This thesis deals with the issue of memory and remembering in the post-communist area. In particular, it examines the form, extent and success of the Holocaust reflection and coping with the past on the example of the speeches of Czech and Polish presidents from 1993 (Václav Havel), or 1995 (Aleksander Kwaśniewski) until the access to the European Union in 2004. Author of the thesis assumes that the fall of Communism and the restoration of the democratic establishment represented a significant impetus for the countries in question to deal with their past. At the same time, they try to prove that the Holocaust memory politics of key political representatives of the Czech Republic and Poland has been one of the important factors in the creation of their post-communist democratic identity - and not only with respect to an unofficial demand of the unifying Europe to cope with the heritage of the past. Through the analysis of selected presidential speeches, the thesis identifies and evaluates the image of Holocaust created by the Czech and Polish presidents on the one hand and the weaknesses in the Holocaust memory politics of both actors on the other. After theoretical and conceptual introduction (chapter one), the experience with the Holocaust in Poland and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and...

This thesis deals with the topic of homegrown Islamist terrorism in the European Union. The target of this research is to provide an interpretation of the homegrown terrorism in the political discourse of the EU as an entity and selected member states - France, the United Kingdom and Slovakia. Building on assumptions of social constructivism and securitisation theory, the thesis explores the patterns in the discourses during the years 2015 - 2018 and seeks to identify potential similarities and differences in the political discourses of respective countries. While studying the changes in the discourse, the thesis analyses how the issue of homegrown terrorism has been securitised, thus how the narratives of political authorities shape perception of the homegrown terrorism as a major threat for Europe. In order to organise the arguments in a more objective manner, the research uses a qualitative method of thematic analysis. Our findings suggest that themes which are of general concern in all the discourses are, among others, prevention of terrorism and radicalisation, the significant role of the internet in spreading Islamist propaganda and the problem of returning foreign fighters However, some themes were identified as state-specific, such as highlighting the homegrown nature of current terrorism...

In the dissertation the author presents the analysis of the use of phraseological units in modern political discourse in Russia and the Czech Republic. The author shows that phraseology can be a tool for increasing the expressiveness of a speech, for contacting and influencing the audience in the political discourse. The analysis of cognitive and pragmatic specifics of idioms and metalanguage commentaries in the speech of politicians in a comparative aspect is carried out. As a result the author showes the specifics of the use of phraseological units in describing the speech image of a politician. Key words: phraseology, phraseologism, discourse, political discourse, political linguistics, cognitive linguistics, image of a politician, speech portrait of a politician.

In their book, Fairclough and Fairclough (2013) claim that political leaders’ main role is to make choices in difficult situations. Due to the coronavirus outbreak worldwide, every political leader was called to make difficult decisions and to announce them to their respective public. As a result, there is plenty of new data to be analyzed from a linguistic perspective. The goal of this study is to explore and analyze Boris Johnson’s ten first speeches on Covid-19 addressed to the nation between the 3rd and 23rd March 2020 (from herd immunity policy to strict lockdown). The corpus was examined in terms of lexicon structures (personal pronouns and verbs) and syntax structures (modal verbs), which, according to van Dijk (1997), are persuasive techniques. The findings suggest that the extensive use by Boris Johnson of the personal pronoun ‘we’ (exclusive) as well as the use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ show his active involvement in the fight against Covid-19. This involvement is also corroborated through (a) his use of event verbs, which indicate a continuous action; and (b) his selection of modal verbs of obligation, which mostly follow the personal pronouns that refer to the Prime Minister and/or the decision makers. This paper concludes that syntax and lexicon structures were used in Boris Johnson’s speeches as tools of persuasive techniques.

