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DOI: 10.12731/2218-7405-2013-7-58
VERBALIZATION OF INFORMATIONAL MODEL «CHINA'S DOMINATION» IN THE U.S. MASS-MEDIA
Sorokina O.N.
The article is devoted to the research of informational model verbalization titled «China's Domination», which is formed by the USA mass media. The applicability of this theme is proved by importance of national cognitive activity research (informational model construction) through the reference to semiotically ordered set of texts. This study is timely as the mechanisms of informational models representation in mass media are poorly known. Thus, the author offers the term «informational model», considering it as an organized in a special way mass media language which foregrounds mental representations set by authors.
The primary goal of this study is a research of informational model foregrounding, viz. informational model verbalization titled «China's Domination» represented by the U.S. mass-media. In order to solve this problem the author uses a number of research methods which supplement each other: content-analysis, definitional analysis, method of the contextual analysis, discursive and cognitive analysis of the U.S. mass media, interpretative analysis. The empiric base of this research is the content analysis of five national printing editions of the USA: «The New York Times», «The Washington Post», «The Wall Street Journal», «Time», «Newsweek».
Detection of leading psycholinguistic means which form the information model «China's Domination» in mass-media of the USA becomes the result of the conducted research. Amongst the leading linguistic means the author point out such as: communicative strategy (polarization, defamation, reliability, allegory), and also the marked lexical units (synonyms, epithets, emotive lexicon, metaphors).
Keywords: verbalization, informational model, mass media, the USA, China, domination, communicative strategy, metaphor, epithet, synonym.
ВЕРБАЛИЗАЦИЯ ИНФОРМАЦИОННОЙ МОДЕЛИ «ДОМИНИРОВАНИЕ КИТАЯ» В СМИ США
Сорокина О.Н.
Данная статья посвящена исследованию вербализации информационной модели «Доминирование Китая», формируемой средствами массовой информации США. Актуальность данной темы обусловлена важностью исследования когнитивной деятельности целой нации (моделирование информационной модели) через обращение к семиотически упорядоченной совокупности текстов. Актуальным представляется также то, что современное состояние вопроса о механизмах репрезентации языком СМИ информационных моделей характеризуется недостаточной изученностью. Ввиду этого, автор раскрывает суть термина «информационная модель», рассматривая его как особым образом оформленную систематизацию языка СМИ, актуализирующего заданные авторами ментальные репрезентации, включающие индивидуальное отношение к ним.
В рамках данной работы основной задачей становится исследование актуализации информационной модели доминирования Китая, эксплицируемой СМИ в рамках другой лингвокультуры (США). Для решения данной задачи автор использует комплекс дополняющих друг друга методов исследования: контент-анализ, дефиниционный анализ, метод контекстуального анализа, дискурсивно-когнитивный анализ масс-медийного дискурса США, интерпретационный анализ. Эмпирической базой исследования является контент-анализ материалов пяти общенациональных качественных печатных
изданий США: «The New York Times», «The Washington Post», «The Wall Street Journal», «Time», «Newsweek».
Результатом проведенного исследования становится обнаружение ведущих психолингвистических приемов формирования заданной информационной модели «Доминирование Китая» в СМИ США: коммуникативные стратегии (поляризации, диффамации, достоверности, аллегории), а также маркированные лексические единицы (синонимические ряды, эпитеты, эмотивная лексика, метафоры).
Ключевые слова: вербализация, информационная модель, средства массовой информации, США, Китай, доминирование, коммуникативные стратегии, метафора, эпитет, синоним.
Introduction
Nowadays there is a large number of studies which are devoted to the research of mass media effects, persuasion and suggestion techniques and also to the principles of informational warfare. It is not deniable that the purposeful mass-media influence on mass consciousness is capable to alter public opinion, representations, knowledge, valuable orientations and to fill consciousness of target audience with quite new cognitive tenor caused by customer's ideology.
While broadcasting some knowledge of the social realm, mass-media process the submitted information in a special way, purposefully forming both emotional and behavioural stereotypes and target audience's orientations. Within the linguistic analysis of mass media one of the basic problems is the research of key elements of events' perception and interpretation which cause images/representations realization produced through mass media. Thus, the process of informational models formation in consumers' consciousness is attractive for researchers.
