Linguistic Parameters of the Statement of Fact in the Defamatory Contentious Text

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find a solution to the problems arising in determining the “statement of fact” from defamatory contentious materials. The study aimed to check whether a linguistic analysis, assigned to objectively resolve legal cases in such contexts, can operate within the legal principles’ framework to solve this problem. A linguistic analysis with morphological, lexical-semantic and pragmatic approaches was conducted of a sample comprising negative information about the plaintiffs in a specific “News” episode of the republican “KTK” TV channel which caused a resonance in the society of Kazakhstan as defamatory material. The morphological analysis analyzed the semantics and grammatical function of grammatical markers in conjunction with the content of the context as a linguistic sign of information about the defamatory statement. The lexical-semantic analysis identified the objective and subjective meanings contained in the content of lexical units, phraseological units, and metaphorical expressions used by the author-subject in the contentious text. The pragmatic analysis was used to determine the communicative purpose and authorial intention of the author of the defamatory contentious text. As a result of the study, the definition of a statement of fact was supplemented with new content, the ability of phraseological units to express fact and the possibility of confirmation or denial of the truthfulness of the disseminated negative factual information by its author in linguistic form were assessed. Conclusions drawn in this study would assist in the process of conducting a forensic linguistic examination of defamatory contentious texts. It is believed that these identified parameters for statement about the facts will positively contribute to the achievement of an objective conclusion by linguistic examination in the legal case on defamatory texts.