THE MANIPULATIVE FUNCTION OF PROPOSITIONAL MITIGATION IN AMERICAN POLITICAL MEDIA DISCOURSE
Abstract
https://doi.org/10.18522/1995-0640-2025-4-59-66
Abstract. American media resources are a very popular source of information. They are actively used to learn about current events not only by US citizens, but also by many people around the world. The success of American media in terms of effectively forming the desired political picture in the mass consciousness is largely based on the regular use of manipulative technologies. This speaks to the relevance of studying the proposition modification as a possible method of hidden linguistic influence. To date, the manipulative function of mitigation, one of the varieties of which is propositional mitigation, has not been widely covered in the scientific community. Mitigation is usually characterized positively, as an important linguistic tool aimed at reducing communication risks and improving the quality of interaction. But we suppose it is possible to use mitigation with the intention of creating or strengthening the hidden influence effect within the political media space, which is characterized by a manipulative component. In this context, the authors of news texts' appeal to propositional mitigation is of great interest. Using this makes it possible to express controversial judgments that do not have proper confirmation, while maintaining the recipient’s trust at the same level. In most of the cases of manipulation through mitigation that we found in the CNN and New York Times articles, the impact on the reader was achieved through the using of a proposition modification.
Key words: political media discourse, manipulation, linguistic influence, mitigation, speech tactics, propositional mitigation
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Copyright (c) 2025 Svetlana S. Takhtarova, Artur R. Mukhamatshin
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