The Discursive Opposition and the “Power of Discourse” in the Ukrainian Mass Media

¹ Dalian University of Foreing Lanquages, Dalian, China

^* Corresponding author: isynytsa@ukr.net

Abstract

The subject of this publication is related to such directions of modern linguistics as critical discourse analysis, media linguistics, and text semantics. The article examines the features of the media discourse of Ukraine on the example of antonymic semantic relations that are the result of modern discursive practice. The media discourse of modern Ukraine demonstrates the facts of the emergence and functioning of the pseudo-antonymic opposition. The research is based on economic topics articles published in Ukrainian online publications during 2019-2020. The texts of the publications are written in Ukrainian or Russian. All articles are devoted to the problem of “betrayal or victory”. The author of the article asserts that the active functioning of the Ukrainian lexemes “betrayal” and “victory” in the media discourse influenced not only the emergence of unusual oppositional relations between these lexemes. The active use of pseudo-antonyms in speech contributes to the destruction of traditional axiological values of Ukrainians and involves them in pseudo-discussions. Thus, first of all, the “power of discourse” is manifested. The author speaks about the formation of an independent discourse “betrayal or victory” in the Ukrainian media discourse. Pseudo-antonyms explode the pragmatic intentions of the sender of the message and are a means of manipulative influence on the linguistic consciousness of the recipient.