Language in the service of propaganda – on newspeak in contemporary Russian political discourse

Abstract

The present paper is focused on newspeak functioning after 2022 in Russian formal political and medial discourse. The starting point is related to George Orwell’s idea according to which it is now a language subordinated to totalitarian ideology, eliminating the possibility of applying free thinking. The analysis is based on propaganda broadcasts, publications by politicians - including Vladimir Putin - and press articles published on the Internet. The aim of the study is to show devices and tools of linguistic manipulation, which are tools that create a black and white image of reality, based on the opposition "us - them". In this article, extreme attention is paid to stereotypical linguistic clichés, word-symbols, euphemisms, semantic deformations, and updates to religion and history that intensify emotional messages at the expense of information. Examples were presented proving that the language of Russian propaganda is fully persuasive and ritualistic, equipped with the legitimization of military activities and consolidation of society around the ruling class, and is also a tool of manipulation and disinformation.