SYSTEMIC AND FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GERUND AS A POLYFUNCTIONAL UNIT OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Abstract

The article deals with the specific characteristics of gerundial forms as polyfunctional units used in online mass media texts. Both the linguistic aspect of gerundial forms, including semantic, syntactical and stylistic features, and a cognitive discursive aspect of polyfunctional units use in mass media are studied.
 The purpose of the study is a complex analysis for discovering systemic and functional characteristics of gerundial forms use in English mass media.
 The material chosen for the research process is based on the mass media discourse presented in the format of online media texts of the British social and political newspapers and magazines (the Guardian, the Times, the Independent, the Economist, the Week, the Telegraph).
 Following methods have been used as the methodological basis of the research due to its main purpose that deals with the linguistic and linguo-cognitive analysis of gerundial forms: sampling method, descriptive method, functional-stylistic analysis and contextual analysis.
 Academic novelty of the paper is that polyfunctional units are studied from the point of view of discourse analysis and relations between linguistic units and cognitive-discursive factors.
 As a result of the research it has been stated that functional features of gerundial forms contribute to discovering the systemic character of polyfunctionality.
 In conclusion, it should be mentioned that mental propositional structures are objectively associated with the conceptual content of the gerund as a polyfunctional unit. The dynamic character of the above propositional structures is able to provide polyfunctional units verbalization in the format of either nominative or verbal structures.