Linguistic means of expressing communicative strategies in non-cooperative discourse (based on the material of English-language talk shows

Lobanova Tatiana Nikolaevna ORCID: 0000-0003-4901-3251 Doctor of Philology Professor, State University of Education 141031, Russia, Moscow region, Mytishchi, Malaya Borodinskaya str., 1, sq. 1 lobanovaty@mail.ru Other publications by this author

introduction

During the 4th Industrial Revolution, political discourse (hereinafter - PD) and information and communication technologies (hereinafter – ICT) are so closely intertwined with each other that people, companies and corporations realize that those who follow and use modern platforms and the Internet usually manage to become economic leaders.developments. Platform management and business are characterized by stable stability and growth, and the global Internet environment tends to grow due to the inclusion of new players from the Middle East, Africa, etc. It is not surprising that the language of both the actual texts of political discourse (including talk shows) and software products and interfaces is being updated; the configurations of hyperlinks and the information policy of media channels broadcasting texts are changing; innovative means and techniques for visualizing content are emerging.

The relevance of this study is due to the currently increased attention to the linguistic features of the English-language media, their rapid development in various media resources, the need for a deeper study of media pragmatics, in particular, manipulation strategies and strategic means of influencing the addressee. The relevance of addressing non-cooperative aspects of the speech behavior of participants in English-language talk shows is due to an increase in the degree of conflict in media political discourse. The choice of the phenomenon of non-cooperative discourse as an object of research is explained by the fact that anthropological, communicative, and functional approaches in modern linguistic science are dominant, determining the formation of such interdisciplinary "branches" as Internet linguistics, media linguistics, political linguistics and pragmalinguistics.

In addition, the comparative aspect of the study involves addressing translation issues. In modern research, the problems of translating texts of English-language talk shows are considered in many aspects. The main attention is paid to the linguistic requirements for the translation of the speech of the participants of the talk show, the competence of the translator, the techniques of political translation, the problems of translating terminology and abbreviations, etc.

The purpose of the article is to identify the linguistic means of expressing communicative strategies and the features of their functioning in the non-cooperative dialogical discourse of English-language talk shows.

THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF NON-COOPERATIVE DISCOURSE AS A LINGUISTIC ONE

AND AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PHENOMENON

Modern culture is inseparable from the term "media". If earlier this word was associated with an intermediary, today we associate this concept with a social institution – the institute of media creators. Today, the concept of "media" has become more multi-vector: it is a social institution where discourses are born, national and cultural codes are broadcast and produced. With the development of ICT technologies, media acquires virtual visual characteristics that are inaccessible to other social institutions, which further turns them into a "fifth power".

The modern stage of development of Internet communications offers obtaining information using multi-semiotic (polycode) texts with visualization elements, often with the aim of directly or covertly influencing a person's consciousness and subconscious and changing his emotional state, controlling his behavior and motivation to perform social actions, as well as controlling his speech behavior. Nowadays, politically biased mass media create a discursive reality that determines the ideological position of large social groups based on an imposed picture of the world, forms the everyday and spiritual needs of people, their targeted requests for specific information. If we take into account the factor of Internet communication and digitalization of the media sector using ICT, plus the specifics of national media systems and interference with state control (in the English-speaking media sector) in Internet communication, it becomes clear that the studied issues will "play out" in a new way.

An example of a "hybrid war" in the media is the "information vaccine war (IVV), which has engulfed the whole world without exception and continues to this day, associated with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019. In the period from 2019 to 2021, a special set of communication practices was formed in the media aimed at achieving the main goal of IVV – the conviction of the need for vaccination. However, the process of "persuasion" in different countries did not lead to the same result" ^[3].

In addition, "given the commonality of pragmatic goals of political media, advertising and PR discourses related to the successful promotion, operation and expansion of the company, it is necessary to differentiate these discourses in accordance with constitutive discursive features" ^{[8, pp. 28-29]}. Accordingly, these will be different types of texts: advertising texts, PR campaign texts and media texts.

The works of Russian and foreign linguistic experts emphasize the need and importance of developing lexical and pragmatic skills of dialogical communication of communicants (oral discourse) from different countries and cultures: the formation and use of lexical and pragmatic (linguopragmatic) skills directly depends on understanding the culture of another country, because for successful communication, it is necessary not only to master a sufficient vocabulary, but also the ability to use them in a given communicative situation ^{[2, 4, 6, 8]}. New communication environments (virtual space) and Internet platforms produce new types of texts - Internet texts/digital texts or media texts, which cause both lexical and linguistic and didactic difficulties. In addition, the Internet offers a wide range of texts to ordinary users. This includes blog articles, promotional products, PR texts, product reviews, social media posts, and more. Such content provides a lot of valuable information. New lexical units (jargonisms, slang, abbreviations, sociolects) are formed annually, taking into account the current state of social institutions – media discourse and PR discourse.

