Contemporary American Political Discourse: a Study of Content, Structure, and Formation Features

Abstract

This paper examines the defining characteristics of contemporary American political discourse, aiming to identify, analyze, and classify these traits in terms of content, structure, and formative features. The analysis draws upon a corpus of speeches by American politicians during the 2016 and 2020 Presidential Elections, as well as journalistic articles, to illustrate the distinctive elements of American political discourse. Understanding a nation’s political discourse necessitates examining the idiosyncrasies of its political culture. Therefore, this study foregrounds the cultural underpinnings of modern American politics, exploring the interrelationships between American political discourse and the nation’s political history and culture. Employing discourse analysis, linguacultural analysis, and comparative analysis, the paper delineates the characteristics of modern American politics, including societal heterogeneity, the imperative of political correctness, a pronounced degree of religiosity, an individualistic political culture, and the dramatized nature of political contention. These cultural traits manifest in four salient features of contemporary American political discourse: a syntactic orientation in speech production, the employment of nicknames and sobriquets, the fluidity of political concepts, and the contentious exchanges between the two predominant parties, which engender linguistic divergences. While some features may be present in other national discourses, the unique combination and intensity in the American context accentuate their presence. This paper contributes to political discourse studies by examining political discourse through a linguacultural lens, thereby enhancing understanding of American society and its worldview. It underscores the pivotal cultural attributes of American politics, correlates them with political discourse, and presents concrete examples from speeches of current American politicians and contemporary media, laying the groundwork for future research into American political discourse from a linguacultural standpoint.

Keywords

• american political discourse studies
• discourse analysis
• political public speaking
• linguaculturology
• linguacultural analysis
• political concepts
• professional communication