Bilyk O. Temporal Organisation of American Election Discourse

This dissertation takes a cognitive-discursive stance in the study of the temporal organization of American election discourse. It is argued that the cognitive basis of the temporal organization of election discourse is formed by the concepts PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE. The research reveals the properties of lexical and grammatical units which take part in verbalizing the concepts PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE; establishes the binary temporal oppositions that realize discursive strategies in election discourse; establishes the correlation between the temporal concepts and the genre of election discourse; determines the metaphoric source domains of the concepts PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE. The analysis of the metaphorical elaboration of the temporal concepts aims at studying the range of metaphors with the referents PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE. Metaphorical profiling of the temporal concepts is accompanied by emphasizing the positive/negative aspects of the past, present and future, due to implementing various strategies in election discourse. Key words: cognitive-discursive approach, concepts PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE, conceptual metaphor, election discourse, temporal organization.