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УДК 811.111
ЯЗЫКОВАЯ РЕАЛИЗАЦИЯ КОГНИТИВНОЙ МОДЕЛИ ЗДОРОВОГО ОБРАЗА ЖИЗНИ В БРИТАНСКОМ МЕДИА-ДИСКУРСЕ
LINGUAL REALIZATION OF THE HEALTHY LIFESTYLE COGNITIVE MODEL IN THE BRITISH MEDIA DISCOURSE
© 2019
В.Д. Шевченко V.D. Shevchenko
Настоящая статья посвящена проблеме репрезентации здорового образа жизни в британском медиа-дискурсе. Автор проводит анализ социальных и лингвистических факторов репрезентации здорового образа жизни, в особенности идей и социальных аспектов, оказывающих влияние на журналиста, а также языковых форм, используемых в процессе репрезентации. Особое внимание уделяется когнитивным аспектам: автор анализирует процесс реализации специфической когнитивной модели «Спорт как средство продвижения здорового питания» в рамках медиа-дискурса. Особенность данной модели заключается в том, что в ней соединяются две области жизнедеятельности человека, одна из которых (спорт) служит средством продвижения второй - здорового питания. Помимо этого, исследуются компоненты когнитивной модели, выдвигаемые на первый план в медиа-дискурсе, а также языковые средства, используемые с этой целью. В статье также рассматривается связь между реализацией когнитивной модели и прагматической установкой журналиста, которая направлена на позитивную репрезентацию здорового образа жизни в медиа-дискурсе. С точки зрения журналиста, здоровый образ жизни заключается в следовании веганской диете и занятиях спортом. Здоровое питание также репрезентируется в качестве объекта, играющего важную роль в социальной жизни и способного объединить различные сферы жизнедеятельности.
Ключевые слова: дискурсивные исследования, британский медиа-дискурс, репрезентация здорового образа жизни, когнитивная модель, «Спорт как средство продвижения здорового питания», прагматическая установка журналиста, языковые средства реализации когнитивной модели.
The present paper is devoted to the problem of the healthy lifestyle representation in the British media discourse. The author analyzes the social and linguistic factors of the healthy lifestyle representation, in particular, the ideas and social aspects exerting influence on the journalist as well as the language forms used in the representation process. Particular attention is paid to the cognitive aspects: the author analyzes the process of the specific cognitive model "Sportspeople as a medium for propagating a healthy diet" realization in the media discourse. The specificity of this model is determined by the fact that it unites two spheres of human activity, one of which (sport) is used as a medium for promoting the other - healthy eating. Besides, the author investigates the cognitive model components foregrounded within the media discourse and the language means used for this purpose. The paper also investigates the connection between the cognitive model realization and the journalist's pragmatic goal referring to the positive representation of the healthy lifestyle in the media discourse. From the journalist's point of view the healthy lifestyle implies following a vegan diet and doing sports. Healthy eating is also represented as an object, playing a significant part in the social life, which is able to unite various spheres of human activity.
Keywords: discourse studies, British media discourse, healthy lifestyle representation, cognitive model, "Sportspeople as a medium for propagating a healthy diet", the journalist's pragmatic goal, language means of cognitive model realization.
The media discourse focuses on the most significant problems of the society and representation of healthy lifestyle is important for improving physical and mental health of society. The specific representation of healthy lifestyle influences the readers' consciousness and, as a result, leads to changing their everyday practices referring to eating, doing sports etc. This is achieved by means of the media texts, in which the cognitive models referring
to a healthy lifestyle are realized using specific language means.
According to S. Tomascikovâ, media play crucial role in the signifying practices in postmodern societies and in contemporary society media represent the most important channels of cultural mediation [1]. For example, the journalist uses a media text for realization of "SPORTSPEOPLE AS A MEDIUM FOR PROPAGATING A HEALTHY DIET"
cognitive model in order to influence the readers' attitude to a healthy lifestyle.
