Language has a huge impact on the way political processes move forward. Politicians have been long engaged in publicizing themselves by employing discrete speaking styles to signal social standing, competence, or a shared background with their audience.
In today’s globalized era, words are extremely important in politics, given the abundance of false information available to general population on the internet. Therefore, politicians and political groups are very particular about the usage of language and give great attention to how their messages are conveyed.
From policy debates in legislative organs to advertising their election campaigns, they wisely choose their words to discuss and emphasize certain in order to influence the opinions of the masses.
Essentially, when people form impressions about others, words often seem to affect them more than the observed outward appearance and their nonverbal behavior. On a more sophisticated level, language can be used to influence public mood, which in turn can affect policy decisions.
Nowhere is this linguistic power harnessed more strongly than in communication between governments and citizens. Fundamentally, politicians need to communicate clearly with the wise choice of words with citizens to ensure they obey laws and social norms.
It must be noted, however, that some politicians may consider themselves as educators or mentors and may believe that they are expressing the purest truth, that they are emphasizing or distorting certain aspects of the truth only to make a valid message more persuasive, or that the courses of action that they recommend are in fact the best actions that the reactor could take. By the same token, the reactor who regards the politician’s message as self-evident truth may think of it as educational; this often seems to be the case with “true believers”—rigid reactors to rigid religious, social, or political propaganda.
Political Scientist Noam Chomsky elaborates in his book “Language and Politics” exactly how words are said to be the currency of power in elections. Communication and speechwriting are the keys to swaying voters, and in Democracy, the system calls for the people to buy in to what politicians are saying in their campaign speeches.
The way politicians use language to manipulate the people was traditionally through live or televised discourse. However, today we also have the social media which is a significant way to use words to influence people. Moreover, they also use language to create slogans – “think MAGA (Make America Great Again)” or “Imported Government” that can influence and mobilize the people and become a kind of war cry or chant.
It is safe to say that political discourse operates subjectively and depends upon its context. This suggests that every single word being used either implicitly or explicitly articulates some political view point. It could even be as subtle as an accent, or how people are addressed. Political discourse is always aimed at interaction, including interruption, debate, and negotiation.
Notably, the oratory of great political leaders has been also subjected to particular analysis by psychologists. For instance, research suggests that most of the politicians act as entrepreneurs of identity such that their speeches serve to cultivate a sense of ‘us’ that is shared with potential followers.
In these terms, leaders are perceived to be superior beings who succeed because they are different to, and better than, other more ordinary people. However, more recent research has shifted focus away from the leader as a great ‘I’ by stressing the importance of followers and the group as a whole to the leadership process. This provides greater emphasis on the ‘we’ of leadership, and is exemplified by work examining the role that a sense of shared group membership plays in allowing leaders and followers to influence each other.
These simple phrases have very important political implications, and politicians use them to frame their opponents as well as to frame how issues are discussed
Given the importance of usage of words by politicians, and the state of slight turmoil we find ourselves in today reminds us all to be aware and remain critical about the language used next time we watch a politician give a speech and should try to read between the lines to understand what is really being said.