DISCOURSE MARKERS OF MANIPULATION IN MODERN RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE POLITICAL DISCOURSE: A PRAGMALINGUISTIC ASPECT

Abstract

The article presents a pragmalinguistic analysis of the system of discursive markers used for manipulative influence in modern Russian-language political discourse. Based on the material of public speeches by key state officials (2024–2025), the main strategies of speech influence are investigated: binary polarization, legitimation, mitigation, concealment of agency, and interdiscursive borrowing of frames. An integrative methodology is applied, combining the approaches of Critical Discourse Analysis, sociocognitive linguistics, and pragmalinguistics. The central thesis is the assertion of the systematic and technological nature of manipulation, where various linguistic markers (lexical, syntactic, stylistic) function in concert to construct an ideologically biased picture of the world, discredit opponents, and legitimize one’s own actions. As a result of the analysis, a complex of interconnected markers serving the meta-narrative of civilizational confrontation and a change in the world order is identified and described. The practical significance of the study lies in the development of tools for the critical analysis of political rhetoric and the development of discursive literacy.