CC BY
52Linguistic and functional cognitive peculiarities of media language as the basis of interpretations in the communicative sphere
by Olga D. Vishnyakova and Natalia V. Polyakova
Olga D. Vishnyakova Lomonosov Moscow State University [email protected]
Natalia V. Polyakova Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) [email protected] Published in Training, Language and Culture Vol 1 Issue 2 (2017) pp. 86-101 doi: 10.29366/2017tlc.1.2.6 Recommended citation format: Vishnyakova, O. D., & Polyakova, N. V. (2017). Linguistic and functional cognitive peculiarities of media language as the basis of interpretations in the communicative sphere. Training, Language and Culture, 1(2), 86-101. doi: 10.29366/2017tlc.1.2.6
The study deals with linguistic and functional cognitive aspects of language use in the media with a focus on typical actualisation of linguistic units in continental European business and political press which contain borrowings from the English language alongside original words and collocations, vividly shown by the examples taken from French sources. In the course of communication, the problem of transferring and understanding information arises, thus involving pragmatic and functional cognitive aspects of research. This raises the problem of notions and concepts, particularly in differentiating between strict logical mental structures and formations possessing both logical and sub-logical bases that deal with emotional and evaluative characteristics subject to various interpretations, which is vividly shown in the analysis of the English examples.
KEYWORDS: media language, interpretation, neologisation, borrowing, business press, political press, concept, notion, context, multiculturalism
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0)
1. INTRODUCTION
The speed of modern social, scientific and technical evolution has had an inevitable impact on the processes occurring in the language system. Modern mass media, which texts constitute empirical material for the study, are becoming a reflection of new trends. The language of the media has been studied by many scholars from the perspective of sociolinguistics, pragmatics, functional stylistics, and discursive analysis with the recent emergence of the cognitive approach.
However, with all the variety of research perspectives, a range of issues related to the development of language in modern media has still not been fully studied. The study considers linguistic, functional and cognitive aspects of the media language drawing on examples of French and English media discourse. Language of the media refers to: (1) the entire body of texts produced and disseminated by the media; (2) a stable intra-linguistic system bearing a certain set of linguistic properties and attributes; (3) a special
© Olga D. Vishnyakova, Natalia V. Polyakova 2017 86 Training, Language and Culture This content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
by Olga D. Vishnyakova and Natalia V. Polyakova
sign system of a mixed type with a certain ratio of verbal and audio-visual components specific for each particular media: print, radio, television, and the Internet (Johnson & Milani, 2010).
2. MATERIAL AND METHODS
As global news pertaining to the realm of economics, business and business communication affects all, it is the business vocabulary that represents the greatest area of interest. Saturation in the information field of human activity promotes the popularisation of business vocabulary, which is becoming more accessible to the public at large. A significant role in the penetration of business vocabulary into the language of everyday communication is played by the media. The materials used in the present study comprise articles from the most authoritative business newspapers and magazines in French (daily editions of Les Echos, La Tribune, Le Figaro Economie and Le Monde, weekly periodicals such as Challenge, Strategies and Le Nouvel Economiste) and English (The Economist, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, Standpoint and in broadcast media, BBC News).
3. STUDY AND RESULTS
3.1 French media language and its English flavour
The language and style of French business press reflect a tendency towards a more formal and laconic expression of thoughts, the rejection of
'Business periodicals are first of all addressed to professionals and require a certain level of knowledge and awareness on the part of the readers '
subjectivity and excessive expression. These principles are manifested, in particular, in the almost unacceptable use of 1st person singular pronoun by the author and in the need to separate his or her own opinion from the opinion of experts. Complex epithets, metaphors and comparisons are not welcome either. Striving for a more concise exposition can also be explained by the active use of complex words, including abbreviations in the texts of French business articles. For example:
Dieselgate: la BEI sollicite la justice française. Dieselgate: The European Investment Bank solicits the support of French justice (Le Figaro, March 24, 2017).
Comment le fisc et la Sécu vont taxer les revenus de l'économie collaborative. How the Tax office and Social Security are going to tax the income of the collaborative economic community (Le Figaro, February 3, 2017).
