| dc.description.abstract | The aim of the paper is to show the relationship between the press communicative situation and the image of the one-hunderd-years-old.
First the author presents the tendencies of depicting senescence and senility in Polish: cacophemisation, positive or negative euphemisation and hon- orification, and thererafter shows to which extent they are manifested in speech acts made in both unofficial and official situations.
In the next part of the paper it is claimed that the ‘factographic pact’, mandatory in media-communication, impels broadcasters to follow two main macrointentions: l.T want my message to be interesting and attractive to you (the recipient)’ and 2. T want my message to be in accordance with the cultural norms of our common world’. In consequence two stereotypes are distinguished: 1. the image of the one-hundred-years-olds in the media, and 2. the stereotype of talking about the one-hundred-years-olds in the media.In the analytical part of the paper it is proved that positive euphemisation and honorification are only present in the media discourse referring to the elderly aged one hundred years or more. Both tendencies are expressed mainly: by the lexis signifying the one-hundred-years-olds or their age, and by the features (relative or non-relative) attributed to them. In culture the relative features are usually attributed to the young, but if in reference to the elderly they function as the means of axiologisation. The author describes the following: optimism, vivacity and hobbies or dreams. The non- relative features are culturally accredited to the elderly, so their axiological power is in close relationship with the recipient’s idealized image of a very old person. Most often journalists underline that the one-hundred-years-old is a witness to important events in national history, and therefore he/she deserves special respect from the younger.
The author concludes that: 1. situational circumstances play a crucial role in modeling of the image of the one-hundred-years-old, which is evident in preference for honorification and positive euphemisation, 2. the portrait of the elderly is individualized on the level of biographical, psychological or familial facts but invariant in respect to the evaluation which must be in accordance with the assumed stereotype, 3. the press portraits of the one- hundred-years-olds are then culturally phatic and textually differentiated. | en_US |
