Putin's language/funny programme

[John Dunn]

I believe that many politicians eventually turn into self-parodies, and I think this is to some extent true of Putin and Chernomyrdin.  In my view both men are equally sophisticated, though perhaps in a sense closer to the original meaning of the word than its current meaning.  It strikes me as probable that their initial linguistic eccentricities were spontaneous and, in the case of Chernomyrdin, accidental, but as time has gone on, these have come to be used by both men (or their advisers) to form part of a carefully constructed linguistic image which has in different ways enhanced their popularity.  The danger, however, is that the image starts to takes over the man, and that is when they descend into self-parody.

The person who loses out in all this is the incumbent president, for whom it has so far proved impossible to create a convincing and popular linguistic image.  But then I am not sure how one would go about creating a convincing and popular linguistic image for someone who has spent their career as an academic lawyer.

John Dunn.



-----Original Message-----
From: Alexandra Smith <Alexandra.Smith at ED.AC.UK>
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 2010 23:54:32 +0100
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Putin's language/funny programme

Dear Psy Ling,

Thank you for your reference.

According to Verbitskaya's recent assessment of the state of Russian  
language today in public sphere, Putin's language is much more  
sophisticated than that of Chernomyrdin. See her interview here:  
http://www.5-tv.ru/video/505170/

With best wishes,
Alexandra



John Dunn
Honorary Research Fellow, SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow, Scotland

Address:
Via Carolina Coronedi Berti 6
40137 Bologna
Italy
Tel.: +39 051/1889 8661
e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk
johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it

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