| Abstract [eng] |
Subject-matter of the study - opinion leaders’ comments published in online news portals. It is therein that mostly used linguistic characteristics are registered as the ones used by opinion leaders for the construction of convincing statements. The purpose of the present study is to identify the dominating linguistic features in opinion leaders’ comments employed to achieve rhetoric success. The present thesis discusses the functions and linguistic features of opinion leaders using the following most popular opinion leaders in Lithuania (2013) as examples: Nerijus Mačiulis, Gitanas Nausėda, Violeta Klyvienė and Odeta Bložienė. For the purpose of analysis, a hundred of comments by each opinion leader have been collected, including 50 comments written by opinion leaders and 50 comments written by journalists containing opinion leaders’ comments together with the general context (paraphrasing, headlines, etc.). The total number of articles studied is 400 which were published in online news portals Alfa.lt, Delfi.lt, Lrytas.lt, Veidas.lt, Vz.lt and 15min.lt in 2010–2015. To achieve the aim of the thesis, statistical calculations have been conducted to determine linguistic aspects of the comment genre which are most typical in opinion leaders’ comments (most frequently used). Examination of reasoning models, modality forms, headlines and stylistic (rhetoric) means is carried out using their classification and rhetoric qualitative analysis. Metaphors have been identified employing the Metaphor Identification Procedure Method (Pragglejaz Group, 2007). |
