Mass Media Texts Research Articles

Precedent name and its connotations

This work gives special attention to examination of precedent name and its connotative meaning in mass media texts. Precedent name is viewed as a result of semantic condensation of the corresponding precedent text and/or precedent situation. The purpose of using precedent name in speech consists in giving a concise and brief characteristic to the subject of assessment through the system of meaningful standards, clichéd images that became an etalon of certain qualities of a person within the framework of the culture, as well as in expressing a subjective attitude that can be negative or positive. In the course of research, the author applies the method of contextual analysis, component analysis and comparative analysis. Precedent name, being the means for preservation of achievements of spiritual culture of the society and conveying ethical and aesthetical norms from generation to generation, simultaneously represents the way of expressing subjective assessment in the atypical context of application, which leads to the extension of its communicative functions and emergence of potential (and eventually realistic) secondary meanings, as well as reflects a dynamic situation of a cultural linguistic community.

Выразительное цветообозначение в англоязычных массмедийных текстах

The article examines the functioning of basic colour terms as an expressive means in the modern English-language mass media texts. The conducted research allowed the author to identify the main spheres of expressive colour terms functioning: designation of newly appeared political, economic, financial concepts, nomination of phenomena associated with ecology, employment, different types of minorities, etc. The role of colouratives as expressive means in the realization of the journalist’s intention and in the formation of the reader’s emotional response is revealed.

Communicating identity through wearable technologies: The case of the action film

Abstract The wearable technologies market claims to be growing continually, and yet the question if wearables have actually assumed an indispensable place in fashion and mass consumerism remains. Apart from a number of practical problems such as high price, poor design and numerous reservations over privacy, wearable technologies also seem to give rise to identity issues. Leaning on research conducted by Natalia Berger of Inholland University (the Netherlands) on mass media texts and the manner in which they communicate the idea of smart fashion/wearable technologies to the mass consumer, the article attempts to look at the field of action film and the message that this specific genre communicates to its audiences about wearables. The argumentation focuses on the issue of identity and how wearable technologies participate in its creation within the realms of real life and the fictional reality of action film. The findings of the discussion concur with those of Berger, i.e. that, to enhance the popularity of wearable technologies and devices in real life, action films, like other mass media, must apply an inclusion policy, rather than communicating them as a niche market for minorities, such as a special, elitist group like government agents or superheroes. Following recommendations from experts and enthusiasts in the field, the article suggests that wearable devices be communicated as empowering their users in everyday life.

Uzual and occasional word-formation in different style language practice

The article considers the manifestation of the interaction of the usual and the occasional in language practice through the transition of a text word to the system of language. Stylistic features of the functioning of occasional derivatives in journalistic, artistic, scientific texts are analyzed. A transitional zone in the functioning of usual and occasional units in the texts of mass media and fiction has been identified, which can be defined as an expansion of the derivation base of the model or as a repeated violation of the compatibility of components in the word-forming model. Such derivative units can be considered both casual and occasional. The factor of time and the spread of a phenomenon in the community influence the transition of some occasionalisms to the status of neologisms (комп’ютеризація). Peculiarities of creation and functioning of occasional derivatives in journalistic, artistic and scientific texts are analyzed. Active models in the media work to create occasionalisms that are important for the linguistic picture of society (albeit in a very short time, because they relate to a particular event or situation: ректоропад, банкопад, нафтопад). In fiction, poetry, the naming of a certain phenomenon is important primarily for the person of the author (всебезодня, всемежа in Vasyl Stus). Therefore, the word-forming model, which is a defining marker, a characteristic feature of creativity of one author, is not so important in the set of texts of the same style, and is often a random, peripheral phenomenon for usus. The phenomenon of occasional creation of terms of informatics, IT, socio-political sphere is a renewal of the tradition of “forged words” («кованих слів») in the Ukrainian language. A modern author’s innovation can spread in usus, become a terminoid and has a chance to enter in the terminological dictionaries (моментократія, застосунок). However, the conscious creation of a term on a origional basis (шкул, дошкуляч) often has no chance to be ususalized as a term as opposed to widespread internationalism (спам) due to the broad meaning of the producing verb (дошкуляти). Keywords: word-forming model, occasional word-formation, occasional word, potential word, “forged” word.

