Metaphoric schemata of threats conceptualization and their verbalization in Russian mass media discourse (as represented in sports news discourse)

The article aims to elaborate upon complex cognitive mechanisms that underlie perception of sociocultural threats in the field of sports by Russian speaking community. Identification of potential threats in sports in general and, in particular, in the Olympic movement, which has been designed to translate into society the ideals of unity, peace and harmony, is particularly relevant at the present time, when the rapidly spreading techno-centric civilization, accompanied by expanding cult of comfort, leads to the gradual degradation of man as a holistic personality. Drawing on news discourse we argue that among major threats that are presented as such by contemporary Russian mass media key role belongs to that of excessive politicizing of high-performance sports. The latter is conceived in terms conceptual metaphor - analogous frame-toframe transfer with the roles of the source frame mapping onto corresponding roles of the target frame. In the course of metaphoric projection the target frame is related to a number of hierarchically structured concepts, each of which serves either to foregrou