Pragmatic Functions of Evaluative Stylistic Devices in Media Discourse

In media communication stylistic devices function not only as expressive or descriptive elements of discourse but also as mechanisms of implicit evaluation and ideological framing. Therefore, this study aims to identify the pragmatic functions of stylistic devices in the verbalization of evaluative meaning in Kazakh- and English-language media discourse. It demonstrates how different stylistic devices shape interpretive frameworks and influence the recipient’s perception. The research is based on functional-pragmatic and cognitive-discursive approaches. Its scientific and practical significance lies in expanding the theoretical understanding of evaluative language and identifying the role of stylistic mechanisms in constructing social reality through mass media. The empirical data consist of a comparative corpus of 340 evaluative fragments taken from 100 articles published between 2020 and 2026 on Kazakh and English-language online news platforms. The methodology combines comparative qualitative discourse analysis, contextual-interpretive analysis and discursive frame analysis. The results show that metaphor structures the interpretation of socio-political processes through conceptual transfer and framing, irony creates implicit critical evaluation through the discrepancy between expected meaning and contextual reality and metonymy shifts agency from individual actors to institutional or abstract entities. Epithets establish presuppositional evaluation, whereas hyperbole and simile intensify the perceived significance and emotional salience of represented events. Comparative analysis shows that English-language texts contain relatively more cases of irony, while Kazakh-language texts contain relatively more epithets and hyperboles. Qualitative analysis also reveals recurrent vertical metaphors in the Kazakh-language data. These patterns are interpreted as tendencies within the selected corpus. The study contributes to the development of media linguistics and critical discourse analysis by offering an analytical model that relates the formal realization of stylistic devices to the mechanisms of evaluative construction and their pragmatic functions. The findings can be applied to research on media communication, discourse analysis and ideological framing in contemporary media texts.

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