Dear collages and honored members of the examination board, let me introduce
you the theme of our graduation thesis “«Cognitive-discursive analysis of
phraseological units in the English-language press”.
SLIDE 3
The relevance of current research is determined by the need to improve the
communicative effectiveness of communication. It can be achieved by using
phraseological units, which act as stable metaphoric models that have a valuable
significance for the society, can influence the readership and form public opinion,
which is one of the main pragmatic goals of the genre.
The novelty of the research lies in the substantiation of the pragmatic potential
of phraseological units; in the fact that new "coronavirus" economic realia have not
yet been studied in the cognitive discursive aspect, and in the analysis of the role
that phraseological units play in forming the cognitive structures of mass media
discourse.
SLIDE 4
The object of the study is phraseological units in the economic mass media
discourse.
The subject of the research is the analysis of phraseological units, the
identification of their functioning and interaction in the economic discourse of mass
media.
The objective of the research is to study the specifics of the functioning of
phraseological units in the economic discourse of mass media on the impact of
coronavirus on the global economy.
SLIDE 5
To achieve this goal, the following tasks were solved:
• to consider the different types of phraseological units and their functions;
• to analyze the functional and stylistic features of English mass media
discourse;
• to identify the functions of phraseological units in the economic discourse of
mass media;
• to identify the concepts, the frames and phraseosemantic fields that
phraseological units represent in the economic discourse of mass media on the
impact of coronavirus;
SLIDE 6
The hypothesis of the research: the use of phraseological units is due to the
high expressiveness of the texts of mass media discourse, the figurative
representation of the current changes in the economy; intentional or unintentional
involvement of the reader in understanding the events of the business, economic,
and political agenda.
SLIDE 7
The main methods of research are cognitive analysis and discourse analysis. A
general method of discursive analysis is a type of content analysis that can show
both clearly present text data and the hidden meanings of a message, implemented
in the texts for the purpose of influencing the recipient.
In the course of the analysis, it becomes clear to which audience it is addressed
and in which social spheres it is involved; what is the specificity of expressive means
of communication; what tools are used to achieve the desired effect; how successful
this type of discourse is and what is the strength of its impact on the audience.
Secondary methods included the observation and description method, the
component analysis method, the statistical method, and the sampling method.
SLIDE 8
The research was based on the materials of articles taken from leading English-
language newspapers, such as the BBC, the Guardian, the Economist and others in
the period of 2020-2021 as well as English-English phraseological and explanatory
dictionaries.
This material was chosen because discourse is understood as a communicative
event and is inextricably linked to the actual functioning of language in people's
lives. The language of the press is understood as a set of speech works united by the
theme of events against the background of the current economic situation in the
world, namely, the impact of the crisis caused by the coronavirus on the economy of
various countries.
SLIDE 9
The works of the following scientists that you can see on the slide present the
theoretical background for the research:
(Functional linguistics: V. Humboldt, R. O. Jacobson, N.S. Trubetskoy, S.O.
Kartsevsky, M. Halliday, G. Firth, T. Parsons, Amosova N.N., Galperin I.P.,
Malyuga E.N., Solganic G.Y. and others.
 Phraseology: L.P. Smith., P. E. Howarth, A. MakKai, M. McCarthy, B. A.
Larin, A.V. Kunin, V. V. Vinogradov, O. S. Akhmanova and others.
Discourse analysis: T. van Dijk, E. Benveniste, P. Seriot, N. Leech, R. Barthes,
L. Phillips & M. Jorgensen, N. Fairclough, V. I. Karasik, M. L. Makarov, N. D.
Arutyunova and others.)
SLIDE 10
As the research is dedicated to the analysis of phraseological units in the
English-language press, it seems necessary to present the basic notions used:
Phraseological units - combinations of words that have syntactic and semantic
integrity, the meaning of which is difficult or impossible to determine from the
individual elements that constitute them.
Discourse - a coherent speech act in combination with extralinguistic factors -
cultural, pragmatic and psychological, which represents the interaction of people in
social reality.