In connection with the above, we have determined that the media discourse of the talk show is relevant and most representative in terms of the study of linguistic units and other "iconic" systems"; at the same time, both the consumer of information and the researcher of the media product deals with hyperlinks, "digital language" and "language of cultural interfaces". Media reflect the current level of language development. All changes taking place in society are shaped by language and recorded primarily by the media. This is due to the desire of journalists and political leaders to emphasize the novelty of events and events.

In the modern visual culture of digital media, a new "genre" layer is distinguished – a talk show, which today acts as an integral part of any national media system. The digital language of media as a system is not just a set of lexical, grammatical and syntactic formulas and rules, a set of text structures and hyperlinks, but a living and "mobile organism" that absorbs new things and replenishes its composition, including through video images and photographs. In the language of media, everything is taken into account: the "internal migrations" of the original meanings with different uses depending on the context, which significantly enriches our perception of the world, brings a peculiar flavor and content to it.

Strategies of non-cooperative speech behavior in the discourse of American journalists and political figures have repeatedly become the subject of scientific analysis. So, at this stage, confrontation tactics have already been described (statement of incompetence, accusation, reproach, ridicule, barb, insult); tactics of discrediting an opponent in pre-election discourse (ridicule, insult, mockery, accusation, etc.) ^[9].

Characterizing the material of modern media or Internet publications, one should not forget the fact that the visual culture of the 1990s and the visual culture of the media sphere in the 2010s and 2020s are completely different. The media journalism of the 1990s is the materials of the traditional press with photos and illustrations or frames with natural "frozen" untouched movements; the media of the "zero" or 2010-2020s is the visual culture of media, involving digitization = digital media. "Digital language" and the language of cultural interfaces "Digital media = frames with natural motion + graphics+ processing+ editing+two-dimensional computer animation + three-dimensional computer animation" ^{[5, p. 357]}. In addition, the development of modern computer and digital technologies has given rise to a new visual culture and the art of their production, which opens up a wide potential of indirect spatial visual narratives. The visual culture of journalistic materials in the digital age, like other cultural forms, becomes a code. The language of media and cinema, in turn, contributes to the development of new cultural forms and the "renewal" of the language.

The media discourse as a whole allows you to trace the communicative impact carried out using different linguistic and visual means on the addressee, tracing the reaction to the received message through verbal (reciprocal replicas of communicants) or non-verbal (emojis, trolling, memes in social networks). By media text, we mean any media text addressed to a mass audience and which we consider as a unit of analysis. Such a text can be either on the pages of a newspaper or under any hyperlink in a media publication. The media text is distinguished by some criteria: it is well structured, has holistic content, contains a title, reports on the relevant and carries evaluative meanings and connotations depending on the country of creation of the media text, as well as, in fact, the publication itself. In connection with the above, media researchers study discursive practices characteristic of a particular publication or a particular national media system, including cooperative and non-cooperative strategies.

In addition, it is proposed to apply the methodology of multimodal analysis to semiotic-complicated media texts. “The multimodal use of discourse is as much a feature of print genres as it is of television genres" ^{[10, p. 169]}. The method of multimodal analysis allows us to determine the nature of assessments based on nonverbal argumentation techniques, metaphorization with a nonverbal component ^{[1, p. 135]} and the quality of illustrative material. In the visual aspect, the key is a photograph, a cartoon illustrating mainstream material; in the case of a talk show, a video script.

The ecology of language should be at the heart of language policy. Political media discourse, including talk show discourse, is characterized by the presence of communicative strategies and tactics.

Let's consider the discourse analysis of media texts without a visual component, followed by access to media texts with a visual component. The strategy of the struggle for power, which is implemented through the use of tactics such as justification, challenge, criticism, for example: “There was a huge bipartisan pressure campaign on President Obama to send lethal arms to Ukraine" (Fox News, 2021).

The example above illustrates the tactics of justification – a journalist is trying to find an excuse for the actions of Barack Obama when he was president of the United States. A persuasion strategy that is implemented using tactics such as argumentation and campaigning, for example: “... and all you have to do is look at a map or history of how Russia was almost twice destroyed in the 20th century to see the crucial importance of Ukraine to Russia" (Fox News, 2021).

