Politics, Lies and Conspiracy Theories

Politics, Lies and Conspiracy Theories: A Cognitive Linguistic Perspective shows how language influences mechanisms of cognition, perception, and belief, and by extension its power to manipulate thoughts and beliefs. This exciting and original work is the first to apply cognitive linguistics to the analysis of political lies and conspiracy theories, both of which have flourished in the internet age and which many argue are threatening democracy. It unravels the verbal mechanisms that make these 'different truths' so effective and proliferative, dissecting the verbal structures (metaphor, irony, connotative implications, etc.) of a variety of real-life cases concerning politicians, conspiracy theorists, and influencers. Marcel Danesi goes on to demonstrate how these linguistic structures 'switch on' or 'switch off' alternative mind worlds. This book is essential reading for students of cognitive linguistics and will enrich the studies of any student or researcher in language and linguistics more broadly, as well as discourse analysis, rhetoric, or political science.