@ARTICLE{Левко_Олександр_Precedent_2021, author={Левко, Олександр}, volume={vol. LXX}, number={No 3}, pages={661-681}, journal={Slavia Orientalis}, howpublished={online}, year={2021}, publisher={Komitet Słowianoznawstwa PAN}, abstract={The article presents a pragmatic analysis of precedent units in Ukrainian religious media discourse based on the publications from websites “RISU”, “Religion in Ukraine”, “The Catholic Observer” for the period 2014 to 2016. The sample comprises analytical articles and interviews focused on inter‑confessional relations, Catholic-‑Orthodox dialogue and interfaith dialogue in general. It has been found that precedent units, as verbal equivalents of precedent phenomena, play a crucial role in exerting a persuasive influence upon one’s audience, particularly in terms of verbal aggression within the communicative discrediting strategy. This type of verbal aggression is implemented via the verbal tactics of taunting, mocking, accusation, indirect insult, criticism, defamation through negatively‑marked comparison, and irony. Based on our data, references to precedent phenomena correlate with an author’s intentions of swaying the readers’ opinion on controversial issues in interfaith relations along with undermining the authority of representatives of other confessions by associating their deeds and words with negatively marked precedent names, phrases, texts and situations. It is argued that precedent units subjected to structural transformations in the text (such as truncation and extension) represent a particularly potent way of discrediting one’s opponent in the context of religious media discourse.}, type={Artykuły / Articles}, title={Precedent Units in Ukrainian Religious Media in the Light of Communicative Discrediting Strategy}, URL={http://www.czasopisma.pan.pl/Content/121266/PDF/2021-03-SOR-12-Lewko.pdf}, doi={10.24425/slo.2021.138199}, keywords={precedent unit, discrediting strategy, verbal tactics, religious media discourse, inter‑confessional relations}, }