Constructing the Image of Russia in Public and Political Discourse: From Semantic Description to Metaphorical Framing of Events

Abstract

The subject of the research is the processes of meaning-making in public and socio-political discourse, related to constructing and interpreting the image of Russia. The study deals with the specificity of semantic description of the country's image, with a particular focus on a thesaurus – a repository of data, knowledge and concepts an individual possesses in relation to a reflected fact of life. With the emergence of the cognitive approach the researchers' observations shift towards the confrontation of cultures and the resulting ideological opposition as prerequisites for constructing a particular image of Russia. In contrast to traditional linguistics, describing metaphorical images of Russia in terms of "semantic components" or "semantic fields", cognitive linguistics views constructing of the country's image as an effect of metaphorical framing which involves applying a number of coherent procedures: naming, categorization, framing, narrating. Under proliferation and competition of ideologies, it is not the frequency of a metaphorical model of the image of Russia that serves as an indicator of its productivity but rather its potential to produce new lexical units, frames or slots. The current study exemplifies the role of ideologemes and beliefs, reflecting different value systems, in constructing the auto- and hetero-image of Russia. The paper dwells on framing in the processes of activating society's emotional states "fostering" various Russia-related sentiments. While constructing the auto- and hetero-image of Russia, political actors compete fiercely for their right to frame ideas dominating the public and political discourse and ensuring their accepted meaning. Under the current ideological opposition, the instrumentarium of metaphorical framing and reframing can serve not only as a means of competitive practices but also a means of conflict resolution in discussing the ideological and political agendas associated with attitudes to Russia.