Persuasiveness of political discourse: cognitive mechanisms

The article deals with the persuasiveness of political discourse from a cognitive perspective. The research object is text units with the semantics of purpose functioning in the contexts of persuasive speech in natural dialogues of the reciprocal-response type. These units were obtained for the study from transcripts of political interviews with representatives of the Russian political elite using the unselected sampling method. The paper aims to describe cognitive models (frames, situational models) of natural language interaction (and persuasion) in discourse of the argumentative type and to identify cognitive mechanisms. The key concept used is persuasiveness, which, as applied to contexts with the semantics of purpose and viewed from a cognitive perspective, is understood in the paper as a change in the initial knowledge of the addressee or (in the absence of such knowledge) as its formation at the time of communication in the course of interaction, and which is presented as a unidirectional strategic action (as opposed to communicative). Using the methods of discourse analysis and elements of conversational analysis, basing on the principles of frame semantics and sociolinguistics, the author describes the cognitive mechanisms of 6 cognitive models of the persuasive argumentative discourse, including causative and circular, built on the principle of circular composition. Each model was studied through selection and detailed consideration of priority cognitive tools. The paper identifies groups of cognitive mechanisms in terms of their functionality, describes options for their inclusion both in a dialogically directed discourse (within the framework of speech interaction) and in the process of speech as a strategic action performed solely for the purpose of persuasion.