Since the emergence of Covid-19 in December 2019, metaphors to talk about the pandemic have been extensively used in political discourse. This study aims to compare metaphors for Covid-19 in the discourse of political leaders of the UK, the USA, Canada, and Australia by drawing upon three conceptual metaphors found by De la Rosa (2007). The following conceptual metaphors are investigated: DISEASE IS A WAR, DISEASE IS A NATURAL FORCE, and DISEASE IS A JOURNEY. To find metaphors for Covid-19, one corpus of transcribed political discourse was compiled for each country. The corpora were then searched using lemmas of words specific to each conceptual metaphor. By drawing upon conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) instances of metaphor usage were then analyzed. The frequency results showed the natural force metaphor to be the more frequently used in the UK and Canada corpora. In contrast, no occurrences of natural force metaphors were found in the USA or Australia corpora. The war metaphor was most frequently used in the USA corpus, and in the Australia corpus, the war and journey metaphor were used at similar frequencies. The findings of this study indicate that there is a difference in both frequency and choice of conceptual metaphors between the four corpora. The analysis also suggests that different metaphors can be used for different purposes.

This master's thesis deals with the British political Conservative discourse on Global Britain in the years 2016-2020 and the United Kingdom's place in the post-Brexit world. After the unexpected results of the EU referendum, the British government introduced the concept of Global Britain as their new foreign policy orientation. This paper assumes that the idea of the UK opened to the whole world and embracing old friends and new allies alike is built upon the imperial nostalgia and the idealisation of their past. It focuses on the various ways in which nostalgia manifests itself in the Conservative discourse of 2016-2020, specifically in the public speeches of its key representatives and election programs. In the theoretical part, this paper explores the academic debate on Global Britain and the role of history in the post-Brexit world. It uses the memory studies and operationalisation of the concept of nostalgia as a framework for the source analysis. The empirical chapter presents the research results in two ways - based on the thematic categories and individual speakers. The former follows the various ways in which the nostalgic manifestations are used to create a vision of a post-Brexit global Britain, while the latter focuses on the individual approaches in the efforts to communicate that image.

The thesis 'The role of the Czech public media in the pension reform discourse' aims to provide a critical reflection on the role of the Czech Television and the Czech Radio in the debate over the changes in the pension scheme of the Czech Republic. The principal method used for that is the discourse analysis, which comprises quality and quantity analysis of the media output, interviews and personal observation. The research project focuses on the context the debate over the pension reform occurs and how it is presented in the public media. The theoretical part summarizes the theoretical concepts used in the research project, i.e. concepts from the field of public policy, social policy, mass communication and discourse analysis. The empirical part examines the institutional development of the pension reform, its variations in political, scholarly (Czech and international) and public discourse. The major part of the research project is based on the discourse analysis of the pension reform discourse in the Czech public media. The role of the public media in the pension reform discourse is deduced on the basis of the theoretical and empirical parts.

The master thesis titled Italian Political Discourse and Securitization of Immigration: the Case of the Maghreb revolutions in 2011 deals with the issue of mass immigration waves reaching Italian shores and, in particular, the tiny island of Lampedusa during the initial phase of the so called Arab Spring. Its main goal lies in reconstruction and interpretation of the political discourse led by Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government presenting the immigration crisis as a serious threat to national and potentially to European security. The first part introduces the general theoretical framework. The securitization theory of the Copenhagen School was used as an instrument for the thesis, including major criticism raised by the authors belonging to the social constructivist approach. In the second part, the author tries to characterize the basic historical and political context and clarifies the specifics of immigration in contemporary Italy. The last segment contains structuralized discourse analysis of the 2011 events and explores the extraordinary measures adopted and implemented in reaction to the government rhetoric at both the national and supranational levels. In this respect, the author pays special attention to how the process of negotiations finally led to the revision of the EU...

Over the last six decades, the Eurovision Song Contest has tried to embody the voice of European unification and international corporation. Previous scholars have depicted Eurovision as something highly influential and beneficial for all participating parties, whether that relates to the opportunity for commercial profit, outspoken Europeanist aspirations, or desired political progress– the song contest is utilized by multiple actors for varying reasons. In this study, I aim to demonstrate how it functions as an alternative cultural battlefield, a unifying apparatus, a signifier of projections, and a vehicle for soft power politics in warfare. It is an essay about political storytelling– the dichotomies between collaboration and resistance, Europeanist aspirations versus nationalistic objectives, the democratic against the totalitarian, the good and the bad. The Eurovision rationale aims to encourage certain rules of behavior and regulate conduct towards those nations that have failed to adhere to these rules. When these assumptions gain terrain in the public discourse, epistemological hegemonies are maintained, power relations sustained and public opinion affected. The study uses a methodological framework of qualitative research, and the empirical data consists of seven interviews followed by a visual analysis of the performances and context surrounding entries from Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia over the years. Three main narratives emanated from this study. The Eurovision Song Contest can be understood as an imagined community created by language and imagined through symbols of meaning. The governing body of Eurovision is the sovereign player who gets to control the political discourse by managing the selection of songs and participating countries. With impression management, the participating nations try and regulate how they are perceived in a public setting. It is communicated through carefully curated performances and acted out by constructed characters. When one fails to adhere to the rules set by the ESC organizers, disturbances occur, and the competition's core values are threatened.