Scholarly papers review. Specific representation of a healthy lifestyle and food in the media influences the attitude to a healthy lifestyle and food in the society that results in emergence of new ideas and practices. Food has been the object of numerous sociological, cultural, ethnographic, linguistic and philosophical studies (E.V. Ivantsova [2], I.V. Evseeva and G.E. Kreidlin [3], A.V. Olyanich [4], C. Fischler [5], E.V. Pozhidaeva and O.A. Karamalak [6], S. Tomascikova [7-9]), which corresponds to the tendency of investigating various aspects of human existence.
Goals of the article. The present paper aims to investigate the components of the "SPORTSPEOPLE AS A MEDIUM FOR PROPAGATING A HEALTHY DIET" cognitive model foregrounded in the media discourse and the language means used for this purpose. The author also tries to investigate the connection between the cognitive model and the journalist's pragmatic goal aimed at representing a healthy lifestyle in the media discourse. While undertaking the research we applied the method of discourse analysis [10], method of cognitive modelling [11], method of semantic analysis, observation and description techniques.
Results and discussion. Food and eating are represented by the mass media as phenomena, which have penetrated into almost all spheres of life. One of the activities, which is also connected with food and eating, is the sphere of sport. A healthy balanced diet is as significant for a sportsperson as exercising or participating in competitions. However, in some cases the mass media in Britain try to build a different connection between food and sports; the journalist Brian Oliver, for instance, tries to portray sports as a medium for propagating a healthy diet: At 3pm next Saturday the world's first and only vegan football club will make sporting history when they play in the Football League for the first time. Forest Green Rovers, who were founded in the 19th century by a man named Peach, and play in green at the appropriately named New Lawn,
take on Barnet - the Bees - in their first fixture in League Two. They will use their new status to spread the message of veganism around the sporting world. "We 're having a big impact because we 're counterintuitive," said Dale Vince, the multimillionaire who owns the club, the green energy company Ecotricity, and is a big donor to the Labour party. "Spreading the vegan word through the world of football -what could be more counterintuitive than that?" [theguardian.com].
In this example the center of attention is not food, but sportspeople, who use their status and characteristics to propagate the idea of a vegan diet. It can be proven by the fact that the lexical units denoting food and drink are virtually absent in the media text. In his article the journalist constructs a specific model, in which not food is necessary for sports, but sports are necessary for a certain kind of food and such a pattern for representing facts in the article helps to portray food as a significant object in social life. We suppose that the journalist uses the media text to realize "SPORTS-PEOPLE AS A MEDIUM FOR PROPAGATING A HEALTHY DIET" cognitive model, in which some of the components are dominant in accordance with the author's intention.
One of the main components of the cognitive model is PARTICIPANTS: the journalist pays particular attention to the people who play an active role in disseminating ideas about a vegan diet. This component is foregrounded by various language units, which the author uses to constitute the picture of people promoting a healthy lifestyle and sports: Vince, who ensures that only plant-based food is available to players and spectators at the stadium in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, is not alone. Famous athletes in a wide range of sports are forsaking meat and appear to be having a big impact on the number of people trying a plant-based diet. In this extract the journalist uses the personal name of a businessman and a word combination denoting the well-known representatives of the sports sphere to foreground the PARTICIPANTS component of the cognitive model realized in the media text. The feature rendered by the
adjective famous characterizes the participants and makes the reader pay particular attention to this component. In the following extract the journalist indicates the personal names of famous sportspeople and the sports they are engaged in to underline the PARTICIPANTS component: Some of the world's leading footballers, including Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Manchester City's Sergio Agüero, do not eat meat during the playing season, while England striker Jermaine Defoe has gone a big step further by taking up a vegan diet. Wimbledon finalist Venus Williams, an Italian rugby international, a US Olympic weightlift-er, a number of hulking American football players, former heavyweight world champion David Haye, two snooker world champions and several top Australian cricketers are also on the vegan list. Other sports with top-level vegans are wrestling, surfing, cycling, ice hockey, parkour - the "extreme gymnastics " sport that may be added to the Olympic programme - squash, bobsleigh, mixed martial arts fighting and ultra-running; An aristocratic real tennis player who won a silver medal at the London 1908 Olympic Games was an early promoter of vegetarianism in Britain. Eustace Miles, a philanthropist, wrote Health Without Meat, which was a bestseller for years after it was published in 1915; A few years later Paavo Nurmi, the Finn who was a vegetarian from boyhood, would establish himself as the greatest middle- and longdistance runner of the 20th century. He won nine Olympic golds; The Australian swimmer Murray Rose, nicknamed "the seaweed streak" because he ate a lot of seaweed in his vegan diet, was 17 when he won three Olympic golds in 1956; In the television age Ed Moses, unbeaten for eight years at the 400m hurdles, and 100m world record holder Leroy Burrell were vegetarian, and the biggest name by far to adopt a vegan diet was Carl Lewis, the world's most famous sprinter before the chicken-nugget lover Usain Bolt came along. The notorious boxer Mike Tyson also adopted a plant-based diet after he quit the ring; Jason Gillespie, one of Australian cricket's great
bowlers until he retired in 2006, became a vegan during his highly successful five-year stint as coach of Yorkshire.
