USE OF FIRST-PERSON PRONOUNS IN PRESIDENTIAL DISCOURSE AS A MEANS OF SPEECH INVOLVEMENT
The article deals with the use of first-person pronouns as a way of speech involvement that is significant for presidential discourse. The effect of involvement is considered as a consequence of using the pronouns “I” and “we”, their indirect forms and correspondding syntactic constructions. The verbal meanings of the pronouns “I” and “we” in presidential discourse are identified: the pronoun “I” conveys the meaning of authenticity, allows a speaker to voice an opinion and to create his positive image; the pronoun “we” serves to express the unity of a speaker and the audience and the assertion of common interests and goals. In particular, it is noted that the pronoun “we” in the Russian president’s speech expresses five contextual meanings representing the guideline to involve both “near” and “far” addressees.