A Semantic-Pragmatic Study of Understatement in Trump's and Biden's 2020 Presidential Debate

Abstract

Linguistically, people are sometimes aware of what they utter, and seeking a way to say the same utterance with a higher range of politeness,so they use what is called an understatement. Understatement is a common type of figurative language used in everyday communication that often plays a significant role in adding a humorous effect to many different types of written work. It is based on a more general attenuation or semantic weakening phenomenon. Although understatement says nothing, attenuation says less and implies more. Funnily enough, the speaker can have to do more to say less.                                                                                                     

Accordingly, the present study tries to answer the following questions: (1)is understatement used in American debates? (2)What is the main purpose behind using understatement in American debates? (3)What is the most frequent way of using understatement in American debates?  Following the mentioned questions, the present study tries to achieve the following aims: (1) Showing whether(or not) their understatement used in American debates.  (2) Finding out the main purpose behind using understatement in American debates. (3) Pinpointing the most frequent way in using understatement in American debates. Hence, it is hypothesized that: (1) understatement is used in American debates.(2)Modesty is the main purpose behind using understatement in American debates.(3)Being indirect is the most frequent way in using understatement in American debates.  Consequently, the study follows certain procedures to achieve the aims of the study and test its hypotheses. These steps include: (1)Presenting a theoretical background about understatement semantically and pragmatically.(2)Analyzing six extracts selected from 2020 American debates.