The PARTICIPANTS component of the cognitive model realized also includes people who wish to disseminate the ideas about a vegan diet (the primary source) and "use" sports-people for this purpose. The information about these PARTICIPANTS is indicated by the language means denoting a representative of the vegan society: But Dominika Piasecka, media officer for the Vegan Society, welcomed the sporting newcomers and predicted there would be more.
The undertaken research has demonstrated that the most manifold component of the cognitive model realized is the PARTICIPANTS component - it also includes ordinary people who choose to follow a plant-based diet: The England-based Vegan Society, founded in 1944 when the movement began, is overseeing "the fastest-growing lifestyle movement of the 21st century ". Its researchers put the number of vegans in Britain at 542,000 - up 260% in 10years - and estimate that about 1% of the population in Britain, Germany and the US is vegan. "It is very likely that we will see an increase in the number of vegan sportspeople because more of them are starting to realise the benefits of a vegan diet," Piasecka said. Forest Green Rovers are "breaking stereotypes and helping people to associate veganism with health, fitness and wellbeing". The manifold nature of the PARTICIPANTS component can be explained by complex process of disseminating ideas about a vegan diet and the role of various people participating in it, which can be illustrated by the following scheme:
PARTICIPANTS
People who wish to disseminate ideas (the primary source of ideas) ^ sportspeople (medium) ^ ordinary people who choose to follow a vegan diet (object of influence)
Along with the PARTICIPANTS component, the journalist also actualizes the CHARACTERISTICS component of the cognitive model by using the language means that indi-
cate their nationalities (England, Italian, US, American, Australian), names of clubs (Barcelona, Manchester City), names of the famous competitions (Wimbledon, Olympic), their present and past sports titles and achievements (finalist, former heavyweight world champion, two snooker world champions, a silver medal, Olympic golds, one of Australian cricket's great bowlers), their social status (an aristocratic real tennis player). Some of the adjectives and nouns used by the author demonstrate the significant place of the PARTICIPANTS in the world of sports (leading, top, great, the greatest, unbeaten, the biggest name, the world's most famous).
Such manifold indication of these features is important to introduce a new model into the reader's cognitive system and the purpose of this introduction is to persuade the reader to follow a healthy lifestyle. This purpose is efficiently achieved by appealing to characteristics of some of the best representatives of the sports sphere who support healthy eating. The journalist demonstrates that specific CHARACTERISTICS of PARTICIPANTS help them disseminate the veganism message (They will use their new status to spread the message of veganism around the sporting world; Forest Green Rovers are "breaking stereotypes and helping people to associate veganism with health, fitness and wellbeing").
The journalist also demonstrates the PARTICIPANTS with opposing CHARACTERISTICS, i.e. sportspeople who occasionally follow a plant-based diet: Venus Williams is widely seen, even by herself, as a "cheagan ", a cheating vegan who does not stick strictly to the lifestyle. A blogger on the ecorazzi website criticized Haye for using veganism as "nothing but a vessel for self-promotion and adulation. For the sake of the animals ... we should pay no attention, nor give any credence to the positions of these athletes who are interested in nothing but their own careers"; "I get concerned about the people who simply follow this behaviour because their favourite athlete or celebrity has done so. Unfortunately people who choose to 'go vegan', which often equates to merely eating plant-based, for selfish rea-
sons such as performance benefits or weight loss, tend to be the ones who fall off the wagon and go back to eating animal products later"; The strongest sporting voice against uncommitted plant-eaters is Neil Robinson, who became the first vegan footballer in Britain, and, he thinks, the world. He played for Everton, Swansea and others in a 16-year career from 1974, and says football is still "in the stone age " for vegans. He is critical of "cheagans " andfad dieters.
