Communication modes: The fabric of the post-Soviet political interview (1991–1999)

The article discusses linguistic forms and pragmatic features of the verbal interaction that occurred in interviews with Russian politicians in the last decade of the 20th century. The genre of political interview emerged in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union; it was exposed to different trends in verbal communication, gradually shaping its own discourse norms and structure. The study investigates the ways of expression by communicants their intentions and offers a comparative analysis of the ‘talk’ and ‘attack’ interview styles. These two counter types of political discourse dramatically illustrate the inherent features of the Russian culture of communication as a whole.