Unédic: le patronat fait des ouvertures. The National Union for Employment in Industry: The
Volume 1 Issue 2, 2017
rudn.tlcjournal.org
'In recent years, the French business press has increasingly been deploying English borrowings in the form of abbreviations'
bosses make overtures (Les Echos, March 24, 2017).
A large lexical layer in business periodicals consists of terms and professional expressions taken from the language of general economics, business, finance, politics and advertising. French business periodicals are no exception. Business periodicals are first of all addressed to professionals and require a certain level of knowledge and awareness on the part of the readers. However, excessive use of special vocabulary is undesirable, for otherwise the text of the article becomes cumbersome and difficult to understand. French business journals quite often contain terminology that is accessible not only to the specialists in this field, but also to readers who lack the appropriate vocational training.
One of the trends is the use of borrowed vocabulary. A significant part of the borrowings are terms and concepts related to the spheres of the economy, management, marketing, and advertising. These borrowings are usually of English origin: le business, le meeting, le sourcing,
le feedback, ¡'output, le workshop, le stock, customer-friendly, etc. Some borrowings formed derivative adjectives, nouns, verbs with French affixes, as in mailer, googler, drafter, le stockage, le packaging, etc.
In recent years, the French business press has increasingly been deploying English borrowings in the form of abbreviations. For example: le MoU ('memorandum of understanding'), une CP ('condition precedent'), le MoM ('minutes of meeting'), etc.
English vocabulary and symbols are often used in the names of headings. For example, in the business newspaper Les Echos there are headings such as, 'Start-Up' (on new business projects), and 'Business' (ont the development of business and trade enterprises). La Tribune features headings such as 'Entreprises & Finance', 'Trackers', 'Hitech'; Le Nouvel Economiste - 'Innovation & Stratégie', 'Finance & Juridique', 'Marketing & Technologie', 'Management & RH'.
There are many examples of the use of English language vocabulary in the headlines of newspaper materials. For example:
La compagnie présente aujourd'hui sa stratégie de base en province, inspirée des méthodes du low-cost. The company is presenting today its basic provincial strategy inspired by low-cost methods
by Olga D. Vishnyakova and Natalia V. Polyakova
(Le Figaro Economie, July 11, 2015).
Karen Aiach, du consulting à la thérapie génétique. Karen Aiach, of consulting according to genetic therapy (Le Figaro Economie, Fabruary 15, 2017).
StartUp Sum'up 12: l'actu de la semaine des startup de la FrenchTech. Start-up, Sum Up 12: The news of the week on French technology start-ups (Les Echos, March 26, 2016).
Today, the verb 'booster' (derived from the English 'to boost' meaning 'to stimulate', 'promote growth') has firmly established itself in the business French press. For example:
Des clients contents boostent la performance financière. Satisfied clients boost financial performance (Les Echos, March 20, 2017).
Booster l'entrepreneuriat féminin: un levier de croissance pour la France. Female entrepreneurs; a lever of growth for the French economy (Le Monde, March 8, 2012).
In 1972, the first terminology commission (Commission de terminologie) was founded under the Ministry of Economy and Finance of France. According to the resolutions of this commission, more than 250 terms recommended for use in official documents would boot out numerous Anglo-American borrowings from the language of
business communication (Soubrier, 1998). Getting the attention of the press, various public and private bodies, as well as the efforts of terminologists have made an undeniable contribution to the enrichment of the French language. So, to date such words as détaillant, espèces, libre échange, billet de banque have steadily become entrenched in the French language instead of retailer, cash, free trade, banknote and en ligne instead of online.