Categorizing function of canned jokes in mass media texts

Categorizing function of canned jokes in mass media texts

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ НЕОЛОГІЗАЦІЇ АНГЛІЙСЬКОМОВНОГО МЕДІЙНОГО ПОЛІТИЧНОГО ДИСКУРСУ

The investigation provides a thorough analysis of neologisms in the political discourse, reveals the peculiarities of their creation and use on the basis of British newspaper articles and audio / video materials of TV news. The peculiarities of the language of media political discourse were revealed, the expediency of using neologisms in mass media texts, their structural and semantic models were substantiated.The efficiency of coining new words by affixation, word formation, conversion, telescopy is confirmed. It has been proved that political neologisms most often perform word-forming, nominative and emotive functions. The use of neologisms for the nomination of socially significant concepts of politics, power and global current problems are revealed. Lexical-semantic groups of political neologisms have been singled out, the most numerous of which are groups to denote people – participants of communication, political processes, parties and associations. The analysis of modern media text at the lexical level allowed us to trace the main trends in enlarging the vocabulary of the media, reveal the links of neologisms with thematic and genre-style peculiarities of texts in which words and phrases function in their new meanings. It has been proven that modern mass media have been enlarged significantly by neologisms with positive and negative connotations as well as derived words formed from borrowed bases to denote new realities, particularly in political discourse. It has been found out that new words have a greater semantic capacity compared to similar counterparts in the language, in addition, they play a special stylistic role in the text – pun. The analysis of statements of various politicians has made it possible to explore the features of political culture and consciousness of a particular social group. Among the lexical means of creating political neologisms, it is worth noting the use of numerous repetitions, appeals to the readers’ or viewers’ audience. Political neologisms have been studied according to the following criteria: belonging to a certain class (lexical, phraseological and semantic), sources of origin (The Guardian, The Times, audio / video materials CNN News, BBC News), method of creation (affixation, composition, conversion, reduction, telescope, abbreviation, acronym, borrowing), word-forming potential (productive, non-productive, author’s), connotation (positive, negative, neutral), frequency of use (absolute, relative), thematic sphere of use (power, politics, state, society, people, law, democracy, integration, global problems of today).

Image of P. P. Bazhov in the Modern Russian Media: A Biographical Turn

This article considers issues underlying the way in which academic literary criticism studies the life and fiction of P. P. Bazhov and their further interpretation by the Russian media in the 2010s. Special attention is paid to the interpretation problem of the writer’s biography, whose facts are partly related by the writer himself in his fiction and self-commenting texts (e.g., letters and essays), partly discovered and published by researchers after his death. Academic literary criticism provides three main interpretations of Bazhov’s creative behaviour, characterising him as an “orthodox” Soviet writer, a genius loci of the Urals, and a conformist writer with a modernist standpoint. The article reveals a paradoxical way in which the results of such interpretations and information reported by Bazhov about himself are used in popular scholarly and mass media texts. On the one hand, the cult of a classic writer, formed as a result of “solidary reading”, is simultaneously supported and destroyed by various versions of the “life-creating performance” of the author, a character of a popular lecture or article. Support is expressed in the recognition of his indisputable significance when the variety of interpretations of Bazhov’s biography facts, including those that are easily refuted by academic criticism, is perceived as a guarantee of the viability of the classic author’s name in social space. On the other hand, “secret” biographical information, which was not a subject of public autobiographical reflection of the author for a variety of reasons (which is quite understandable in the case of Bazhov), is presented to the public as the most interesting. Consequently, the reduction of the writer’s image, uncontrolled by the expert community, leads to a change in values, when the focus shifts from the results of his creative work to unverified “scandalous” facts of the writer’s biography which make the reader attached emotionally though not profoundly.

МОВНА РЕПРЕЗЕНТАЦІЯ ОБРАЗУ МІФОЛОГІЧНОГО ГЕРОЯ В БРИТАНСЬКИХ Й УКРАЇНСЬКИХ МЕДІАТЕКСТАХ

Робота містить лінгвокультурологічний аналіз способів омовлення міфологічного образу героя в медіатекстах, присвячених процесу Брекзиту й виборів в Україні. Підтверджено, що медіатексти орієнтовані впливати на аудиторію, а тому активно застосовують міфологічні елементи для посилення такого впливу. Виявлено, що образ героя функціонує в медіатекстах не відокремлено, а в тісному зв’язку з есхатологічними мотивами, зокрема Апокаліпсису, й образами ворога, битви, війни, спасіння й чуда. Здійснено порівняння характеристик образу героя в британських й українських текстах. Виявлено словотвірні гнізда й описано семантичні поля, асоційовані з відповідними образами. Ключові слова: культурний герой, міфологічний образ, ворог, медіатекст, битва, есхатологічний мотив.

