Yakoba I.A. Deconstruction of Discourse Technology of Power
http://dx.doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2015.5.22
Irina Aleksandrovna Yakoba
Candidate of Sociological Sciences, Associate Professor, Foreign Languages Department No. 1 for Technical Specialities, Irkutsk National Research Technical University ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. )
Abstract. The article considers a vital issue of struggling for human consciousness via language being a tool, subject, and result of power implementation mechanisms. Different discourse technologies, revealed by Russian and foreign linguists, are characterized. The author introduces and gives proof to a phenomenon discourse technology of power'. Discourse structures of smart, soft and hard powers, which are the base of discourse technology of power, are described. Examples of such technologies from mass media texts, constructed with the help of lingua-cognitive mechanisms of spindoctoring, focusing, defocusing etc., are given. They allow to manipulate the content, misinterpret, distort or hide it, replacing concepts. It is proved that any semantic variation contributes to a change in evaluation and emotions, "imposes" a certain attitude to the situation, shifts the focus of modalities in perception. With the help of critical discourse analysis methods, specially designed technological discourse of power, domination and control are identified and deconstructed as the dominative means of a mass consciousness control. An important practical task facing modern linguistics is framed. It is to uncover the mechanisms of discourse manipulative technologies and share them with a concerned addressee to resist the attraction of manipulative content generated by professionals and do not fall under its influence.
Key words: discourse technology, discourse power, power of discourse, lingua-cognitive mechanism, manipulation, deconstruction.
Citation. Yakoba I.A. Deconstruction of Discourse Technology of Power. Science Journal of Volgograd State University. Linguistics, 2015, no. 5 (29), pp. 184-196. (in Russian). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2015.5.22.
Deconstruction of Discourse Technology of Power by Yakoba I.A. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.