Slogan in the Spanish political discourse: cognitive, linguistic and pragmatic dimension

Abstract

The article explores the cognitive, linguistic and pragmatic potential of Spanish political slogans as an integral part of political communication. The relevance of the investigation, carried out as part of a comprehensive methodology combining discursive, pragmalinguistic and content analysis, is determined by the need for a profound study of discursive mechanisms of influence on public consciousness and behavior, as well as ways to recognize and resist manipulative tactics. Slogans represent a variety of discursive texts and operate in the communicative-pragmatic contexts of “Protests” and “Elections”. Their illocutionary characterization is determined by the discursive situation: for protest slogans, demand dominates as the main speech act, while for electoral slogans, the main task is the desire to attract voters, to force them to vote for a particular candidate or party. Due to the linguistic, pragmatic and structural features, slogans influence the conceptual picture of the world of the electorate and serve as a mechanism for controlling public opinion and behavior. The addresser creates a slogan with regard to its perception by a recipient. Metaphors and other language techniques serve as linguistic means to create a desired perception vector and behavior algorithm, as well as cognitively integrate images and symbols, which often become precedents for the national language community.