Communicative-Pragmatic Functions of Hyponymy in English And Uzbek Media Texts

Abstract

This article examines the communicative-pragmatic functions of hyponymy in English and Uzbek media texts. Hyponymy is usually studied as a paradigmatic relation within the lexical system; this study treats it as a discourse resource that journalists deploy to achieve specific communicative aims. The research material consists of news reports, analytical articles and headlines from English-language (BBC News, The Guardian,) and Uzbek-language (Kun.uz, Xalq so‘zi) online media. Contextual, component, comparative and discourse-pragmatic analyses were applied. The results identify six recurrent functions of hyponymic units in media discourse: cohesive-referential, specifying-informative, generalizing-economizing, evaluative-framing, mitigating (euphemistic) and persuasive-intensifying. Both languages share these functions, yet they realize them differently. English media favour anaphoric hyperonymic substitution of proper names ("the carmaker", "the 45-year-old") as a means of stylistic variation, whereas Uzbek media rely on demonstrative-plus-hyperonym constructions ("mazkur tashkilot", "ushbu loyiha"), paired words with a collective-hyperonymic meaning ("meva-sabzavot") and abstract hyperonyms typical of the official style ("chora-tadbirlar", "soha"). The findings contribute to comparative lexical semantics, media linguistics and translation practice.