Later, the General Terminology and Neologisms Commission (Commission générale de terminologie et de néologie) was established on July 3, 1996 by Government Decree No. 96-602. The Commission reports directly to the Prime Minister and has become the main body for the normalisation of terminology in France. In close cooperation with the French Academy of Sciences, this commission is considering proposals for the development and standardisation of terms introduced by the specialised commissions on terminology and neologisms created under various ministries. In addition, the General Delegation to the French and other Languages supervised by the French Ministry of Culture has been operating since 1997 in various special fields of activity. Within the framework of this organisation, the APFA Association (Actions pour promouvoir le français des affaires), established in 1984, is also working to develop and disseminate the French language and Francophonie. The Association does
Volume 1 Issue 2, 2017
rudn.tlcjournal.org
'The emergence of newly coined words — as, in the majority of neologisms — is predetermined by extralinguistic factors, but newly coined words reveal intrasystem processes occurring in the language '
a great job collecting material, systematising and recording terminological units. The activities of the French Association for Standardisation (Association Française de Normalization) established in 1926 should also be noted. As a national body, the Association is engaged in the development of national standards of France, including standards in the field of the language of business communication.
Nevertheless, English terms still actively penetrate the French business language, including the language of the French business press. Thus, French neologisms mercatique, chalenge, marchandisage, tenante, marchéage are much less common in the pages of the French business press than their English counterparts marketing, challenge, merchandising, holding and, mix (marketing mix).
In fact, calques (loan words in translation) from English do not cause big problems for non-specialists, since these words are easy to find in
the text, and their meanings can be easily found in a dictionary or on the Internet. Moreover, such terms usually enter the language along with a designated phenomenon, which - at least at the initial stage - has the same characteristics as the one in the culture they are borrowed from. Thus, Soubrier (1998) states that each borrowed term is always used in its connotative meaning. For example, the term 'manager' is relatively neutral in English and can mean both the director of an enterprise and the manager of a service station. Naturally, such attributes as modernity, efficiency, or youth are implied only if the term is perceived as borrowed, for example, in a job application (qualités de manager). French spelling manageur deprives the term of these connotations and reduces it to the level of responsables, directeurs et autres chefs de service (officials, directors and heads of departments). In most cases, according to Soubrier, the connotation significance of Anglicism is the only sign of its vitality. And this happens in cases when Anglicism doesn't denote English reality, but designates a purely French concept, for which the French language has its own designation: discount (rabais), sales (ventes), process (procédé).
The most interesting aspect of the language of the modern French business press is the tendency towards neologisation. The emergence of newly coined words - as, in the majority of neologisms -is predetermined by extralinguistic factors, but
by Olga D. Vishnyakova and Natalia V. Polyakova
'The lexical-semantic analysis of coin words allows us to conclude that the most productive mechanisms of morphological neology in the language of the business French press are prefixation, suffixation, and composition'
newly coined words reveal intrasystem processes occurring in the language. This group of neologisms presents the greatest difficulty, because often their definitions cannot be found in the dictionary, they can only be derived from the context.
The basic methods of word formation in French include the affix method, that is, incorporation of a prefix and/or suffix to the stem, and the stem can be either borrowed from the native language or another, while the affixes in the overwhelming majority of cases belong to the language of neologisation (Depecker, 2002).
Comparing the conclusions of linguists regarding the effectiveness of certain affixes, some of them are used constantly, while the popularity of others is determined by extralinguistic factors (Armstrong, 2005; Giraudo & Grainger, 2003; De Cat, 2007). Thus, the French historical prefixes, which retain their productivity nowadays, include: re-
(réinsération - re-insertion), sur- (surperformer -above average performer), hyper- (hypervisibilité -hypervisibility), pré- (préprogrammation - preset time) and dé- (défiscaliser - untax).
As reflected in the analysis of empirical material, in recent years the following prefixes have emerged and become very common in the business environment:
bio-, éco-, agri- reflect people's commitment to lead a healthy lifestyle and care for the environment (bioénéergétique - bioenergetic, bioaccumulation - bioaccumulation and écobilan
- ecological balance sheet).
cyber-, e-, nano- have been widely used in French in connection with the spread of the Internet, communications and ICT (Information and Communications technologies in (cybermodèle -cybermodel, cyberconsommateur - cyber consumer, e-commerce - e-commerce, nanotechnologies - nanotechnology).
euro- is used for the nomination and description of phenomena, concepts and attitudes associated with the European Union (eurobanque - Eurobank
- europhobia, europhobie).
sur- reflect the meaning of 'excess of norm', 'excessiveness (surplus)' (surplacer - mark time, surestimer - overestimate, surchoix-top quality).