In view of this, the applicability of this theme is proved by the importance of national cognitive activity research (informational model construction) through the reference to semiotically ordered set of texts.
The Review of Domestic and Foreign Literature
The process of mass media representing in a special way constructed informational models is rather poorly known. Despite a very huge popularity of the concept «Image» in domestic and foreign linguistics ([3]; [4]; [5]; [7]; [16]), there is no any standard definition yet.
Following their own interests and ideas, different researchers fill the concept «Image» with various tenors. Thus, I. V. Arnold considers that in a broad sense this term means external world reflexion in consciousness [1, p. 73]. Meanwhile N. D. Arutyunova believes that the concept "Image" is a complicated psycholinguistic phenomenon; she says: «Image - that is an obvious representation of any fact of the reality, it is such an inadequate reflexion of phenomena and subjects which characteristics are scrupulously selected in order to transfer through them the defined concept in a concrete graphical form» [2, p. 123].
Research of «Image» gets a new view in connection with its consideration as the product created by mass media. The fullest and the most complex research of image produced by mass-media is presented by authors of Far Eastern State University in teamwork paper «Language Representation of Russian Image in Mass Media of the West and the East» (E. G. Megrabova, M. G. Lebedko, A. I. Sheveleva, M. N. Rassokha, Z. G. Proshina, A. I. Edlichko, М. E. Stupnitskaya (2009)). This study is undertaken on the basis of four languages (English, German, French and Spanish). So, the given research comprehensively reflects multidimensionality of the concept «Image». According to the authors, image is a mental reflexion of any subject or phenomenon; that is the representation noted by individual perception and, consequently, by individual relation. «Image is an alloy of various signs; its components come out of both sensual perception and rational, realized selection» [17, p. 6].
So, within the limits of the scientific field devoted to the research of image represented by mass-media, various scientists give their own sense of this definition. For example, E. G. Megrabova states the following understanding of the given
concept: «Image formed by political magazine is an embodiment of how the given edition sees a certain fragment of the world, how it designs image on pages, what model it creates for the readers» [12, p. 7].
We consider that the most relevant for our research is the term offered by M. G. Lebedko: «Images are mental representations created on the basis of cognitive perception process; thus, in view of this, they are indirect conceptual analogues of environment» [11, p. 50]. The author believes that image components are representations about society, events, separate subjects and objects, their relations, natural phenomena, physical and mental processes, situations as world fragments [11, p. 50].
Rest upon these definitions and also considering the peculiarity of the investigated concept we believe that images which are created by mass media can be considered as the result of cognitive processings of modelled information in massmedia. Such specific information construction in the form of purposeful modeling of separate situations in mass media discourse we term as informational model. The very core of informational modeling is in foregrounding of some thematic structures through using marked words and the ideas in mass media which cause recipients' allocation of the concrete signs, qualities, aspects of different objects set by authors, and further formation of their complete image.
It is obvious that such reality reflexion has an established character and depends on practical activities of journalists, on that subject activity in which it is included. On that basis, it is possible to draw a conclusion that created by mass media informational models have quite radical influence on the nature of human perception. So, the reality perception ceases «to start from objective conditions of material activity of a subject» [8, p. 85], as informational models are, first of all, the realization of journalists interpretative schemes. Introduction of informational models by means of mass media is predetermined by mass-median language particularity as «the world can be interpreted due to the usage of signs, concepts' systems and the symbols which also depend on interpretations» [18, p. 55-85].
Thus, we consider this term as an organized in a special way mass media language which foregrounds mental representations set by authors, including the individual relation to them. We believe that one of significant properties of an image is world reflexion in the course of its practical creation; h. e. in this understanding image can be treated as a model of the reality «restoring the information received from the reality in new essence» [1, p. 73]. Such model which is produced in mass media by means of a complex verbalizators' set, we term as «informational model». The choice of the term «model» is also caused by association with a certain pattern or a scheme according to which target audience purposefully form mental representations of this or that object.
Problem Statement
The primary goal of this study is a research of informational model foregrounding, viz. informational model verbalization titled «China's Domination» represented by the U.S. mass-media.
