Meganarrative as an instrument of structuring media information

Abstract

The article introduces the scientific concept of meganarrative, substantiates the necessity of this term in the metalanguage of media linguistics and discusses the potential of using it as an instrument for structuring mass data in media space. The author aims to determine the linguistic resources used to create a meganarrative as a polydiscursive unit that brings together thematically related narratives expressing authors’ perception and evaluation of an event described. The possibility of using the proposed concept of meganarrative is analyzed on the example of an institutional-type political statement published by the U.S. Department of Defense. The tasks of the research consist in revealing the features of a meganarrative in media communication, establishing the causes of conflicting interests and finding linguistic means of resolving conflict situations. The study makes use of the methods of narrative and discourse analysis, contextual method, componential analysis of meanings of key lexical units and methods of linguacultural interpretation of linguistic peculiarities of a meganarrative. The research makes it possible to draw a number of conclusions: a meganarrative is understood as a polydiscursive formation which serves as a transtextual means of structuring media streams and ensuring a platform for intertextual dialogue between narrative participants of media communication; narrative techniques are shown to make an impact on the character of describing events and evaluating them in mass media; a meganarrative is shown to play an important role in uniting those who belong to the ‘US’ side, enhancing confrontation with the ‘THEM’ block and continuing rivalry with the ‘OTHER’ opponents.