Proximization and Distanciation in Political Discourse: A Critical Cognitive Analysis of Tokayev’s 2022 State of the Nation Address

Proximization is a discursive strategy for reducing symbolic distance in Discourse Space, while distanciation is another strategy for increasing or maintaining symbolic distance. Both strategies are capable of serving the pragmatic functions of legitimization of the Self and delegitimization of the Other within a text. This study integrates the two devices into a novel Symbolic Distance Adjusting framework. With Kazakhstan President Tokayev’s 2022 State of the Nation Address as an example, we analyze the lexico-grammatical realizations of the aforementioned discursive strategies in political discourse, explain the related cognitive mechanisms, interpret the discourse semantics, and attempt to reveal their ideological effects. This study adds to approaches of Critical Cognitive Linguistics and provides a new perspective to political discourse studies.