Blagova O.S., Kokebayeva B.S.
Kazakh Humanitarian Juridical Innovative University, Kazakhstan
Features
of the use of irony in the English newspaper text
This article is devoted to the
irony, which is the feature of the journalistic speech in real time.
The general aim of the
newspaper is to exert influence on public opinion, to convince the reader or
listener that the interpretation given by writer or the speaker is the only
correct one and to cause him to accept the point of view expressed in the speech,
essay or article merely by logical argumentation, but by emotional appeal as
well.
To make information more
expressive, emotional and impressive a great number of stylistic devices and
expressive means are used in newspapers such as metaphors, similes, idioms,
proverbs, euphemisms, ironies, etc.
The focus of this article is
to represent irony as a stylistic device in the English newspapers. This theme
is actual, because in modern society the press plays an important role as in
spreading the information, so in making influence on the reader’s opinion and
views. The press has an ability to influence not only the readers’ feelings and
minds, but also on the historical events in a whole.
In postmodern
period irony emerges as one of the dominant worldview of modern man.
According to the Spanish philosopher Ortega-y-Gusset
"beliefs" are prevalent in quiet periods of development of society,
and the "ideas" appear in times of crises. Doubt is a prerequisite
emergence of ideas, and is one of the foundations of irony. [1, p. 95].
Use of irony in art, literature, and other areas of
life, is explained by person’s desire to put himself above circumstances,
difficulties and all the chaos that makes up life. Ironic attitude to reality
helps if you do not find an explanation of what is happening.
Journalistic genre, which is characterized by its
critical installation in submitting information, extensively uses of irony to
implement its core functions: contacting, hedonistic (entertainment of the
reader, the growth of the ranking editions) and pragmatic (invitation to the
reader to the reasoning in line with the author's position). It should be noted
that the inseparability of information and acting functions in journalese texts
are treated as stylistic feature of the modern newspaper style.
Irony is
generally considered within
the theory of
the comical and
is viewed as
one of its form though not
every ironic unit
may be comical and excite
laughter [2, p.122; 3, p.6].
There are
two basic features of irony:
1) Irony
(as well as
humour) results from
certain discrepancy, contrast,
or inappropriateness
between some semantic and/or pragmatic
features of an utterance
[ 4, p. 99-100; 2, p. 114-117].
2) An
ironic utterance implicitly
conveys the speaker’s
subjective (mostly negative)
attitude towards something [2, p. 120-122].
The
second characteristic of
irony turns it
into one of
the most effective
ways of expressing
a subjective attitude in modern press. The general ironic tone of modern
press enables producers of media
texts to express
their implied critical
attitude towards the
subject while seeming
impartial.
The transfer function of information in newspapers and
journalistic genre determines the nature of irony that it meets: always under
the critical position of the author - a critical installation already in itself
concludes doubt and ironic attitude to the events - often present situation
comedy, a real event, which becomes starting point for creating images. In its
implementation of irony based on three kinds of presuppositions (the presence
of the recipient Posts knowledge necessary for the correct interpretation of
the message): text, extralinguistic and intertextual [ 3, p. 109].
For the analysis we turn to the comical situation that
caused a resonance in the community and has been discussed widely in the
English-language press: the history of boot thrown by an Iraqi journalist
Muntader Al Zeid in the former US President George W. Bush during his farewell
visit to Iraq. In an article on the activities of the outgoing president,
journalists from publications The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, The
Financial Times mock the incident as follows:
Often, the very name sets the ironic tone of the
narrative further (favorite course in journalism, designed to draw the reader's
attention): "At last, giving Bush the boot" (The Boston Globe, Dec
16, 2008). Ironic effect is achieved by semantic deformation of the sustained
expression [5, p. 51] 'to give smb. the boot', which corresponds to the English
verb 'fire, dismiss, discharge smb'. Updated component literal meaning 'boot'
and perform a parallel between the case with “throwing a boot” and departure of
George W. Bush with the US political arena. Background design “at last” further
points to the critical position of the author. It is impossible not to draw
attention to the possibility of accidental, but no less spectacular
alliteration Bush - boot.
