Thursday, April 25Институт «Высшая школа журналистики и массовых коммуникаций» СПбГУ
Shadow

2021. Volume 8, No. 3

2021
№ 3
(Vol. 8)

The article introduces the scientific concept of meganarrative, substantiates the necessity of this term in the metalanguage of media linguistics and discusses the potential of using it as an instrument for structuring mass data in media space. The author aims to determine the linguistic resources used to create a meganarrative as a polydiscursive unit that brings together thematically related narratives expressing authors’ perception and evaluation of an event described. The possibility of using the proposed concept of meganarrative is analyzed on the example of an institutional-type political statement published by the U.S. Department of Defense. The tasks of the research consist in revealing the features of a meganarrative in media communication, establishing the causes of conflicting interests and finding linguistic means of resolving conflict situations. The study makes use of the methods of narrative and discourse analysis, contextual method, componential analysis of meanings of key lexical units and methods of linguacultural interpretation of linguistic peculiarities of a meganarrative. The research makes it possible to draw a number of conclusions: a meganarrative is understood as a polydiscursive formation which serves as a transtextual means of structuring media streams and ensuring a platform for intertextual dialogue between narrative participants of media communication; narrative techniques are shown to make an impact on the character of describing events and evaluating them in mass media; a meganarrative is shown to play an important role in uniting those who belong to the ‘US’ side, enhancing confrontation with the ‘THEM’ block and continuing rivalry with the ‘OTHER’ opponents.

2021
№ 3
(Vol. 8)

In this article, the manifestants of meta-concept “language” in the problematic articles and essays of V. Rasputin of the perestroika era are correlated with the system of national and spiritual values described in connection with the problems of publications, the author’s intentions and the format of the newspaper Literary Irkutsk of the Irkutsk Regional Writers’ Organization. It is noted that the representatives of meta-concept “language” are included in the historical-philosophical, church-religious, national-cultural analytics and artistic journalism of Rasputin in connection with the educational, ideological, spiritually creative attitudes of the author and the corporate publication. It has been established that mental entities that are conceptually important for the author’s journalism (memory, providence, prediction, conceptually formed ideas) are metonymically objectified using the concepts “word” and “speech”. The elaboration and objectification of the author’s philosophical, moral attitudes occurs through the conjugation of the nuclear, cicumnuclear and peripheral areas of the concepts “word”, “language” with the images of the material world and the objectivity of social relations. The inclusion of spiritual space in the consciousness of the reader and the national picture of the world, the device of metaphysical communicative-semiotic systems and modeling of the monastic language is created in publications using the concept of “language”. Self-awareness and ideological searches of society, intellect and spiritual culture of the people, their creative achievements, ideological attitudes are illustrated by metonymic and metaphorical correlation with the field of auditory sensations of the interpretive field of the concept “sound”. From a praxeological standpoint, the author’s communicative and stylistic techniques as well as pragmatically oriented editorial technologies consisting of the selection of the editorial team and the system of rotation of the editors-compilers were evaluated. It is shown that the model of a joint search for values by the public, the publicist and the publication increased the cognitive potential of newspaper materials and strengthened the reader’s confidence in the local corporate press.

2021
№ 3
(Vol. 8)

Based on the analysis of the oral public speech of popular publicists (S. A. Mikheev and I. N. Panarin) working in electronic media and the Internet, the article attempts to characterize the stylistic and semantic originality of modern Russian pro-government propaganda. The dependence of the nature of the linguistic features of propaganda on such factors as the personality of the propagandist, the scope of his activities, and the nature of the transmission is established. It is shown that the personal qualities of Mikheev is conditioned by such features of his speech as emotionality, exceeding the permissible volume level, and careless pronunciation style, while Professor Panarin is characterized by an academic manner of speech with its inherent consideration of the opposite point of view, argumentation, and respect for the audience. It is claimed that the influence of the sphere of activity (Mikheev works in electronic media, such as Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, the radio program Iron Logic, Panarin conducts an analytical program Igor Panarin. World Politics on the YouTube channel) is found in taking into account the composition and request of the audience to which the propaganda is directed. Television discussion allows rudeness, verbal aggression, reduced vocabulary, political banter, logic of the absurd, direct insults, and threats to opponents. Analytical transmission involves the strategic forecasting of events filled with the metaphysics of propaganda, the creation of mythologies, the use of allegories, and hints. It is proved that despite the almost opposite stylistic format, the propaganda discourse of Mikheev and Panarina is characterized by common dominant semantic categories, such as traditional family values, religiosity, conservatism, protection of the interests of the state, humanistic maximalism, and the historical continuity of Russia.

