Modern Russia in focus of phraseology (based on the material of english language mediatexts)

Abstract

The article focuses on the usage of idioms for characterizing the image of Russia in the English language media discourse. To understand the meaning of the phraseological unit one should apply the method of discourse analysis. The discourse analysis of the mediatext takes into account extra-linguistic, linguistic and cognitive factors. Extra-linguistic factors include political situation, current events, and ideology of a state and media outlet. Linguistic analysis provides for the investigation of the semantics of the idiom and its connotative potential. Cognitive analysis shows the intentions of the author to create either positive or negative opinion of events described. Connotative meaning is determined by means of linguocognitive analysis considering extra-linguistic factors. The semantics of the idiom contains subjective modalities (axiological, emotive and deontic) representing different assessments of the reality. Modality can be identified with cognitive-modal operators specifying different types of evaluation: rational, emotional, normative. The analysis of the semantic structure of phraseological units is conducted in our research. It is aimed at characterizing the role of Russia in the global world by means of idioms. The discourse approach enables to determine the connotative potential of phraseological units and to describe the image of our country in the English language mass media.