Precedent phenomena in spanish media discourse: linguopragmatic aspect

Abstract

The article examines linguopragmatic and linguoculturological aspects of the precedent phenomena usage in the Spanish media discourse aiming to define the pragmatic potential of the precedent in it and to partially reconstruct the Spanish picture of the world and linguistic identity by defining the linguoculturological importance of the precedent phenomena. The language is seen as an instrument for coding and translating cultural-semantic information. The definition of the notion ‘precedent’ is given and the basic theories on contemporary precedent studies are analyzed, the intertextuality theory in particular. A precedent phenomenon in the text is seen as a manifestation of a linguistic world-image, world knowledge objectification as well as a powerful tool of peoples’ minds manipulation by its implicit verbal influence on the audience. According to D. Gudkov’s classification, there are the following universal and national precedent phenomena: precedent situations, precedent names and precedent expressions. In the media text a precedent phenomenon is seen as one of the means of the implementation of the following strategies: semantic, pragmatic, conversational and rhetorical. Intertextuality is predominantly manifested in neologisms, allusions and quotations, which refer to the world and Spanish literature, the Bible, mythological sources and historical realia and Spanish internal events. The obtained results have proved the original hypothesis, according to which precedent phenomena in the media discourse reflect the cultural fund and the historical memory of the Spanish linguocultural community thus serving as a culture and language conductor. They also provide an indirect communication between the representatives of different cultures, epochs and generations.