Since one of the most relevant and important topics in the media over the past
2020 and this year is COVID-19, and its impact on different spheres of life, the
research is dedicated to the to study phraseological units in the economic discourse
of mass media.
Using the sampling method, examples of the usage of phraseological units in
the English-Language press were selected and analyzed, which allowed us to
identify the main concepts, frames, and phraseosemantic fields that they represent.
SLIDE 11
In general, the analyzed phraseological units in the texts of the economic media
discourse can be attributed to nine phraseosemantic fields and are the parts of the
following concepts and frames:
Concepts: “the critical situation in the economy” and “the human and his
activities”.
The frames on which the idiomaticity of the units used is based and which help
the recipient to correctly interpret the incoming information are:
• changes in the well-being of individuals and vulnerable segments of the
population;
• impact of lockdown on the work of small and medium-sized businesses;
• actions taken by national governments and companies to support individuals
and businesses;
• rising unemployment;
• development of e-commerce.
SLIDE 12
The main phraseosemantic fields and their percentage ratio are the following:
- deterioration of a situation or condition, suspension of activity, negative
changes or defeat – 15,84%;
- unexpected changes and unexpected actions that take place – 5,94%;
- expression of hope, expectation of improvement of the situation – 9,9%;
- some positive changes, improvement of the situation – 15,84%;
- being on the edge, in the state of extreme uncertainty – 3,96%;
- difficulties in experiencing this economic situation and the economic crisis,
sufferings and worries – 22,77%;
- the field of finance, the lack of money and financial support from the
government – 16,83%;
- compassion, understanding, and support for others – 2,97%;
- abstract group which is not directly related to the crisis and its consequences
– 5,94%.
Let me introduce some examples.
SLIDE 13
So, the phraseological unit “gritting one’s teeth" in the sentence “We think that
we will suffer a bit this month but by gritting our teeth with these restrictions, we'll
be able to breathe again in December," Mr. Conte told a news conference on
Sunday” which has the meaning: to accept a difficult situation and deal with it in a
determined way is a component of the phraseosemantic field “difficulties in
experiencing the economic crisis, sufferings and worries”, which represents the
frame “impact of lockdown on the work of small and medium-sized businesses” as
a part of the concept “crisis situation in the economy”. Using the phraseological unit,
the author wants to emphasize how difficult is it for Italy to deal with the crisis, at
the same time justifying the need for restrictive measures in the economy. The usage
of the metaphor “We'll be able to breathe” which associates the country with a living
organism reinforce the pragmatic function of the unit which is in convincing the
need for unpopular measures.
SLIDE 14
In the sentence “Struggling companies and self-employed workers have been
offered financial help by the government, to help keep their businesses afloat and
staff paid during the coronavirus outbreak” the phraseological unit has the meaning
“to have enough money to pay what you owe and not have debts”. It is also a part of
the concept “crisis situation in the economy” but represents the frame “actions taken
by national governments and companies to support individuals and businesses”,
phraseosemantic field is “finance, the lack of money and financial support from the
government”. Using this phraseological unit, the author wants to convey the idea
that the coronavirus has a very strong impact on workers, in particular, the self-
employed, as a result of which the government needs to support the citizens.
Phraseological unit “to keep afloat” in this case helps to strengthen the pragmatic
function of the text itself.
One more example of this concept is “Alex, who is on a work placement with
an ecological consultancy, is self-isolating after a trip to Tenerife, even though it
will leave him out of pocket”. It is the part of the frame “rising unemployment” and
has the meaning: “lacking the adequate amount of money; poor or impoverished;
having suffered a financial loss”. The phraseological unit used emphasizes the
negative impact of the coronavirus on the financial side of the life of the society and
in particular on its employment. At the same time, analyzing it in the context, it can
be noted that the pragmatics of the whole sentence is an attempt to convince the
reader that it is necessary to observe the self-isolation regime, despite the obvious
financial difficulties, since the violation of the lockdown can lead to more serious
consequences and the phraseological unit helps to strengthen this function.