Theme allocation «China's Domination», which causes the consideration of informational model «China's Domination» in the form of an independent cognitive element created in U.S. mass media space, was a very uneasy task. In order to solve this problem we used a number of research methods which supplement each other:
1. content-analysis which subject is the analysis of the texts tenor and also the quantitative analysis of texts in order to find out the substantial interpretation of the revealed numerical laws;
2. definitional analysis which gives the opportunity to reveal the explicit signs of informational model «China's Domination»;
3. method of the contextual analysis which allows to reveal the implicit contest of created in the U.S. mass media informational model of China;
4. discursive and cognitive analysis of the U.S. mass media discourse, allowing to simulate cognitive structure of an information stereotype of China and to describe cognitive model of a steady Chinese representation in language as in system presented in human consciousness;
5. interpretative analysis which is focused on the revealing cultural conditionality of the investigated informational model and valuable setup in public consciousness.
Research Description
For the most systematic studying we have chosen so-called qualitative mass media of the USA. Thus, the empirical base of research is the content-analysis of materials of the U.S. five national qualitative printing editions: newspapers «The New York Times», «The Washington Post», «The Wall Street Journal» and magazines «Time» and «Newsweek» (electronic version). The content-analysis was carried out on three-year selection (2009-20011); the total selection of the U.S. mass media reports is about 4000.
The results of the content-analysis of the U.S. mass media on a topic «China's
Domination» are reflected in the table № 1 :
Source Quantity of Publications Percentage
The New York Times 128 10,2 %
The Washington Post 86 6 %
The Wall Street Journal 67 8,3 %
Time 21 6,3 %
Newsweek 21 14,2 %
We should notice that the given theme is really timely for the American mass media; the theme of the Chinese domination is mentioned almost in all reports which reflect fast economic growth of China, its strategic potential, its huge domestic market, its huge investments into infrastructure, education, scientific researches and workings out and also the massive escalating of its military power.
The essential thematic dominant is the author's assumption that times of the unipolar world have passed; some American experts notice that China with its economics, military growth and political power is considered as the leading opponent and even the potential rival of the USA, while being the largest creditor of the U.S.: An
official in charge of China's foreign reserves tried to ease American concern Tuesday about the political impact of its huge holdings of U.S. government debt and indicated Beijing has no plans for a big increase in its gold stockpile (WP, March 9th 2010); China is the biggest foreign owner of U.S. government debt (WP, March 9th 2010); China, the world's biggest holder of foreign exchange reserves (WP, March 8th 2010); The purchases solidified China's position as the world's largest holder of U.S. debt (WP, February 22nd 2010); China Remains Biggest Holder of U.S. Debt (Wall Street Journal, April 30th 2010).
Verbalization of informational model «China's Domination» is carried out by means of a complex of communicative strategies used in the U.S. mass media and also by means of a number of marked lexical units. The leading communicative strategy in the U.S. mass media discourse reflecting Chinese political and economic eminence is the polarization strategy which shows authors' communicative intentions to oppose two largest powers - the USA and China. The usage of antonymous lexical pairs is one of the ways of lexical verbalization of this communicative strategy: wane - grow and fade - rise: Poll shows concern about American influence waning as China's grows (WP, February 22nd 2010); At a time when American prestige is fading, China's status is rising (Wall Street Journal, November 13th 2009). Realizing in the semantic space their meanings, the given words become the basic means of contrast expression at the lexical level, introducing the representation of enormous distinction between the United States and China «giving necessary expressivity and figurativeness and also realizing the author's intentions connected with discovering and reflecting the most exact image of the reality» [14, p. 117].
We believe that by means of the mentioned strategy authors reach the maximum effect of influence on addressees' cogitative activity. It is important to notice that the communicative strategy of contrast verbalization occurs on the basis of semantic opposition; it can be shown at the lexical level through the following verbs to eclipse, to replace, to surpass: China has eclipsed the United States (WP, February 22nd 2010); For a country addicted to export-led growth, transitioning to a sustainable
economy will not be easy. People who assume that an ever-expanding China will inexorably replace America as the world economic superpower should take a close look at the numbers (WP, March 10th 2010); China became Brazil's biggest trading partner, replacing the United States (WP, July 25th 2010) Last year, China surpassed the United States as the world's largest automaker (WP, May 11th 2010). Realizing such meanings as "to eclipse", "to replace", "to surpass", this verbal range expresses the arisen Chinese-American contradiction appeared as a result of misbalance of the international influence which flew to South East Asia. Transferred by the U.S. mass-media, discrepancy plays a significant role in the created images of the United States and China. As O. N. Egorchenko says, «contrast is a basis of human life at all times and at all levels of any culture. Universe evolution is closely connected with contrast comprehension of the reality which elements were the subject of the analysis through contrast perception, and then were synthesized, passing into a single whole making empiricism of comprehension by a person as himself/herself and as a part of society» [6, p. 4]. Thus, reflected contrast of these two countries' images provides readers' understanding that the arisen Chinese-American misbalance means the replacement of the world leader; China becomes a leading world superpower «number one», overshadowing the USA.
