THE PROBLEM OF UNDERSTANDING THE IRONIC IMAGE IN COMMUNICATION (ON ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN POLITICAL DISCOURSE)

Abstract

The paper examines key concepts such as irony, ironism and ironic image in interrelation, and outlines a methodology for studying irony as a linguistic category through the analysis of ironic images characteristic of Russian and English-speaking cultures. The proposed research contributes to the development of the theory of ethnostyle and consists in the development of a new ethnodiscoursive direction (at the junction of the theory of discourse and ethnostylistics) in the theory of political communication. The essence of the proposed direction is to identify discoursive tactics (ironic images) typical of ethnoculture, the analysis of which allows to draw conclusions about the pragmatic attitudes and value orientations of a particular politician. Thus, ethnostyle is considered as one of the factors that determines irony in political communication, which reflects ethnocultural values fully, partially or not at all, depending on the discoursive tactics chosen by the speaker (ironic image). The author concludes that the irony of political communication is embodied in discourse in discursive tactics, with the involvement of ironic images, and can be studied as a linguistic category through the analysis of these images characteristic of Russian and English-speaking cultures.