Stylistic Resource of Phraseological Units in Seimas Stenograph

Abstract

Phraseological units are one of the most important means of expression. Political language differs from colloquial language, is stricter and more official which is determined by its purpose but even politicians often turn to phraseological units in order to make their thoughts sound stronger and draw the listener’s attention to some special subject. This is not bad at all. Sometimes we “do get tired” with common official answers to questions while reading or listening to the interview with a politician. A modified phraseological unit when used helps the reader to be on alert, catches his/her interest to the problem discussed, makes an interview or an article more interesting.

Phraseological units make our speech extremely alive as is one of the oratorical style requirements. This is especially typical of modified phraseological units which renew the fixed-word group and apply the phraseological units to the realities of modern life.

In this article analysing phraseological units used in the language of political figures in both stylistic and rhetorical aspect, which is chosen according to the purpose of political speeches, makes it possible to approach the stylistic power of phraseological units from a different angle revealing their importance in such a “dry”, as it might seem, language of politicians. The use and artistic recreation of phraseological units demonstrate a quick orientation of the speaker and his/ her ability to make use of the riches of folk expressions.

The material for this article is taken from the corpus of present day Lithuanian at Vytautas Magnus University, namely from the Seimas shorthand records.