Expansion of the given representation is promoted by the following citation: Most striking about China's emergence in the high-speed train field is that it is all relatively new; That was about the time that President Obama, then still a senator campaigning for office, was bemoaning the fact that the United States had fallen behind (WP, May 11th 2010). Two countries comparison construction forms a basis for a feature selection of the created informational model. So, through the basic opposition, realized by means of a phrase «the United States had fallen behind», new apprehension of China is achieved: that is the country, having quite different status, than it had 30 years ago. Readers begin understand that Chinese international influence (political, military and economic) becomes considerably strongly than the U.S. traditional influence. Certainly, this new sense which appears through the usage
of specific language units furthers change of the Chinese stereotypic image, providing some new significant information elements introduction. This change becomes the most effective due to the influence on an emotional background of recipients' cogitative activity. It is reached through the use of lexemes carrying negative connotation: bemoaning, negative thing.
Metaphor is another significant linguistic resource which helps to broaden Chinese image as a country which reduced the gap between its and the U.S. political influence, leading to a world geopolitical change with Eastern domination. It is metaphor which «evokes», stimulates reflexive processes much easier and faster than other figures and, consequently, it is basically the most effective means of understanding of the text content [9, p. 5]. So, while carrying out the analysis we noticed the following metaphor: But there are growing doubts over the odds for success for a deal that in China is likened to a "snake swallowing an elephant" (WP, April 21st 2010). The metaphor keeps great potential «to break the existing categorization» as it is based on the explicit contrast comparison of China with a snake, and the USA, in turn, with an elephant absorbed by this snake [15, p. 442]. In this case we do not consider author's metaphor «a snake swallowing an elephant» as a simple «expansion of semantic meaning of a word due to the introduction of some figurative meanings and strengthening of its evocative properties» [13, p. 109].
Following J. Lakoff we consider that in a basis of the metaphorization there is interaction process between the knowledge of two conceptual domains - sphere-source and sphere-target [10, p. 9]. As a result of this unidirectional metaphorical projection from a sphere-source into a sphere-target, the elements of the sphere-source, which were formed due to the person's experience with his/her environment, structure clear conceptual sphere-target. A base source of knowledge making conceptual domains is the experience of direct person and the world interaction where physical experience is diachronically primary, organizing the reality categorization in the form of simple cognitive structures - «schemes-images» [10, p. 9]. So, with a foundation of the basic knowledge of the world, including flora and
fauna knowledge, target audience draws metaphorical inference as the image of China's slow absorption of a very large extraction, the USA. Thus, the given metaphor becomes not only the main linguistic means to describe Chinese capture of the global domination, but a main means to convey the meaning that the mankind enters the Eastern Asia century.
Besides the communicative strategy of polarization authors widely use the communicative strategy of defamation to attract reader's attention to the methods which China employs for world supremacy achievement. So, in the semantic space of the U.S. mass media discourse we met a lot of reports about Beijing's breaking the rules of free trade, established by WTO: In a filing with the office of the U.S. trade representative, the union claims that China is steadily seizing world market share in the production of such things as solar panels and wind turbines through an array of subsidies, tax credits, cut-rate loans and other policies that favour local producers. Those policies violate World Trade Organization rules (WP, September 9th 2010); The communist government is trying to nurture Chinese technology industries with grants and other support. But the strategy has triggered complaints Beijing is violating its free-trade commitments and prompted an U.S. complaint to the World Trade Organization in December over subsidies to Chinese producers of wind and solar equipment (WP, January 26th 2011); There are plenty of stories of a Chinese-sponsored infrastructure project or a Chinese company cutting a deal to feed its "insatiable thirst" for raw materials, while Western involvement of similar or greater magnitude is lucky to make a headline at all (Newsweek, August 9th 2010).
