefs and are loyal to certain views, that's why they can deliberately modify the message so that it doesn't conflict with already existing way of thinking.
A man remembers only a part of the received information. The movement of information from the short-term memory to the long-term memory depends on the number and type of repeated appeals to the topic. Repeated appeal should not be just a repetition, but a process in which the recipient of the information analyses its content in such a way that associations fixed in the short-term memory move into the long-term memory. If the recipient has always positively perceived the object of message and always reproduced for himself the arguments that support it, the probability that the appeal will be accepted and memorized increases. If the recipient's attitude is negative, the appeal is likely to be rejected.
According to experts, the existence of these three factors -selective perception, selective modification of information and selective memorizing - means you need make great efforts to bring your appeal to the attention of the recipient [5].
Thus, the linguistic influence on consciousness, carried out in explicit and implicit forms, at all the levels of language structure is a complex linguistic system that has a set of necessary linguistic tools and is in the process of continuous updating due to the dynamics of language processes.
The speech influence that manifests itself in implicit forms of influence on mind is based on two main principles: a violation of referencing and arrangement of the material.
Analysis of the material shows that the influence on the consciousness can be made both in explicit (rhetoric, propaganda, public relations, etc.) and implicit (linguistic manipulation, demagoguery language) ways. Speech manipulation as the most common form of verbal influence in modern media is different from other forms because the reasoning process is inconscient to the recipient, it does not contain obvious psychological aggression, has veiled focus on results and therefore the impact is highly-effective.
Verbal influence on the recipient is modified through the information arriving from other channels of communication, especially the visual channel. One of the new phenomena of language influence technologies is the visualization of the text.
Linguistic technologies of speech influence on the consciousness combined with visual and acoustic technologies may lead to global changes, such as deformation of the linguistic world-image of historical and cultural unity and to changes of the value system of the certain individual and society in general.
The power of social influence of political discourse gives a priority to pragmatic implicit component, because the intention of political discourse is an indirect persuasion, inducement and forming cognitive attitudes as the basis of decision-making. Political discourse has explicit orientation on substantive informing as one of the ways of masking the hidden influence (manipulation) through the formation of identity of the recipient and addresser.
In today's informational space the technologies of influence on the minds are constantly being improved and complicated. At the same time linguistic theory opens new perspectives and new aspects of describing the language objects, and that requires detailed study in the future. To these useful studies can be attributed analysis of syntactic constructions considering the conditions of their specific and typical use in speech related to reality and speech situation, i.e. in pragmatic terms.
References:
1. Василина М. А. Основы теории коммуникации / М. А. Василина. - М. : Гардарики, 2003. - 615 с.
2. Добросклонская Т. А. Медиалингвистика : системный подход к изучению СМИ (Современная английская ме-диаречь) / Т. А. Добросклонская. - М. : Флинта, 2008. - 203 с.
3. Доценко Е. Л. Психология манипуляции : феномены, механизмы и защита / Е. Л. Доценко. - М. : ЧеРо, Издательство МГУ, 1997. - 344 с.
4. Кабатченко Т. С. Методы психологического воздействия : Учеб.пособие / Т. С. Кабатченко. - М. : Педагогическое общество России, 2000. - 554 с.
5. М. А. Окландер. Поведшка споживача : навч. поаб. / М. А. Окландер, I. О. Жарська. - К. : Центр учбово! лггера-тури, 2014. - 208 с.
6. Матвеева Л. В. Актуальные проблемы медиапсихо-логии / Л. В. Матвеева // Человек как субъект и объект ме-диапсихологии. - М. : МГУ имени М. В. Ломоносова, Ин-т человека; Изд-во Моск. ун-та, 2011. - С. 151-168.
7. Мегентесов С. А. Лингвистические аспекты психического воздействия и приемов манипуляции / С. А. Меген-тесов, И. Мохамад. - Краснодар : КубГУ, 1997. - 111 с.
8. Михальская А. К. Язык российских СМИ как манипулирующая система / А. К. Михальская // Язык СМИ как объект междисциплинарного исследования. Тезисы докладов международной научной конференции. - М. : Изд-во МГУ, 2001. - С. 23-25.
9. Почепцов Г. Г. Теоргя комушкацп / Г. Г. Почепцов. -К. : Кшвський ун-т, 1996. - 308 с.
10. Романов А. А. Языковая суггестия в предвыборной коммуникации / А. А. Романов, И. Ю. Черепанова. - Тверь : ГЕРС, 1998. - 205 с.
11. Шейнов В. П. Искусство убеждать / В. П. Шейнов. - М. : Приор, 2000. - 304 с.
12. Шостром Э. Анти-Карнеги, или Человек-манипулятор / Э. Шостром ; пер. с англ. А. Малышевой. - М. : Дубль-В ; Дельта-92, 1994. - 128 с.
