Semantic Features of the Functioning of Dominant Verbalizers of the Ethical Concept BOON in the Mass Media

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the features of the functioning of the dominant verbalizers of ethical concepts in mass media, considered on the example of the words grace and gratitude . The purpose of the study is to trace the features of the semantic changes of words in modern use in comparison with their main ethical meaning. The article analyzes the data of the explanatory dictionaries of the Church Slavonic and Russian languages, establishes ethically loaded semes that unite verbalizers and testify to their exceptional value in the Russian mentality. The relevance of the study is determined by the analysis of the semantics of about 2000 uses of the words grace and gratitude in mass media, which made it possible to establish a common stylistic orientation - ironic and sarcastic - and the emasculation of the ethical load while maintaining the main denotative meaning. It is proved that the predominance of the material in the understanding of grace developed in the 20th century and is due to the denial of the religious picture of the world, which, however, does not exclude the preservation of ethical semantics in the internal field of ethical concept verbalizers. It was revealed that the ironic, sometimes anti-ethical inclusion of words in texts about topical issues levels their ethical significance and contributes to the spread of distorted semantics, influencing the value scale of native speakers, which is confirmed by a sociolinguistic survey.