2021
№ 3
(Vol. 8)

Based on the material of Russian-language journalistic works of one popular Ukrainian media source (Weekly 2000), the article establishes and interprets the functional load of such a technique as the introduction into media texts of elements of a language that is closely related to the language of publication: in this case, a different type and character of Ukrainianisms (words, expressions, fragments of someone else’s speech, etc.). The conducted observations indicate that in modern Russian-language journalism of Ukraine, elements of a closely related Ukrainian language included in the text in the overwhelming majority of cases are endowed with the functions of a negative assessment of the depicted (which is almost always presented in a satirical or satirical-ironic key), while contributing to a more expressive transmission of the author’s attitude to subject of the picture. Such functions of Ukrainianisms in Ukraine’s journalism, created under the conditions of closely related bilingualism, are conditioned by extralinguistic factors — first of all, by the undemocratic language policy pursued by the state authorities for several decades. It is as a result of these actions that most of the considered text elements have formed the connotative content of a negative property, which, when introduced into a media text, is updated and / or expanded as a result of placing it in a context. In such a situation, well-known Ukrainianisms also acquire negative connotations, which have always been perceived as markers of the national-cultural Ukrainian flavor (vyshyvanka, rushnik, glechik, etc.), and this perception was extremely rarely negative. The analysis carried out provides grounds to assert that the appeal of journalists to the introduction of elements of contacting languages into media texts remains one of the most significant methods of increasing the expressiveness of a text, the specific load of which is determined both by extralinguistic factors and by the peculiarities of the author’s individual manner.

2021
№ 3
(Vol. 8)

The demand for vlogs (video blogs) in the modern world stipulates the relevance of this work: having turned into a full-fledged media space, vlogs are steadily beginning to win back the position of leading mass media from television. The article studies the audience of vlogs as the most important factor which determines the model of communication of a vlogger and the final design of the media product as a whole and its issues in particular. The sources for the research are popular vlogs of the Runet which make it possible to trace distinguishing features of the vlog audience in comparison with the TV audience and to point out its similarities with the target audience in advertising communication. The retail communication act itself, which is initiated by a vlogger, demonstrates the similarity with the AIDMA model. As a result of the conducted analysis the author is able to make several conclusions: 1) about specific featuresof the audience of the vlog; 2) about the influence of the factor of the addressee on the vloggers’ work; 3) about different means of influence used by a vlogger to retain the audience’s attention and involve the audience in post-communication activity; 4) about the singularity of retail communication in vlogs. The active position of the addressee of communication in the virtual media space, the opportunity and the necessity of interactive communication for vlog promotion induce vloggers to constantly resolve the objectives of attracting and retaining the attention of subscribers, audience augmentation, and elaboration of topics for postcommunication activity of the audience. The vlog format, which is aimed at the creation and dissemination of media texts with complicated semiotics, enables and forces a vlogger to apply the widest range of verbal and nonverbal means of communication.

