EUPHEMISMS IN MASS MEDIA DISCOURSE: THE USA ELECTIONS 2024

Given the global desire of the society to promote tolerance and equality in terms of age, gender, religion, nationality, and social status, nowadays the prevalence of euphemisms has noticeably increased. Euphemisms serve as a tool to soften a harsh, offensive or unpleasant expression in order to prevent any potential conflicts, offence or discomfort when dealing with sensitive and controversial topics regarding various aspects of social life. Moreover, the use of euphemistic language instead of harsh phrases with negative emotional connotations reflects a collective effort to understand complex social patterns while maintaining mutual respect and sensitivity. It can also be seen as an essential trait of human communication that demonstrates the cultural and historical changes in society. The phenomenon of euphemism is a remarkable feature in the English-language mass media discourse. For the past decades, as the Internet and television have significantly evolved, media is widely considered to play a vital role in influencing public opinion, regarding political sphere in particular. It is set to be a crucial factor in the country's political process and all its manifestations, such as coverage of global political events, influence on election campaigns and electorate as well as the final election outcome. The use of euphemisms, in turn, is believed to be one of the key mechanisms in such influencing process created by media. Euphemisms enable media imperceptibly impact the way the public responds to political processes, events, and how it perceives certain representatives of the political world. The article outlines the issues related to the term “euphemism”, its’ definition and the role of the considered linguistic unit in modern mass media discourse. Based on articles about 2024 Unted States elections, the study analyzes the strategies of formation of euphemistic units in the English-language mass-media discourse and how it influences reader’s perception of the text.