Communication mediators: the cognitive and pragma-stylistic aspect of tropes in modern mass media discourse

The paper focuses on the communicative aspect, stylistics and pragmatics of lexical tropes in mass media discourse, primarily in the press. The cognitive aspect of tropes in modern non-literary discourse is discussed to show that they are not merely expressive means of the language but complex cognitive structures which can either affirm our schematic knowledge or bring substantial changes to it. By having an insight into some aspects of cognitive metaphor theory we look upon the cases when new or alternative knowledge structures function as source domains and discuss the way in which individual authors, using both conventional and unconventional conceptual metaphors can change the role that mass media audience take in interpreting texts thus giving mass media tropes a chance to influence and mold social practice.

metaphor, cognitive metaphor, tropes, communication, mass media discourse, mass communication, stylistics, pragmatics