In this article it is interesting to explore the features of Edwardian era TV-format discourse in the "Downton Abbey" TV-series, respectively three-component structur

Kutsenko, A. A.

DSpace at Belgorod State University

Three-Component Structure of TV-Format Discourse  (In terms of ‘Downton Abbey’ TV-series) Kutsenko A.A.  Such phenomenon as discourse is investigated by various scientists over the past 70 years.  For example, N.F. Alefirenko, a famous Russian linguist in his research determines discourse as “language in a special form of existence, a way of expressing the people’s mentality. This approach focuses on a broader vision of discursive language existence than its identification with the “living speech” [Alefirenko, p. 8].  V.V. Krasnykh, also a one of Russian linguists, developed a definition of discourse in that the dual nature of this phenomenon is traced, as well as the presence of a extralinguistic factors: “discourse is a verbalized verbal and cogitative activity, that is understood as a set of process and outcome, that has a proper linguistic and extralinguistic plans” [Krasnykh, p. 113]. In addition, the discourse is closely related to the society and culture: “discourse is the way in which language is used socially to convey broad historical meanings. It is language identified by the social conditions of its use, by who is using it and under what conditions. Language can never be 'neutral' because it bridges our personal and social worlds.” [Henry and Tator, 2002]. One of the discourse type is a TV-format discourse. TV-format is a “research construct, which is set of information verbalized in the film, which forms an integral cognitive TV-resource that may be voiced or subtitles” [Kutsenko, p. 235]. TV-format discourse has three-component structure that includes communicative impulses, communicants and extralinguistic information: audio and video support. In this article it is interesting to explore the features of Edwardian era TV-format discourse in the ‘Downton Abbey’ TV-series, respectively three-component structure discussed above. The first component in the TV-format discourse structure is communicative impulses, the totality of that is an information part: monologue, dialogue or polylogue. The next component in the structure is represented by the communicants that are participants of the communicative act, they are linguistic identities, the TV-series characters. The last component is an extralinguistic background that includes situation, time, and other, i.e., all the elements that make up reality in the series. Let us illustrate the above in the following example: Example. Actions in one of the episodes of these TV-series take place in April 1912, the night before the famous ‘Titanic’ hit an iceberg and sank, the next day all the township is discussing the incident. Daisy: Does anyone else keep dreaming about the Titanic? I can not get it out of my mind. Gwen, the housemaid: Not again. Give it a rest. Anna, the housemaid: Daisy, it's time to let it go. Daisy: But all the people, freezing to death in the midnight, icy water.  Ms. O'Brien: Oh, you sound like a penny dreadful.  Gwen, the housemaid: I expect you saw worse things in South Africa, eh, Mr. Bates? Mr. Bates, Lord Grantham's valet: Not worse, but ... pretty bad. [Downton Abbey (2010) - S01E01 - English subtitles, http]. As we revealed the first component in this TV-format discourse structure is the information part that is represented by polylogue, the communicants are: Anna and Gwen, the housemaids, Mr. Bates, Lord Grantham’s valet, Miss O’Brian, Her Ladyship’s personal maid and Daisy, the kitchen maid. Extra-linguistic background is represented by the room interior: a table, a wardrobe, plastered walls, servants bell board, few chairs and a cupboard, but also by a form of workers: a dark three-piece suit for the valet, black strict dresses with white aprons and bonnets for house maids, and a simple pink dress for kitchen maid. All these extra-linguistic factors reconstruct an image of Edwardian household. Thus, as a result of the study we found that the ‘Downton Abbey’ TV-format discourse has a three-component structure. The first component is the information part, the second one is communicants, and the third component is extralinguistic background. References 1. Alefirenko N.F. Discourse as Meaning Production Category (Discourse and Secondary Sign Production). Language. Text. Discourse. Stavropol, 2005. 2. Downton Abbey (2010) – S01E01 – English subtitles. URL: http://www.podnapisi.net/downton-abbey-2010-subtitles-p908948. 3. Henry F., Tator C., Discourses of Domination. University of Toronto Press, 2002. 4. Krasnykh V.V. ‘Proxy Allies’. Myth or Reality? Moscow: Gnosis, 2003. 5. Kutsenko A.A. Ethnic Cognitive Aspect in Edwardian Medical Discourse (In Terms of ‘Casualty 1900s’ British TV-Series). European Social Science Journal. Vol. 12 (51), 2015. 

Three-component structure of TV-format discourse (in terms of "Downton Abbey" TV-series)

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Three-component structure of TV-format discourse (in terms of "Downton Abbey" TV-series)

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