The CHARACTERISTICS component is also manifold: the real vegans are opposed to occasional vegans. By representing the opposing features of the PARTICIPANTS the journalist underlines the CHARACTERISTICS component within the framework of the cognitive model realized in the media text. The CHARACTERISTICS component is important, because it's one of the main tools for implementing the main activity in this cognitive model -propagating the ideas about a healthy lifestyle. The CHARACTERISTICS of the PARTICIPANTS are opposed in order to show the contrast between them and use this contrast to persuade the reader to follow a healthy lifestyle.
In the cognitive model realized priority is given to the PARTICIPANTS and their CHARACTERISTICS, not food. PARTICIPANTS and CHARACTERISTICS are the most dominant components within this cognitive model due to their manifold representation in the media text. The journalist foregrounds these components because the reader always compares somebody's features to his own ones and the specific CHARACTERISTICS of the PARTICIPANTS (e.g. present and past sports titles and achievements, high social status, significant place in the world of sports etc.) help persuade the reader to choose a vegan diet.
Another dominant component in the cognitive model is ACTIONS. The journalist describes what sportspeople and businesspeople do in particular to disseminate ideas about a healthy vegan diet. This component includes such actions as providing plant-based food at a stadium (Vince, who ensures that only plant-based food is available to players and spectators at the stadium in Nailsworth, Gloucester-
shire, is not alone; No animal products are on sale at the stadium), refusing to eat meat or not eating it for a limited period of time (Famous athletes in a wide range of sports are forsaking meat and appear to be having a big impact on the number of people trying a plant-based diet; Some of the world's leading footballers, including Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Manchester City's Sergio Agüero, do not eat meat during the playing season, while England striker Jer-maine Defoe has gone a big step further by taking up a vegan diet; The players are not vegan, they simply have to eat plant-based meals at matches and training; While Vince and the Vegan Society welcome the new wave of plant-powered sports stars, others are less happy because many are giving up meat for personal performance benefits, not because they are in tune with the vegan lifestyle and compassion for animals), changing the diet, disseminating information about it that results in affecting various representatives of the sports sphere ("We don't check up on them away from the club but we hear that players are changing their approach [to their diet], and it happens with fans too, " said Vince. "Just doing these things and talking about it has an effect on everybody — players, fans, even the media"; The sports stars' influence "has definitely helped to further the cause of veganism, " she said. "People really do take notice, especially if they're a fan of the person"; Forest Green Rovers are "breaking stereotypes and helping people to associate veganism with health, fitness and wellbeing"). The ACTIONS component is significant for the journalist, because within the
cognitive model realized various activities of some PARTICIPANTS (sportspeople, business-people, vegans, media officers and others) serve as an example for imitation for ordinary people, who, as a result, may choose to follow a healthy lifestyle.
Conclusion. In the cognitive model "SPORTSPEOPLE AS A MEDIUM FOR PROPAGATING A HEALTHY DIET" the components PARTICIPANTS, their CHARACTERISTICS and ACTIONS play the major role in the process of associating veganism with health, fitness and wellbeing. This process is viewed as the ultimate goal of people involved in this sphere. Foregrounding these components helps the journalist achieve his pragmatic goal - persuading the reader to choose a vegan diet, because the reader is influenced by the peculiar features of the PARTICIPANTS, following a vegan diet that are demonstrated in the media text.
Another goal of the journalist is to represent healthy eating as a significant object that plays an important role in social life and is able to unite various people and fields of activity. The author demonstrates that healthy eating (vegan diet in particular) can connect different spheres of life, e.g. through the sphere of professional sports it can penetrate into and change such aspect of everyday life as general public's diet. This way the British media discourse represents healthy eating as an integral part of social, cultural, political life, sports etc. that plays an important role in the functioning of these spheres.
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