The Emotional & Evaluative Potential of Media Texts about Individual Neutral Athletes and its Role in the Formation of the (Anti)image of Athletes

Authors:
Evseeva I.V. Belousova M.V.
Abstract:

The study is devoted to the analysis of the linguistic representation mechanisms of the image (positive) and anti-image (negative) of individual neutral athletes from Russia in the Russian media discourse. The main purpose of the research is to establish the role of emotional and evaluative linguistic tools in media texts that form positive and negative image of individual neutral athletes in the Russian media discourse. The research material consists of 310 media texts published between December 2024 and April 2026, and 1,326 online comments on these texts. The main research method was the linguistic analysis of emotional and evaluative linguistic tools. It is based on the discursive-analytical methodology of assessment analysis. The analysis is aimed at 1) identifying the elocutionary potential of a mass media texts expressed through emotional and evaluative tools that forming image and anti-image of individual neutral athletes, and 2) establishing the effectiveness of this linguistic tools that contribute to the achievement of the speech influence predicted by the author. The main and secondary image and anti-image characteristics of individual neutral athletes in media texts were found. These characteristics are created using emotional and evaluative language tools that form a positive or negative image of athletes, depending on the author’s intentions. The data obtained enables to determine that the universal tool for image making is the value meanings transmitted in image texts through the emotional and evaluative potential of language. This study can be viewed as a foundational step in seeking ways to adjust the image of individual neutral athletes from Russia in the public consciousness.

Funding:

The research was financially supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant No. 25-28-00603, “Linguistic Image Studies as an Interdisciplinary Field of Linguistic Knowledge: From Practice to Theory.”

Key words:
evaluationemotivitylinguistic imageologyimage of an athleteimage characteristicsanti-image characteristics
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