ГЕНДЕР VS ГРАМАТИЧНИЙ РІД У СУЧАСНІЙ АНГЛІЙСЬКІЙ МОВІ

The article highlights paradigm shift in the Category of Gender triggered by expansion of gender roles spectrum in western world. This category is not reduced to the binary opposition of masculine and feminine any more and does not balance binary oppositions of grammatical gender and biological sex. To categorize new gender identities English naming and word-formation patterns and basic gender terms (male, female, masculine, feminine) were used. Some initialisms, firstly LGTB, gender derivatives were borrowed by other languages as English neologisms. In the 21st century gender-related coinages in Modern English are mushrooming. Mass Media give wide coverage of LGBT movement, fight for their rights, contribution of celebrities to spread and popularization of LGBT culture. New gender identities triggered extension of the initialism LGTB to LGTBQIA+ where the mathematical symbol stands for other diversities unindentified by letters and words yet. Gender diversity will pose the question about appropriate pronouns, so changes within grammatical gender. Mass media texts give numerous examples of increasing gender terms combinability in English, new contexts and make it possible to conclude that LGBT lexico-semantc group in present-day English is developing rapidly. Social trends, naming patterns in English, cognitive mechanisms behind them pose multiple questions about categorization, correlation of biological sex, gender diversities and grammatical gender in English and other languages.

Коммуникативно-культурная память Югры и проблемы её межпоколенческой трансляции в цифровую эпоху: филологический аспект

Introduction: the article is one of the first in Russian philology and journalism theory experience of the system analysis of the process of digitalization of communicative and cultural memory as a phenomenon, and problems of its intergenerational translation in the media space of a multi-ethnic region. Objective: to identify and analyze trends in the development of Yugra media sphere in the context of permanent social and technological transformations based on the ethno-cultural specificity of media texts; to identify and describe the resources of productive intergenerational communication. Research materials: the results of the latest research in the field of philological regionalism, cultural studies and communication studies. The empirical basis was a discourse analysis of 212 mass media texts and a survey of 177 respondents. Results and novelty of the research: the result of the research is a conceptual justification of the concept of «model of effective activity of mass media of Yugra», as well as identification of their role and ways of effective functioning in digital reality. For the first time, mass media are considered as the main translators of discursive practices related to the formation and development of communicative and cultural memory in a multi-ethnic region. The article notes that the problems of effective functioning of global media systems of the digital age cannot be systematically analyzed without highlighting the mechanisms of transformation of communicative and cultural memory at the regional level. The pluralistic media environment of Yugra is a unique object of research that allows us to determine the fundamental factors of building of the multicultural community. The research conducted by the authors makes it possible to substantiate approaches that contribute to overcoming digital generational gaps in the society, including a model approach to the problem of mass media performance. The model is defined as an action whose predictive characteristics in digital reality should be based primarily on the identification of emotional and semantic dominants of multimedia texts and the nature of respondents ‘ media preferences.

Cultural Memory of Russia and China in Mental Landscape of Mass Media

The article presents a linguoculturological analysis of key concepts of national vision in the Russian and Chinese mass media. It offers substantiation of a conceptual view of the world objectified in a media discourse. The concepts, as cognitive-linguistic structures, are supported by the background knowledge of the addressee and the addresser, involve the meanings of the proto-text, stimulate an adequate interpretation of the media text and ensure the effectiveness of its impact on the cognitive, emotional and behavioral levels of consumer’s perception. The space of such a media text forms a mental landscape, which is a set of values that reflect the spectrum of people’s life on a certain territory and that are broadcast over time in the paradigm of «past – present – future». Based on research in the field of cognitive linguistics and psycholinguistics, journalism, social philosophy, it is argued that the new media technologies, textual and formatted ones are controlled by a collective cultural memory. The empirical base of the study was more than 500 texts of Russian and Chinese mass media. The cultural landscape of the media discourse is represented by texts in which the nuclear concepts of the national view of the world in Russia and China are embedded: collectivism (collegiality), patriotism. The article describes the features of these concepts’ representation in conjunction with the process of objectification of the dominant cultural values of China and Russia. An intensive representation of the concepts in mass media provides necessary national identification in Russian and Chinese societies, allows to implement the cultural hereditary function of the media and to protect the primordial traditions of the society, to transmit the ideals and cultural heritage of the previous generations.