Volume 1 Issue 2, 2017
rudn.tlcjournal.org
The most productive suffixes in the language of the French business press are the following:
-isme describes a phenomenon, a movement typical for someone's behaviour (mercantilisme -mercantilism, monétarisme - monetarism, misérabilisme - pessimism).
-iste denotes an adherent of a political movement or a person with certain views (obamiste -follower of former US President Obama's policies, syndicaliste - relating to trade unions).
-able, -ible is used to form verbal adjectives with the meaning of possibility of accomplishing an action (contribuable - contributable, rentable -profitable, traçable - traceable, credible -credible).
-tion is a suffix through which verbals are formed with the meaning of action (syndicalisation - trade unionism, externalisation - outsourcing).
-phobe indicating irritation or fear something (phobia) (macronphobe -a person who fears or hates Emmanuel Macron, President of France and/or his policies).
In French, the prefix-suffix method is also used, for example, to join prefixes dé- and -iser to the -isation stem: débruxelliser (take out of the control of Brussels, that is, the EU); décentralisation
(decentralisation empowering local authorities with independent management of local affairs); déresponsabilisation (deflect responsibility).
Other productive ways of word formation are composition and telescopy. The difference between them is that telescopy is actually a language game, and new words are formed according to different principles from different parts of words, not necessarily from roots or stems. Here are some examples of composition and telescopy: commisaire-priseur (m) (Engl. 'auctioneer'); après-vente = après + vente (Engl. 'after-sales'); plus-value (engl. 'capital gains'); publipostage (m) = publi(cité) + postage (Engl. 'mailshot'; 'bulk mailing').
Thus, the peculiarities of the development of the French language, which has great opportunities for enriching and changing the composition of its vocabulary, lie in the tendency to use internal linguistic resources for reinterpreting lexemes and adapting to the rapidly changing conditions of life.
Neologisms are extremely effective in terms of replenishing the vocabulary. The lexical-semantic analysis of coin words allows us to conclude that the most productive mechanisms of morphological neology in the language of the business French press are prefixation, suffixation, and composition. Moreover, in recent years there has been a clear trend towards a wider use of stylistically and
by Olga D. Vishnyakova and Natalia V. Polyakova
'Previous investigations made it clear that conceptual formations possess different conventional status in terms of echoing reality '
emotionally marked lexical-phraseological units. It can be exemplified by the following phraseological units found in the articles on business topics:
Avoir du pain sur la planche (avoir une quantité importante de tâches à remplir pour effectuer le travail; to have one's hands full).
Avoir un poil dans la main (se dit d'un collaborateur qui ne fournit pas une quantité de travail satisfaisante; be lazy at work, workshy).
Gagnant-gagnant (se dit d'un accord dans lequel les deux parties trouvent leur avantage; win-win, mutual benefit).
Mettre le turbo (accélerer le rythme du travail; work faster).
Sortir de ses gonds (sortir hors de soi-même pendant le travail, sous l'effet de la colère; losing your temper at work).
The language of the modern business press in
France is characterised by a high degree of imagery. On the pages of French business newspapers and magazines, one can come across various examples of metaphorical expressions, such as:
Banques en exil: comment les grandes banques européennes profitent des paradis fiscaux. Banks in exile: how the big European banks profit from tax havens (La Tribune, March 27, 2017).
'Paradis fiscal' - the 'tax haven', a country that provides tax benefits to foreigners.
Présidentielle 2017: Fillon continue de perdre du terrain ('perdre du terrain' - to lose ground, retreat, fail). In this example reference is made to the falling rating of one of the favourites of the preelection race in France, François Fillon, who was at the centre of a political and financial scandal.
Thus, it is evident that the language of modern French business periodicals is characterised by the use of both neutral informative and stylistically coloured words. In the context of fierce competition with other types of media, the modern French business press is actively deploying various language techniques.
