Television Discourse Research Articles

DO SERINGAL À TERRA CAÍDA: a Amazônia infilmável no processo de adaptação da literatura ao discurso televisivo

This work discusses representations of the Amazon from the Unfilmable category as it is impossible to portray on TV, not due to usual translation mechanisms, but due to ideological choices that “decorate” the Amazon and construct a distorted vision. To do this, we consider the processes of adaptation between literary text and its recreations, as well as stereotyped discourses that often disseminate this space from the perspective of common places that mark these representations of the region, whether in literary discourse, analyzed here from the novels Terra Caída by José Potyguara and Seringal by Miguel Ferrante, whether in the television discourse represented by the miniseries Amazônia: de Galvez a Chico Mendes, written by Glória Perez. As a theoretical reference for the discussion we will use different authors, among which we highlight: (Dutra, 2005), (Bueno, 2002), (Guimarães, 1995), (Figueiredo, 2010), (Benjamin, 2008) among others. With this discussion, we intend to weave a reflective panel on how the filmable Amazon often feeds mistaken notions about the region and these marks are visible in the construction of a text that often ignores the particularities of a real Amazon concealed by a supposed impossibility. of adaptation.

DISCOURSE: KNOWLEDGE, NEWS, AND FAKE INTERTWINED

Discourse has been a focal point for linguists over an extended period. The multidisciplinary character of the term ‘discourse’ has resulted in diverse approaches aiming to define and explore this phenomenon. The study of various facets of discourse significantly enhances its comprehension. For our understanding, discourse encompasses the following pertinent characteristics: it is a communicative process, a dialogue, an interaction between communicators; it is a structure, a system, a distinct way of representing and perceiving the world, a special language and world, an expression and manifestation of national identity. Discourse implies knowledge, as it includes various types of it. Knowledge and news are closely linked. They are processed in discourse and with the help of it. Any explicit or implicit knowledge and news influence discourse production and comprehension. True and fake information can alter existing types of knowledge and create new ones, influence mental processes, and shape new mental models. The aim of the article is to describe discourse in its close connection with its main constituents – knowledge, news and fake. ‘Fake’ becomes a linguistic and discursive matter. It is associated with the concepts of ‘lie’, ‘deception’, and ‘manipulation’. Corpus data about ‘fake’ and ‘fake news’ give a bigger picture of the overall context of their representation, changes and dynamics in the usage. The widespread influence of fake is provided with the help of mass media. Strategic control of knowledge in the interaction process is achieved through the use of knowledge itself, accordingly, it becomes possible to control knowledge by means of deception and fake. Fake news is a genre of news information and news discourse, it is an integrative type of media text. The main goal of fake news is to deceive and manipulate consciousness of a wide audience. Manipulation entails language to subtly influence recipients, encouraging them covertly to undertake particular actions. Fake news can be studied within news discourse, media discourse, television discourse, manipulative discourse, political discourse, discourse of fake, and other types. Thus, knowledge, news and fake presented in discourse and with the help of it allow to create ‘new knowledge’, shape the audience’s understanding of discourse, make and generate mental models, control and restrict access to certain information, manipulate consciousness of the audience, transform traditional mental attitudes associated with the pursuit of truth.

Social and economic problems of regional TV news in the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian War (on the example of the TV channel “3-Studio” in Ivano-Frankivsk)

The article is devoted to researching the news content of regional media during the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine. The place of local information resources in the modern communication paradigm, the implementation of which is based on segmented information interests, digital technologies and the principle of global journalism in regional, national and world media discourses, is defined.
 The transformation of the activity of information resources in Ukraine, caused by full-scale Russian aggression, is outlined, and the change in the behavior of the media audience regarding information consumption is substantiated, which led to the growth of Ukrainians’ trust in regional media. The modification of the regional media discourse in the focus of the local prism of the perception of events of national significance is meaningful.
 The importance of researching the news segment of regional television companies in the focus of the socio-economic section is clarified. It is emphasized that the materials of this problematic and thematic spectrum form a general picture of the impact of the war on the region and society in general. On the example of the regional Ivano-Frankivsk television and radio company “3-Studio”, the dominance of socio-economic materials in the news television discourse of the region, their relevance during the war and the influence on public opinion is substantiated.
 The transformation of the quantitative representation of specialized news content on regional television during the two years of the war is traced, the main economic and social narratives of regional news are identified, the reasons for the change in vectors in the presentation of socio-economic issues in the region are analyzed. The role of the regional Ivano-Frankivsk television and radio company “3-Studio” in the context of forming a holistic picture of reality, developing public dialogue and understanding the complexities associated with military aggression is proved.

