Decoding reality and modeling an alternative factual field in media discourse

Starodubova Ol'ga Yurievna PhD in Philology Associate Professor; Department of Russian as a Foreign Language, IMOP; Moscow State Linguistic University 38 Ostozhenka str., Moscow, 119034, Russia oystarodubova@mail.ru

Introduction.

At the present stage, media discourse, especially its individual segments, taking into account the processes and side effects of globalization, illustrate the fundamental changes in the worldview, the system of national and universal values. Media centrism, as the dominant of the epoch, dictates its own laws of modeling reality within the framework of a specific text product, while the real eventfulness or actual field is significantly reworked in connection with the interests and ideological preferences of the speech producer, then it is embedded in the text and broadcast to the reader in the context of a new model and a specific fact, and a picture of the world as a whole, differentiating its own and others'. The result is a significant reorientation of the recipient's consciousness ^{[1, 2, 4, 8]}. In this regard, the task of the reader, especially when it comes to the process of learning to analyze media discourse both in Russian and in the audience of foreign speakers, is to remember that the media model a secondary, parallel, alternative reality of an interpretative, evaluative nature, often using manipulative, conflict-prone strategies associated with politicization and ideological dominance ^{[1, 2, 9, 10]}. A feature of individual media texts is the expansion, detailing of the conceptual opposition of one's own and another's as a means of interpreting political events and supplementing it with another component — the other, which is positioned as a respectful acceptance of otherness, which may be associated with a non-conflicting attitude in the aspect of intercultural communication to the values and characteristics of another culture, religion, etc.

Research methodology.

Due to the multilayered structure of media discourse, in the process of decoding it, it is necessary at the first stage to separate the factum from the mode (events from evaluation), but this is not always easy, since interpretation is usually indirect – it is encrusted in the event field, and the very method of its presentation (nominations of subjects, facts, etc.) is already contains an estimate. That is why the process of learning to analyze media discourse needs professional support. At the same time, it is necessary to rely on the principles of anthropological linguodidactics, a communicative-activity approach, and use cognitive-discursive methods ^{[5, 6, 7]}.

The next stage is the compilation of various tables, for example, on the differentiation of types of informativeness: factual (key, clarifying, etc.), textual, non-textual, explicit, implicit, conceptual. Another variant of the table is the differentiation of one's own and someone else's, as well as another, while all nominations and techniques are included in the corresponding columns (including precedent, conceptual metaphors, discursive words that have no equivalents in another language, stylistic resources, grammar: forms of parts of speech, sentence structures), as well as tactics, strategies, intentions realized with the help of these techniques , etc .

It is also advisable to compare interpretations of the same event in different sources – this makes it possible to obtain more complete, objective information.

If the text is sound (creolized, polycode), it is necessary to take into account non-verbal signs, including intonation, which complements and strengthens the author's intentions. If we are talking about a written text, you should pay attention to the resources of metagraphemics (font, color, font size, non-standard punctuation marks, the location of text fragments on the page, dividing into paragraphs), for example, quotation marks can serve as a means of expressing irony, and therefore the intention of criticism, which shows the author's preferences.

The next stage of decoding textual information is the interpretation of the received data, including statistical data (in practice, minimization or, conversely, detailing or differentiation of someone else's and another is often noted).

It is advisable to write summaries or reviews to consolidate the methodology.

The result of the constant application of the described methodology is the formation of a number of competencies (socio-cultural, linguistic, etc.), analytical, critical thinking, as well as a stable model for decoding both textual reality and non-textual reality, a picture of the world ^{[5, 6, 7]}.

The results of the study.

Let's turn to practice. Let's consider the application of the described methodology based on the materials of the Briefing by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, M. Zakharova, dated December 6, 2023. [3 hereafter]. The main purpose of the briefing is an attempt to objectively characterize the modern international situation, decoding the true meaning of the nominations of events given by the opposition side, that is, a simulated, falsified reality, as well as constructing a new model of globalization based on the evaluation characteristics of facts and events within not only the national Russian picture of the world (including the concept of patriotism, etc.), but also and taking into account other national, religious, etc. interests and values. Thus, the speech producer uses a communicative strategy, the main task of which is the intention to resolve global and local conflicts, positioning the image of Russia as a peacemaker in a single, global world space.

One of the key resources for the implementation of this strategy is the subject organization of the text, as well as the tactics of detailing and differentiating subjects within its framework. Multiple nominations (individual and collective) are used for this purpose both their own and others' and others'. For example, the following options are presented: Russia, Russians, the Russian world, our citizens, civilians, civilians, civilians, a child, an innocent woman, Russian diplomats, our country, the absolute majority of members of the world community ^[3]. In these examples, the tactics of unity are used, national, gender, age, professional, social identities associated with universal positive concepts of peace, nation, state, person, Fatherland are actualized; the possessive pronoun our becomes a marker of the author's assessment, which actualizes the concept of patriotism, neutral or bookish vocabulary is used.

