English Military Terms Deconstruction in Mass Media Text

The article examines the process of deconstruction of the English-language military terminological units when used in the mass media text, which appeared due to the rapid development of mass media. The material for the study comprises 550 fragments of the English-language mass media texts published in electronic mass media – newspapers, in particular, The Independent, as well as on information news websites, having direct or indirect relation to military subjects, characterized by the presence of terminological units subjected to deconstructive processes. The authors emphasize the fact that the periodicals that have been analyzed are more of popular scientific genre, rather than highly specialized, since they are aimed at the mass reader who does not fully understand military topics. It is argued that highly specialized military terminological units, unlike general scientific, suprasectoral ones, are deconstructed within the framework of a mass media text according to the frame model or the scenario model. In some cases, a complex version of semantic deconstruction has been used which combines some elements of both models. The authors come to the conclusion that the English-language military terminology in the mass media text and discourse can be presented by both suprasectoral military terms of general scientific nature and having a certain degree of determinologization owing to the mass media and highly specialized terms which require a certain explanation by the author of the text. Highly specialized English-language military terminology is a characteristic feature of printed and online journalistic publications aimed at a trained reader. Due to the orientation of a mass media text to a mass audience, a significant part of highly specialized English-language terminological units of the military sphere is deconstructed in semantic terms, i.e. their meaning is revealed directly in the text to facilitate its perception and understanding by explication or definition.