The language of power or the power of language

Presidential rhetoric and leadership

Bibliographic Data

ID6084787
AuthorsValentyna Ushchyna (0000-0003-3086-4224), Magdalena Szczyrbak (0000-0002-0182-0938)
Year2025
Publication date2025-09-15
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Language and Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1569-2159 • E-ISSN: 1569-9862
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/jlp.24051.ush
OpenAlexW4414204781
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited14

In the study, the discursive construction of political leadership was examined in the daily addresses by President Zelensky to Ukrainian people during two months of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: in March 2022 and March 2023. The research employs traditional tools of Critical Discourse Analysis, supplemented by quantitative methods, namely, the psychometric procedures offered by LIWC. Political leadership was researched as a discursive construct built intentionally and interactively by means of various linguistic resources: lexical, grammatical, and stylistic. It was shown that political leaders create their public identities in accordance with the encompassing socio-political conditions, pragmatically and psycholinguistically adapting their performances to the needs and wants of their audiences. The analysis of President Zelensky’s daily speeches at the early stages of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine enabled us to determine the main linguistic features and communicative strategies characteristic of the discursive behavior of a political leader in times of crisis

Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Multilingual Education and Policy

Tools

Open DOI