Quantitative description of kindness as a quality in modern journalistic discourse

O.A. Usacheva

Samara National Research University named after Academician S.P. Korolev, Samara, 443086 Russia

E-mail: usachova-o@yandex.ru

Received July 25, 2022

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

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DOI: 10.26907/2541-7738.2022.5.22-31

For citation: Usacheva O.A. Quantitative description of kindness as a quality in modern journalistic discourse. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2022, vol. 164, no. 5, pp. 22–31. doi: 10.26907/2541-7738.2022.5.22-31. (In Russian)

Abstract

This article considers the quantitative features that characterize the concept of kindness in modern Russian journalism. Their high frequency speaks to how this quality is perceived by Russian people. The core meanings in the structure of the concept were revealed: “the quality lacking in modern society,” “the number of manifestations of the quality.” It was shown that the specificity of the quantitative determinants is defined by the journalistic discourse that uses quantitative data to influence the reader. Word combinations implying “a lack of kindness,” contexts that contrast the past and the present (“there used to be a lot of kindness”), and gradual characteristics (calls to be kinder and make the world a kinder place) actualize the first core meaning. The second core meaning is conveyed by expressions with the semantics of discreteness (“records of kindness,” “concentration of kindness”). Non-standard phrases with quantitative semantics were also registered: in most cases, they are formed by metonymic transfer. A shift in the long established structure of the concept of kindness takes place because it has become associated with the idea of utility. The syntagmatics of the lexeme denoting kindness in the modern Russian language expands due to the current tendency to identify kindness with charity.

Keywords: ethical concept, kindness, conceptual content, journalism, quantitative determinants, discreteness, core meanings, syntagmatics

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