Semantic space of the notion “culture” in contemporary Anglo-American public discourse

Abstract

The aim of the study represented in this article is to single out and describe the most important socio-cultural meanings, reflecting dynamics of the notion “culture” in contemporary Anglo-American public discourse as reflected in the language. Noticeable transformations in socio-political sphere in Great Britain and the US in the first quarter of the 21st century have had a great impact on general architecture of the semantic space of the notion “culture”. In recent years the number of collocations with the word “culture” continues to increase. Unrestricted ability of the word “culture” to produce new collocations indicates its high degree of lexical valence. The article focuses on the analysis of four collocations, denoting socially significant phenomena in Anglo-American society of the 21st-century — woke culture, gun culture, cancel culture, Zoom culture. The main criterion for the choice of these particular collocations was their intensive discussion in Anglo-American public discourse, including mass media. The complex analysis of the chosen collocations leads to the conclusion that the semantic space of the notion “culture” in the 21st century Anglo-American public discourse demonstrates a noticeable expansion, which reflects dramatic changes in socio-cultural and information-technological spheres.

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