THE CONCEPT “WELFARE”IN BRITISH SOCIAL MEDIA DISCOURSE

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of the evaluative components of the concept “WELFARE” in British social media discourse. In the process of discursive realization of any concept, both stability and changes in its structural component are observed, since concepts are subject to alteration, modification and saturation in terms of content, enrichment and overgrowth with new meanings. Accordingly, in the process of saturation of this concept with new meanings due to the emergence of new associations, there is a gradual loss of its original meaning. All these factors associated with functioning of the concept to some extent depend on the consequences of socio-political and socio-cultural development.

The aim of the article is to determine the evaluative and cognitive features of the concept of "WELFARE" in the British social media discourse, as well as to reveal the linguistic means involved in the representation of this concept in the British linguoculture. The methodology of the study is based on linguo-conceptual analysis.

The results of the study indicate the dominance of the concept “WELFARE” in modern British social media discourse. The results of the concept-definition analysis confirm the stability in the content of the concept “WELFARE” throughout its historical development, while the concept- contextual analysis indicates the presence of a negative evaluative connotation in the content of the concept “WELFARE”, expressed using phraseological units, metaphors, idioms and other stylistic devices.

The scientific value and practical significance of the study are determined by the fact that the research results can make a certain contribution to further in-depth analysis of the evaluation theory. The research materials can serve as a methodological guide for developing special courses in the field of media discourse and conceptology.