THE PRAGMATIC FUNCTION OF THE NEW LEXICAL UNITS IN THE CONCEPTUAL FIELD OF “FRIEND OR FOE” (AS REFLECTED IN THE NEWSPAPERS NEW YORK POST AND NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)

Abstract

In recent years, especially in the era of Donald Trump, tolerance (political correctness) and pluralism of opinions (identity politics) have become an integral part of representation of society in the media. The pragmatic function of new lexical units in American newspapers has been studied very little. In this regard, the author analyzes the fundamental semiotic opposition “friend-foe”. The result of the study showed that the “friend-foe” opposition not only has weakened at the present time, but also receives new means of representation in the ongoing discourse in the American media. This is confirmed by the analysis of such units as cultural appropriation, cancel culture, and white fragility. The article shows the relationship between the new units behind the concept of political correctness and their performance of a euphemistic function, as well as demonstrates the use of case-based phenomena for the purpose of implementing the differentiation function. The article describes the appearance of an additional pragmatic function in the lexical meaning of new words, which either identifies of in some cases even facilitates a change in the social assessment of the phenomenon.