Wearing embarrassment: television discourse and the ideologies of T-shirt English in Japan

Abstract This article examines the ways in which symbolic English is used in fashion and mass media by indexing ideologies and expectations regarding language ability in Japan. One example of this is the popularity of English language T-shirts in Japan. Using English that is often widely criticized for being awkward or meaningless, these T-shirts are now often mocked in various media sources due to the increased flow of images across traditional nation-state boundaries. By examining the use of these English T-shirts in a Japanese variety show featuring a teen idol known for having English language ability this paper will show how the symbolic value of English T-shirts in Japan can be used to construct a hierarchy based on language ability within Japanese society and how television programs that use such items, take advantage of linguistic inability to increase embarrassment and stake for people heightening linguistic anxiety while at the same time discursively constructing the show and its staff in a positive light. This article examines this phenomenon and the ways in which these fashion items are then appropriated and denaturalized for entertainment both within and outside Japan through forms of mass-media such as television programs, books, and websites.

Telecinematic stylistics: Language and style in fantasy TV series

The language of written fantasy has been amply studied, with extensive research on authors such as JRR Tolkien, Robert E Howard, or Aldous Huxley. The study of television language, on the other hand, is attracting increasing attention, even though the scope of such research often encompasses a single TV show rather than whole genres. Given the renewed interest in all things fantasy, this study seeks to analyze the language of fantasy TV series from a corpus-stylistic perspective to open new paths for linguistic inquiry. First, I depart from a theoretical distinction that relies on Mandala’s (2012) overview of the field and James and Mendlesohn’s (2012) definitions of fantasy as a genre; I consider some of the traits they associate with written fantasy and propose a taxonomy of the different types of fantasy worlds in television. On the basis of this, I design my own TV fantasy corpus by sampling three episodes from fifteen American fantasy TV shows (2011–2021) and compare it against Davies’ TV Corpus (2021). Using a corpus-based approach, I implement a POS (part-of-speech) and semantic analysis of the corpus and consider whether, and if so how, the language of fantasy in television reflects the same characteristics scholars have identified in written fantasy and general television discourse. In doing so, I aim to contribute to the understanding of the style of fantasy as a genre and assess whether fantasy TV series are characterized by particular linguistic features.

“To boldly go where no man has gone before”: how iconic is the Star Trek split infinitive?

Abstract “To boldly go where no man has gone before”, popularized by the science fiction series Star Trek, has provided an iconic example for the use of split infinitives. From its introduction, the series may have paved the way for the broader use of split infinitives in contemporary, informal English in spite of prescriptive grammars shunning the structure. The current qualitative and quantitative study is based on the general diachronic Corpus of Historical American English (COHA) and a specific telecinematic corpus (TV Corpus). It aims to trace genre influence in the use of split infinitives in sci-fi and television discourses. It asks whether the use of split infinitives in informal genres can be correlated with its prominent use in the Star Trek series. The current study finds that both raw and relative frequencies increase in the wake of Star Trek, as well as the probability of choice. Yet the clearest influence from Star Trek stems from the spread of the iconic to boldly go phrase.

