Poly-Discursiveness in Mass Media

Abstract

The present paper is devoted to the topical problem of interaction between various discourses within the framework of the media discourse. The authors investigate the process of discourse interaction through signs and symbols. The purpose of the study is to analyze the linguistic signs used in a media text, which belong to different discourses and represent certain situations, which turn out to be juxtaposed. The authors also analyze the dominant components of the represented situations, which are also underlined due to interaction between the signs of different discourses. During the study, such methods as the method of discourse analysis and the method of semiotic analysis were used. The authors come to the conclusion that the interweaving of several situations (gastronomic, television, existential and ethnographic), their inclusion into a mass media communicative situation results in poly-discursiveness – the presence of fragments of several discourses, represented by symbols. As a result of combining signs from other discourses in media discourse, a new reality is constructed – a new media situation, simultaneously consisting of several situations existing in different discourses.

Keywords

• poly-discursiveness
• media discourse
• gastronomic discourse
• television discourse
• existential discourse
• ethnographic discourse