Fake news, Kate’s Law, Bad Hombres – Donald Trump often took two simple words everyone knows, combined and tweeted them to create political earthquakes. Despite “the Donald’s” opponents frequently sneering at the reality star’s teenage vocabulary, they failed to grasp the impact of his newly crafted words, and especially, of his compounds. To a greater extent than any other candidate, the former real estate mogul coined new compounds to convey his political agenda. For instance, the enormous popularity of “fake news” discredited the supposedly biased mainstream media so effectively that Donald Trump became virtually immune to bad press. Hence, I will explore in this essay how clever campaign compounds decided the 2016 US presidential race.
The paper is split in an introduction to compounding and a review of the most important compounds of the 2016 US presidential race. The introduction starts by giving an overview over the structural, sociopragmatic and cognitive perspective on compounding. A closer look at the semantic structure of compounds and an evaluation on typical compounds follows. The introduction to compounding closes with a general explanation on the creation, consolidation and establishment of complex lexemes. The section Campaign Compounds covers some of the most important compounds of the presidential race: Nicknames, Kate’s Law, Bad Hombres, Two Corinthians and the crowning jewel of them all, Fake News.
Since established databanks, namely the Oxford English Dictionary online, the MLA International Bibliography, the Bibliography and the American National Biography online, had little to no hits on those entries, I relied heavily on newspaper articles published online in order to get some idea of the current spread of compounds, and I also conducted a small survey amongst students from Heidelberg and Durham. The entire survey is attached in the appendix, but the most important stats are: asked for the first three words associated with the 2016 US election campaign, 26,6% mentioned at least one compound. “Fake news” led with 20% followed by “Crooked Hillary” with 10%. In general, those numbers were significantly higher for students from Heidelberg.
Table of Contents
Introduction
What are compounds?
Three perspectives: structural, sociopragmatic, cognitive
Semantic Structure
Typical versus non-typical compounds
Development of Complex Lexemes
Campaign Compounds
Nicknames
Kate´s Law, Bad Hombres
Two Corinthians
Fake News
Conclusion
Objectives & Core Themes
This essay explores the linguistic and political impact of "campaign compounds" used by Donald Trump during the 2016 US presidential election, analyzing how these specific word formations were crafted and strategically deployed to shape public discourse and political narratives.
- The linguistic structure and cognitive establishment of compounds.
- The strategic use of nicknames to discredit political opponents.
- The role of "Fake News" as a tool for controlling media narratives.
- The influence of linguistic framing on voter perception and election outcomes.
Excerpt from the Book
Fake News
Fake News was used as early as 1891 when a New York advertisement featured: “The public taste [...] certainly has no genuine appetite for ‘fake news’ and ‘special fiend’ decoctions such as were served up by a local syndicate a year or two ago” (The Huffington Post – Fallon). However, it was hardly used until “the Donald” revived it. Whether he had heard of “fake news” and decided to define its meaning in a way profitable to his campaign, or whether he was ignorant of the word and came up with the ad-hoc formation “fake” plus “news” equals “fake news” - thus creating a compound, is impossible to know.
The former reality TV star claims to have coined the phrase, but given his “tenuous relationship with the truth” (Ted Cruz) – I have no doubts he would have claimed to have invented the slogan “Make America Great Again” on which Ronald Regan ran before him, or to have been the first man on the moon if he had had an instinct that such a claim would help his agenda – this assurance is of little value. We will give the benefit of the doubt to Trump, however, and regard “fake news” as a campaign compound. It surely is a compound, and whether Trump, one of his aids, or an anonymous individual in the late 19th century originally combined fake with news ultimately has no bearing on its political impact. The best example for Trump’s coinage of fake news is the Jim Acosta incident, although this incident happened shortly after the presidential election.
Summary of Chapters
Introduction: Provides a structural and cognitive overview of compounding and introduces the research focus on Trump's use of campaign compounds during the 2016 election.
What are compounds?: Defines the linguistic schools of compounding and examines how lexical items become entrenched in a speaker's mental lexicon.
Campaign Compounds: Analyzes specific political slogans and terms, demonstrating how Trump used nicknames and phrases like "Fake News" to influence voter behavior.
Conclusion: Synthesizes the findings, arguing that Trump's strategic use of linguistic compounds allowed him to control the media narrative and effectively eliminate his political rivals.
Keywords
Campaign compounds, Donald Trump, 2016 US election, linguistics, word formation, Fake News, nicknames, sociopragmatics, cognitive linguistics, narrative control, political rhetoric, lexical establishment, Bad Hombres, Kate's Law, Two Corinthians.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this paper?
The paper examines how Donald Trump successfully utilized specific linguistic tools, known as "campaign compounds," to define political narratives and influence the 2016 US presidential election.
What are the central themes discussed?
The study centers on the intersection of linguistics and politics, focusing on the formation of new words, the power of nicknames, and the strategic labeling of media outlets.
What is the primary research goal?
The author aims to explore how clever campaign compounds, often created by combining simple words, functioned as effective political tools that gave Trump an advantage over his opponents.
Which scientific methodology does the paper employ?
The paper combines linguistic theory, specifically regarding word formation and sociopragmatics, with empirical data gathered through a small survey conducted among students in Heidelberg and Durham.
What topics are covered in the main section?
The main part of the paper details various "campaign compounds," including the strategic use of nicknames like "Lyin' Ted" or "Crooked Hillary," and the broader phenomenon of the "Fake News" label.
Which keywords define this work?
The work is defined by terms such as campaign compounds, political rhetoric, lexical establishment, narrative control, and sociopragmatics.
How does the author define the term "Fake News" in the context of the election?
The author highlights that while the phrase existed historically, it was repurposed by Trump to mean "false reports invented and spread by the mainstream media," effectively shifting the burden of proof onto journalists.
What role did the "Jim Acosta incident" play in the author's analysis?
It serves as a primary case study for how Trump used the "Fake News" label in real-time to silence a reporter and generate a viral moment that undermined mainstream media credibility.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Manuel Damián von Spangenberg (Autor:in), 2017, "Fake News", "Kate's Law", "Bad Hombres". Clever Campaign Compounds that decided the 2016 US Presidential Race, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/454893