World Broadcasters’ Unions as the Institution of TV Industry Development and Support in XXI Century

The purpose of the research is to analyse the missions, key directions, and principles of work of the main world broadcasters’ union as a significant institutional aspect of the TV industry development and audio-visual culture in the XXI century. Methodology of the research. In the article, firstly, a system approach is used to look at the broadcasters’ union as the integral element of the TV and audio-visual industry. Secondly, a principle of the historical neo-institutionalism is applied, in accordance to which the broadcasters’ unions are accepted as the historically formed structures and institutions that condition the processes of this branch development and support, and the institutional trajectory chosen by them determines the parameters of television discourse today. Scientific novelty of the research. For the first time at the scientific article level, the position and peculiarities of the broadcasters’ unions as the institutional development and support of the TV industry in the XXI century were considered. Conclusions. The significance of the role of the world broadcasters’ unions was emphasized, which in the XXI century remain one of the key subjects and players in the international media market. On the example of such institutions as the European Broadcasting Union, African Union of Broadcasting, Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, we have proven that the world broadcasters’ unions remain a powerful tool of influence on the international arena and a driver of the TV and audio-visual industries development at the modern stage. These unions provide normative and technical support of their members, exchange of technologies, programs and innovations, create conditions for learning and cooperation (through conferences, working groups, trainings), international frequency planning and coordination, promote the influence of the TV industry and audio-visual industry on the social-economic development of a region.
 Key words: audio-visual industry, TV industry, broadcasting, broadcasters’ unions, EBU, AUB, ABU.

Lexical diversity as a predictor of genre in TV shows

Abstract Many studies have investigated the linguistic characteristics of television and have found important differences between categories of TV programs. Yet, little is known specifically about the lexical profiles of different genres of television discourse. The present study sought to address this gap by exploring the lexical diversity of 714 episodes representing four TV genres. The lexical diversity of each episode was measured using a six-dimensional model of lexical diversity. Multinomial logistic regression was used to determine whether the four TV genres in the present study have unique lexical diversity profiles and whether the genres of individual TV episodes can be predicted based on the adopted model. The results indicated that the four genres do indeed exhibit unique lexical diversity profiles; it was also found that the genres of individual TV episodes can be predicted with approximately 91% accuracy based on this model. These findings were interpreted as underscoring the relevance of lexical diversity to genre analysis of TV shows and the importance of using a theoretically grounded multivariate model of this construct.

The preventive in the horoscope text

The article studies the specifics of the semantics and structure of the preventive in the horoscope text, which is built according to the rules characteristic of any text. The horoscope possesses completeness, coherence, integrity, logic, etc., while it can have texts of different length: from two to three sentences to the full text including from 5 to 30 sentences. Volumetric horoscopes, as a rule, contain predictions for a year or a month, small horoscopes specialize in predictions for one day. The purpose of our work is to identify the specifics of representing the meaning of warning in television discourse. By making the syntactic level the focus of our attention, we clarify the definition of a warning as a special type of pragmatic expression of will. The article identifies the preventive model in television discourse. For this model, the concessive-contrastive semantics is relevant, which functions most often as implicit in various contexts. We describe the keywords, nominating the preventive in the horoscope, and the conditions for semantic substitutions of keywords. The main method of research is a discourse analysis of more than 1000 horoscopic texts functioning in the program “Good Morning” (TV I). The results of an anonymous survey of more than 2,000 people indicate that about 50 percent of respondents believe horoscopes.

The “Cooking Recipe” Speech Genre in Television Discourse

The article presents the results of the analysis of utterances in the genre of “cooking recipe”. The purpose of the study is to find out how the "cooking recipe" speech genre is used in TV shows. The model of T.V. Shmeleva modified to study the speech genres of television discourse is used as a methodological basis. The programs were previously divided into four groups: educational, cooking interviews, travel, talk shows. In the TV shows the cooking recipes are used both for traditional purposes and with some additional ones. The image of the author and the image of the addressee are interrelated and are represented by pairs of the most experienced person and the least experienced person in a cooking. The classical recipe structure is reproduced completely not in all cases. A cooking recipe in TV shows allows the use of different verb forms in one utterance, reliance on consituation, interweaving additional semantic elements into the description of the cooking method. The training programs are characterized by repetitions of the elements, allowing the viewer to have time to memorize or write down everything necessary.