At the same time authors use the communicative strategy of reliability in order to influence the perceptive information processing about the scales of Chinese changing strategic implication and its potential. So, in the semantic space of the U.S. mass media discourse about the changing role of China we found messages where the statistical data of Gallup are given, reflecting the answers of the American respondents concerning the existing leader in economic and diplomatic spheres: For
the first time since 1985, China has overtaken Japan as America's most important Asian partner. The results reflect China's meteoric rise in economic and diplomatic power and influence: 54 % Opinion leaders who chose Japan as the U.S. 's most important Asian ally in 2008; 38 % - Chose China in 2008; 36 % - Chose Japan in 2010; 56 % - Chose China in 2010 (Newsweek, June 7th 2010). As it seen from the given extract, the data shows that more than 50% pollees are in favour of the Chinese leadership.
Moreover the communicative strategy of allegory promotes the reconstruction of a steady cognitive informational model of China in the form of the dominating world power which has put the competitive pressure on the United States. The verbalization of the given strategy is represented within the following extract: The rise of China is, as we all know by now, the definitive economic and political story of our time. Every week a new book title announces an "irresistible" tilt east, the emergence of "Chimerica" and a not-too-distant future when China "rules" the planet (Newsweek, August 9th 2010).
It is important to notice that the use of the word Chimerica is one of effective psycholinguistic means of the appropriate Chinese image formation. In order to create this word authors used blending such words as China and America. As it is known, usually portmanteau is the results of blending two words (or expressions) which are close in sounding, composition or meaning. In this case it is impossible to say definitely that lexemes China and America are similar in sounding or construction. Crossing these words on the basis of the general meaning "country", authors invent a new word - Chimerica. It should be noticed that the first component of a newly invented word is the part of the word China which overlaps the lexeme America. The order of such blending establishes cognitive importance of language expression, its informational content causing «snatching» and sense determination about the changing geopolitical scenario of the 21st century. So, the result of information processing of the word Chimerica is the cogitative activity of target audience which leads to understanding about the new unusual world empire
emergence, formed not on the basis of civilizations' engagement, but the American empire and Empire of the Big China alliance. However, despite the apparent equality of geopolitical players on the world scene, that is China which forges ahead in the world community named Chimerica.
As the analyzed material shows, all lexical means of verbalization of all mentioned communicative strategies used by authors for creating Chinese domination information model are identical, consisting, basically, from synonymic rows. The lexical dominant which is at top of the synonymic row, that is the word dominance and its single-rooted words belonging to different parts of speech (to dominate, dominant) is: One of the strangest things about predictions of Chinese dominance is that they tend to impress everyone but the Chinese themselves (Newsweek, December 7th 2009); China's growing dominance in the renewable energy industry (WP, September 9th 2010); We never really acknowledged that the Chinese were in a race to dominate this industry even though they publicly stated it (WP, August 4th 2010); In Asia, China is now the dominant trading partner, yet the flows are mainly in low-end goods (Newsweek, August 9th 2009).
Gradual widening and strengthening of the given mental representation is provided by a number of the lexemes which are close to the word dominance, also nominating a very impressive eminence of China: leadership (Now, at the dawn of the 21st century, the world is looking to China to assume an unfamiliar role of global leadership (Wall Street Journal, November 13th 2009)); monopoly (Chinese openly used rare earths as a geopolitical bargaining chip ... They have built up a monopoly
rd
(WP, September 23m 2010)); superpower (A Superpower Stirs (Wall Street Journal, November 13th 2009)); power (China is indeed one of the great powers in the world
now (late last month it officially overtook Japan as the world's second-largest economy), its influence is mixed; China is going to be a very important power in the world (Newsweek, August 9th 2010)); influence (Gates: U.S. Won't Try to Block China's Growing Influence (Wall Street Journal, June 2nd 2011)); importance (China has pushed for a bigger say in international organisations to reflect its growing
importance in the global economy (WP, April 25th 2010)); takeover (China's first major takeover of an international automaker (WP, April 21st 2010)).
