The Study of Methods and Means of Intensity in Alarmist Discourses

Abstract

The object of the study is linguistic facts in the form of a corpus of intensifiers functioning in modern Russian and English during the discussion of agendas related to the unstable situation in a particular sphere of society. The subject of this study is the semantic and grammatical structure of units functioning within the category of intensity. The authors consider in detail such an aspect of the topic as intensity and expressiveness in language, in this regard, an overview of the relevant works is given. Particular attention is paid to various linguistic ways of expressing the degree of intensification of meaning and the gradality of negative meaning. The data of disciplines related to the science of language on the practices of alarm broadcasting, the topics of alarmist agendas are also presented. The modern context supplies us with all new social practices that attract close attention from scientists investigating the mechanisms of influence on groups and masses of people. One of these phenomena was the spread of alarmist discourses that broadcast a state of increased anxiety or panic. These discourses, largely due to the network morphology of modern society, imperceptibly and uncontrollably enter the life of a modern person. Their systematic study by linguistic analysis has not yet been undertaken. At the same time, there are all prerequisites to consider which language mechanisms are involved in the formation of alarmist discourses in the aspect of speech intensification, which makes it different from the logical-rational content. The article argues the timeliness of studying the mechanisms and techniques of actualization of alarmism in connection with the possibility of monitoring the indicators of the latter. It is established that intensifiers, being the opposite of the rational mode of messages, serve as markers of alarmist discourses. Methods of phraseological analysis and description, an interpretive method for interpreting intensifiers in their connections and relationships were used, techniques for describing innovations in discursive practices according to O. S. Issers were used.