Psycholinguistic bases for linguo-didactic adaptation of manipulation discourse strategies

Abstract

In the common consciousness the phenomenon of manipulation is closely associated with areas of media, politics and business. The author presents strategies of manipulation in psycholinguistic aspect and from the point of view of communicative linguistics as a special case of the use of interactive communicative discourse strategies that can influence the psychological state of interlocutor.

Some researchers consider manipulation as a universal strategy, however, in-depth analysis of manipulative strategies and tactics in dialogical speech proves that they belong to interactive communicative strategies actively used in interpersonal communication. The analysis of some dialogues of everyday communication led us to the conclusion that the manipulative character of structural features underlying the development of such strategies depends in the first place on the communicative intentions of the interlocutors, their personal characteristics and interpersonal relationships. Manipulative strategies are used to clarify the preconditions for achieving the communicative goals of the leader of communication and of the reagent, to ascertain the true intentions of the interlocutor, to evade a direct answer, to replace the goals of the interlocutor, to intercept the initiative and to change the topic of conversation. The high degree of manipulation in interpersonal communication often receives negative ethical evaluation and in extreme form, can be considered by psychologists as a pathological phenomenon, but a good level of proficiency in manipulative communicative strategies is a component of a number of personal characteristics that play an important role in the social adaptation of the linguistic subject.

The article emphasizes the conventionality of the distinction between manipulative and interpersonal communication from a linguistic point of view, which provides the possibility of the use of manipulative strategies in student-centered teaching/learning languages. The author analyses the interactive subsidiary strategic moves and steps of dialogical cycle, which can be used to create strategic exercises for training dialogic communication in a foreign language. The research focuses on the problem of significance of the manipulative communicative strategies in language learning and their use in the system of exercises for teaching foreign languages, and in particular in teaching foreign language business communication.