FIGURES OF CONTRAST IN THE MEDIA TEXT (AS BASED ON THE MATERIAL OF THE GERMAN AND RUSSIAN LANGUAGES)

Abstract

This article considers the pragmatic potential of the figures of contrast. German and Russian sport publications and newspapers with the Sport column were used as the sources for the research material. The subject under analysis is the pragmatic potential of contrast description on the material of the German and Russian discourse. The research purpose is to identify the pragmatic functions of contrast in the mediatext. The authors used stylistic analysis and quantitative estimation in the research study. The results of the work arethe identification of language tools that served as the basis for contrast and definition of the functional spectrum of the figures of contrast in the mass media text. The analysis has shown that the contrast is largely represented by antithesis; in particular, it turned out to be the most in demand in sports reporting. Less frequent in the study were paronyms. The contrast can be amplified by author’s metaphorical and metonymic transfers and syntactic means: repetitions, syntactic parallelism, comparison and others. The contrast description is a powerful pragmatic means of creating a bright visual and comic effect, evaluation, hidden teachings, as well as the realization of an attractive text function. As in the process of the material comparison in the German and Russian languages, qualitative and quantitative indexes turned out to be approximative, the given conclusions may be considered relevant for both linguocultures. Consequently, the research results can be taken into consideration in the context of pragmatic peculiarities description in general and in the context of the German and Russian media discourses descriptions.

Keywords

• медиадискурс
• прагматический эффект
• функции
• контраст
• антитеза
• синтаксический параллелизм