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<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/" article-type="research-article" dtd-version="1.2" xml:lang="en"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title xml:lang="en">RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics</journal-title><trans-title-group xml:lang="ru"><trans-title>Вестник Российского университета дружбы народов. Серия: Теория языка. Семиотика. Семантика</trans-title></trans-title-group></journal-title-group><issn publication-format="print">2313-2299</issn><issn publication-format="electronic">2411-1236</issn><publisher><publisher-name xml:lang="en">Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba (RUDN University)</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">45164</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.22363/2313-2299-2025-16-1-77-89</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="edn">DZWERX</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="toc-heading" xml:lang="en"><subject>DISCOURSE STUDIES</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="toc-heading" xml:lang="ru"><subject>ДИСКУРСОЛОГИЯ</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="article-type"><subject>Research Article</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title xml:lang="en">Modelling the Image of the Country and the Image of a Political Leader in the American Media Discourse</article-title><trans-title-group xml:lang="ru"><trans-title>Моделирование имиджа страны и образа политического деятеля в американском медиадискурсе</trans-title></trans-title-group></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author"><contrib-id contrib-id-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9427-3584</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="scopus">57502328300</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="researcherid">M-2764-2018</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="spin">4855-8800</contrib-id><name-alternatives><name xml:lang="en"><surname>Khafizova</surname><given-names>Alsu A.</given-names></name><name xml:lang="ru"><surname>Хафизова</surname><given-names>Алсу Александровна</given-names></name></name-alternatives><bio xml:lang="en"><p>PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of Department of Foreign Languages in the field of International Relations of the Institute of International Relations, History and Oriental Studies</p></bio><bio xml:lang="ru"><p>кандидат филологических наук, доцент, доцент кафедры иностранных языков в сфере международных отношений Института международных отношений, истории и востоковедения</p></bio><email>alsou-f@yandex.ru</email><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"/></contrib></contrib-group><aff-alternatives id="aff1"><aff><institution xml:lang="en">Kazan Federal University</institution></aff><aff><institution xml:lang="ru">Казанский (Приволжский) федеральный университет</institution></aff></aff-alternatives><pub-date date-type="pub" iso-8601-date="2025-07-03" publication-format="electronic"><day>03</day><month>07</month><year>2025</year></pub-date><volume>16</volume><issue>1</issue><issue-title xml:lang="en"/><issue-title xml:lang="ru"/><fpage>77</fpage><lpage>89</lpage><history><date date-type="received" iso-8601-date="2025-07-21"><day>21</day><month>07</month><year>2025</year></date></history><permissions><copyright-statement xml:lang="en">Copyright ©; 2025, Khafizova A.A.</copyright-statement><copyright-statement xml:lang="ru">Copyright ©; 2025, Хафизова А.А.</copyright-statement><copyright-year>2025</copyright-year><copyright-holder xml:lang="en">Khafizova A.A.</copyright-holder><copyright-holder xml:lang="ru">Хафизова А.А.</copyright-holder><ali:free_to_read xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/"/><license><ali:license_ref xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0</ali:license_ref></license></permissions><self-uri xlink:href="https://journals.rudn.ru/semiotics-semantics/article/view/45164">https://journals.rudn.ru/semiotics-semantics/article/view/45164</self-uri><abstract xml:lang="en"><p>The purpose of this article is to consider the linguistic features of the representation of a number of states and their heads in the American media discourse and to identify the influence of the language of the media and the political orientation of the publication on the construction of the image of the state and its leader. The analysis of publications in the journal “Foreign Affairs” devoted to such countries as Brazil, the Philippines, Hungary and their heads of state is carried out. American journalists attribute the political regime of these countries to autocracies, and the leaders to populists. In this regard, the relevance of the study is due not only to the wide interest in the problem of constructing the image of the state and the image of a political leader from a wide range of specialists, including political scientists, sociologists, linguists, psychologists, etc., but also to the influence of media texts on the formation and transformation of the image in the mind of the addressee. The subject of the study is the lexical and stylistic means of representing the images of the above-mentioned countries and their heads of state in the media text. The object of the study is the analytical articles of the journal “Foreign Affairs”, which reflect the socio-political realities. In this study, the methods of stylistic analysis, semantic analysis, contextual analysis of political media texts, as well as a descriptive method, including the generalization and interpretation of the information received, were used. The conclusion is made about the formation of the image of the country and its leader based on the reception of contrast, the wide inclusion of pejorative semantics, intertextuality techniques, lexical means of various stylistic tonality in the text, and the implementation by the authors of media texts of various strategies in imposing a certain image of the country and its leader on the addressee.</p></abstract><trans-abstract xml:lang="ru"><p>Цель статьи состоит в рассмотрении лингвистических особенностей репрезентации ряда стран и их глав в американском медиадискурсе и выявлении влияния языка СМИ и политической направленности издания на конструирование имиджа государства и его лидера. Проводится анализ публикаций в журнале Foreign Affairs, посвященных таким странам, как Бразилия, Филиппины, Венгрия и их главам государств. Американские журналисты относят политический режим данных стран к автократиям, а лидеров - к популистам. В связи с этим актуальность исследования обусловлена не только широким интересом к проблеме конструирования имиджа государства и образа политического лидера со стороны широкого круга специалистов, включая политологов, социологов, лингвистов, психологов и др., но и влиянием медиатекстов на формирование и трансформацию образа в сознании адресата. Предметом исследования послужили лексико-стилистические средства репрезентации образов вышеназванных стран и их глав в медиатексте. Объектом исследования являются аналитические статьи издания “Foreign Affairs”, в которых нашли отражение общественно-политические реалии. В настоящем исследовании были использованы методы контент-анализа, стилистического, семантического анализа, контекстуального анализа политических медиатекстов, а также описательный метод, включающий в себя обобщение и интерпретацию полученной информации. Сделан вывод о построении образа страны и ее лидера на основе приема контраста, широком включении в текст лексики пейоративной семантики, приемов интертекстуальности, лексических средств различной стилистической тональности и реализации авторами медиатекстов различных стратегий в навязывании адресату определенного образа страны и ее руководителя.</p></trans-abstract><kwd-group xml:lang="en"><kwd>media discourse</kwd><kwd>the image of the country</kwd><kwd>the image of a politician</kwd><kwd>media stylistics</kwd><kwd>political linguistics</kwd><kwd>international relations</kwd></kwd-group><kwd-group xml:lang="ru"><kwd>номинация</kwd><kwd>оценка</kwd><kwd>метафора</kwd><kwd>ассоциация</kwd><kwd>политическая модализация</kwd></kwd-group><funding-group><funding-statement xml:lang="en">the work is performed according to the Russian Government Program of Competitive&#13;
Growth of Kazan Federal University.</funding-statement><funding-statement xml:lang="ru">Работа выполнена в рамках программы Правительства Российской&#13;
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