PRECEDENT HISTORICAL SITUATION AS A WAY TO ACTUALIZE INСENTIVE INTENTION OF THE ENGLISH SPEACKING ELECTORATE

Abstract

The article considers precedence phenomenon in the political discourse of the British and American electorate. After regarding all the possible forms of that phenomenon the author draws attention to the fact that they fall into verbal and non-verbal groups. Amidst the non-verbal group it is possible to single out precedent situation, which is narrowed up to and defined as the precedent historic situation. The examples analyzed in the paper by the researcher demonstrate that a precedent historical situation being of extra-lingual nature itself gets verbalized in speech with the purpose to form incentive intention. The researcher determines that history of society represents a powerful source for the semantic filling of the phenomenon of precedence. The bulk of historical events relevant to achieve incentive communicative aim in a political discourse is represented by wars, revolutions, territorial and ideological conflicts, ways of solution of those conflicts, effective decisions of well-known historical personalities and role models of different states. Putting his knowledge of different precedent historical situations into words helps the speaker to persuade the addressee to realize or keep away from realization of some actions. The basic speech acts shaped around the precedent historic situation and realizing incentive intention are warning, demand, threat, prohibition, recommendation.