engleski

IDEOLOGY PROMOTION VIA POLITICAL MYTHS (A Cognitive Critical Study of Political Discourse in the UK and the Republic of Croatia)

Abstract Politics and political discourse affect human consciousness reconstructing and changing the image of the world (social reality). This doctoral dissertation aims to explain the discursive manifestation of power and social inequality and present a critical review of political manipulation and promotion of ideology via political discourse, using an interdisciplinary approach which includes Critical Discourse Analysis, Cognitive Linguistics and Theory of Ideographs. Language is an effective tool in political issues, as it enables political legitimization and helps to construct social reality. An experienced politician is able to create a feeling of intimacy with the audience, which is usually done with the aid of linguistic devices such as ideographs and conceptual metaphors. These devices form the backbone of political persuasion and serious political integrity, which is the reason why they will be the main focus of this doctoral thesis. The thesis uses a qualitative interdisciplinary approach to investigate lexical, grammatical and semantic-rhetorical devices in the political discourse of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Jadranka Kosor and Zoran Milanovic, with a special emphasis on the role of ideographs and conceptual metaphors. This approach attempts to reveal all aspects of textual production and consumption in the political discourse of the four politicians, as well as their contextual implications, mental images and ideologies hidden behind it. Much of the research draws on Lakoff ’s (1980, 1992, 1993, 2002) and Van Dijk’s (1988, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2009) papers which deal with the construction of reality in political discourse (political myth-making). In fact, our aim is to make an analysis of Lakoff’s family models and Van Dijk’s we-they polarization based on the political discourse of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Jadranka Kosor and Zoran Milanovic. Consequently, the research aims to develop a framework for the analysis of “non-obvious ways in which language is involved in social relations of power and domination, and in ideology” (Fairclough, 2001:229). In order to achieve these aims, we suggest a new analytical model called The Tridimensional Cognitive Model of Critical Discourse Analysis, which consists of three stages (dimensions): a textual analysis, a contextual analysis and an ideological analysis. The suggested model is a modification of previous research in the field of Cognitive Linguistics, Sociolinguistics, Critical Discourse Analysis and Analysis of Political Discourse (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980 ; Van Dijk, 1995 & 2008 ; Fairclough, 1992 & 2003 ; Wodak, 2001 ; Zinken, 2003 etc.).

text, discourse, political discourse, social reality, ideology, ideographs, conceptual metaphors

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