SPEECH TACTICS AND POLITENESS STRATEGIES IN ENGLISH POLITICAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

The article analyses the strategies of politeness in political discourse. The focus is on the study of politeness in English-language political discourse, which is one of the important communicative categories that play a key role in the speech interaction of the addressees. In the scientific research, linguistic politeness is usually represented as a social norm, compliance with the contract of communication, maxims of communication, communicative etiquette. Preservation of the “face” is a necessary prerequisite for productive communication, which should be considered and used by every member of society. Researchers identify fifteen strategies of positive politeness used to reduce communication distance, eliminate interpersonal boundaries, mutual understanding, cooperation and achieve a positive result in communication, and ten strategies of negative politeness, oriented at reducing of communicative oppression reluctant and discover respect in his personal space. The subject of special scientific interest is the mechanisms of tactics and language tools used in the implementation of negative politeness strategies in various discourses, in particular, political, where the leading feature is institutionality. The latter determines the specifics of speech interaction of communicators and involves the use of negative politeness strategies. In our work, the object of research is the political discourse of Donald Trump. The analysis proves that the key role in the organization of harmonious communication in this discursive practice is played by negative politeness, represented by strategies that are implemented by appropriate tactics: a) strategy of using implicit speech acts – tactics of ritualization of the imperative; b) evasion strategy – tactics of limiting one's own assessment, indirect request for information and assumptions; d) strategy of substantivization – tactics of formalization of expression. The most productive in the verbalization of strategies and tactics of negative politeness in the political discourse of Donald Trump are grammatical means (modal verbs, conditionals, passive voice, address, etc.). Among the syntactic tools that implement strategies of positive politeness (relevant principles of mitigation – the desire for understanding, confirmation of a common point of view, empathy, indication of reciprocity, involvement of communication participants in action).