Proper precedent names as a means of realizing irony in modern mass communication

The aim of this research is to determine the role of precedent proper names as an effective means of realizing irony in modern mass communication. The results show that in mass communication texts of the last thirty years, the ironic effect is achieved through the semantic transformation of the precedent name (reinterpretation of the referential attribute), accompanied by graphic transformation (replacement of a capital letter with a lowercase letter and the use of quotation marks). The process of reinterpretation occurs in several stages throughout the period under consideration, resulting in the development of polysemy in the precedent name and the formation of meanings that are opposite in their emotional and evaluative plane. Typical syntactic constructions and intensifiers of ironic meaning are identified: exclamations, rhetorical questions, and stable combinations of the precedent name with pronouns and particles. The scientific novelty of this research lies in identifying the ways irony is realized, localized in the precedent proper name, and establishing the accompanying semantic and graphic transformations of the precedent name, which has not previously been considered separately as ironic nomination in mass communication.