Ethical language reflection as an object of medialinguistic research

Abstract

The article analyzes one of the aspects of contemporary media-text — the author’s linguistic reflection. Using the material of the magazine “Ogonek” 1916–2019, the author explores the use of the constructions “I apologize for…” and “sorry for…” as reflexives or forms of admission of “speech guilt”. The author establishes that the linguistic-ethical reflection is not typical for Soviet journalistic texts. Activation of this method occurs in the post-Soviet period and reaches a peak frequency in the late 1990s — early 2000s. These indicators confirm the thesis of specialists in linguistic ecology concerning the growing public disharmony of verbal Russian communication in the beginning of the XXI century. The author conducts a classification of reflexives on several criteria: location in the text (in the monologue of a journalist, an expert, in replicas of the interviewer and the interviewed person, and in the open letter published by a magazine), the degree of complexity, the subject of reflection, and the pragmatic attitude. The author of the article demonstrates the difference between simple and analytical reflexives and identifies the most important objects of speech self-criticism, such as obscenity, vulgarity, slang, harsh tone, triviality, pathos, puns, tautology, verbal inaccuracy or a slip of the tongue. The article notes that the author’s linguistic self-criticism in the media text can serve as a means of removing speech aggression and contribute to the harmonization of communication between the journalist and the audience. There are also frequent cases of ironic use of speech formulas containing a pseudo-apology for what was said. Common to both applications of reflexives is that they perform a function of raising the level of dialogue in media text, specify its target, activate the potential addressee, and include the audience into media communication space. The author notes the importance of further study of the content and forms of ethical language reflection in the framework of modern media linguistics.