Семантические и функциональные особенности фотокомментария в англоязычном новостном тексте

Abstract

The study aims to determine the semantic features and functional load of the photo commentary in English-language news texts. The paper examines the role of the photo commentary in the interaction of visual and verbal components of a polycode news text. The work is novel in that it is the first to analyse the semantic relations between the photo commentary and the image, as well as between the photo commentary and the text of a news article, determine the functional features of the photo commentary in news materials. As a result of the study, it has been found that the photo commentary helps to identify and interpret the image, incorporate it into the text of an article content-wise; the types of semantic correlation of the photo commentary with the image and the text, which are based on the relations of logical subordination, intersection and equivalence, have been identified; the most common functions of the photo commentary in the texts under consideration have been described: the explanatory, coherent, informative, distinguishing, expressive, attractive functions, the function of attributing the source of photographic material. One of the important functional features of the photo commentary in news articles is its multifunctionality.