Someone else's is represented by the following options: The "collective West", NATO countries, Westerners, "heavyweights" of American foreign policy, play the role not of "gray", but of "bright" cardinals, the Kiev regime, Bandera fighters, Ukrainian Armed Forces, Kiev negotiators, NATO, British authorities, "peacekeepers" (irony), Nazis, neo-Nazis, (others) extremists, national radicals, collaborators, "independence fighters" (irony), they, the current regime in the White House, the North Atlantic Alliance, unfriendly countries, transatlantic corporations, etc. ^[3]. In the examples given, the tactics of analogization are used (nomination through reference to similar events of the past is a precedent technique), quotation marks are often used to emphasize irony, as well as theatrical and sports conceptual metaphors, as well as discursive words that convey a negative author's assessment, for an accurate understanding of which it is necessary to take into account the syntagmatics of subject nominations, including the stylistics of context.

At the same time, M. Zakharova differentiates the "Western" subject, as well as the "Ukrainian", emphasizing their heterogeneity, separating political and ideological identities (alien) from others, civil, universal (universal). Their own people, voters (of Western countries), peaceful citizens of Ukraine, their own citizens in the south-east of Ukraine, the absolute majority of members of the world community (shares Russian approaches to countering the glorification of Nazism), thus minimizing others: Kiev-regime corrupt officials, the regime of V. A. Zelensky, mired in blood and corruption (selling his own citizens), Anglo-Saxon curators, the NATO "brigade", the NATO and EES "brigadiers", the Militant I. Taran, the Ukrainian neo-Nazi ^[3].

When analyzing the subject nominations of both individuals and a collective subject, it is necessary to take into account syntagmatics, which may contain an explicit or implicit assessment, conceptual metaphors, stylistically colored vocabulary (contrasts) – all this becomes a marker of the author's presence in the text. In all quoted subject nominations, irony is used, that is, the intention of criticizing the unconstructive policy of the authorities of Western countries and the Ukrainian regime (punctuation marks are a resource of syntagemics — one of the sections of metagraphemics as a non-literal translation of meaning, logical accents, evaluation).

Another important mechanism for implementing the communicative strategy in M. Zakharova's speech is the nomination of facts, events, phenomena – "Russophobic activity of the "collective West", harassment of our citizens in all spheres, a campaign to "abolish" Russia, our culture ... total discrimination of Russians campaigns to falsify history and distort the role of the USSR in ensuring Victory over Nazism and the creation of a modern system of international relations... The goals of these cynical actions to revise history are now openly called: to swap the aggressors who unleashed the largest war in the history of mankind and embodied the ideology of racial exclusivity, and the state party of the anti-Hitler coalition, which made a decisive contribution to achieving Victory...." etc. ^[3].

One of the key tasks of the speech producer is to draw the attention of the audience to the attempt to abolish Russia and Russian culture, as well as any otherness that does not fit into the standards of the collective West, to an attempt to reformat public opinion in the key needed by the West, the global problem of forming a "new norm", or rather the deformation of universal, traditional, national and religious values (concepts of peace, memory, etc.): "To combat the Russian world and the Soviet memorial heritage, national radicals and other extremists are actively involved, who then stood side by side with the Nazis, and now have turned into a standard (as they are called in the West) of "correct patriotism." Now there is a "new normality" and "right patriotism"" ^[3]. In the above fragment, quotation marks (a syngraphemic resource) become a means of expressing irony, which means that the intentions of criticism are supported by discursive words (others, as they are called, etc.), sentence structure (passive constructions), insertion constructions (with the zero position of the subject, that is, depersonalizing someone else's), precedent (side by side).

Conclusion.

Thus, during the study of the features of decoding reality by the speech producer in the political segment of media discourse, inlaying eventfulness in the text and modeling a new factual field, it turned out that the most active mechanisms are at the pragmatic level communicative strategy, tactics of detailing, analogization, subjective organization (the nomination of participants actualizes a certain type of identity – social, religious, national and etc., and therefore explicates the concept, differentiating one's own/ other and someone else's), the means of metagraphemics, and at the linguistic level – precedent, discursive words, conceptual metaphors, as well as stylistic resources.

In addition, the texts of political discourse contain not only and not so much events and their assessment, but rather the objectification of a new value-based global and national picture of the world, which is being adjusted in connection with the changing political landscape, and also broadcast the Russian model of globalization based on traditional, stable values; not on unipolarity, unilateralism with the dominance of someone else interests, and on the principles of openness, parity of all participants in the world community, which is especially important for understanding Russia's soft power, its desire for constructive solutions to global problems and international issues. Russian Russian speakers and foreign speakers studying the Russian language and culture ^[8] It is important to isolate this segment of conceptual information when analyzing the implicit component of the text as a fragment of media political discourse, especially in the process of teaching both native speakers of Russian linguistic consciousness and foreign speakers studying Russian language and culture.