Знаки-квантификаторы в пандемическом дискурсе (на материале англоязычных публикаций, посвященных эпидемии коронавируса)

Abstract

The aim of the study is to characterize the English-language pandemic media discourse through the quantifier signs involved in it, which serve to implement a number of communicative intentions. By carrying out a linguistic semiotic analysis, the paper identifies additional meanings conveyed by various categories of quantifier signs with the exact and approximate semantics, shows how signs of this type illuminate various aspects of the issue, contribute to memorizing statistical data on infected, hospitalized, deceased, recovered individuals, sheds light on financial expenses, which, in turn, affects the emotional state of recipients and helps them to form certain ideas about the events taking place. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that it examines the quantitative aspects of the coronavirus epidemic from the perspective of linguosemiotics, in particular, the semantic features of quantifier signs and their pragmatic functions in the pandemic media discourse have been revealed for the first time. As a result of the study, it is found that quantifier signs in the English-language pandemic media discourse serve to demonstrate the extent to which the virus has spread and how well it is being combated. In addition, it is shown that quantifier signs are a means of verbal influence on the readership.