Comminicative strategies of american polititians (basing on the 2016 election campaign)

The article contains the analysis of basic communicative strategies employed by the participants of TV debates, a type of a political discourse. The study was conducted using the videos of Trump - Clinton debate during 2016 US presidential campaign. The major principles of building of a political dialogue of this type were singled out by means of a linguistic analysis, showmanship, competiveness and personification being the top ones. The article illustrates different types of turn-taking, shows the difference between turns and backchannels, simple overlaps and deliberate interruptions of a partner. However, the choice of turn-taking type is not random. It depends on the strategic planning of the candidates, who view it as a means of projecting their personality as well as their political programme onto the audience. Thus the dual nature of discourse is highlighted: a dialogue between the candidates and the dialogue with the audience. The communicative strategies chosen by the politicians are viewed by the author as a means of influencing the opponent and the electorate in general, one of them being denigrating the opponent for the purpose of creating a more beneficial personal profile. In the end the author suggests using the conclusions made in teaching students oratory and effective public speaking techniques.