Филологические науки/7.Язык, речь, речевая коммуникация

Mykytiuk I.M., Ph.D.

Chernivtsi National University, Ukraine

Secondary Nomination Units as a Means of Creating Irony in the Publicistic Discourse

Many scientific investigations in contemporary linguistics are connected with the study of different types of speech activity, ways of transmitting information to the addressee, means of affecting the reader or listener in a particular way. Modern onomasiology and semasiology studies are aimed at revealing the processes of speech generation with particular emphasis on pragmatic and text-forming potential of lexemes (V. M. Kamianets’, Yu. O. Karpenko, O. S. Kubriakova, O. O. Prokopchuk).

The relation between the processes of nomination and communication is of a bidirectional nature: on the one hand, nomination constitutes an indispensable part of the process of communication and nomination proper is communicative; on the other hand, communication is ensured by way of nomination, since the word may be treated as a unit of nomination regarding the subject of nomination and as a unit of communication regarding the communicative act [2, с. 8]. As V.G. Gack has it, “the speakers exercise the act of onomasiology, the act of nomination in each act of speech, since they have to denote an object, an action, a quality, that are represented in a certain fragment of situation [1, с. 203].

The objective of this article is to discuss the communicative potential of secondary nomination units functioning in the publicistic discourse. The research was carried out on the material of opinion columns from “Los Angeles Times”.

In what follows we shall take an attempt at analysis of a vast variety of nomination units used to name, describe and characterize the US President Barrack Obama with the aim to be ironical and critical of his home and foreign policy. Thus, opinion columnist Doyle McManus sounds rather critical in his review of the debt-ceiling debate in “Obama’s Clarity Gap” [4]:

During the debt-ceiling debate the president cast himself as the only adult in the room. But he took a clear position on only one issue, then backed off on it. […]

Obama spent days negotiating toward a "grand bargain" with House Speaker John A. Boehner in hopes of looking like the visionary post-partisan he's always wanted to be.

Ironical slant of the presented above fragment is created by the skillful usage of caustic nomination-periphrasis “the only adult in the room” (reflecting the way Obama feels about himself) and biting simile “like the visionary post-partisan he’s always wanted to be” (the key word of the simile being the lexeme ‘visionary’).

In the example presented below, “the only adult in the room” of the preceding fragment is enlarged on by way of using an adjective ‘responsible’ and attributive clause ‘mediating among small-minded politicians in the nation's interest’ that further intensify the mocking attitude of the author of this opinion column.

When Boehner walked away, Obama and his aides consoled themselves with the notion that the president could cast himself as the only responsible adult in the room, mediating among small-minded politicians in the nation's interest.

Criticism of Obama’s inability to make himself clear as to his standpoint on debt ceiling issue comes to its climax in the simile ‘looked more like a victim than a hero’ as well as in the President’s self-nomination of himself ‘as a forlorn bride, "left at the altar"’.

At the end, of course, Obama was in the room. But much of the time, he looked more like a victim than a hero. When his talks with Boehner failed, the president described himself as a forlorn bride, "left at the altar."

Thus, the chain of lexical units used to nominate the US President Barrack Obama: the president – the only adult in the room – Obama – like the visionary post-partisan he’s always wanted to be – the only responsible adult in the room, mediating among small-minded politicians in the nation's interest – more like a victim than a hero – as a forlorn bride, "left at the altar" – serves to create the effect of sustained irony and sarcastic attitude to the President’s policy.

Another columnist David Horsey is using a variety of nominations to name, describe and characterize the US President Barrack Obama now that he has won the second term in office. Thus, in his article “Tea Party Troops Start August Offensive Against Obamacare” [3] D. Horsey introduces the nomination ‘Obamacare’ referring to Obama’s comprehensive healthcare law.

Different-focused nominations of the opponents of Obama’s notorious healthcare plan (used in this article) form a co-reference chain and characterize this party of opponents from different points of view: tea party activists, right-wing activism, GOP-controlled House and the filibuster-addicted Senate Republicans, militant conservatives in Congress, tea party troops, the right wing.

As we may see, secondary nomination units in the structure of the publicistic discourse not only contribute to its cohesiveness, but tend to create a colourful patchwork of important details that all work together and bring about the persuasive ironical-sarcastic picture of the described character.

The prospects of further research in this field lie in the possibility to undertake comparative analysis of nomination units that describe and characterize political leaders of different countries with the aim to reveal socio-cultural peculiarities of different nations.

Bibliography:

1. Гак В. Г. Языковые преобразования / В. Г. Гак – М. : Школа “Языки русской культуры”, 1998. – 768 с.

2. Стернин И. А. Лексическое значение слова в речи / И. А. Стернин. – Воронеж : Изд-во ВГУ, 1985. – 170 с.

3. Horsey D. Yanukovych: Tea Party Troops Start August Offensive Against Obamacare [Електронний ресурс] – Режим доступу: http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-tea-party-troops-20130805,0,5763718.story – Заголовок з екрану.

4. McManus D. Obama’s Clarity Gap [Електронний ресурс] – Режим доступу: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mcmanus-column-obama-debt-ceili20110804,0,6071624.column – Заголовок з екрану.