IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMUNICATIVE STRATEGIES OF NEGATIVE POLITENESS IN BRITISH AND AMERICAN POLITICAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

The article deals with the peculiarities of the implementation of communicative strategies and tactics of negative politeness in British and American political discourse. The material for the study was the written texts of speeches of former US President Donald Trump and former British Prime Minister Theresa May. The chosen topic is of great interest due to the fact that politeness is an integral part of political speeches, contributing to the formation of a politician’s social image. The main concept in linguistic politeness is face which represents a person’s public self-image. There are two distinct types of face: a positive face and negative face, which then lead to the division of negative and positive politeness strategies. Negative politeness means respect and it can be seen as formal politeness. Negative politeness strategies address the addressee’s negative face by showing distance and impersonality. The linguistic means and speech features of the implementation of communicative strategies and tactics of negative politeness, used by Theresa May and Donald Trump, have been identified. Negative politeness strategies and tactics are effective tools for regulating communication processes. They add to the development and maintenance of harmonious relationships between communicative partners. The features of the implementation of the three most commonly used negative politeness strategies have been analyzed: the strategy of evasion, the strategy of apology, and the strategy of the invocation of established norms. Negative politeness strategies convey respect and deference to the addressee and are aimed at 1) distancing the interlocutors, 2) demonstrating the addresser’s recognition of the addressee’s independence and personal autonomy, 3) convincing the addressee that the addresser does not intend to violate his/her personal boundaries, and 4) minimizing pressure on the addressee. The strategy of evasion is implemented by the tactic of restraining by personal opinions, the tactic of questioning, and the tactic of mitigation, the strategy of apology – by the tactic of admitting harm and the tactic of admitting unwillingness to harm, the strategy of the invocation of established norms – by the tactic of demonstrating generally accepted rules and requirements that govern the behaviour of members of society.