Linguistics of Information and Psychological Warfare: Ideologically-Bound Units as an Eff ective Tool of Semantic Manipulation

Abstract

Linguistics of information and psychological warfare explores various strategies, tactics and methods of information and psychological warfare that are meant to be verbalized in political media discourse. Special importance should be attached to manifold methods of ideological influence and manipulation of public consciousness, among which semantic manipulation represents a subject for particular scrutiny. This method implies “careful selection of words that cause either positive or negative associations and thus affect the overall perception of information”. Obviously, such lexical units that have contextually determined negative or positive connotations and generate corresponding associations include, among others, ideologemes. Thus, ideologically-bound units are an integral linguistic component of information and psychological warfare. Due to their inherent semantic ambivalence and a high degree of associativity, ideologemes become an effective tool of semantic manipulation, which can give a definitive advantage to one of the parties in the ideological struggle. Moreover, ideologemes represent an undeniable challenge for simultaneous interpreters, who turn out to become immediate participants in the unfolding information and psychological war on a par with leading politicians who are supposed to voice the official position of the state.

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