LINGUISTIC FEATURES OF SPEECHES BY RUSSIAN WOMEN POLITICIANS REGARDING COVID-19 (THE CASE STUDY OF SPEECHES OF A. POPOVA, T. GOLIKOVA, V. MATVIENKO)

Abstract

. Gender research is highly relevant in linguistics. In this article the task is to consider the manifestation of the linguistic characteristics of women in the political sphere. The speeches of Russian female politicians about the coronavirus situation are analyzed. The material is the public speeches of three female politicians who played key roles during the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia – Tatiana Alekseyevna Golikova, Valentina Ivanovna Matvienko and Anna Yuryevna Popova. In the texts such language tools are identified as anaphora, syntactic parallelism, lexical repetition, gradation, adverbs of confidence, specific use of pronouns “I” and “we”. The particles reflecting uncertainty, as well as the interrogative intonation in the statements also indicate the gender specificity of these women’s use of language in political communication. At the same time, these women – high-ranking Russian politicians – demonstrate by certain language tools a high level of confidence in their status and 0ability to influence the pandemic situation in Russia, reflecting the peculiarities of gender aspects in state politics. Thus, certain linguistic tools enhance the emotionality of the messages of women politicians and help to influence the public consciousness more effectively through media sources.