Stylistic Devices and Their Political Implications
Stylistic Devices and Their Political Implications

Summary/Abstract: The paper analyses the role and significance of some major stylistic devices in political discourse, constituting a powerful tool for shaping political attitude and the premises upon which decisions are made. Indeed, politicians and authorities use more and less stylistic devices to mitigate people’s reactions. It does not matter that political metaphorical expressions or other style figures distort reality or prevent the crystallization of a concrete perspective, focusing on certain aspects, while hiding other aspects, it is important that they operate conceptually and emotionally or that intensify or blur perceptions. This analysis focuses on the use of metaphor in politics in terms of the three major functions of political metaphor, namely, the heuristic function, which allows the delimitation and naming of new areas of knowledge, operating with concepts, ideas and political theories specific to political thinking; the persuasive function with a fundamental role in the formation of political attitudes and constraints, and the didactic function specific to the metaphor of political theory with the role of illustration and explanation of political concepts and ideological values in the name of political science. Moreover, metonymy and synecdoche also reconcile well with metaphor in political discourse, therefore I have sought to exemplify this by quotes from prestigious political speakers such as Winston Churchill, Hitler, and Ronald Reagan. I have also shown that metonymy has been and is the basis of terrorist attacks, in fact, of the terrorist thinking and action that it legitimizes in this way.

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