CATALONIA AND CATALANS IN CARLES PUIGDEMONT POLITICAL DISCOURSE: IN SEARCH OF NATIONAL IDENTITY

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to determine the peculiarities of the construction of Catalan identity in C. Puigdemont public speeches in 2016 – 2018. The specificity of the chosen theoretical and methodological model of the research is to involve diverse tools of analysis (critical discourse analysis, linguistics, history, political science and sociology) to study the images of Catalonia and Catalans in the modern Spanish political discourse. The authors assumed that Catalan identity has features of national identity in C. Puigdemont political discourse and is used as one of the leading levers of influence on public opinion. The article defines the historic context and main components of the discursive construction of Catalan identity. For analysis and systematization of information, such methods as historical approach, content and event analysis, discourse analysis and elements of statistical analysis were used. The scientific novelty. For the first time it was made an analysis of the role of discursive strategies in the verbalization of Catalan identity in specific texts – in the public speeches of C. Puigdemont, the politician who had a significant impact on the evolution of the Constitutional Crisis in Catalonia in 2017 – 2018. Conclusions. The analysis allowed to explore the historical context and main mechanisms of the verbalization of the cultural and national values of Catalonia and nationalist ideology in political discourse. We found that C. Puigdemont uses different strategies to achieve his communicative goal and create positive images of Catalonia and Catalans in the minds of his audience. The politician is guided by the strategy of self-identification and self-representation to conceptualize the central images of his political speeches. The strategy of division into “us” and “others” is realized by contrasting Catalan and Spanish identities, as well as by comparing Catalonia and Spain as a higher and dependent, aggressor and victim, oppressor and defender. The polarization of the society and the economic decline of Catalonia can be considered as the effects of the implementation of C. Puigdemont policy.