Rhetorical Questions in the Pre-Election Speeches of Georgian Politicians

Language is a tool of social communication that is distinct and unique to each individual. One of the most widely used linguistic and expressive means of effective communication is the rhetorical question, which functions as a powerful mechanism of linguistic manipulation. The tendency to use rhetorical questions is particularly evident in mass media, especially in television programs, where speakers deliver ideological messages to viewers and attempt to influence public opinion. Rhetorical questions play a significant role in political discourse, as politicians aim to deliver their message persuasively to the public and gain their support. This paper analyzes the rhetorical questions identified in the pre-election speeches of Georgian politicians – on the one hand, within the context of political discourse, and on the other hand, within the framework of the communicative act. In our research, we took into account both the categories of the speech act – locutionary, illocutionary, and perlocutionary – and the elaboration likelihood theory. We employed traditional research methods, including comparison and contrast, critical analysis, discourse analysis, functional-semantic analysis, as well as structural and linguistic-political analysis. The empirical material consists of rhetorical questions identified in the pre-election speeches of the leaders of the five parties that passed the electoral threshold in the parliamentary elections of Georgia held on October 26, 2024. The research revealed, on the one hand, the motivation of politicians – under what circumstances and for what purposes do the selected politicians use rhetorical questions – and, on the other hand, it describes the structure and components of contexts containing rhetorical questions. The paper represents an attempt to create a methodological framework that can be effectively applied to analyze a relatively under-researched phenomenon in the Georgian language – political rhetoric –and to identify the linguistic strategies employed by politicians within Georgian political discourse.