CONTEXTUAL SYNONYMS AS MEDIATORS OF POLYPHONY IN NEWSPAPER TEXT

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to investigate the polyphonic potenсies of modern British periodicals on the material of the category of contextual synonymy. The novelty of the scientific research is that for the first time, based on the cognitive-discourse paradigm, the problem of polyphony in newspaper discourse has been solved by interpreting the category of contextual synonymy as a mediator in social communication. The conclusions reveal contextual synonyms as the mediators within the world picture fragments of native speakers. It was found that secondary names can explain not only the attitude, position or assessment of certain individuals, but also professional and age specifics in particular. The study of the textual material also gives reason to assume that the narrator of the message, who purposefully involves “other voices» by variably naming the referent, creates independent points of view and endows these units with his personal meanings or subjective intentions. Polyphony in the discourse of the mass media forms dialogic relations and updates the inventory of techniques involved in the realization of the informative and influential functions of newspaper texts. The article proves the fact that contextual synonyms are lexical-semantic mediators of the phenomenon of polyphony in newspaper discourse. Contextual synonyms serve as linguistic and stylistic means of revealing the subjective position of the author of the article. The genres of editorial and op-ed traditionally broadcast the polyphony of opinions in the columns of newspapers, demonstrating opposite, however, equal points of view on current issues or situations. The revealed cases of euphemization of contextually-synonymous units serve as means of polyphony in the newspaper text. Polyphony as a transformation of subjective-objecivet relations is a frequent phenomenon in newspaper texts.