On the Front Line in the Fight against the Virus: Conceptual Framing and War Patterns in Political Discourse

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-180
Author(s):  
Anna Islentyeva

AbstractIn light of the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, military linguistic patterns and framings now seem to be omnipresent in our daily discourses. Media and political discourses play a key role in conceptualising the pandemic, its impact, and the measures taken to respond to it in terms of war. This study represents a comparative discourse analysis of a selection of official statements and speeches delivered by four world leaders whose countries have been severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President Donald Trump, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The linguistic analysis attempts to identify the differences and similarities in the political framing of the pandemic and these governments’ responses to it. A particular focus is placed on the range of metaphorical patterns that foreground the warlike and aggressive nature of these measures.

Subject Budapest's balancing between traditional and non-traditional ties. Significance Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban recently received two important visitors in Budapest: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (February 2) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (February 17). The short interval between them is symbolic of Hungary's foreign-policy balancing act. However, the Fidesz government's 'Eastern opening' strategy has increasingly shown its limits in the past year, prompting Orban to make gestures towards his Western allies. Impacts Central European allies are likely to distance themselves further from Hungary following Putin's visit to Budapest. Despite addressing discriminatory taxes on TV advertising, political control will continue to limit foreign media investments. Anti-Russian sentiment within Hungarian public opinion may open a window of opportunity for opposition parties.


2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 659-687 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Russell

On 15 February 2007 Vladimir Putin accepted the resignation of Alu Alkhanov as President of Chechnya and nominated the Chechen prime minister—Ramzan Kadyrov—to act as his successor. This appointment, duly rubber-stamped by Chechnya's parliament, brought to an end to more than four months of speculation since 5 October 2006, when Kadyrov attained the age of 30 and thus became eligible for the post of Chechnya's head of state. Kadyrov's elevation to de jure rather than de facto supremacy in Chechen society not only completed the final stage of the remarkably rapid transformation of this one-time rebel, juvenile thug and political ingénue but also put Putin's policy of Chechenization firmly back on track, which had been effectively derailed since the assassination of Chechnya's first pro-Russian president—Akhmad Kadyrov—Ramzan's father, in May 2004.


Significance The visit, sandwiched between the July 11-12 NATO Summit and July 16 meeting of Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, returns UK Prime Minister Theresa May's trip to Washington in January 2017. Impacts The post-Brexit UK-EU deal could scupper a UK-US free trade deal. Trump’s visit may see some new UK-US business deals, and new security and military cooperation pledges. New UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will need to build ties with Trump and his administration.


Author(s):  
Анастасия Александровна Лукиных ◽  
Ирина Вячеславовна Баранова

Введение. Прецедентность представляет собой весьма значимое явление для современной лингвистической науки. Прецедентность и прецедентные феномены изучаются лингвистами в различных аспектах и сферах. Исследуется прецедентность в политическом дискурсе. Целью является сопоставительное исследование национально-прецедентных феноменов, функционирующих в русскоязычном политическом дискурсе, а также в переводе на английский язык. Задачи исследования состоят в определении методологии, осуществлении отбора материала и определении наиболее адекватных способов перевода прецедентных феноменов русскоязычной культуры на английский язык. Материал и методы. Методология исследования основывается на теории когнитивной лингвистики с применением методов когнитивного моделирования, дискурсивного анализа, сопоставительного анализа. Для отбора материала исследования использовался метод сплошной выборки. При обобщении, систематизации и анализе материала применялся также описательный метод. Материалом исследования послужили тексты выступлений В. В. Путина, опубликованные на официальном сетевом ресурсе Президента РФ. Результаты и обсуждение. В результате проведенного исследования было обнаружено, что политический дискурс является весьма продуктивным для создания национально-прецедентных феноменов в силу своей специфики. Прецедентные феномены в политическом дискурсе обладают своей спецификой, как правило, источником прецедентности служит сфера политики либо исторические события конкретной национально-культурной общности. Прецедентные феномены в политической лингвистике сравнительно недолговечны. Наиболее часто они представлены прецедентными текстами, именами и высказываниями. При переводе национально-прецедентных феноменов для создания эквивалентного перевода применяются конкретизация, поиск фразеологических эквивалентов и аналогов. В некоторых случаях прецедентность при переводе полностью утрачивается, но в любом случае для интерпретации национально-прецедентных феноменов необходимы знания о национально-специфичных культурных источниках прецедентности. Заключение. Таким образом, национально-прецедентные феномены представляют собой значимую характеристику политического дискурса, служат связующим звеном между адресатом и адресантом, придают живость и образность речи в политическом дискурсе. С другой стороны, их национальная специфика служит дополнительной сложностью при переводе и часто требует наличия некоторых экстралингвистических знаний для их дешифровки и адекватного восприятия. Introduction. The study of precedential phenomena is extremely important for modern linguistics. They can be explored in different spheres and aspects, which depends on the aims of research. This article deals with precedential phenomena in political discourse. Aim and objectives. The aim is a comparative research of national precedential phenomena which function in Russian political discourse and of their translation into the English language. The objectives of this paper are to define methodology of the research, to select the necessary language material and to find the ways of translation of precedential phenomena taken from Russian culture into English. Material and methods. The methodology of the research is based on the cognitive linguistics theory. The methods are cognitive modelling, discourse analysis, comparative analysis. The selection of the material was carried out with the solid sampling method. To analyze and systematize the material a method of description was used. The material for the study were sampled out from the official website of the Russian president Vladimir Putin. Results and discussion. The results of the research showed that political discourse is a very productive sphere for the creation of national precedential phenomena. As a rule, precedential phenomena in political discourse are very specific. Their source can be found either in the sphere of politics or historic events of the nation. Precedential phenomena in political discourse usually have a short life span. There types are precedential texts, names and expressions. While translating national precedential phenomena, interpreters prefer to use concrete definition, equivalents or analogues of phraseological units. Sometimes precedential phenomena are lost in translation. Conclusion. So national precedential phenomena represent an important characteristic of political discourse. They serve as a link between the author and the recipient, make the speech more vivid and emotional and influence the audience in a specific way. But their national peculiarities often impede the translation process. Anyway some knowledge of cultural sources is necessary for correct interpretation and understanding of precedential phenomena.


