Võimusuhete konstrueerimine nõukogude ajalehediskursuses 1946-1979

Date

2007

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Tartu Ülikool

Abstract

Description

This paper concentrates on the linguistic methods used in the Soviet Estonia to fasten and enhance the power of the Communist Party. Those methods could be generalized as the power discourse. The research is based on the representation of three topics in the Estonian Communist Party newspaper Rahva Hääl – namely, the elections of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1946, the uprising in Hungary in 1956 and the beginning of forced Russification in 1979. Two research methods were used. First, by the means of content analysis an overall picture was drawn of the contents of Rahva Hääl in the three years, to give a background to the representation of the specific topics. Genres, authors and topics of the stories were studied. A general trend was an increase in the percentage of “softer” topics and genres throughout the years. The main method used in research was discourse analysis. Four categories were used to approach the texts, all relevant in the context of power relations – (1) construction of subject positions, (2) intertextuality and the representation of “voices”, (3) characteristics of argumentation and (4) consolidation of readers. Although the three topics were different by nature, there appeared a clear set of linguistic methods used to enhance the power of the Party throughout the years and independently from the specific topic. The main part of this set were methods used in the aim of suppressing critical thinking, in the aim of linking the readers mentally to the one- sided world drawn by propaganda. As such methods, the use of factual data was often minimized in the favor of judgments, generalizations, colorful “labels” and superlatives. Also, the world was shown as stereotypically black-and-white, and there was a constant representation of people as very easily influenced by propaganda – an example for the readers to identify themselves with. An important conclusion of the research was the lack of oppositional discourse in the stories, although the general pressure to the media was different in the three years. Therefore the research gives proof of a constant strong control used in the approach to topics which had higher relevance to the maintenance of power.

Keywords

H Social Sciences (General), magistritööd, NSV Liit, nõukogude võim, ideoloogiad, venestamine, ajalehed, nõukogude aeg, keelekasutus, propaganda, Ungari ülestõus, 1956, sotsiaalne konstruktsioon, tsensuur, 20. saj. 2. pool, diskursusanalüüs

Citation