Concept Space of Headings (on the Material of Media Texts on the Topic of COVID-19)

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this article is to build up the concept field of media texts’ headings referring to COVID-19 in their axiological variability. The analysis of concept space is based both on the principles of frequency of use of tokens and nominal word combinations, which reflect the development of events related to the pandemic, and on the evaluative division of headings which have neutral, positive or negative connotations. Methods: The main methods used in the study are contextual, syntagmatic and component analyses. Contextual analysis has given an opportunity to define the way and language means of presentation of the mentioned concept and its concept field. It also has made it possible to demonstrate the language means, which show the journalists’ intentions to present information to the audience, and has allowed to describe the interconnection between language interpretation character and variants of texts axiological paradigm. Syntagmatic analysis, particularly the analysis of left and right combination of words in the text, has identified subjective and objective relationships in the concept’s presentation, and the measure of saturation of the concept field with metaphoric and metonymic models, which are based on axiological principles. Component analysis has disclosed the peculiarities of structure of meaning of separate semantic variants of words. Results: In the result of studying 467 headings of articles in mass media the concept field COVID-19 was built. It was fulfilled on the base of presentation of a medical term as a concept. Definition of axiological variability of headings as the basis of seleection of lexical and grammatical means, and presentation of core concept in its subjective and objective relationships inside the sentence/ utterance were done. Conclusions: The language means of different evaluative segments of the field have common and varied functions. The commonness is in informing the population about development of events and the difference is in the ways of transferring the evaluative component of information. The grammatical means are more actively used to actualize their semantic and stylistic potential in the headings with negative and partially positive content.