In the example above, a journalist, using argumentation tactics, implements a persuasion strategy. A strategy of retaining power, which is implemented through the use of tactics such as recognizing an existing problem, explaining and commenting, indicating a way to resolve the problem, tactics of unity with the addressee, tactics of appealing to emotions, for example: “The relationship between the U.S. and Russia is clearly at its low point since any time at least since the Cold War, there is little doubt about that. The reason I think is twofold. One is that during ‘Russiagate,’ and the whole hysteria that surrounded it, there was this propaganda campaign to convince a huge part of the population, namely liberals and Democrats, that Russia posed as an existential threat to the United States and they believed it to the point where they think everything we can do against Russia we ought to do, and if you stand up and question it as we are doing now, it means you are some kind of spy for the Kremlin….”. (Fox News, 2021).

In the example above, you can monitor the use of several tactics at once. Firstly, the journalist names the problem – the deterioration of relations between Russia and the United States (tactics of recognizing the problem), and secondly, he comments on it - explains the reasons for such a situation (tactics of clarification and commenting).

Let's consider more examples of multimodal text analysis (English-language media segment). Thus, a non-verbal, visual metaphor in combination with a verbal text is often used by the media to create a kind of game situation.

An example of a "visual" metaphor is a cartoon in the Hong Kong English–language media publication SCMP (the work by SCMP's veteran political cartoonist Harry Harrison, December 2023) (https://www.scmp.com/photos/comment/harrys-view/3243430/harrys-view-december-2023 ?page=8)

Examples of a "visual" metaphor on the cover of the English-language "The Economist" (2020-2023)

 The above examples of visualization of events or accents of texts are illustrative examples of how one multimodal text as a whole is sufficient to reflect the socio–political situation both in terms of the degree of informativeness and the degree of media effectiveness (impact on the reader).

Thus, the level of visual accompaniment of media texts indicates the level of manipulativeness of publications in American publications and new media. A visual metaphor or visualization of phraseological units in a political caricature is a significant invasive tool and, to some extent, an "information weapon" in political communication. In addition, everything that cannot be described in words can be represented in a visual image. The correct and deliberate application of communication strategies and tactics using military slang in media texts can provide an effective impact on the mass consciousness of the reader.

Modern "media" is multi-vector: It is a separate social institution where discourses are born, national and cultural codes are broadcast and produced. With the development of ICT technologies, media acquires virtual visual characteristics that are inaccessible to other social institutions, which further turns them into a "fifth power"; television institutional discourse is gradually losing its position. In addition, English-language news media texts are characterized by a certain ideological "tonality" or "intonation", understood as a way of interpreting information that reflects a certain value system. Political news talk shows (including as media texts on the Internet) are a relatively new but rapidly developing industry, which media experts refer to as the latest information technologies.

As the main platform for researching strategies of English-language talk shows, it is advisable to refer to audio and video materials of the most famous talk show "Tucker Carlson Tonight". Tucker Carlson's Tucker Carlson Tonight show on Fox News is an author's program on American cable television, regularly attracts about 3.3 million viewers. A selection of talk shows can be carried out from the platform: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6238614/. 

YouTube journalism has synchronized recordings of talk shows with the ability to view and analyze them from the territory of the Russian Federation.  Watching YouTube recordings for 9-12 months reaches 4-9 million views.  

Fox News channel fired host Tucker Carlson, for whom the viewer watched Fox News. Interestingly, The New York Times conducts its independent investigation into Tucker Carlson's departure from the post of presenter in the article: “Read The Times's investigation into how Tucker Carlson stoked white fear to conquer cable" 3 dated April 24, 2023. (https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/04/24/business/tucker-carlson-fox-news ).

 «Night after night on Fox, Tucker Carlson weaponized his viewers’ fears and grievances to create what may be the most racist show in the history of cable news. It is also, by some measures, the most successful. With singular influence — reaching far beyond Fox and the viewers who tune in to his show — Mr. Carlson filled the vacuum left by Donald J. Trump, championing the former president’s most ardent followers and some of their most extreme views. As fervently as he has raced to the defense of the Jan. 6 rioters, so has he sown doubt and suspicion around immigrants, Black Lives Matter protesters or Covid-19 vaccines. A New York Times examination of Mr. Carlson’s career, including interviews with dozens of friends and former colleagues, and an analysis of more than 1,100 episodes of his Fox program, shows how he has grown increasingly sympathetic to the nativist currents coursing through U.S. politics».

[Night after night on Fox, Tucker Carlson used the fears of his viewers to create perhaps the most racist show in the history of cable news. She is also, by some standards, the most successful. Having an exceptional influence that goes far beyond the Fox channel and the hearts of the viewers who watch his show. Carlson filled the vacuum left by Donald Trump by championing the former president's most ardent followers. With the same fervor with which he stood up for the rioters on January 6, he soon began to have doubts and suspicions about Black Lives Matter immigrants or Covid-19 vaccines. A study of Mr. Carlson's career conducted by the New York Times, including interviews with dozens of friends and former colleagues, as well as an analysis of more than 1,100 episodes of his program on Fox, shows how he is increasingly sympathetic to the nativist currents permeating American politics.]

