Speech behaviour of introvert and extrovert personality types in the parliamentary discourse

The paper deals with the peculiarities of British politicians’ speech behaviour in the frames of the parliamentary discourse. The research is based on the scripted monologic speeches and spontaneous dialogic speeches given by Prime Minister Teresa May and Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, during the PMQs session in the British Parliament on September 14, 2016. The first stage of the research is aimed at determining the levels of extraversion or introversion and emotionality of the speakers through the analysis of the non-verbal component of their speech behaviour such as eye contact with the audience, gestures and facial expressions when delivering scripted speeches in different situations - direct (in front of the audience) and mediated (on air) socially oriented communication. The methods of observation and comparison let refer the communicants to different psychological types: J. Corbyn’s behaviour betrays the extrovert type of personality, while that of T. May demonstrates the characteristics of the introvert type. The second stage focuses on the speakers’ verbal communication patterns when delivering spontaneous speech with the purpose of finding correlations between the psychological type of the speaker (extrovert or introvert, stable or emotional) and the preferred type of argumentation and strategies in debate. The analyzed material indicates the tendency of an extraverted type to rely on quotations and statistical data as a means of rational argumentation, while an introverted type tends to rely on subjective arguments gained through personal experience. The strategies of an extravert tendto be flexible, while the strategies of an introvert are characterized as rigid.