2021
№ 3
(Vol. 8)

The article discusses pitching as a communication technology and a pitch as a business PRtext. For a more complete and correct definition of the concepts of a pitch and pitching, the semantics of the multi-valued pitch lexeme underlying them are analyzed. The types of pitching are described by the field of activity, by the intended purpose and by the time of the presentation. The subject of the study was the textual features of the investment pitch as a PR communication tool. The main purpose of the work is to analyze the structural and content components of the investment pitch in the communicative and pragmatic aspect, including the characteristics of the addresser, addressee, object, goal, functions, etc. The material for the study was selected using the method of random sampling of 28 video recordings of pitch presentations presented on the foreign TV shows Shark Tank and Dragons’ Den, posted on the social network YouTube. The analysis of the material showed that the text of the pitch is based on the principle of combining standard and expression, noted by V. G. Kostomarov, in relation to the language of the newspaper. The tendency towards standardization is manifested in the typical structure of the pitch, the tendency towards expressiveness — in the use of certain verbal and paraverbal means, with the help of which the addresser seeks to express a subjective attitude not only to the content of speech, but also to the addressee, influencing his consciousness and stimulating him to make the necessary decisions. Based on the identified differential features, the definition of an investment pitch is proposed. It is concluded that the investment pitch can be included in a number of other proposals coming from the PR subject — proposals for cooperation, commercial proposals and proposals for sponsorship, calling it an offer for investors.

2021
№ 3
(Vol. 8)

The article examines the communicative strategies and tactics of speech influence used in the presentation of an artwork and a cultural event in art journalism. The accelerating process of the commercialisation of art with a greater degree of intensity actualises the work as a commodity. In the representation of artistic culture in media discourse, this is manifested in a weakening of the analytical component and aesthetic appreciation. Media texts increasingly use entertainment approaches, and there is a tendency towards performativity and shock value, an ironic style. This is reflected in the stylistics of the media text, which has contributed to the active use of attractive speech means. Transformation processes have also affected such genres as review and reportage. Today it is almost impossible to find a classic review, which would present an analysis of the merits and demerits of the work and a competent assessment. The aim of review in art journalism is to announce, to attract the audience’s attention both to the work and to the author’s search, to promote the values of a consumer society. In reportage, the classic characteristics have also undergone changes. Today, this genre is characterised by authorial subjectivism, which is expressed in vivid self-presentation. As a result of the analysis of the Belarusian online publications, the main communicative strategies of speech impact have been identified: the advertising strategy, which is exemplified in the review, and the image building strategy characteristic to the reportage. In art journalism, the use of these communicative and speech practices led to a downgrading of art and the perception of a cultural event as an entertainment show. The problem addressed is important due to the relevance of the topic of interaction between media language and modern culture.

2021
№ 3
(Vol. 8)

The article is devoted to one of the four directions of modern media linguistics — criticism of the media language (CM). The main prerequisites for the design of CM are the logic of the development of modern linguistics, which demonstrates a steady increase in attention to the communicative capabilities of the language realized in different discursive spaces, the movement of active language processes into the media space and the resulting conflict between the traditional idea of speech culture and the new requirements for the effective use of language resources. The author draws attention to the solution of many installation issues that are recorded in the dictionary-directory Medialinguistics (2018). The uniqueness of the research field of the Kyrgyz Republic is presented in the collective monograph Media Linguistics of the Slavic Countries (2020), which is a milestone for Slavic media studies. But the goal of the author of this article is to identify the discussion areas that have already been identified in the relevant research field. The author attempts to present topical, debatable, issues focusing on the previously stated criteria for evaluating media speech: effectiveness, correctness, ethics, aesthetics. The key findings are as follows: 1) the normative concept of media speech is formed in the process of dialogic interaction between the competent professional community “processing the language” and philologists who are able to comprehend the results of this “processing” on the basis of a detailed analysis of the speech situation in the mass media; 2) the most important task of CM is related to the satisfaction “the need for generally understandable, correct language”, which corresponds to the establishment and preservation of national unity and “political and economic integrity of the state” (the idea of N. I. Tolstoy); 3) the most indisputable when recognizing several controversial moments are the criteria for the effectiveness and correctness of the media speech; 4) one of the most serious debatable issues arises in the area of ethical and aesthetic reflection of criticism related to the verbal representation of the comic category in Russian mass media.