FAKE, I KNOW YOU: LINGUISTIC TOOLS TO DISTINGUISH MENDACIOUS INFORMATION

Abstract

The paper analyses fake news which function in the framework of different types of discourse: advertising, political, scientific, etc. On the basis of some definitions of fake news, the authors single out the specific features of a hoax message: media-space as the sphere of the fake news’ existence and the juxtaposition of the true and false information. It is pointed out that one of the peculiarities of fake news is that it imitates genuine news and is built on the same principles as “hard” news. The main thing here is the ability to distinguish between false and true news based on certain linguistic mechanisms: insertion into the text of events which didn’t exist or evaluation of which is determined by the axiological priorities of the political communication actors; anonymous attribution, i.e. the absence of concrete names of the people who have provided information; biased citation of a third party’s opinion without indicating the name and the title of the quotation author; labeling, when a political leader or their activity is characterized via evaluative nominations; extrapolation of conclusions on a topic on a broader geopolitical situation; using speculations and suppositions to estimate the current situation; discussing current event on the broad historical background; suppositions and the desire to present the situation to the opponents’ advantage; whipping up tension and forecasting the possible development of events according to a destructive scenario. The article describes the factors influencing fake news dissemination and gives advice how to spot fake news in mass media.