FEATURES OF THE FRAME ‘GREEN ECONOMY’ IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING POLITICAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

Background. Recently, the issues of sustainable economic development and environmentally friendly production have become an important part of the political agenda in various countries. The public image of the ‘green economy’ is formed in the political discourse, so that is where its framing takes place. However, the features of the frame ‘green economy’ in public speeches of prominent political figures have not gotten enough attention yet. Purpose. The article examines the features of the frame ‘green economy’ in the public speeches of British prime ministers to identify its environmental and economic aspects, the degree of its specificity and its scientific character, as well as the role played in the framing process by the party membership and political views of the speakers. Materials and methods. The research material comprises the most significant speeches of D. Cameron, T. May and B. Johnson for the years 2012-2021. Quantitative methods and discourse analysis were used to analyse the material. Results. The research results have shown that British politicians address green economy issues in their public speeches when it suits the topic of the event. They try to present sustainable economic development as the prerogative and merit of their party, but at the same time, as a task for the entire nation. Moreover, the prime ministers rarely refer to scientific data. Quantitative analysis has shown that the environmental aspect of the green economy frame is generally more fully represented than the economic one. Practical implications. The results of the research can be used in compiling a corpus and vocabulary on green economy, as well as in teaching English to economics students.

Keywords

• green economy
• frame
• political discourse
• framing
• discourse analysis
• semantic field