GENERAL PECULIARITIES OF CLOTHES DESCRIPTORS FUNCTIONING IN ENGLISH PUBLICISTIC DISCOURSE

Abstract

The article studies the peculiarities of the clothes descriptors in media texts and thematic publicistic writings (printed media and Internet resources) dedicated to the Royal Family. The authors analyze the vocabulary of fashion in general and clothes in particular, consider the cognitive mechanisms of nominating lexical units related to clothes, outline the distinguishing features of expressive vocabulary as a distinctive characteristic of journalistic style. Morphological, internal and occasional derivation, word combinations (up to ten constituents in a word-combination) and borrowings are the nomination devices represented in the fashion vocabulary.
In the nomination of lexical units related to clothes, a variety of cognitive mechanisms, in particular axiological rethinking, analogy, opposition, signposting, copying by linguistic means of extra-verbal reality, assimilation, compression and explicitation are considered to be essential. The concept of “descriptor” is clarified, the types of garments descriptors are analyzed and the trends in their use in modern English-language media are studied. Based on the study of strategies and tactics of representation of a person through the descriptions of clothes they wear, it was concluded that the pragmatic significance of the latter is essential in creating a positive or negative person’s image.