Средства акцентности в политическом телеэфире: полевой аспект

The article discusses the functioning of accentuators (means of emphasis) in political tele-vision discourse and their core-periphery distinction. Accentuators are defined as language, speech, and non-verbal means that accentuate fragments of speech being the most significant from the author’s point of view. An accentuator is recognized as core or peripheral depending on two factors: its being intended for semantic emphasis and the frequency of its use in a specific type of speech. Core accentuators are divided into three groups. The center of the core of the accentuation category includes the most emphasis-targeted and frequent means of emphasis –logical and emphatic sentence stress as well as gestural stress (baton gestures). Less emphasis-targeted core units are represented by lexical-semantic emphasis, hypophora, a performative utter-ance, inversion, an emblematic gesture ‘attention’, and expressive vocabulary. Core units that are least in-tended for emphasis include lexical repetitions, some modal particles, and adverbs of degree and measure. Peripheral means of emphasis are language, speech, and non-verbal units that are contextual and occasional. They are divided into two groups: the close periphery (introductory and parenthetical constructions, illustra-tive gestures, some modal particles, emblematic gestures, parallel syntax, direct and free indirect speech, some facial expressions, etc.) and the far periphery (comparatives, pauses, interjections, some structures of a complex sentence and supra-phrasal units, etc.). The research reveals some significant regularities in the use of accentuators: there are patterns of compatibility of their certain types; the usage frequency of accentuators depends on functional and semantic types of speech or the personal characteristics of communicants.

СТРУКТУРА ТА ТИПОЛОГІЯ ОЦІНКИ МЕДІЙНОЇ ПОДІЇ "РОСІЙСЬКО-УКРАЇНСЬКА ВІЙНА 2022–2023 РОКІВ " У ФРАНЦУЗЬКОМУ ТЕЛЕДИСКУРС

The article is devoted to the problems of axiological characterization of a media event as a part of the media picture of the world, which arises in the process of intercultural communication. The axiological characteristics are presented as a necessary constituent element of a media event, which participates in its formation. The structure of evaluation of the media event "Russian-Ukrainian war 2022-2023" in French television discourse is considered, the types of evaluation based on its relationship to the object of the evaluation characteristics and the types of evaluation based on the relationship to the subject of evaluation are identified. It was established that the media event "war in Ukraine" as an object of assessment in the audiovisual text of the analytical and informational telecast is significantly more complex in its structure than the real event, as it also includes elements that arise in the media discourse. As a result of the analysis of the types of subjects of the evaluation characteristics of the war in Ukraine as a media event in the French television discourse, it was found that the main subject of evaluation in the analytical and informative audiovisual text is a professional expert, a political scientist, that is, a person who possesses professional objectivity, authority and professional experience, which affects the formation of the evaluation of the event in the media picture of the world of the addressee of television broadcasting. In order to establish the types of assessment based on its relationship to its subject, which are included in the system of axiological characteristics of the Russian-Ukrainian war of 2022-2023, the assessment statements of heads of state, famous politicians, representatives of world organizations from countries whose interests are affected by the war in Ukraine were also considered. It was found that the introduction to the text of the assessment of a media event, the subject of assessment of which is a well-known political or socio-cultural figure, takes place with the help of the constructions of direct and indirect transmission of someone else's speech with an indication of the subject of the speech and the source of information. It is noted that a separate type of evaluation of a media event is represented by evaluation statements of direct participants of real events that have acquired the status of media events. Prospects for further research into the structure and typology of media event evaluation have been determined.

Communicative and pragmatic originality, and linguistic and stylistic resources of the television educational program (on the example of the project “Transfer of knowledge”)

