Paralogisms and alogisms in the structure of English-language political discourse: the syntactic aspect

Abstract

The aim of the research is to identify the logical cohesion disruptions in English-language political discourse and their potential as a means of speech influence. The article considers unintentional disruptions, which are perceived as logical errors (paralogisms), and intentional disruptions, which function as a realized stylistic device based on semantic‑syntactic contrast (alogisms). The scientific novelty of the study consists in the fact that the regulations of paralogisms and alogisms functioning on various structural-syntactic levels are revealed for the first time. In addition, the ways of their influencing potential realization on the hierarchical levels of textual structure are described: at the level of a simple sentence, at the level of parts of a complex sentence, and at the level of sentences within a thematic block. The obtained results revealed that realization of logical disruptions in English‑language political speeches occurs through a variety of stylistic devices united by the common principle of an intentional disruption of the logical-semantic connections between the components of a syntactic structure, which provides functioning of alogisms as an effective means of verbal influence.