New media and mobile technologies have opened up numerous 'unregulated spaces' (Sebba, 2009b) and public spheres for self expression, interpersonal interactions as well as the transnational transcultural flow and fusion of ideologies (Pennycook, 2007). The discursive and interactive possibilities of mobile and Web 2.0 technologies make computer-mediated communication (CMC) platforms techno-linguistic environments for virtual deliberation and discussions. Online multilingualism and contact phenomena easily flourish in such contexts. Many Nigerians at home and abroad are embracing the CMC technologies to interact with one another, to negotiate profitable ideas for the betterment of Nigeria and to redress endemic socio-political issues. This study examines the linguistic construction of textual messages by Nigerians and the sociocultural manifestations of 'Nigerianness' (Chiluwa, 2008) and Nigerianisms in digital discourse. The dissertation is divided into four parts, each comprising two chapters. Part I introduces the subject matter and research focus, with an examination of language and identity in the typographical representations of Nigerianness by theoretically using relevant aspects of discursive work (e.g. Benwell & Stokoe, 2006; Bucholtz & Hall, 2005; De Fina, Schiffrin & Bamberg, 2006; Le Page & Tabouret-Keller, 1985; Llamas & Watt, 2010); Part II is concerned with the theme of Internet code switching and language crossing; Part III addresses the dialectical connection of language, new media technologies and politics; while Part IV presents the questionnaire survey results and research findings. The study innovatively examines language contact features in Nigerian CMC in terms of Bourdieu's (1977) economics of linguistic exchanges and the Faircloughian (1992) application of intertextuality in the Bakhtinian spirit. By linguistic marketing is meant discourse as a vehicle for 'promotional acts' and for 'selling' particular cultures and ideologies to multicultural and multilingual readers/audiences. One interpretation of this is in terms of asserting language rights and linguistic equality. Therefore, the use of Nigerian languages with Nigerian Pidgin online is promotional and for existential negotiation. This results in language mixture which is an instantiation of freedom of speech, freedom of switch and the freedom to switch. The underlying pragmatic motivation for top-down language mixture and alternation in Nigerian virtual discourse is attention-getting with the aim of inducing an interdiscursive writer-reader cognitive as well as communicative interactions. Other pragmatic functions of code switching discussed in the study include allusive textuality, amusing phaticity, anticipated interactivity, affective expressivity, and audience affiliation or alienation. Thus, intertextuality is an explanatory technique for investigating previously unexplored phenomena in digital code switching. Rampton's (1995) conceptualisation of language crossing is used to explicate the graphemic representations of variation in Nigerian English phonology. Additionally, for the sake of explanatory exigency, relevant aspects of speech acts theory (SAT) (Austin, 1962; Searle, 1969) are fused with critical discourse analysis (CDA) for the construction of our data-derived, election-oriented, politico-pragmatic tweet acts, in terms of what we call Good Governance Maxims (GGM). Finally, there are two types of data employed in the study: (i) corpus (INEC i.e. Informal Nigerian Electronic Communication with PLANET - Purposeful Language Alternation in Nigerian Electronic Texts) and (ii) questionnaire survey. The random sampling of 1,154 Nigerian undergraduates offline illustrates how computer-mediated discourse analysis (CMDA) can be supplemented by a sociolinguistic survey in what Androutsopoulos (2006:424) calls “the observation of Internet use in offline social spaces” through a blend of on- and offline ethnography.