Manipulative potential of the epideictic speech

Epideictic speech (welcoming speech, parting words, official address, statement, valedictory speech, greeting speech, etc.) is an important component of interaction between the government and the people. Despite the fact that epideictic speech does not always involves a reply word (and a real dialogue), it supports a typical communicative structure, in which there is the sender and the addressee, and there is the message. The intention of authorities to broadcast certain, desirable model of social relations and evaluation corresponds to the need of audience for clearing a position of the power on a topical issues, to the need for the approval of the collective identity and for the strengthening of a group solidarity. This relation, as in any communication, is not strictly symmetric, it opens the way for the manipulation. Other features of the epideictic speech, which caused by specifics of the most communicative situation and promoting to the realization of a manipulative intentions, are following: the importance of the epideictic speech for the addressee, its prepared (non-improvisation) nature, the optionality of a response word (with that, the dialogue is saved). The efficiency of the epideictic speech is provided also with the extralinguistic and proper linguistic tools, on which our analysis is concentrated. Potentially the epideictic speech has the advantages of all speech styles. In practice, the basis of the epideictic speech is an official (formal-business) style, with the elements of a conversation style and a journalistic style. A selective and intended use of colloquial lexicon and simplified grammatical structures leads to some decrease and «mitigation» of official style. Psychologically it allows to vary randomly a line of border between speaking and listening, creating the «right» image of national identity in the system of relations «I» - «WE», «WE» - «THEY». As for «speech advantages», a classical rhetoric allocates four main advantages - brevity, relevance, availability and logicality. Systematic violations concern availability and logicality which are replaced by quasi-availability and paralogicality. The analysis of epideictic speech revealed a special «logic of manipulation», consisting in the use of the pattern «past - present - future», and, linguistically, in a reliance on ascertaining. In terms of content, the effectiveness of domestic epideictic speech is caused by reactualization of traditional and historical values («self-sacrifice», «feat», «justice», «warrior-liberator», «brotherhood», «family») as a part of a generalized image of Russia and the Russian people.

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