The article is devoted to the identification and description of the communicative and pragmatic specifics of the television discourse of the cognitive program and its linguistic and stylistic originality. The study is based on the material of an intellectual and entertaining quiz, the participants of which were the finalists of the regional competitions “Teacher of the Year”. It is substantiated that the communicative-pragmatic specificity of the program under study is determined by its genre (intellectual quiz), the category of participants (school teachers) and the educational strategy aimed at popularizing knowledge and sharing knowledge. These factors determine the nature of the linguistic representation of the discourse under study. The vocabulary of general education occupies a key position in the discourse under study. The genre of the quiz involves assessing the performance of tasks, which leads to an abundance of evaluative statements. It is revealed that they are represented by speech acts of approval, praise, compliment; in many cases they are used as a manifestation of politeness, as a kind of etiquette formula and create a harmonious atmosphere of communication. The communicative space of the program is characterized by emotionality, expressiveness, figurative speech of the presenters and participants. The noted features are formed through a variety of figurative and expressive means of the language: metaphors, phraseologically related combinations, precedent units. The polyphony of linguistic and stylistic resources of the cognitive program is noted. The basis of speech communication is the neutral style of the literary language in combination with elements of colloquial style. Among the colloquial elements, emotionally expressive vocabulary, elements of general, professional and youth jargon stand out.

Framing of poverty in TV reporting in Serbia

The paper analyzes how poverty is presented in the television discourse in Serbia. The theoretical-methodological framework of research relies on quantitative-qualitative content analysis and the concept of media framing in which the usage of patterns of selection, emphasis and exclusion result in the interpretation and assessment of certain events. The sample for analysis consisted of 35 central news programs broadcasted on five television stations on seven cyclically selected days in the period from 10 th October to 27 th October 2021. The goal of the research was to determine the dominant frames of the representation of poverty and to examine whether and to what extent used frames differ in comparison to the previous research. The results show that television framing of poverty is consistent with the general pattern of problematic media polarization in Serbia. Two frames are dominantly represented: general economic poverty and propaganda-populist frame. In the case of the first one, poverty is presented as a background theme in analytic reports on the political and macroeconomic issues. It is reduced to an impersonal approach that does not have the strength to indicate the seriousness of the multidimensional problem of poverty. The second frame is characterized by a blurred picture of poverty. It is distributed through reports on the promotional activities of the president ? the opening of factories and road infrastructure and explains the increasingly pronounced mutual connection between the ruling elite and journalists in the use of demagoga and propaganda matrices in conveying and setting frames as generally acceptable.

Metaphor as Tool for Implementation of Recreational Function in Information Television Discourse

The features of the implementation of the recreational function through metaphorical vocabulary in the information television discourse are analyzed. The means of nomination of several metaphors associated with art and culture. The metaphor of magic is also considered, since its use in informational discourse is based on an indispensable emotional contact with the viewer, designed to evoke an impression. The author argues that such metaphors realize a recreational function, which is reduced to a complex of functions: hedonistic, creating a certain emotional and psychological tone, relaxation, escapist. It was revealed that metaphors with source spheres “Artistic and figurative forms of mastering the world”, due to the brightness and emotional potential of the images they create, construct significant events or phenomena for a certain moment by fixing the addressee’s attention on their spectacular characteristics. Frame-slot structures, representing events of social significance, from the life of the city as a performance; breathtaking, full of various colors spectacle, etc. are established. It is noted that the skill of professionals in various fields in unusual images is designed to simulate an impression, a distraction (escapism) from everyday life, filled with difficulties and not always successful overcoming obstacles. The key units with the analyzed spheres-sources, which form the space of television information texts, are identified.

Communication Efficiency in Television Discourse

Television is the only means of communication capable of applying oral and written communication simultaneously. Moreover, by means of expressiveness quality it can exceed potential of interpersonal communication. Therefore, application of this possibility of television is one of the reliable means of forming effective communication with the audience. Hence, the talk with using such method can approximate to interpersonal contact. 

