Linguistic instruments employed in political discourses. Manipulation tools or expressions of human universal behaviour?

Abstract

The present paper aims at answering to a very intriguing question concerning the importance of language in the world of politics. Starting from Aristotle’s idea that we are all political animals, able to use language to pursue our own ends (Chilton 2004), the paper uses the techniques of Critical Discourse Analysis, in order to explore the ways in which politicians use language as a manipulation strategy. Although we tend to interpret the linguistic tools used by politicians in their speeches as manipulation tools, we cannot ignore the fact that every one of us uses, even in everyday communication, words for achieving specific goals. This is, in fact, the ultimate goal of communication. But is this also the case with political speeches? What makes the difference? “What does the use of language in contexts we call ‘political’ tell us about humans in general?” (Chilton 2004, xi).