FIELD-BASED APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS OF INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES IN CONTEMPORARY SPEECHES OF AMERICAN AND BRITISH POLITICIANS

K. Yu. Rybachuk
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4280-4627
e-mail: carol91@yandex.ru

FIELD-BASED APPROACH TO THE  ANALYSIS  OF INTERTEXTUAL  REFERENCES IN CONTEMPORARY SPEECHES OF AMERICAN AND BRITISH POLITICIANS

Introduction. Intertextuality is a concept that still has no single definition or terminology. It can be in- terpreted both in a broad and in a narrow sense. This paper thus aims to systematise a whole set of intertex- tual inclusions found in the modern political discourse in the English language.

Materials and methods. The analysis draws upon speeches delivered by American and British politi- cians over the last decade (2008–2018). The paper offers a field-based approach to the classification of inter- textual inclusions. The intertextual field is thus centred around the link between the texts as revealed by the degree of attribution and the volume of presence of the donor-text in the recipient one. The study was basede on contextual, comparative, structural-semantic and pragmatic methods.

Results. At the core of the intertextual field are direct and indirect quotations with attribution. Direct quotes have the strongest connection with the precedent text as they contain a specific part of the source text which is not modified. Attribution can include mentions of the author’s name, the date of the text, the place where it was generated or other details that can hint at the original text. Quotes with attribution are followed by quotations without attribution, allusions, allusive names and titles. Allusions are mainly represented by a single word or a short phrase. Allusive names and titles are a reference by itself, although they do not contain any specific part of the source text, instead, just naming it. The periphery is formed by more controversial cases, among which quotations with generalised attribution, non-specific self-quotation and set phrases. In such cases no specific source text can be identified. However, such cases are numerous and, hence, deserve attention as a notable feature of the modern political discourse of the UK and USA.

Conclusions. This approach offers a systematic way of classifying intertextual inclusions and can be applied to other types of discourse as well.

Keywords: intertextual field, intertextual core, periphery, intertextual inclusion, reference, quotation, allusion

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