Persuasive effect of figures in political discourse

Kotlova Alexanda Sergeevna

The aim of the research within the framework of the stated topic is to analyze the features of reflection of the persuasive effect through the use of tropes in political discourse. The main issue of the study was to find out how tropes can influence the effect of persuasiveness in the texts of English political discourse. Accordingly, an analysis was conducted of a number of tropes appearing in British and American political discourse from the point of view of their impact on the persuasive effect. The main tropes studied were metaphors, epithets, irony, and hyperbole, since these are the most frequently encountered tropes in political discourse texts. Post-translation analysis, continuous sampling method, and generalization method were used as the main research methods. The research materials are texts of English and American political discourse: speeches by Donald Trump and Theresa May, as well as individual articles by English and American authors that deal with politics. As a result of the conducted research, it was found that persuasiveness includes evaluative-emotive, advertising-agitation components, as well as elements of logical and statistical argumentation, which are used in political discourse in order to defend one's own point of view and incline both potential audience and opponents to it. In this case, numerous tropes, the main of which can be called metaphor, hyperbole, epithets and irony, act in political discourse as a kind of "enhancers" that ensure the persistence of political discourse. The research materials, as well as the conclusions obtained by the author, can be used in the analysis of political discourse texts in terms of their impact on the audience. In addition, the research materials and the results obtained can be used to prepare courses of lectures and summaries of classes in such disciplines as "Political linguistics", "Linguistics", "Linguoculturology", "Theory and practice of translation", "Translation analysis", etc.

Keywords:persuasive effect of political discourse, tropes, arguments, politics, metaphor, potential audience, epithet, hyperbole.