Thus, metaphorical expressions are certainly one of the distinguishing features of the material studied.
Volume 1 Issue 2, 2017
rudn.tlcjournal.org
3.2 Language of English media in terms of conceptual analysis
The language of the media is of utmost interest in terms of conceptual analysis as well, due to the interdisciplinary character of the new paradigm of scientific knowledge. In the course of the presentation of European languages in the scope of the media analysis, one comes to the conclusion that the process of realisation of verbal structures and their linguistic interpretations is to a great extent determined by such characteristics as the purport of the utterance and the ability of the reader to decipher (decode) the message adequately. This problem arises while taking into consideration both the knowledge of the language, its semantic and structural peculiarities, and the knowledge of its cultural and conceptual basis. In other words, this refers to the problems of verbal representation of concepts in a particular discourse.
3.3 Concept vs notion
Things tend to be further complicated when one makes an attempt to distinguish between 'concepts' and 'notions' which represent both philosophical and linguistic categories in the scope of human knowledge. Significant difficulties may also arise in connection with the terminological aspect of this issue, primarily due to a rather extensive number of variable definitions suggested by researchers to interpret these phenomena. The terminological situation with
'concepts' has been described by linguists dealing with linguistic and conceptual studies, suggesting that while this term finds various interpretations with different scholars, in its general functional meaning it is easily acceptable as a certain kind of an 'umbrella term' simultaneously covering the boundary subject domains of cognitive linguistics, linguistic psychology, as well as cultural studies in linguistics.
The question of the concept vs notion differentiation has been discussed extensively. It is a well-established fact that in the traditional philosophical sense concepts and notions proceed from generalisation of the basic features of a phenomenon or object of reality, and therefore they come into being as abstract entities (Kramer & de Smit, 2013).
Previous investigations made it clear that conceptual formations possess different conventional status in terms of echoing reality. Hence the need to differentiate between concepts and notions as multidimensional structures of human consciousness, since concepts, unlike notions, do not fit into rigid formal-logical schemes. The content structure of a naive notion in the proper sense of the word is constant and can be defined (on the level of language) as the sum of linguistically relevant characteristics capable of differentiating names and classes of phenomena behind those names.
by Olga D. Vishnyakova and Natalia V. Polyakova
'Dealing with concepts in the proper sense of the word, one should bear in mind that a concept usually possesses an open semantic sphere, easily penetrable by the whole conglomerate of associations, including expressive, evaluative, and emotional meanings
Speaking about concepts proper, one should bear in mind that a concept is a structure premised on both logical and sub-logical grounds. Its content is not limited to the notion that it includes, but covers the whole range of content characteristics that represent, among other things, its associative sphere. The qualities of permeability and openness manifested in a concept are determined by the permeability and openness of its associative field that reflects the peculiarities of the unlimited process of cognition. For that matter, there is a thesis suggesting that concepts are not attached to any specific material form, but rather hover over material forms. Unlike notions, concepts do not exist in the form of thought only, concepts are 'experienced'. They possess emotions, evaluations, and expressivity (Shapiro, 2014).
As has been shown in a number of studies (Laurence & Margolis, 1999; Carey, 2009), the
boundary between the notion and the concept which stands behind it is extremely fragile and mobile. One of the crucial issues is the decisive role of the linguistic representation of the conceptual meaning in question. The thing is that not only the adequate choice of a linguistic form and meaning but the context of situation, both linguistic and extralinguistic, should be taken into consideration as well. Basically, the real speech functioning process should be regarded as a reliable criterion that helps establish a certain cognitive status of the mental lingual structure under analysis as the analysis of a basic mental and linguistic unit suggested in this paper will demonstrate.
3.4 Multiculturalism as one of the basic concepts in the English media
This section considers verbal representation of the content structure of 'multiculturalism', which is a political and cultural concept reflecting one of the most important and complicated phenomena of modern social organisation. The term is defined in various ways.
1. Multiculturalism is the belief that it is important and good to integrate people or ideas from many different countries, races, or religions (Shohat & Stam, 2014).
