Verbal Tactics of Implementing Discrediting Strategy in the U.S. Diplomatic Discourse

Abstract. The article presents the analysis of the accusation tactics that implement a discrediting strategy in the U.S. diplomatic discourse. The aim of the article is to study speech acts that shape tactics of accusation in implementing a discrediting strategy. The article offers a classification of markers of the communicative tactics of accusation that implement a discrediting strategy in the public statements of US diplomats, namely V. Nuland, G. Pyatt, S. Power, D. Baer, related to the military conflict in eastern Ukraine. The total number of public speeches that have been analyzed is 97 (from 2013 to 2015). A special attention is drawn to the speech acts and how they implement the tactics of accusation in diplomatic discourse. The author has found out that the tactics of accusation is basic and the most common tactics of implementing the discrediting strategy in the studied speeches. At the core of these tactics are mainly direct assertive speech acts