Linguistic and rhetorical means of creating the WE/THEY opposition in the Polish “Wiadomości” news tickers

Abstract

News tickers, which are often a kind of commentary to the presented events, have become an inseparable element of the most popular news programs over the last dozen or so years. According to recent research conducted by the Polish Language Council, the news tickers of “Wiadomości”, i.e. the flagship news program of the Polish Television, serve primarily 3 language functions, namely persuasive, creative and expressive, while the informative function has been relegated to the margins. This article is an analysis of rhetorical and linguistic devices used to emphasize the differences between the supporters of the values promoted by Polish Television and the environments which seemingly oppose the above-mentioned ideals. The research material encompasses a selection of the news tickers displayed during the last few months in “Wiadomości” news program which were classified and then analyzed. The study of the corpus allowed us to distinguish the most frequently used linguistic and rhetorical means found in the analyzed headlines, among which positive and negative axiological vehicles constitute the dominant components. The obtained data enabled us to show how language, which is the national treasure of all Poles, is used to establish and consolidate divisions within society

Keywords

• news tickers
• polish television
• us vs. them