Communicative Image of Politicians in the Framework of Political Linguopersonology

This article is situated within the emerging field of political linguopersonology. It outlines the conceptual foundations of political linguopersonology as a new branch of linguistics and clarifies its distinctive features in comparison with the theory of linguistic personality, political linguistics, and general linguopersonology. Particular attention is given to the notion of the communicative image, which is defined as a key category of political linguopersonology. Its specificity is demonstrated through an analysis of the communicative behavior of Ukrainian politicians. The empirical material comprises speeches and statements of Ukrainian presidents that have acquired precedent value and have become integral elements of their communicative image. The aim of the study is to substantiate the concept of communicative image as one of the core categories of political linguopersonology and to identify the distinctive features of communicative images constructed by Ukrainian politicians. The object of analysis is Ukrainian presidential discourse, as manifested in public speeches, addresses, and interactions of Ukrainian presidents. The subject of analysis is the speech activity of Ukrainian presidents and their image-shaping utterances. The material examined includes speeches and statements by Leonid Kravchuk (1991–1994), Leonid Kuchma (1994–2004), Viktor Yushchenko (2005–2010), Viktor Yanukovych (2010–2013), Petro Poroshenko (2014–2019), and Volodymyr Zelensky (incumbent since 2019). The findings demonstrate that the communicative image of a politician constitutes one of the central concepts of political linguoexpertology and represents a system of recurrent behavioral models and linguistic strategies employed in a politician’s discourse. The communicative image is particularly significant for political leaders, whose speech behavior is subject to heightened societal expectations. Spontaneous speech, in contrast to prepared communication, reveals latent traits of a politician’s linguistic personality and thus provides insight into their authentic communicative image.