The presence of a large number of lexical units which meanings are really identical, adequate and close, reflecting such phenomenon as «leadership»/ «domination», guarantees consistent, ordered conceptualization of Chinese informational model having peculiar features, wiz.: China which has become the supervisor in the political arena, which has got monopoly in some economic branches, which has reached the superpower and world influence. Such parallel information perception stored in close meaning words predetermines the storage of all information variety in addressee's cogitative activity, causing further representativeness of the uniform, unicentric informational model.
According to our research, the internal cognitive context of the revealed by the U.S. mass-media informational model «Chinese Domination» is filled with a number of various epithets, both emotive and evocative. Thus, one of effective linguistic means of the information integration about the massive Chinese escalating of political power are the emotive epithets which are strengthened by additional expressional means, expressed by superlative adjectives: fastest, biggest, largest, longest (China's trains are the world's fastest, its network of tracks the longest and its expansion plans the most ambitious (WP, May 11th 2010); China's auto market, the world's biggest since last year, defied the global downturn on the strength of Beijing's 4 trillion yuan (WP, April 28th 2010)). We believe that these superlative adjectives reflect contextual meaning «the fastest», «the biggest» «the most ambitious» and contain rather high degree of an attitudinal meaning in the semantics. An explication of such Chinese characteristic is caused by author's intent to add the cognitive space of the formed informational model, reflected in readers' consciousness as the hugest, fastest country, the most developed country.
Meanwhile verbalization of the fullest and the most comprehensive informational model of the dominating East occurs due to the number of the evocative synonyms which characterize Chinese economic and political growth: growing, rising,
massive, global (Beijing's growing economic and diplomatic power is scrambling old assumptions and alliances, sometimes in volatile and unlikely ways (WP, March 28th 2010); he blames China - specifically, the flood of cheap clothing that has poured into Indonesia this year under a free-trade agreement between the rising economic giant and its Southeast Asian neighbours (WP, April 26th 2010); The apparent progress in UAVs is a stark sign of China's ambition to upgrade its massive military as its global political and economic clout grows (Wall Street Journal, November 18th 2010); A long drive to global dominance for China (WP, April 22nd 2010)). The Chinese characteristic as the state getting the increasing influence on a global stage, which is based on usage of close-meaning words, provides forming of a very uniform consistent image in the recipients' mental sphere. Attribute characteristics and the usage frequency of these close-meaning lexemes helps to memorize the created informational model.
There is one more citation which really catches the reader's eyes: Now, at the dawn of the 21st century, the world is looking to China to assume an unfamiliar role of global leadership (Wall Street Journal, November 13th 2009). This word combination verbalization ensures the special organization of the formed Chinese domination model. Thus, the lexical nomination which is expressed by a word combination «unfamiliar role» is a significant cognitive element for the American national consciousness reflecting important information that world with Chinese leadership is not historically caused. This linguistic means is author's one, generated by the intent to demonstrate enormous Chinese geopolitical and economic expansion. The phrase unfamiliar role of global leadership allows transforming old stereotypic representations about a very poorly developed China into a dramatically contrary in its sense informational model reflecting presentation of the unique Chinese influence development.
It should be noted that the epithet aggressive brings emotive connotation to the created informational model of Chinese domination: China as more aggressive and
intransigent in its relations with the outside world. (WP, March 13th 2010). The basic
category of an emotive component of the given lexeme is fixed by dictionaries («quarrelsome», «belligerent» (Collins)). We consider that this emotive component has absolutely negative content as it differentiates in the U.S. linguistic consciousness on the basis of the collective experience and the situational dynamics presented in mass media texts.
The special role in «Chinese domination» informational model conceptualization is played by nominative units which figuratively characterize Chinese enormous economic, geopolitical potential, which also emotively define its internal qualities. These units are the following metaphorical epithets: breathtaking, elephantine: (swift growth in car sales in China in the past couple of years has been nothing short of breathtaking (WP, April 22nd 2010); Take the crowd that attended Woodstock in 1969, multiply it by 175 and dump the result in the middle of the world's most populous city. That is, in effect, what China plans to do at Expo 2010 Shanghai, an elephantine world's fair that opens Friday evening on the banks of the Huangpu River (WP, April 29th 2010)).
