PRAGMATIC AND MANIPULATIVE ASPECTS OF THE USE OF PRESUPPOSITIONS IN THE AMERICAN POLITICAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

The paper deals with the pragmatically significant and manipulative use of presuppositions in the
American political discourse. It is shown how existential presuppositions are used for insinuations about the actual state of affairs and evaluative presuppositions for insinuations about the sociocultural knowledge forming the basis of social representations. The article also investigates how the so-called controversial presuppositions – presuppositions whose veracity and/or acceptability are considered contentious – participate in the construction of manipulative discourse aimed at forming and modifying beliefs, attitudes and world-views of the target audience, i.e. the American voters. The orientation of the political discourse towards agitation and propaganda conditions the active use of controversial presuppositions in the discourse practice under analysis with the purpose of positive or negative presentation of wellknown American politicians.