REFLECTION OF REALITY IN TEXT

Journalistic text and its functions

Text Dialectics and World Reflection Dialectics

Creating a text is a creative process.

A journalistic text with specific qualitative features is, together with that, a text in the universal, classical meaning of this concept. Moreover, it is this type of text that is endowed with broad, one might say, unique capabilities - it is presented in an exceptionally multidimensional, in the most varied versions, recreated with consideration of meaningful and logically justified expediency.

Before turning to the study of this bright phenomenon, it is necessary, however, to make some terminological clarifications in the understanding of the text in general.

Interest in him in the XX century. found a truly explosive character. The text is considered not only as a verbal composition or its fragment, and even not only as a sequential arrangement of signs forming a single semantically completed work. Now it is understood as a cosmological phenomenon, it correlates, and sometimes it is completely identified with the whole world: “the world is a text”, and “we live inside a grandiose text”. It is read in the truest sense of the word, since, for example, even the "cuneiformism of cranes" is full of deep meaning. Indeed, what surrounds us is open to cognition, any detail is endowed with an appropriate meaning and, connecting with other details, forms a peculiar "narration", which is inherent in the original wisdom, logic and harmony. Since the world around us is cognized, “readable”, it is possible to talk about that “the whole world is a sign system - an infinitely deep text in its meaning” [1].

One of the first to comprehend and systematically present the dialectically complex nature of the text is the Russian philosopher, cultural scientist and literary critic M.M. Bakhtin (1895-1975). He did not reduce the subject of study only to the sum of the signs or to the way the material was interpreted. Bakhtin text is defined as the flesh of communication [2].

Such a view is generally consistent with the concept of an outstanding literary critic Yu.M. Lotman (1922–1993), who speaks about the typology of texts and treats each specific object as text, highlighting, for example, iconic texts of painting and sculpture [3]. It is especially important for us that among the text samples “open for building up”, that is, consistently absorbing all new sign complexes, the newspaper is also called “the newspaper novel, the newspaper itself as a holistic text” [4]. We emphasize that here we are talking about a single text of the print edition, its common sign space, in which written, iconic and other materials are integrated. Such an approach seems extremely promising, because, on the one hand, it expands the possibilities of dialectic research of a publication as divided into relatively independent text systems, and on the other hand, it makes it possible to identify patterns of their unification into a common work, to establish the quality level of their compatibility.

Thus, as we see, the text is both a physical, quite concrete world (from the local landscape to a space “book”), and a means of communication, and not always expressed in a substantive, real form.

The text can be embodied, for example, in publications of the press, and maybe in an oral message - we refer to the unwritten nature of folklore texts, this kind of “unwritten form of being” [5]. Textual material is also realized in such paralinguistic, non-verbal means of communication, such as gesture, distance between participants of the communicative act, voice modulations, etc. These characteristics are of paramount importance in the programs of television and radio, respectively. Almost all properties of the text can be expressed in journalistic materials. The reason is that these materials are built on a semiotic basis - that is, they are made up of a multitude of iconic complexes. And any homogeneous (homogeneous in structure) text is a system of specially selected homogeneous signs. Select the characteristics of the text as a kind of phenomenon. According to A.M. Korshunov and V.V. Mantatov, the main feature of signs, is signality , since the text is always fixed and presented in specific signs. They can be written - they are means of natural language, genetically inseparable from the appearance and existence of man. It is this language that reproduces the content of philosophical, artistic, concrete-scientific literature and, we add, journal and newspaper periodicals. With the help of signs, the texts of the metalanguage, which serves to formalize the study and description of a natural language, are also recreated. And, of course, in the process of text formation, iconic signs are used - to create iconic (pictorial) texts, which, in particular, clearly dominate in the magazine illustrated print.

Another property of the text is its delimitation , that is, the opposition of the group of characters that make up the text to third-party, not included in its composition, in other words, foreign characters. The principle of "inclusion-non-inclusion". Any text, and above all a homogeneous one, incorporates only suitable sign material, which in principle corresponds to its nature. Another material is strongly rejected. The question arises: how can we explain those cases when an element of a different sign system suddenly turns out to be within an iconic sign complex? For example, a verbal (verbal) material, expressed in the appropriate font graphics, is placed in an illustration space. The iconic system is based on the external similarity of the sign and the object of reflection, and written signs are just symbols that have no external similarity with their meaning: sound, object, idea, etc.

Are alien elements always rejected? Of course, not always. The fact is that a deep modification of a sign formation is possible when the nature of its conceptual content changes, that is, a signification. Written signs cease, for example, to carry out their original communicative function, and their external, formal aesthetic signs take on paramount importance. So, in the famous pictorial work of I. Bosch “Removing the Stones of Stupidity” a considerable amount of font graphic material is presented: written materials are combined with graphic means, and the inscription reproduced with a stylized texture (sharp broken Gothic font) is extremely difficult to read. Translated from the Dutch, it sounds like this: "The master cuts stones - my name is Lubbert." However, a modern person in general is unlikely to suffer from deciphering an old written text. The inscription has penetrated so deeply into the fabric of the painting composition that it is no longer perceived as a separate semantic element. The canvas is a single iconic text, and its unity is determined by the consonance of the stylistics of the font and the entire pictorial work: the exquisitely-strict symbolism of the late Middle Ages was reflected in the images of people and in the font of the inscription.

With the development of printing, the technique of recreating iconic text with intensive inclusions of letter elements has been used very actively. The main condition that the iconography does not reject the letter does not change: the stylistic overtones must coincide, and in the font graphics the aesthetics of the external form takes on the most important meaning. There are countless examples, but let us give one - a famous photograph by A.M. Rodchenko "Radio Listener" (1929). This is the name of the magazine, which in the hands of a child occupies a central position in the whole composition. Largely presented on the cover of the magazine the letters characteristic of that era of handwriting are combined with their calm roundness with the forms of a cup, saucer, and dynamics. There is a feeling of unity and harmony, the iconic text organically incorporates into its field elements of the text written. The principle of connectedness and integrity of a single textual space in this case is not violated in the least.

To become a solid work, not to crumble into separate foreign ingredients, the text allows the appropriate structure - the internal organization. This is typical of any textual model, including, of course, those that exist within the print edition. Moreover, in this case, an especially strict organization of the material is required, since all journalistic works must be distinguished by the clarity of the composition, clarity and concreteness of the semantics.

The thematic unity inherent in it is inseparably connected with these manifestations of the qualitative nature of the text. It is based on the author's intention, the conceptual position of the one who, creating a work, selects the material necessary for the text-building - the relevant purpose of the characters or larger complexes. If you imagine figuratively, these are the simplest building materials necessary for the construction of a building or complex, pre-assembled modular structures. As with the construction of the house, the press eliminates the random accumulation of elements, requires a balanced choice of means, focused on ensuring the integrity and inseparability of the material.

Qualitative features of the text are always inherent in journalistic works. In the practice of the media, the laws of text formation are strictly enforced. The general scientific judgment of Korshunov and Mantatov extends to journalism, clarifying especially important, key points of the problem: “The concept under consideration applies not only to natural languages. Any sign structure expressing a certain integral meaning, realizing a certain cultural function, can be considered as a text. This makes it possible to transfer exact methods of linguistics to the whole set of cultural sciences. The concept of “text” in this case is much broader and deeper than its dictionary definition ”[6].