Threat and fear: Pragmatic purposes of emotionalisation in media discourse

Abstract

The impact of mass media on individuals and society is to a great extent based on emotions. We concentrate on fear as it is one of the basic emotions triggered by risk and threat, which is claimed to play a key role in the twenty-first century consciousness (Furedi 20018). The study focuses on the emotionalisation of fear in contemporary media discourse about Russia, more specifically, on constructions of Russian threat and fear of Russia in Anglo-American media texts to highlight pragmatic effects and to speculate on possible purposes of such discourses. The study aims to explore the functioning of the lexemes threat and fear , in textual contexts with the focus on their pragma-discursive characteristics. It identifies the mechanisms as well as linguistic tools involved in media strategies of scare-mongering. The dataset was derived from quality British and American newspapers in the period 2018-2020, and was analysed drawing on an interdisciplinary approach combining critical discourse analysis, pragmatics, medialinguistics, psycholinguistics and the theory of proximisation. The paper argues that appealing to emotions as well as constructing emotions is aimed at enhancing the persuasive function of media and fulfilling their own agenda. The persistent use of the words threat and fear in relation to Russia as well as the obsessive discussion of this topic in media aim to shape a certain negative public opinion of Russia among readerships. The findings show that to achieve this goal different strategies and linguistic tools are used including: exaggeration, repetition, proximisation, interrogative headlines, presupposition, among others. The results go beyond linguistics, and may find implementation in political studies, since they provide researchers with tools for understanding contemporary social and political processes.

Emotions and attitudes in present day Russian through the prism of new words: Cultural semantics of zhest’ and related concepts

“…On the one hand, it reflects the reality of 'tough' conditions and, on the other hand, it implicitly serves as a justification for political actions that 'create' such reality (cf. Ozyumenko & Larina 2021).…”

Conceptualizing emotions through discourse: a pragmatic view on the reader's interest

“…According to this conception, emotions are inextricably linked with meaning-making activity, and patterns of affective and discursive practices constantly intertwine to varying extents within social fields (pp. 20-52; see also (Koschut, 2020;Moisander et al, 2016;Olson et al, 2020;Wetherell, 2013)). Similarly, Social Semiotics engen-ders reflection on affect as a multimodal practice that is deduced from semiotic actions and artefacts people use to communicate .…”

Metaphors across languages, cultures and discourses: A research agenda

“…Metaphor often reflects and reinforces the cultural and ideological perspectives of the discourse's producers, shedding light on power dynamics and the manipulation of language for persuasive ends (e.g., Fomin & Mona 2019, Ponton 2020, Semenova & Alekseeva 2023, Sun et al 2021, Steen 2017). Through imaginative thinking, metaphors can enhance the persuasive impact of a message by framing issues in a particular light or by evoking emotional responses (Alnajjar & Altakhaineh 2023, Koptyaeva & Shustrova 2021, Ozyumenko & Larina 2021, Sporova & Zheltukhina 2022, Zappettini et al 2021.…”

“…Воздействующая сила метафоры, ее роль в убеждении адресата и манипулировании им во многом зависят от культурных и идеологических предпочтений автора текста (Fomin & Mona 2019, Ponton 2020, Semenova & Alekseeva 2023, Sun et al 2021, Steen 2017. Таким образом, метафора интенсифицирует степень речевого воздействия, репрезентируя события и явления окружающей действительности в нужном адресанту ключе и вызывая эмоционально-оценочные реакции аудитории (Alnajjar & Altakhaineh 2023, Koptyaeva & Shustrova 2021, Ozyumenko & Larina 2021, Sporova & Zheltukhina 2022, Zappettini et al 2021.…”