Politics about Folklore - Folklore in Politics

The contribution concentrates on the term "folklore" or "popular character" & semantic equivalents of these words in the language (slang) of politicians, journalists, & political commentators as well as some representatives of the intelligentsia. It starts mainly from expressions published in the mass media or other media after the changes in 1989-1998. The term is used in a negative or even pejorative sense & reflects the inner polarization of Slovak society in the political sense. It consists of the following semantic layers: political (synonym of totalitarianism, or communism); national-identificational; aesthetico-artistic; philosophical; survival of the stereotype of the peasant as contrasting with the higher-educated layers, ie, a critique of the improper behavior of some politicians. "Folklore" becomes a linguistic stereotype. Its individual layers merge & are mutually substitutable. Medialization of the word "folklore" in pejorative sense became one of the indicators of political changes from totalitarianism to democracy. 20 References. Adapted from the source document.