SLIDE 15
In conclusion it can be said that the tasks set in the research have been solved
- the different types of phraseological units and their functions were considered,
functional and stylistic features of economic mass media discourse was analyzed,
the main functions of phraseological units and main reasons that determine their
appearance in the texts of the economic discourse of mass media on the impact of
coronavirus on the economy were identified and the main phraseosemantic fields
were determined.
The main concept that they represent is the "critical situation in the economy”
and the secondary concept is the "person and his activities”.
The most common phraseosemantic fields are: “finance, the lack of money”
and “difficulties in experiencing the economic situation”.
The work outlines the prospects for further research of phraseological units on
the material of other types of discourse, classification of phraseological units on the
scale of different frames, etc.
QUESTIONS
1. What classification is taken as the main in the research?
The study considered various classifications of phraseological units based on
different criteria, such as semantics, morphology, contextuality, the degree of
motivation, etc., However, due to the fact that the work was performed in a
cognitive-discursive way, the analysis did not pay much attention to typological
classifications. At the same time, due to the fact that the study considered not only
idiomatic phraseological units, and did not take into account proverbs and sayings,
we can say that the closest classification was the classification of Ch. Fernando and
R. Flavell or Vinogradov that have a lot in common.
2. Why in the topic of the research stated, “the analysis of PU in the
English-language press”, but the economic discourse of mass media is
considered?
The press is one of the most significant parts of the Mass media discourse, it is
in the press that the most relevant events are reflected. Due to the fact that the main
topic of the last two years was the coronavirus and its impact on various spheres of
society, it was decided to consider the topic that is now the second most important
after medicine - economics.
3. Что такое фразеосемантические поля? Кто из ученых пользуется
таким термином? What is phraseosemantic field? Which scientists use this
term?
A phraseosemantic field is a set of stable word complexes that are united by a
common idea and have stylistic ambiguity (Antropova L.I.), a set of phraseological
units that express a similar meaning (Birikh 1995; Telia 1996).
Such authors as N. N. Amosova, A.V. Kunin, I. I. Chernysheva, A. Birich, N.
A. Saburova and others were actively engaged in the study of phraseosemantic
fields.
A semantic field is a set of words united by a common content.
4. Какие основные термины использовались кроме ФЕ и дискурса?
4. What other main terms were used in addition to phraseological unit and
discourse?
Concept - the content side of a word, phrase or other lexical unit, behind which
there is an idea, a notion, conditioned by the existence of a person, his history and
experience acquired by him, his socialization and his own beliefs. The main
characteristics of the concept, regardless of its definitions, are its cultural
conditionality and belonging to a particular society, the absence of clear temporal,
spatial and functional boundaries, that is, its variation depending on the context and
situation, and third, the connection of the concept with consciousness, with the
process of thought formation and its expressing through words. (A.P.Babushkin, V.I.
Karasik, I. A. Sternin, N.F.Alefirenko)
Frame is a complex formation, which is based on a set of tools, both linguistic
and non-linguistic, that help the recipient to correctly interpret the incoming
information. This is a kind of representation of a stereotypical situation, the key
points that characterize it, with which you can decipher the language act, fill in the
semantic picture (N.N. Boldyrev, T. van Dijk, A. N. Kulchitskaya).
A phraseosemantic field is a set of stable word complexes that are united by
a common idea and have stylistic ambiguity, a set of phraseological units that
express a similar meaning.

5. На какие работы по когнитивной лингвистике вы опирались?

What works on cognitive linguistics were taken as a basis of your research?
• Van Dijk T.A., “Discourse and Context: A Sociocognitive Approach”
• Zhevaikina Yu. V. “Cognitive Aspects of Idiomatics”
• Z. D. Popova, I. A. “Sternin Cognitive Linguistics”
• Baranov A. N., Dobrovolsky D. O. “Postulates of cognitive linguistics”