Cognitive Discourse Analysis of Gaslighting in the Short Film: Your Reality

Abstract

The current study examines the cognitive structure of gaslighting in discourse. That is, how gaslighting discursive techniques are cognitively or mentally structured. The study seeks to answer the questions: what are the gaslighting techniques used by the manipulator in the data selected? what are the categories of attitude manifesting the gaslighting techniques? And what are the image schemata that mentally constructs the gaslighting statements? To answer the questions, the researcher adopts an eclectic model of three layers to analyse the discourse of the award-winning short film ‘Your Reality’.