Concluding Thoughts

Abstract

This book has examined the productive relationship between language and political realities in post-Soviet Russia shortly before and during Vladimir Putin’s first two terms in office. Designed as a corpus-assisted exploration of both mainstream and opposition discourses, it has focused on the twofold role of language in political actions: that of establishing or challenging dominant perceptions through collective symbols and metaphors, and as a means of defining group identity by establishing common narratives (Townson, 1992). The analyses presented here are underpinned by the view of corpus linguistics as a discipline that studies meaning as use, and show that it offers a rich potential for a systematic and critical interrogation of discursive practices. Here I reflect on the key theoretical and methodological points and provide appraisal of the main findings.