The Pragmatic Potential of Polycode Texts in French Media Discourse

This article examines, from theoretical and linguo-semiotic perspectives, the pragmatic potential of polycode texts used in French media discourse. In contemporary media communication, information is increasingly shaped not only by verbal linguistic means but also through the mutual integration of photography, graphic imagery, typography, color, composition, infographics, and other semiotic resources, which creates the need for a communicative-pragmatic study of polycode texts. The main purpose of the study is to define, from a theoretical standpoint, the concept of the pragmatic potential of a polycode text, to identify the mechanisms of its formation, and to characterize the addressee-oriented communicative effect of verbal and visual codes in French media discourse.