Veracity Appraisal in the Internet Users’ Comments on the News about SARS CoV-2 Pandemic

Abstract

Purpose. The article is devoted to the representation of the veracity appraisal – the main type of appraisal in the Internet users’ comments on the news about the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The purpose of the paper is to investigate what linguistic means are used to represent this kind of appraisal and identify the dominant value in Russian society towards this matter. To reach this goal, we used continuous sampling technique to select 1 187 comments on posts about SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in social networks, where 116 language units containing veracity appraisal were found.Results. The analysis of the material shows the domination of negative emotionally coloured language units, mostly words with axiological semantics and evaluative metaphors. The veracity appraisal is also represented by phraseological and syntactic units. In some contexts appraisal can be intensified; in particular cases appraisal type is transformed or concretized by the addition of another type to the basic one.Conclusion. The value dominant of the Russian society regarding the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is the veracity of information, proofs that can confirm the official statements, and real scientific data. The dominant attitude to the received information is distrust which leads to somewhat intense aggression.