Biblical allusions in headlines of modern English-language media discourse: cognitive decoding mechanisms

Abstract

The article examines the functioning of biblical allusions in headlines within modern English-language media discourse. The work aims to construct a decoding model for these allusions that describes the cognitive mechanisms of their perception. The article addresses issues related to the study of media discourse, intertextuality, and precedent phenomena. A biblical allusion is interpreted as a cognitive-discursive mechanism that organizes the process of understanding a media text within the space of media discourse. Conceptual Integration Theory is considered as a methodological framework for analyzing the mechanisms of generating new meanings in the perception of biblical allusions, along with the Theory of Precedent Phenomena, which describes the storage and actualization of precedent texts in the cognitive base of native speakers. Particular attention is paid to the classification of the pragmatic functions of allusions and the intertextual interaction of texts in media discourse. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that it is the first one to present a decoding model for biblical allusions as applied to headlines in modern English-language media discourse. This model allows for the identification of the cognitive mechanisms of allusion perception by the reader and the determination of their activators (marker, denotatum, perception invariant). As a result, four stages of decoding a biblical allusion are identified and described: 1) identification of the allusion marker; 2) actualization of the perception invariant of the precedent text stored in long-term memory; 3) cross-space mapping and the transfer of denotative and connotative content; 4) projection of relevant elements into the blend. Developed within the framework of Conceptual Integration Theory, the decoding model makes it possible to trace how the integration of the mental spaces of the Bible and the media event generates new knowledge that shapes the evaluative nature of the reader’s perception.