Communicative behavior of a professional language personality of a doctor in a media discourse (based on the material of television programs about health)

The paper is devoted to the study of the specifics of the communicative behavior of a doctor’s professional linguistic personality in the media discourse. The relevance of the work is determined by the need for a systematic linguistic study of professional communication in new media-discursive conditions, as well as insufficient knowledge of the implementation of the professional linguistic personality of a doctor in the aspect of mediatization of medical discourse. The object of the study is the professional communication of a doctor in the media discourse. The subject of the study is the contexts of a medical TV program, representing the communicative behavior of a doctor’s PNL. The purpose of the study is to identify the discursive specifics of the communicative behavior of the professional language personality of a doctor in a television program about health. The research methodology was discourse analysis, on the basis of which the parameters for describing the doctor’s communicative behavior in the media discourse were determined. The features of doctor’s media communication in telediscourse are revealed taking into account the goals of professional activity and within the framework of the status-role culture of the profession, the processes of transformation of strategic planning of doctor’s communication are analyzed, the hierarchy of the communicative goals of a medical worker in television programs about health is determined. The discursive specificity of the doctor’s communicative behavior in television discourse is characterized. It has been established that the professional linguistic personality of a doctor in the media discourse is a special type of professional linguistic personality that functions in the media environment and is formed by a complex of social and communicative roles of a representative of the medical community and status in the media space.

ТЕЛЕОБРАЗ УКРАИНЫ КАК ЗЕРКАЛО РОССИЙСКОЙ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЙ САМОСТИ НА ЭТАПЕ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ СОВРЕМЕННОЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЙ ПОЛИТИКИ ИДЕНТИЧНОСТИ

The mass protests in Russia in 2011-2012 prompted the authorities to search for what later became known as “spiritual bonds”. One of the “spiritual bonds” is the idea of brotherhood with the post-Soviet peoples. Among them Ukraine and Belarus - are the closest choice, and if Belarus is relatively stable in relation to Russia, Ukraine is mobile. For now the Ukrainian theme dominates in television discourse. We can trace the role of the image of Ukraine at the formation stage of a modern communication strategy using content-analysis of news materials of one of the main conductors of the state identity politics - TV channel "Russia 1" at the break of the socalled "protest year" in December 2011 and December 2012. Everything is clear with the image of the enemy and the image of the partner on the Russia 1 TV channel in the year of protest: the United States and the collective West are the embodiment of everything insidious, wrong, China is a role model. The plots about Ukraine, on the other hand, reveal interesting indentitarian strategies and show the subtleties of the state political identity, raising such topics of Russian political identity as the influence of the West, the discourse of a lost power, and the European choice.

Being ambivalent by exploiting indeterminacy in the explicit import of an utterance

AbstractIn line with recent interest in weak and often not fully determinate effects of communication permeating relevance-theoretic research, I contribute a discussion on two possible sources of speaker-intended indeterminacy within explicit import of an utterance: one residing in an intentionally underspecified location of an ad hoc concept between literal or non-literal (e.g. metaphorical or hyperbolic) interpretation, and the other lying in the higher-level explicature of an utterance, and being related to propositional attitude (e.g. pretence, reporting, dissociation) or speech-act description (e.g. complementing, reproaching). In both cases, the speaker leaves a certain amount of indeterminacy concerning the degree of her commitment to the content communicated, by not indicating where precisely the concept or the attitude is to be located on the literalness-metaphor continuum or on the continuum of various propositional attitudes/speech-act descriptions, respectively. Using a number of illustrative examples drawn from television discourse, I try to show that this kind of intended indeterminacy gives rise to communicative effects of a non-propositional kind. Additionally, the analyses presented here support the deflationary view of figurative uses of language, on which they form continua with non-figurative utterances.

Concept of “Mankurtism” as a Social Problem in Television Discourse of Kazakhstan

This article is dedicated to the case study of the television discourse in Kazakhstan. Using the communicative and pragmatic approach, the author studies the causes of the “mankurtism” occurrence on the Kazakhstani television. Referring to the research of Kazakh linguists, the author considers the issue related to the observance of the language balance 50/50, according to which the share of broadcasting in the Kazakh language shall account for 50 percent, and another share of 50 percent is reserved for the broadcasting in Russian. Using the method of interpretation, аs a part of the undertaken study, the mistakes concerning the language use in the media discourse, have been analyzed as exemplified by the Kazakhstani Talent Show and Review TV programs. Аs well as there have been given the data on the findings of a sociological survey on a topic titled the National Self-Determination in Kazakhstan. The method of the experiment is selected with the aim of identifying places of “mankurtism” in society.