genre-forming features

The article is devoted to the characteristics of the genre of public apology in the semantic and pragmatic aspect in the Russian mass media space. The choice of the subject is due to the growing popularity and increasing frequency of apologies made through media and social networks. This trend can be explained by changes in the socio-cultural landscape and the transformation of societal value orientations.

Modern linguists are trying to solve the problem of determining the boundaries of the genre, its variability or transition to another genre. But until now this issue remains controversial. The article is devoted to the problem of the functioning of the speech genre in various spheres of communication.

The article deals with the controversial problem of  variability in the speech genre. Briefly, different approaches to understanding the variant in linguistic literature are highlighted. On the example of comparison of well-studied appeal genres in political discourse and slogan in the advertising discourse, they are offered an understanding of them as variants of one genre. The authors’ point of view is justified by the coincidence of the communicative goal (illocutionary function) and a minor modification of other genre-forming features.