Rzeczywistość od rzeczy. Serial paradokumentalny w świetle genologii lingwistycznej
Irreal reality. A quasi-documentary series in the light of linguistic genology

Author(s): Alicja Bronder
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Fine Arts / Performing Arts, Film / Cinema / Cinematography
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: quasi-documentary series; docu soap; linguistic genology; Discourse of television; TV
Summary/Abstract: The present monograph entitled Irreal reality. A quasi-documentary series in the light of linguistic genology offers a holistic analysis of the title television text, which has lately gained more and more popularity in media discourse. The work constitutes the first in Polish scholarship comprehensive discussion of a quasi-documentary series treated as a genre, taking into account its features at each discourse level: structural, cognitive, stylistic, and pragmatic. In the conducted analyses, the polysemiotic context, vital for the observation of multimedia texts, as well as the relation between the codes belonging to different semiospheres have been taken into consideration. The perspective outlined in this way has allowed for the use of linguistic tools (textological and genological) in the observations of complex messages, not just verbal ones, which frequently escape monodisciplinary research attempts. The study is divided into two parts, theoretical and empirical. The former presents research tools that are applicable to audiovisual text analyses, and therefore to a quasi-documentary series: the theory of text, including the problem of the polysemiotics of text, linguistic and film/media genology, television discourse, an intriguing phenomenon of television voyeurism, as well as the issues concerning language in TV. Furthermore, on the basis of available publications related to, inter alia, the field of cultural and media studies, the problems with defining quasi-documentary series itself have been surveyed, and data subjected to investigation within the conducted research have been presented.The second part of the monograph is constituted by practical chapters, containing the results of the analyses of the genre of a quasidocumentary series. Four of the chapters subsequently demonstrate genre aspects: structural, cognitive, stylistic, and pragmatic, and also in detail discuss each feature and indicate functions performed by them in the standard genre. The considerations have been additionally illustrated with extensive research data, which has allowed for the portrayal of the problems analysed and their more complete presentation. The empirical part concludes with an extensive chapter summarizing the analyses, gathering the most important conclusions drawn from the studies performed. The whole work is wrapped up with the final concluding chapter.The present monograph is aimed both at linguists focusing on genologic problems, as well as at media experts, sociologists, and culture experts, and also at persons interested in pop culture and its influence on receivers. The author expresses the hope that the presented research results will become an inspiration for more careful observations of mass culture texts, which, despite appearing to be irreal sometimes, nevertheless constitute a substantial means of observing the mentality and condition of a speech community, which is formed by each of us.

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