So, the «fused» epithet breathtaking consists of two word stems and carries out some functions: unlike the one-stem epithet which emphasis the main sign of the described object, the stem compound epithet conveys the conjoint meaning. The given example shows how the usage of the epithet helps to define Chinese economic and political dominance as «surprising», «fascinating spirit». The demonstrated properties of described object create the associative criterion of the constructed models of the Chinese domination which has become really surprising for everyone. Such sensual evident representation is a basis of a changing Chinese stereotype.
The most marked word is the metaphorical epithet elephantine, estimating the degree of Chinese development through comparison it with the phenomena of the reality, in particular, with the largest animal of our planet. Thus, on the basis of the associative criterion «elephant» the given metaphor builds in the addressees' cogitative activity the figurative paradigm according to the certain structural semantic
cognitive mapping model - that is the representation about global scale of Chinese domination in all spheres.
Our attention was also drawn to the conceptual metaphors which are the significant linguistic means of the categorization of Chinese domination informational model: a seat at the head of the table, to write new rules of the road for the world, the key architects of global institutions (Fair enough: everyone understands that China deserves a big say in what goes on in its neighborhood. But what most people have not noticed yet is that Beijing also wants to write—or, at least, help write—new rules of the road for the world. "China now wants a seat at the head of the table" (Newsweek, March 11th 2010); "Its leaders expect to be among the key architects of global institutions" (Newsweek, March 11th 2010)). It is obviously that these fixed metaphorical combinations are not simply poetical imaginative expressions, but a certain cognitive scheme by means of which the authors organize the holistic image of China in the American conceptual system.
Thus, the recognition of such metaphorical expression as China now wants a seat at the head of the table, first of all, goes before searching of similarities to knowledge of target audience. Mental reconstruction is formed on the basis of the supposed comparison of the created image with board meeting. The obvious comparison put in the sentence is not considered as the metaphor meaning; however, it forms the representation about Chinese wish to take the chair.
Another significant conceptual metaphor is the combination key architects of global institutions. The metaphor architects mentioned in the U.S. report is not just a means of the description of the Chinese importance at the present stage of the society development, but the way to understand the Chinese superiority. The metaphorical Chinese mapping in the form of the key «architect» of global institutes possesses significant potential, promoting steady representation about the Chinese superiority.
Conclusion
The analysis of communicative strategies and the marked lexical units used in the U.S. mass media reports reflecting the theme «Chinese Domination» allows to
outline the uncontroversial informational model of Chinese domination created by means of a figurative nomination. This is the informational model of China's total leadership which is unprecedented in its size both in the East and in the West.
The leading communicative strategies are: the communicative strategies of polarization/contrast, defamation, reliability and allegory. The semantic uniformity of the created in the U.S. mass-media informational model «Chinese Domination» is reached due to the usage of the extensive synonymic rows, epithets (emotive and evocative) and also metaphors. The verbalization of the Chinese domination informational model through the system of the metaphorical models having one semantic base is the most effective means of stereotyping the unique representation of global Chinese leadership, domination.
We believe that such created model is a significant cognitive fragment as it helps to transform the American's existing linguistic view of the world in which China is represented as the country without any special political and economic influence on the international stage. The entered categorization provides the further crystallization and formation of the new stereotypic representation about Chinese role in the modern world. Thus this new representation changes the American conceptual world view. The pragmatic potential of the created informational model «Total domination of China» is defined by the conceptual vector of the threat from China causing the occurrence of the American readers' negative emotions such as anxiety and fear.
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DATA ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sorokina Olga Nikolayevna, Assistant Professor of Chair of Business Foreign Language, Candidate of Philological Sciences
Siberian State Airspace University
31, Krasnoyarskii Rabochii Street, Krasnoyarsk, 660014, Russia e-mail: cherenochka@rambler.ru
ДАННЫЕ ОБ АВТОРАХ
Сорокина Ольга Николаевна, доцент кафедры делового иностранного языка,
кандидат филологических наук, доцент
Сибирский государственный аэрокосмический университет
пр. им. газ. «Красноярский рабочий», 31, г. Красноярск, 660014, Россия
e-mail: cherenochka@rambler.ru
SPIN-код 9734-2359