2. Multiculturalism is a situation in which all the different cultural or racial groups in a society have
Volume 1 Issue 2, 2017
rudn.tlcjournal.org
equal rights and opportunities, and none is ignored or considered unimportant (May & Sleeter, 2010).
3. As a philosophy, multiculturalism began as part of the pragmatism of the movement in the nineteenth century in Europe and the United States, then as political and cultural pluralism at the turn of the twentieth (Caputi et al., 2006).
4. Multiculturalism, or cultural pluralism, is a term describing the coexistence of many cultures in a locality, without any one culture dominating the region. By making the broadest range of human differences acceptable to the largest number of people, multiculturalism seeks to overcome racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination (Haste & Abrahams, 2008).
As a linguistic unit, 'multiculturalism' can be viewed as a kind of terminological unit which is used to determine the relevant key concept functioning in the proper contexts and conveying objective information. Nevertheless, it may possess evaluative connotations as in Haste and Abrahams's (2008) definition above where it definitely possesses positive connotations of adherent character, which is also due to its contextual association with the phrase 'to overcome racism, sexism... discrimination', including the negatively coloured (from the point of view of social, ethical and moral values)
'racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination' opposed to the positive evaluation of the concept represented by the linguistic unit 'multiculturalism', which involves transformations in its semantic interpretation due to the emerging evaluative connotations. This means that the content sphere of the 'pure', logically verified notion of 'multiculturalism' acquires expressive evaluative meanings and tends to be characterised in terms of the concept proper.
This point can be illustrated with examples showing the interpretational abilities of the concept in question.
1. 'Tony Blair, in language Winston Churchill would have enjoyed, has now made it clear that multiculturalism is not what we thought it was.... He declared that tolerance was a must. 'Conform to it,' he said, 'or don't come here' (Walden, 2006).
2. 'So many hurdles: gender, race, class, height, accent. These things shouldn't matter but this Labour government is obsessed with multiculturalism, diversity, equality and difference. It has made an industry monitoring every part of our lives. I hate those snide questions about my ethnicity' (Morrison, 2009).
Dealing with concepts in the proper sense of the word, one should bear in mind that a concept
by Olga D. Vishnyakova and Natalia V. Polyakova
'A concept may be represented by a number of linguistic meanings, very close to each other in terms of their semantic functions'
usually possesses an open semantic sphere, easily penetrable by the whole conglomerate of associations, including expressive, evaluative, and emotional meanings. An associative sphere of a concept comprises other concepts which may to a great extent differ from each other in their form of linguistic representation and semantic structure. A concept may be represented by a number of linguistic meanings, very close to each other in terms of their semantic functions. For example, the concept of multiculturalism includes meanings represented by the linguistic unit 'immigration':
"Immigration in the UK increased greatly after World War II. During the 1950s, the country was still rebuilding its economy after the war. It needed workers for the factories, and for the hospitals of the New National Health Service. Immigrants were encouraged to come to Britain to take up these jobs. ... At first, they were considered to be different and not welcomed. In the 1970s, a law was passed that was made to the black people differently from anyone else. Now, 50 years later, the children and grandchildren of the earlier immigrants are well-established members of British
society' (LDELC, 2005, p. A14).
The unit 'immigrant' bears neutral stylistic and emotional properties and in a number of cases can be considered to be a terminological unit of a narrow social sphere, presented in the context of sociocultural content in the meaning of "someone coming into a country from abroad to make their home there' (LDELC, 2005, p. A14).