Another example of phraseological games: "George
W. Bush, who ducked a volley of shoes from an enraged Iraqi journalist at a
press conference in Baghdad on Sunday, professed to be perplexed. This was an
epic insult intended for a serial bungler. But, like the shoes, it too went
straight over his head. Mr. Bush, who has buried America's reputation
throughout the Arab and Muslim worlds in the ruins of Iraq, did not, does not
and will never get it. "(The Boston Globe, Dec. 16, 2008) -" George
Bush, on a Sunday press conference in Baghdad, barely evading the shoes that he
fired an angry Iraqi journalist, did all the world to see how he is puzzled by
the incident. Needless to say, getting shoes on target, confusion would be epic
- to match the entire Bush government. However, it seems that, like shoes missed
their target, and the cause of the antics before Bush came. Even buried under
the rubble of Iraq America's reputation in the Arab and Islamic world, Bush did
not really understand, do not understand why he was so disliked. "Observe
updating the literal meaning phraseologic unit 'over one's head'.
Both examples illustrate the difficulties in
understanding dictated by differences in phraseological baggage source, as well
as using the phraseology of the game. As in the following example, it is
necessary to interpret the ironic sense on the base of text:
"Bush legacy has at least one defender. "Mr.
Bush served some good purpose to the economy before he left," said the
newly prosperous Turkish shoe maker "(The Wall Street Journal, Dec. 17,
2008). - "Bush has at least one defender. "Mr. Bush before he left
served the economy", - says the now thriving Turkish shoemaker. "
To understand the irony it is also useful to know
extra linguistic factors, which assume knowledge extra linguistic facts
(geographic, ethnic, cultural, historical realities). Refer to the following
example:
"In Bush's last pathetic days, with the world
going broke and his administration in a moral chapter 11, he continues to
misrepresent his culpability in the calamities that have befallen the country
on his watch" (The Washington Post, Dec. 16, 2008) . - "In the past,
heartbreaking days of the Bush administration, when the world stands on the
brink of financial and the US administration on the verge of moral bankruptcy,
the president continues to deny his guilt for all the troubles and misfortunes
that have befallen our country during his stay in power." Interpretation
ironic implication in this case requires knowledge of the current political and
economic situation in the country and the world, as well as the contents of the
said 'chapter 11' (chapter of the Bankruptcy Code, which regulates the
reorganization of insolvent (bankrupt) companies under the leadership of the
old management (usually in conjunction with the creditors' committee) in an attempt
to avoid the complete elimination of the company) provided in the text of the
epithet 'moral'. The author mocks the current economic crisis and measures to
normalize it. The following example illustrates associative nature of the irony,
based on allusions to literary works. Accordingly, decoding messages already
requires intertextual base.
"He is in deep trouble in Iraq, but for much of
the world he is goody-two-shoes". - "He was in Iraq threatens to big
trouble, but for the rest of the world he is a true hero, a kind of Goody
Two-Cypripedium (it is the story of Oliver Goldsmith (Oliver Goldsmith)"
story of a little Goody Two-Cypripedium. "This nickname is usually given
in the present virtuous people "(The Boston Globe, Dec. 19, 2008). The
irony creates a comparison and it is based on allusions; it is expected that
the English-speaking reader is familiar with the product or, at least, with
this lexical (phraseological) unit in an ironic sense in which it appears in
modern English.
Thus, analyzing the peculiarities of the usage of
irony English press, we can conclude: 1) irony as worldviews of contemporary
author continues to be under the scrutiny of researchers from different areas
of knowledge; 2) in the journalistic genre we faces both situational and associative
types of irony; 3) the most difficult for understanding are those kinds of
irony, the interpretation of which requires extra-linguistic and intertextual
basic knowledge, as well as at the micro level, where to create a comic effect
observed game authoring language means; the comic irony takes place in the main
central element [6, p. 63] and it is in the middle of the gold by the degree of
emotional tension between asserting (wit, humor, paradox) and destroy (a
parody, satire, sarcasm, grotesque) forms of the comic effect.
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