Thus, we witnessed how the presenter, the channel's brand, acted as a "bargaining chip" in US political communications, emphasizing, on the one hand, the "power" of the media and new media, and, on the other hand, the helplessness of presenter Tucker Carlson as an employee of Fox Corporation. The analysis of the examples above demonstrated the fact that the distinctive features of media discourse in the aspect of implementing a non-cooperative strategy of influence are the use of various lexical, grammatical, especially syntactic and stylistic means, as well as other semiotic means of metaphorical representation of images (cartoons, posters, graphics, etc.).

 An example of using "visual" tools of argumentation tactics and appealing to emotions in Tucker Carlson's evening talk show

It is enough to analyze the headlines of the issues of Tucker Carlson's talk show and it becomes clear that the main communicative strategies of the presenter are discrimination, assertion, implemented through the tactics of accusation, recognition of an existing problem, indications on the way to solve the problem, tactics of unity with the addressee and appeal to emotions, tactics of argumentation and agitation, etc.

“Tucker Carlson: It is hard to believe this is happening”

“Tucker: This is scary”

“Tucker: They can’t keep this secret forever”

“Tucker Carlson: This will destroy the US over time”

“Tucker Carlson: Transgenderism is America's fastest-growing religion’

“Tucker Carlson: This was all a lie”

             “Tucker Carlson: This will lead to poverty all over the US”

             “Tucker: We are at war with Russia”

             “Tucker: These people are lunatics”

             “Tucker Carlson: Biden trusts Beijing more than he trusts you”

              “Tucker: This is how dumb CNN is”

              “Tucker: This is spectacularly absurd!”  

 The selection of talk shows is solid, random, without AI tools. One of the tactics of persuasion is the use of visualization tools, short videos as arguments and tactics of appealing to emotions. Three channels are involved – visual, auditory and kinesthetic.

Conclusion

The immersion of an increasing part of humanity into the virtual world of media in the age of digitalization generates a demand for the creation of information and psychological weapons (IPSO) and cyber warfare. If we talk about the media effects of IPSO operations in the digital world, then in this case the audience often "absorbs" information content without the opportunity to give feedback or enter into a discussion, that is, it is a passive participant who is directly manipulated. The constant development of the media affects one of the components of the information war — the technical one — which is responsible for establishing mechanisms of information influence. If the main tool of information warfare is the media, then the main tool of the media is language, in any of its hypostases: virtual language, multi-semiotic, "digital language". The study of the functioning of language in the mechanisms of information warfare is becoming an urgent interdisciplinary field.

Currently, English has become the main language of international communication in this area: many terms used in national military languages are directly or indirectly borrowed from or through English. Such a "new language of media culture", broadcast through official and social media, provides journalists with tools for visualizing processes, phenomena, leaders and anti-leaders through photographs and other visualization tools with a much higher degree of media effects than a "linear" text with its own stylistic means of creating imagery (metaphor, metonymy, allegory, etc. The practical part of the research is implemented by attracting media texts of the English-language media segment from such sites as The New York Times, Fox News, The South China Morning Post, as well as studying bilingual lexicographic publications. In parallel, the concepts of "strategies and communicative tactics of non-cooperative discourse", "talk show discourse", "non-cooperative and conflict discourse", "visual culture" and some other "related" concepts are being clarified. Political topics are more important than ever for modern society, and for a clear understanding of the essence of political phenomena, it is necessary to study the lexical innovations used in the modern discourse of English-language talk shows. The verbal communication of representatives of the media society of talk shows is often carried out through specific vocabulary characteristic of certain social subgroups.

In connection with the above, we have determined in the article that the media discourse is the most representative in terms of the study of linguistic units and other "iconic" systems"; at the same time, both the consumer of information and the researcher of the media product deals with hyperlinks, "digital language" and "language of cultural interfaces". Media reflect the current level of language development. All changes taking place in society are shaped by language and recorded primarily by the media. This is due to the desire of journalists and political leaders to emphasize the novelty of events and events. In addition, the comparative aspect of the study in the studied pairs of languages involves an appeal to translation problems. Inaccurate translation of media texts or speeches of participants in communication in a talk show can have adverse consequences, therefore, the issues of appropriate training of translators are of paramount importance and should be addressed in both university and postgraduate translation programs. In case of inaccurate translation, these texts become a means by which the general public receives inaccurate and even erroneous information on issues of great public interest. The development of translation competence when working with the texts of television media discourse can become a competitive advantage for translation students specializing in various fields of language.