At the same time, in some contexts the unit 'immigrants' is accompanied by a number of negatively coloured words and phrases that directly affect the tenor of discourse and can be characterised by a certain ambiguity of presentation due to the expressive evaluative connotations. For example, in the course of dictionary entries analysis concerning the problem of concepts characterised by their extensive representation in the media, we sometimes find that lexicographic sources containing explanations and commentaries comprise various interpretations referring to some policies or ideologies as well as some ethical and religious issues:
'The UK has received large numbers of immigrants. Some were refugees, especially before and during World War II. In the 1950s and 1960s, many people went to the UK from the Commonwealth, especially from the Caribbean, India, and Pakistan. In the 1970s, a number of people from the United
Volume 1 Issue 2, 2017
rudn.tlcjournal.org
States were allowed to live in the UK. Today there are strict rules for people from the United States and the UK. It is very difficult for someone to live in either country permanently unless one of their parents is from there, they are married to a US or UK citizen or they have a large amount of money with them. Asylum seekers are allowed to live in the UK and the US until it is safe for them to return to their own country, and some are given permission to live in the UK or the US permanently' (LDELC, 2005, p. 697).
The above passage introduces information essential for immigrants coming to the UK ('unless one of their parents is from there', 'they are married to a US citizen', 'a large amount of money with them'). It is repeatedly emphasised that the immigration process, which depends primarily on the British authorities, is complex: 'were allowed to live in the UK', 'strict rule', 'prevent people from going to live in the USA and the UK', 'very difficult for someone to live in the United States and the UK', etc., which include lexical units with a regulative component of meaning ('allowed', 'rules', 'strict', 'permission', 'prevention').
Thus, the source of information that contains positively coloured evaluative components of multiculturalism as a special national policy at the same time represents controversial ideas demonstrating that the notion of multiculturalism being represented in actual speech by the
linguistic meanings in question has acquired a number of peculiarities that enable its transference into the sphere of concepts due to its evaluative and emotional loading achieved by its linguistic representational peculiarities. The following examples illustrate the point:
'Have you forgotten, Mr. Todd, the large numbers of European immigrants who have settled in Britain? They did not get a very warm welcome out of all of you, I cannot tell you! In fact, I would not like to repeat some of them! But now they and their children - and grandchildren - are just like any other British citizen.
'I think there will be a long period of difficulty, misunderstanding, and even bitterness where there are ghettos. But yes, on the whole, I am hopeful. As Mrs. Dawkins said, other foreign immigrants have been integrated - in the end. It may take longer with us because our colour is a continual reminder. Then, with Pakistanis and Indians, there are the problems of religion, dress and eating habits.'
'Foreigners have settled in Britain since the beginning of the century. The number of immigrants was controlled, except for Commonwealth citizens, who, until 1962, were allowed to enter freely' (Musman, 1996, p. 45-51).
The word 'immigrants' has the following
by Olga D. Vishnyakova and Natalia V. Polyakova
contextual synonyms: 'foreigners', 'large racial groups', 'people who live in separate communities', 'foreign immigrants', 'different', etc., thus creating a sad, negative tenor of discourse, at the expense of their emotional-evaluative connotations.
Basically, multiculturalism as a term is hard to explain from the point of view of its use in different contexts due to different interpretations of the concept of multiculturalism itself by the representatives of various social political movements. Therefore, the writers or speakers use various techniques to explain it in terms of the semantic and pragmatic potential of the language to demonstrate to their target audience what is meant by this or that linguistic unit representing the concept of multiculturalism within certain contexts and political views. For example:
'But is multiculturalism really a counter-racist, inclusive ideal? On the contrary, it seems to me, the so-called British model of multiculturalism is quite profoundly racist in a rather subtle way, which in turn reveals what British Anglophobia and British Islamophobia have in common' ('Racist' English nationalism, 2010).
Thus, in the statement above, British multiculturalism is characterised as a concept based on the policy of cultural pluralism. The author deploys phrases bearing negative
'Although many English borrowings are used in French media texts, one comes across new linguistic units presented in the language of modern press, first and foremost due to extralinguistic factors that influence their use in appropriate contexts'
connotations like 'the so-called British model of multiculturalism' (in which the lexical unit 'so-called' determines the speaker's attitude towards the content of the statement), 'profoundly racist' (where the unit 'profoundly' functions as an intensifier referring to the adjective 'racist', which is characterised by a high frequency of use in contexts with 'multiculturalism'). The most vivid example of the linguistic semiotic choice of the author is the parallel construction with the negatively coloured linguistic units comprising the -phobia element, 'What British Anglophobia and British Islamophobia have in common.'
