Tetyana Khomenko

                                              Zhytomyr State University named after Ivan Franko

                                           Scientific supervisor: Candidate of Sciences M.V.Polhovska

Lexical means of ironical modality expression in present-day American mass-media discourse

The characteristic feature of modern linguistics is increasing interest to the interpersonal communication and the influence of extra linguistic and psychological factors. It explains the intensified attention to the study of irony as one of the important aspects of verbal behavior which depends on compliance or violation of certain ethical norms.

Irony is a complex linguistic and mental phenomenon, a form of evaluative, critical and emotional understanding of reality which is associated with the author’s position and outlook [3].

Despite the fact that irony has been repeatedly studied in various branches of linguistics (Pohodnya, Semkiv, Serhienko, Kamenskaya, Fomichova, Propp, Muecke, Curco, Kreuz, Roberts) there is neither complete description of the language means for implementation of semantic ambiguity in ironic texts, nor clear understanding of the linguistic nature of irony [1].

Modern researches are aimed at exploring the nature, origin, types and mechanisms of irony perception in language and thought. Creation of the ironic sense is a contradiction between direct and contextual expression, which leads to the authors’ subjective evaluative modality.

In linguistics modality is one of the most important features of the sentence. Scholars define modality as a wide category, inherent to any sentence and showing the relation between the statement affirmed in the sentence and reality established by speaker.

Following academician V.V. Vinogradov we determine modality as grammatical-semantic category, which expresses the speaker’s attitude towards the expression, his evaluation of the attitude input towards objective reality.

From linguistic point of view, irony is realized within modality and is a variety of subjective modality, which indicates author’s critical evaluation. The complexity and peculiarity of ironic phrases lie in the simultaneous expression of two opposite views: explicit (with positive meaning) and implicit (with negative meaning) [2].

According to the results of investigation of theoretical sources the means of ironical sense expression are various and meaningful. The main principle of ironical modality formation is discrepancy of the meaning, which results in the asymmetric usage of a linguistic unit.

The language material for the investigation is the articles from American information editions The New Yorker, The New York Times, National Review. One of the most widespread ways of expressing ironic modality on the lexical level is its realization with a single word:

1) The greater problem here is the premise behind the change: that students read so they can learn how to process information and eventually get jobs as information processors. If that’s why kids go to school, then we should have stopped wasting time on pishposh like "The Catcher in the Rye" decades ago [6].

The article by Betsy Woodruff "Goodbye, Liberal Arts?" goes about government intentions to change National standards for curricula, which now call for students to read less literature and more ‘informational texts’. The lexeme pishposh, if taken out of context, expresses negative connotation – nonsense, something absurd. However, in the example this word refers to one of the best novels of the 20^th century by J. D. Salinger. Such case of deliberate usage of the main meaning of the word with reference to the masterpiece of the world literature contributes to formation of ironic sense.

Comparisons, hyperboles and litotes are used in the texts of American mass-media discourse to express ironic modality:

2) Over the years, circulation has waxed and waned — it now is about 85,000 — but the readership remains fully engaged. Mr. Spessard often receives calls about sweet recollections of a grandmother’s reliance on the almanac, as well as angry complaints about a typographical error that might disrupt the spin of the earth [4].

This passage exemplifies the case of ironic hyperbole and goes about the fact that one typographical error can destroy the planet. Mr. Spessard, a retired insurance agent and part-time inventor of the Almanac with useful facts and tips for future, gets a lot of calls with readers’ complaints about the predictions which haven’t proved. By means of ironic sense the author discredits the necessity of creation of such almanacs.

3) McCain had his own petty personal beef with her: she had said a not-nice thing about him during his dismal run for the White House four years ago, and one thing McCain still knows how to do in politics is to hold a grudge [5].

The passage is taken from the article, which goes about misunderstanding between Susan Rice, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, and Senator John McCain. The sentence exemplifies the case of litotes which creates ironic sense. The senator’s professional skills are underestimated, when the author claims that he can do nothing but hold a grudge.

To sum up, irony is a complex language and mental phenomenon, a form of evaluative, critical and emotive attitude towards reality, which is connected with the author’s position and outlook. It is a device of both mind and language for acknowledging the gap between what is expected and what is observed. In the texts of American mass-media discourse single words, cases of comparison, hyperbole and litotes are used to create ironic sense and express the author’s evaluation of the situation.

LIST OF REFERENCES:

1. Иванова И.Н. Сатира и ирония в творчестве позднего Г.В.Иванова// Феноменология власти в сатире. Коллективная монографія под ред.. В.В. Прозорова, И.В. Кабановой. – Саратов: Изд. центр "Наука", 2008. – 258 с.

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3. Федоренко О.М. Фразеологічна презентація іронії в сучасному медіатексті/ О.М. Федоренко// Стиль і текст: науковий збірник. –  Інститут журналістики КНУ імені Тараса Шевченка. — К., 2011. — Вип. 12. — С. 87-94

4. Barry D. Divining the Weather, With Methods Old and New – Режим доступу: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/us/for-40-years-predicting-weather-for-grubers-almanack.html?ref=science&_r=1&

5. Gourevitch Ph. Susan Rice steps aside – Режим доступу: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/12/susan-rice-steps-aside.html

6. Woodruff B. Goodbye, Liberal Arts? – Режим доступу: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/335520/goodbye-liberal-arts-betsy-woodruff