Subject Drivers and constraints in Israeli engagement with Russia Significance Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu visited Moscow on June 7 for the third time in under nine months. His frequent meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin reflect his irritation with US President Barack Obama as well as a desire for more diverse international engagement. He also needs to ensure good communication on military actions in Syria given that Russian and Israeli interests are so disparate. Impacts The appointment of a pro-Russian defence minister in Israel, Avigdor Lieberman, should improve security relations. While supplying arms to Iran, Russia will press Israel not to supply arms to Ukraine. Putin's encouragement for Israel to revive ties with Turkey may indicate he wants a similar thaw with Ankara.


Significance Macron won 66% of the vote versus Le Pen’s 34%, on a turnout of nearly 76% -- the second-lowest for a second-round election since 1965. Once Macron is sworn in (by May 14), his selection of a caretaker government, and particularly of a prime minister, will provide only a temporary clue as to how he might govern, for the legislative elections on June 11 and 18 risk leaving him without a parliamentary majority. Impacts The French-German axis will strengthen, even if Chancellor Angela Merkel fails to be re-elected in September. Macron will restore France’s engagement in EU policy-making, with particular implications for Greece and the United Kingdom. France’s stance towards Russia may harden due to Moscow's likely interference in the election. Macron will likely adopt a pragmatic, Merkel-like approach to US President Donald Trump.


2004 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Shlapentokh

The interplay between the state and the super rich has been a subject of intense debate since the time of Aristotle, who introduced the notion of oligarchs and the oligarchic regime as the ruling of a few rich people. The ideologically loaded debates about the role of wealthy people in society can be found in each country in the contemporary world. In recent times, the fact that Silvio Berlusconi is both Italy’s prime minister and the richest person in the country (who has almost complete control over Italian TV) has aroused intense debates about the impact of big business on politics (Stille, 2003). It is not surprising that the case of the Italian prime minister draws attention in Russia, where he is often compared to both the Russian president as well as to the oligarchs (Remnik, 2003). A dramatic struggle between Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose wealth was estimated before his arrest at eight-billion dollars,1 unfolded in the summer and fall of 2003. This conflict will likely be recounted in any future textbook that discusses the relationship between political power and big money.


2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taras Kuzio

This article discusses different aspects of the political evolution of Russian President and former Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the impact of his evolution upon the type of regime that has evolved from soft authoritarianism to a ‘militocracy‘ and ‘consolidated authoritarian regime.’ The article discusses eight contributions to this special issue by placing them within the broader context of how the West misread two areas pertaining to Russia. The first is how the West by wrongly believing that Russia, being a member of G8, the NATO-Russia Council and other Western structures, continued to be interested in becoming a Western political and economic system. The second is the tradition, stretching back to Sovietology, of ignoring and downplaying the issue of how the nationalities question and different nationalisms interact with democratic revolutions, transitions and, specifically, with Russian politics. The introductory article next discusses the eight contributions within the context of: Russian messianism, the Russkii Mir (Russian World), how and when nationalists and fascists became mainstream in Russian politics, Putin’s great power nationalism, Ukrainophobia and Russian chauvinism, historical myths and re-Stalinization of Putin’s political system. The final section compares Russia’s invasions of Georgia and Ukraine in 2008 and 2014 respectively and the growing xenophobia in Russian foreign policy.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodor Tudoroiu

Based on a public office definition of corruption, this article uses the case studies of doctoral plagiarism of German Minister of Defence Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Hungarian President Pàl Schmitt, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in order to show that, by shattering citizens’ confidence in and respect for political class, political parties, state institutions and rule of law, academic plagiarism of high-ranking politicians intertwines with and enforces the most serious democratic failures in their respective countries: degeneration of political culture in Germany, nationalist authoritarian trends in Hungary, a culture of corruption in Romania, and outright dictatorship in Russia. As such, this specific type of plagiarism goes far beyond academia. It represents a direct, aggressive, and effective threat against democracy itself.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-72
Author(s):  
Jacob Tootalian

Ben Jonson's early plays show a marked interest in prose as a counterpoint to the blank verse norm of the Renaissance stage. This essay presents a digital analysis of Jonson's early mixed-mode plays and his two later full-prose comedies. It examines this selection of the Jonsonian corpus using DocuScope, a piece of software that catalogs sentence-level features of texts according to a series of rhetorical categories, highlighting the distinctive linguistic patterns associated with Jonson's verse and prose. Verse tends to employ abstract, morally and emotionally charged language, while prose is more often characterized by expressions that are socially explicit, interrogative, and interactive. In the satirical economy of these plays, Jonson's characters usually adopt verse when they articulate censorious judgements, descending into prose when they wade into the intractable banter of the vicious world. Surprisingly, the prosaic signature that Jonson fashioned in his earlier drama persisted in the two later full-prose comedies. The essay presents readings of Every Man Out of his Humour and Bartholomew Fair, illustrating how the tension between verse and prose that motivated the satirical dynamics of the mixed-mode plays was released in the full-prose comedies. Jonson's final experiments with theatrical prose dramatize the exhaustion of the satirical impulse by submerging his characters almost entirely in the prosaic world of interactive engagement.


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