The genitive case as a grammatical preference of modern press

The article focuses on the construction N’s + N known as the genitive case structure. Analysis of the data retrieved from two English Language corpora (the BNC and COCA) has demonstrated that the N’s + N structure as a typical grammatical feature of modern mass media discourse realizes certain communicative and discursive properties that constitute the core of this mixed morphological-and-syntactic phenomenon. Thanks to its anthropocentric character, the structure also possesses some functional capacities that make a valuable and indispensable contribution to the organization of meaning in mass media texts.

THE METHOD OF COORDINATES IN TEACHING ESP

The article introduces a new approach to English language teaching and learning at media and journalism departments. It is called “the method of coordinates” and its purpose is to teach reading media, looking for author's intention and writing mass media texts. The method regards a mass media text as a multidimensional structure possessing such coordinates as protagonist, place, time, subject, author’s intention, audience targeting, relevant external links, irrelevant external links etc. Here the step-by-step analysis is described how to determine them in the text and thus notice the composition of the text. Further, the collected data are used to develop own writings in media. As an example, the report “Dalia Stasevska joins BBC Symphony Orchestra as principal guest conductor” from The Guardian (25.01.2019, by Imogen Tilden) is chosen. The novelty of the approach is in a particular combination of several steps while reading and analysing the content of a newspaper article. The method can be used in ESP classes at media and journalism departments while teaching students to read news articles and to analyse them semantically, pragmatically and structurally. It contributes to the development of reading skills and understanding author’s intention as one of the most difficult tasks with the learners of English as a Second Language and prepares students to create personal writings in media.THE METHOD OF COORDINATES IN TEACHING ESP

GENDER IDENTITY IN MEDIATEXT: SOCIO-CULTURAL PHENOMENON, VERBAL CONSTRUCT

The paper considers lingual signification of gender identity in English mass media texts. The focus of the research concentrates on the contemporary theoretical opinions concerning terminological nomination and contents of the analyzed texts. Gender identity is viewed upon as a social and cultural phenomenon which in mediatexts is represented by verbal means according to masculinity/femininity/queer features, professional activity, sexuality.

Shaping values with "YouTube freedoms": linguistic representation and axiological charge of the popular science IT-discourse

Drawing on the studies of linguistics, axiology and discourse analysis, this paper contributes to the linguistic framework of value-based communication studies by establishing the algorithm of shaping values in popular science IT discourse via the set of linguo-axiological methods. The authors' aims include establishing dominating communicative strategies employed by the authors of the texts; identifying language structures and lexical means responsible for the both explicit and implicit formation and verbalization of certain values represented in the texts about YouTube; organizing the identified values into a system as presented by the authors of the texts. The paper uncovers dominant YouTube text characteristics, focusing on the instrumental role of values this type of discourse represents, and implements a complex methodological set (CDA and linguo-axiological analysis) in order to outline three basic communicative strategies that the authors of the texts employ: the information strategy; the instruction strategy; the evaluation strategy. The conducted research reveals that the texts of mass media about YouTube contain the following values, classified by the authors into three axiological groups: relevance (approval, authenticity, entertainment, fame, influence, popularity); relationship (accessibility, connection, feedback, relatability); profession (career, competitiveness, money, promotion, time). The results of the study include theoretical conclusions about how the modern-day discourse of information technology (IT-discourse) reflects both fundamental and profession-specific human values, thus shaping the way addressees perceive the industry through language. These findings make it possible to form a new type of IT-discourse text architecture, which would take into account the pragmatic-axiological charge necessary to shape and divert the set of addressees’ values.

