Features of the concept of happiness representation in PR discourse

¹ Lomonosov Moscow State University, History Faculty, Department of Foreign Languages, Moscow, Russia
² Lomonosov Moscow State University, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies, Department of English for Humanities Faculties, Moscow, Russia
³ Lomonosov Moscow State University, Philological Faculty, Department of English Linguistics, Moscow, Russia
⁴ Lev Tolstoy Tula State Pedagogical University, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Department of the English Language, Tula, Russia

^* Corresponding author: ostvera@mail.ru

Abstract

The article deals with the concept of HAPPINESS in Public Relation discourse (PR discourse). The concept of HAPPINESS refers to one of the most important components of the linguistic worldview of each nation. Analysis of lexical units that verbalize the concept of HAPPINESS through the prism of PR discourse allows us to identify the linguistic features that create images contributing to the promotion of various ideas of PR campaigns especially dealing with food promotion. The desire to be happy is inherent in every person as an integral part of his or her nature. The persons’ ideas concerning happiness are included in the life system of their values and express their attitude to the world. The problem of human happiness has long been the most important issue of philosophy but presently of some transdisciplinary areas, PR campaigns included. The conducted study shows that happiness as the supreme good, as the possible and achievable state of human existence, is one of the main concerns of PR discourse. At present the interest in the concept of happiness and how to achieve it is of primary importance for PR councilors, responsible for the goodwill of their companies in the long run. Both at its associative level and linguistically it is achieved by means of connotatively loaded lexical units denoting taste and strong emotions, necessary for the empirical construction of happiness.