Kotova I. HERO and ANTIHERO Concepts in American Film Discourse: Cognitive and Pragmatic Aspects

The paper focuses on the HERO and ANTIHERO concepts verbalized in American film discourse and deals with their historical and narrative dynamics and communicative aspects. The study seeks to establish the structural and content-related properties of the concepts considering their historical variations. The study employs a methodological approach based on general scientific methods, as well as classical linguistic and integrated cognitive and discursive ones. The major methods include the components of cognitive onomasiological analysis, componential semantic analysis, lingual network modeling, pragmalinguistic and quantitative analyses. The scientific novelty of the research is evidenced by substantiation of the hybrid status of the HERO and ANTIHERO, description of their archetypal underpinnings, structural properties and historical and narrative variations, as well as development of the method for the evaluation of a conceptual feature salience and featuring the communicative potential of the concepts. The theoretical significance of the paper is determined by its contribution to historical cognitive linguistics, cognitive onomasiology, communication theory, and linguistic personology. The practical value of the study consists in the possibility of using its results in the theoretical courses of Lexicology ("Lexical Semantics"), Theoretical Grammar ("Pragmatics of a Sentence"), Linguistic and Cultural Studies ("Linguistic and Cultural Studies of the USA"), optional courses in Cognitive Linguistics, Discourse Studies, Linguistic Communication Theory, interdisciplinary studies of media- and film discourse, and in the research papers for different degrees.