“Pseudo-precedent” Signs of High Culture from the Citation Source “F.M. Dostoevsky” in the Modern Media Text

Abstract

The article examines the features of the functioning of precedent signs of high culture with the source sphere “F.M. Dostoevsky” in the media space. The subject of the study is media texts that use the precedents of the specified sphere (texts, statements, situations), the authorship of which is attributed to the writer. The purpose of the article is to identify “false” quotations as part of Dostoevsky's precedent world and analyze their high frequency in media texts. Media texts published in Russian publications, as well as materials from social networks and blogs, were used as the research material. Methods of contextual analysis of precedent phenomena and their “transformations”, the method of semantic and pragmatic interpretation were used for the analysis. To identify the “pseudo-citations”, literary studies of scientists devoted to the study of the creativity and biography of F.M. Dostoevsky were required. The scientific novelty of the work consists in the fact that it analyzes for the first time the “pseudo-precedent” cultural signs actively replicated in the media space with the source sphere “Dostoevsky” from the point of view of their ethical correctness and aesthetic value. The conducted research revealed the frequency of the use of Dostoevsky's “pseudo-citations” in the modern media space; in addition, several groups of the writer's “pseudo-citations” were identified according to the degree of unreliability of information. The research materials allowed us to conclude about the potential risks of replication of Dostoevsky's “pseudo-citations” acting as a means of political propaganda and ideological struggle. The results of the research can be used in the development of special courses in media linguistics, axiological linguistics and linguoethics.