Contemporary research in the field of political linguistics in Slovakia

Abstract

This article offers a survey of academic research in the field of political linguistics in Slovakia in the early 21st century. The author of the article concludes that political linguistics as a specific interdisciplinary field of research still runs from its very starting points in presentday Slovakia. Explicit nomination of this scientific field is still missing due to the absence of a united academic platform, including journals for the publishing of respective research outputs. However, in the course of the last two decades a number of particular academic studies have appeared dealing with various topics relevant for analysis of public discourse as well as linguistic aspects of political communication mostly in synchronic perspective. Many of these studies examine discursive nature of specific political processes and phenomena, including those with high international resonance (terrorism, Euroscepticism, social and religious tolerance, etc.). It should be noted that studies dealing with comparative analysis of political discourse in different linguistic areas have also become quite attractive. Finally, the author concludes that content analysis of political discourse has not yet been developed in Slovakia, nevertheless, studies on critical and rhetorical analysis of political discourse are on the grow whereas the most prominent place is being taken by the studies focusing on cognitive research of political discourse.