Multidimentionality of politician’s linguistic profile

Abstract

The article presents provisions that develop the linguistic personality theory, which is actively developed in Russian linguistics. The material, used for research, is two autobiographical works and political speeches of the 44th US President Barack Obama. In this work, within the framework of the cognitive-discursive approach, which made it possible to analyze the key concepts of B. Obama’s linguistic profile, the hierarchies of meanings and values characteristic of the politician’s worldview in different periods of his life were identified. It is proved that the linguistic profile of a politician is characterized not only by the level structure, but also by the dynamics of its conceptual and discursive components. The article traces the change in the concept sphere of B. Obama based on the results of a study of concepts identified in his works over 20 years: 1995 to 2015. Based on the methodology developed by the authors, the key concepts of the politician’s linguistic profile were identified. It is shown that the UNITY concept is central in Barack Obama’s speeches. Along with considering the multidimensionality of the linguistic profile in structural terms, the authors of the article pay attention to the dynamics of the politician’s linguistic profile both in chronological and conceptual terms. It is proved that B. Obama’s linguistic profile is undergoing changes, which consist in the dynamics of linguistic and mental representations. The vision of the multidimensionality of the linguistic personality proposed in the article is an interesting direction of the development of the linguistic personality theory.