The dynamics of conflictogeme perception in intercultural communication: examples from English-language, Russian-language, and Kazakh-language media

Abstract

This article examines the linguistic and cultural encoding of conflictogemes in media discourse based on materials from three linguistic spheres: English-speaking, Russian-speaking and Kazakh-speaking media. The relevance of the study is due to the intensification of conflictogemes in both global and local information space, which contributes to the growing polarization of public consciousness. The primary focus is on the characterization of conflictogems — lexical units capable of provoking conflict and possessing semantic and pragmatic potential to shape public perception of socially significant events. The study substantiates the need for a comparative analysis of media texts in a multilingual and culturally diverse environment. The methodology of research combines critical discourse analysis, component analysis, pragmatic linguistics, and contrastive methods. The empirical database consists of a corpus of 300 media texts (100 in each language) selected according to thematic and regional criteria and published between 2020 and 2024. As a result of the analysis, five key semantic domains of conflictogems were identified: threat, enemy, chaos, security, and provocation. Their dominant stylistic markers (metaphor, hyperbole, euphemism, binary oppositions) and communicative functions (polarization, demonization, mobilization, fear activation, consolidation) were also identified. The results of the study show that each media culture uses different rhetorical strategies: Englishlanguage media emphasize universal values and mobilizing frames; Russian-language sources highlight internal opposition and ideological antagonism; and Kazakh-language discourse focuses on rhetorical stabilization and normative order. Conflictogems function not only as indicators of the political context but also as tools of cultural encoding, reflecting sociocultural values and editorial policy. The study concludes that cross-linguistic analysis of conflict rhetoric makes it possible to identify the underlying cognitive and pragmatic mechanisms of audience influence. The results obtained have practical significance for media linguistics, sociolinguistics, political discourse analysis, and intercultural communication.