Image of the Author as a Factor of the Interpretative Functioning of the Text

Abstract

The paper features the role of the author's image as a factor that determines the variable functioning of the text in the process of its interpretation by a native speaker. A linguistic experiment conducted by the author revealed semantic versions of the source text as a result of the influence of the author's image on the interpreting activity of the addressee. The image of the author is viewed as a portrait of a political leader modeled by the addressee and his or her communicative intentions on the basis of the analysis of interpretive texts as the result of perception and interpretation of the source text. The research proves that the image of the author influences the addressee’s interpretation of the text. The author used the method of linguistic analysis to prove that the image of the author of the political text is shaped in mundane political consciousness under the impact of various factors and influences mundane linguistic consciousness and the interpreting activity of the addressee. This is confirmed by the fact that the same text, attributed to different politicians, received different interpretations depending on how the recipient perceived the politician designated as the author of the text.