Introduction of the concept of “Putin’s Games” in the foreign media discourse: aspect of relevance

Abstract

The subject of this research is the representation of the linguocultural concept of “Putin’s Games” in the English-language media dedicated to 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Within the framework of linguoculturological approach, analysis is conducted on the aspect of relevance of the concept of “Putin’s Games”, reflected in the number of linguistic means of appeal to this concept. Consideration of over 160 English-language articles from the leading British and U.S. publishers allowed determining such peculiarities in representation of the concept of “Putin’s Games” as the diversity of linguistic means appealing to the concept in a relatively low frequency of utilization of individual linguistic units; accentuation of close affinity between the name of the Russian President and the 2014 Winter Olympics. Foreign media discourse verbalizes the concept of "Putin's Games” on different linguistic levels. A wide variety of lexical expressions appealing to the concept, reflect connection between the President and the Olympics not only in an explicit way (through the President's first and last name), but also implicitly (metaphoricity, irony). Neologisms and phraseologisms used by journalists for describing "Putin's Games" bring in additional emotional coloring to the content of this concept. The stylistic techniques applied for verbalization of the concept involve different linguistic levels: the discourse presents phonetic, lexical, and syntactic visual means. Precedent phenomena contribute to enhancement of negative connotation, and also describe the geopolitical interests of Sochi Olympics. The acquired results underline the relevance of the concept of “Putin’s Games” for the English-language media discourse.