Preview

Philology and Culture

Advanced search

Cognitive structure of the archetypal binary opposition “light / dark” in modern American media discourse

https://doi.org/10.26907/2074-0239-2022-67-1-94-101

Abstract

   The article describes the cognitive structure of the archetypal binary opposition (ABO) LIGHT / DARK, which is represented by a set of classificational and differential cognitive features characteristic of its components.

   The subject of the study includes the ways of actualization of the selected features within the framework of modern American political media discourse.

   The purpose of this article is to summarize the results of the conducted research and present a holistic model of ABO, their actualization carried out by language means of secondary nomination (metaphors, metonymy, metaphtonymy).

   The study is based on the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA), namely, publications in the media, issued from 2009 to 2019. The article represents the stages of the conducted empirical research and the results obtained, which are presented in the form of charts, tables and diagrams. The research results are accompanied by a quantitative analysis of the verbal representatives of the ABO components and the percentage ratio of classificational (basic) cognitive features (CCF) in the structure of archetypal concepts (AC). The article makes concrete conclusions interpreting the nature of the correlation between the degree of recurrence of the CCF and the real political situation.

About the Authors

E. Semenova
St. Petersburg University of Management Technologies and Economics
Russian Federation

Elena Mikhailovna Semenova, Ph.D. in Philology, Associate Professor

190103

44 A Lermontovskii Ave.

Saint Petersburg



M. Alekseeva
Ural State Pedagogical University
Russian Federation

Maria Leonardovna Alekseeva, Doctor of Philology, Professor

620017

26 Kosmonavtov Ave.

Yekaterinburg



References

1. Osborn, M., Eninger, D. (2011). Metafora v publichnom vystuplenii [Metaphor in Public Speech]. Per. s angl. T. N. Zubakinoi. Politicheskaya lingvistika. No. 1(35), pp. 244–253. Ekaterinburg. (In Russian)

2. Osborn, M. (1967). Archetypal Metaphor in Rhetoric: The Light-Dark Family. Quarterly Journal of Speech 53. No. 2 (April 1967), pp. 115–126. (In English)

3. Popova, Z. D., Sternin, I. A. (2007). Kognitivnaya lingvistika [Cognitive Linguistics]. 314 p. Moscow, ACT, Vostok-Zapad. (In Russian)

4. Ticher, S. M., Meier, R., Vodak, R., Vetter, E. (2017). Metody analiza teksta i diskursa [The Methods of Text and Discourse Analysis]. Per. s nem. 356 p. Gumanitarnyi tsentr. (In Russian)

5. Semenova, E. M. (2016). Ontologiya binarnyh oppozitsii, ili “Temnaya storona svetlogo” [Ontology of Binary Oppositions, or “The Dark Side of the Light”]. Analiz sovremennogo amerikanskogo politicheskogo mediadiskursa. 132 p. St. Petersburg. IPC SZIU RANHiGS. (In Russian)

6. Rosch, H. E. (1975). Cognitive Representations of Semantic Categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 104, pp. 192–233. (In English)


Review

For citations:


Semenova E., Alekseeva M. Cognitive structure of the archetypal binary opposition “light / dark” in modern American media discourse. Philology and Culture. 2022;(1):94-101. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.26907/2074-0239-2022-67-1-94-101

Views: 100


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.


ISSN 2782-4756 (Print)