Politinės retorikos pragmatika

Abstract

Political communication is inseparable from rhetoric ñ art of persuasion, ability to create a persuasive discourse. Political discourse exclusively strongly actualizes the pragmatical function and the power of rhetorical affectivity. This function is particularly noticeable during elections, when politicians and their electoral campaign developers dispose various resources of rhetoric creating a persuasive discourse. According to K. Burke, the function of political rhetoric is to affect the views, beliefs, and behavior of the audience with the help of linguistic tools, in other words, to manipulate the audience [Burke 1969: 343]. The analysis of political rhetoric can reveal the values which politicians actualize in their appeals to voters and what rhetorical persuasive strategies they use for this aim. The aim of the present research is to determine dominant priorities in the programs of the candidates for the post of Kaunas city mayor in the elections of the municipal mayors in the Republic of Lithuania in 2015. The research also seeks to determine the motivation of the choice of these priorities.