Communicative strategy of attracting and retaining attention in media discourse on the material of popular science series

The article examines the strategy "attracting and retaining attention" of media discourse in the genre of popular science series. The aim is to describe the features of representation of the communicative strategy "attracting and retaining attention" in scientific and popular TV series. The material of the study is based on the texts of the BBC TV series in the volume of 73 pages of printed text, or 734 minutes. The rhetorical strategy "attracting and retaining attention" in media discourse is a key supporting strategy to facilitate the efficient organization of dialog interaction. It is implemented using the following tactics: rhetorical questions, question-answer, exclamation. The paper describes the tactics "rhetorical questions", "question-answer", "exclamation" in detail. Features of the language implementation of these tactics due to discursive tasks were identified in the analysis of the textual material. The tactics of rhetorical questions allows drawing the audience's attention to an issue, a problem. The aim at the beginning of a text is to attract the attention of the recipient, to interest them. A series of rhetorical questions sets the reflection vector the addresser needs; the problem is raised through a number of questions. The attention focuses using interrogative words "how", "why", "which". The tactics of rhetorical questions attracts attention in stages: 1) formulation of the problem in the addresser's question; 2) discussion of the problem together with the addressee. This model meets the needs of the genre of popular science series and forms viewers' ideas achieved in the course of joint discussions of the broadcaster and the viewer. The question-answer strategy is implemented in media discourse in a dialogue between a presenter and an expert in the field that is being discussed. This tactic is widely used in series, because it corresponds to the tasks of media discourse, implying a comfortable perception of information by the addressee like in live communication. It simulates the dialog interaction between a non-expert in question and an ordinary person in response. Another tactic specific to media discourse and actively used in the genre of popular science series is exclamation. It allows drawing attention to an important fact, to emphasize that what the viewer is watching right now is really worth their attention, is something unusual, something to focus on. Thus, the linguistic features of representing these tactics in the strategy "attracting and retaining attention" are described in the article.

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