Linguosemiotic Representation of North Korean Crisis in English Mass Media Texts

Linguosemiotic Representation of North Korean Crisis in English Mass Media Texts

“DEUTSCHE WELLE” AS A MASS MEDIA LANGUAGE FOR SPECIALIST PURPOSES: PRAGMATICS, ANALYSIS, AND TRANSLATION

Purpose: Within the framework of the translation studies, the results of research on mass media texts were presented only by individual examples in the professional literature. While, for example, literary texts have developed a variety of guidelines, strategies, and models of translation. There were almost no studies on the TV news translation. We have found only a few references to this topic in scientific works dealing with mass media texts translation in general. There is still no comprehensive analysis of the German mass media translation in Ukrainian.
 Methodology: However the language for specialist purposes is a special style, which creates and presents to the viewer the news texts for television. Typically, the TV news services set their own requirements for the TV news language, but there are common rules followed by all TV news editors. The linguistic designing defines the light in which the events are presented and what opinion the recipient will form.
 Result: However, in recent years the demand for mass media texts translation has significantly increased. It was influenced by the distribution of audiovisual international information channels such as Euronews, BBC, France 24, DW. Deutsche Welle TV news which is currently being translated into thirty languages of the world, including Ukrainian. To some degree the translation of Deutsche Welle TV news into Ukrainian influences the level of Ukrainian integration into the European space. Due to a well-executed translation Ukrainians can learn about current political and economic events that take place in Europe and in the world, about the latest achievements in medicine, technology, ecology, sociology, etc.
 Applications: This research can be used for universities, teachers, and students.
 Novelty/Originality: In this research, the model of “Deutsche Welle” as a Mass Media Language for Specialist Purposes: Pragmatics, Analysis and Translation is presented in a comprehensive and complete manner.

ACTIVE PROCESSES IN USUAL AFFIXATION WORD FORMATION OF THE CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN LANGUAGE

The article is devoted to the study of usual affixation word formation as one of the most important operating mechanisms in the Russian derivation system. The goal of the research is to reveal active processes and main trends in usual affixation word formation of the contemporary Russian language.W. Humboldt’s work, where the language is considered not only as a product of human activity, but as the activity itself, as well as E.A. Zemskaya's ideas concerning active and creative nature of the Russian word formation as a subsystem of the general language system.The usual affixation word formation is an actively and dynamically developing aspect of the derivation system existing in the contemporary Russian language. News media language actively uses the resources inherent in the system and the norms of the Russian language: neologisms in newspaper texts are primarily generated through the usual derivation models. It has been revealed that the most productive affixation means of the usual innovations generation comprise the following: suffixation, prefixation, zero-suffixation and affixation-like word formation, wherein the most popular one is suffixation. At the present stage of the Russian language development we witness an increase in adaptive function of word formation types. Joining native Russian affixes to the borrowed stems appears to be one the most productive patterns in the contemporary usual affixation word building, where suffixation is the most demanding one. The research results obtained can contribute to the development of the lexical derivatology, lexical semantics, neology, and language stylistics problems. The promising character of elaborating the declared subject is conditioned by the language processes in mass media activation, which will probably require further study of neologization aspects in mass media texts in the nearest future, making possible to explore the functional and pragmatic potential in word formation resources of the contemporary Russian language.

IDEOLOGI SEKULARISME DALAM KOMENTAR MASYARAKAT TENTANG WACANA PILKADA DKI JAKARTA DI MEDIA SOSIAL

Abstract: The Ideology of Secularism in the Public Comment on the Discourse of DKI Jakarta Pilkada on Social Media. This study aims to determine the realization of secularism in the public comment text on the DKI Jakarta Pilkada news discourse on social media in terms of vocabulary and sentence structure. This study uses a qualitative-descriptive approach and content analysis method based on Norman Fairclough's theory of critical discourse. The results of the study show that the ideology of secularism is realized: (1) using words that are not related to religion such as the words smart, objective, rational, not, real work etc. which is associated with context; (2) active sentences, with the aim of further highlighting the actors and objects of events; and (3) passive sentences, with the aim of further highlighting the target and hiding the perpetrator. Ideology in discourse can be expressed through vocabulary choices and sentence structure in text through critical discourse analysis, both in mass media texts, and in individual texts (comments) on social media.

Development of mass media text-based instructional materials to improve critical reading skills of university students

Critical thinking competency is one of the requirements for university graduates to succeed. Critical reading skills learning can accommodate the development of the critical thinking competency. Therefore, this study was designed to develop instructional materials for the students to learn the skills. The present study was carried out following some steps of research and development study that includes a preliminary study, the development of product prototype, tryout, and the effectiveness test. This study involved 82 pre-service Indonesian teachers studying at Universitas Negeri Makassar, Indonesia. Data was collected through a questionnaire, an experts’ validation sheet, and a test on critical reading skills. The results of the study indicated that instructional materials developed with a complete and integrated structure, involving the activity of conceptualizing, modeling, and practicing are effective in improving students’ critical reading skills. The characteristics of mass media texts are highly appropriate for habituating students to evaluate, respond to, and reflect on information critically. The instructional materials developed in this study can be used by the university students in learning and support the development of students’ 21st-century learning competency. Keywords: instructional materials, critical reading, critical thinking, language skills.