4. CONCLUSION
The language of the modern European business and political press is characterised by a specific way of presenting information by means of a particular repertoire of linguistic units organised in a particular order. Although many English
Volume 1 Issue 2, 2017
rudn.tlcjournal.org
borrowings are used in French media texts, one comes across new linguistic units presented in the language of modern press, first and foremost due to extralinguistic factors that influence their use in appropriate contexts.
As the study shows, the texts of the modern business and political press are marked by an expressive component realised by means of linguistic representations that are emotional-evaluative in nature. For example, the conceptual sphere of 'multiculturalism' is characterised by a high representational ability to express evaluative meanings associated with the semantic peculiarities of the concept, which manifests itself as a political and social notion causing ambiguous
interpretations and assessments and thus acquiring the whole range of associative characteristics and new conceptual meanings. In this case, the logical strictness of the notion is being damaged and due to its content boundary's mobility a number of associative and evaluative meanings come into being. This process is not determined by the extralinguistic situation, which is one of the most powerful factors affecting media discourse.
To conclude, the language of the media may serve as a valuable source of examples in the field of linguistic and functional cognitive analysis as well as traditionally accepted linguistic disquisitions based on the content and structural analyses of various linguistic levels presentation.
References
Armstrong, N. (2005). Translation, linguistics, culture: A French-English handbook (Vol. 27). Multilingual Matters.
Caputi, P., Foster, H., & Viney, L. L. (2006). Personal construct psychology: New ideas. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Carey, S. (2009). The origin of concepts. Oxford University Press.
De Cat, C. (2007). French dislocation: Interpretation, syntax, acquisition (No. 17). Oxford University Press.
Depecker, L. (2002). L'invitation de la langue: Le choix des mots nouveaux [The invitation of the
language: The choice of new words]. Paris, France: Armand Colin-Larousse.
Giraudo, H., & Grainger, J. (2003). On the role of derivational affixes in recognizing complex words: Evidence from masked priming. Trends in Linguistic Studies and Monographs, 151, 209-232.
Haste, H., & Abrahams, S. (2008). Morality, culture and the dialogic self: Taking cultural pluralism seriously. Journal of Moral Education, 37(3), 377-394.
Johnson, S., & Milani, T. M. (Eds.). (2010). Language
ideologies and media discourse: Texts, practices,
by Olga D. Vishnyakova and Natalia V. Polyakova
politics. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Kramer, N. J. T. A., & Smit, J. de. (2013). Systems thinking: Concepts and notions. Bern, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG.
Laurence, S., & Margolis, E. (1999). Concepts and
cognitive science. In E. Margolis, & S. Laurence (Eds.), Concepts: Core readings (pp. 3-81). MIT Press.
LDELC. (2005). Longman dictionary of English language and culture. Harlow, UK: Longman.
May, S., & Sleeter, C. E. (Eds.). (2010). Critical
multiculturalism: Theory and praxis. Routledge.
Morisson, L. (2009, November). Colour me angry. Standpoint Magazine. Retrieved from http:// standpointmag.co.uk/colour-me-angry-counterpoints-november-09-loanna-morrison-conservative-party
Musman, R. (1996). Britain today. Harlow, UK:
Longman.
'Racist' English nationalism: An alibi for Britain's
Anglophobia and Islamophobia. (2010, August 16). Britology Watch. Retrieved from https:// britologywatch.wordpress.com/ 2010/08/16/'racist'-english-nationalism-an-alibi-for-britain's-anglophobia-and-islamophobia Shapiro, L. (Ed.). (2014). The Routledge handbook of
embodied cognition. Routledge. Shohat, E., & Stam, R. (2014). Unthinking Eurocentrism:
Multiculturalism and the media. Routledge. Soubrier, J. (1998). Néologismes et termes d'emprunts dans le français des affaires [Neologisms and borrowed terms in business French]. Lyon, France: INSA de Lyon. Walden, B. (2006, December 15). What does
multiculturalism mean? BBC News. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2Zhi/uk_news/ magazine/6183873.stm
