Articles

The article discusses linguistic and cultural values at the time of “cancel culture” within PR communications framework. The relevance of the research is determined by the need to trace the logical development of Political Correctness, the socio-cultural policy of Postmodernism, aimed at the transformation of the language and likewise the mode of thinking and lifestyle. Cancel culture is a policy of intimidation of all those who disagree with the abolition of traditional and the introduction of new universal values of the collective West, aimed at people’s dehumanization. The objective of this work is to identify the features of PR communication technologies aimed at shaping new ideas in society. The novelty of the research is determined by an attempt to characterize new values formation features of the Anglo-Saxon mentality that affect the whole world. The research methodology is based on the academic achievements in studying language, culture and spiritual and moral values, analysed from the philosophical and linguistic views. The research methods consist in the analysis and synthesis of the material on the chosen topic and its philological analysis. The study reveals that the social and cultural processes taking place in the Western world are aimed at completely replacing traditional values rooted in world religions, which may pose a threat to the rest of the world. The search for new values that are currently observed in modern society is directly related to the shift of paradigms.

This article tries to reveal a connection between fi ne art (painted images) and modernist theatre (A. Artaud, S. Beckett). Apart from the fact that critical essays of these authors are filled with various references to the artists and their paintings, diff erent forms of visual art become an integral part of dramatic performances and lead us to raising the question of their relation to the verbal form of expression. One of the ways to create images during the play is ekphrasis, the poetic description or visualisation of something that is not presented on stage, which blurs the lines between verbal and aesthetic and sets up the conditions for the most authentic and genuine expression of the author’s worldview. For both Artaud and Beckett a word alone is insignificant and shallow, it cannot speak the truth, but has the ability to create a vision, a number of images, which now constitute the core of modernist theatre.

The article focuses on the peculiarities of Bosnian cuisine of the early XIX century and its comparison with the dietary habits of the French of the same period. The aim of the work is to give a visual representation to the reader of the historical novel “The Travnik Chronicle” by Ivo Andrich about the problems faced by the family of a French diplomat sent to Bosnia, where the French consulate was first opened in 1806. In the absence of special literature devoted to this period, the researcher is experiencing some difficulties in reconstructing the state of Bosnian cooking at the beginning of the XIX century. The existing works are devoted to Ottoman, Turkish, modern Bosnian cuisine, as well as the history of certain foodstuffs. In this regard, the notes of travelers who visited the territories of Yugoslavia during the Ottoman period are valuable. The totality of information from various sources still makes it possible to understand to what extent the cuisines of France and Bosnia diff ered during the stay of Consul Jean Daville in the capital of the Bosnia Pashaluk Travnik. The study shows that the diff erences in most parameters were cardinal. First of all, food products differed. Thus, mutton predominated among meat products in Bosnia, while beef and pork were the basis of the meat menu in France. Dairy products, types of fats, spices were different. Of the alcohol on the French table, wine was usual, in Muslim Bosnia — plum vodka. In most cases, the methods of cooking and serving food differed. Therefore, to all the hardships of staying and the difficulties of fulfilling a diplomatic mission in the remote province of the Ottoman Empire of Parisian Jean Daville, the lack of habitual food is added. His compatriots travelling through the possessions of the Turkish sultan experienced the same problems.

The article considers the concept of culture as a universal that constantly generates theoretical and methodological problems and that is why it requires a special approach. The author of the article offers a comprehensive meta-disciplinary approach based on system principles and an original idea. Culture functions according to the algorithmic model of “cultural meaning — action — object/artifact of culture” in the mode of continuous process of objectification/deobjectifi cation of cultural meaning/artifact of culture. Cultural artifacts are cognitive artifacts; cognition provides interaction between consciousness and the outside world. From a cognitive point of view, culture is not an external set of alienated objects and not an “intrapsychic” systematization of them, but a dynamic “supersystem” cognitivepragmatic whole. The connecting link working with the cognitive-mental code is a thinking subject who possesses not only the “memory of culture”, but also a system of cognitive, creative competencies, capable of both systematizing cultural codes (synthesis operation) and segmenting the cultural space (operation of complex analysis of a separate cultural code/system of cultural codes). In the context of the author’s theory of cognitive-pragmatic programs (CPP), culture appears as a hierarchically organized, dynamic, polysemiotic, polydiscursive system of inextricably interconnected CPP of different types (a) metanarrative; b) derivatives; c) nationalspecific, which provide an inextricable connection of the system of universal concepts “language — culture — personality”. The core of culture is a system of nationalspecific CPP that synthesize the properties of metanarrative and derivative programs and act as the mental basis of the key ideological platforms of the culture of a person/ nation/people.

The article discusses the importance of the written fixation of the language of the Friulian ethnic minority, officially recognized by the Italian Republic as one of the twelve minority languages of the state. In the light of the policy of state language regulation, the authorities of the Friuli region (the northeastern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia) have taken a number of measures to enhance the prestige of the Friulian language: these are television and radio broadcasting in Friuli, the introduction of native language lessons in primary and secondary schools, and the popularization of Friulian language in the region. However, most of the measures focused on fixing the language in graphic symbols: the creation of explanatory and bilingual dictionaries and a spelling corrector, the translation of precedent texts, the translation of toponyms and road signs from Italian into Friulian, the introduction of offi ce work in local authorities in Friulian. Accordingly, this article is devoted to the identification of these channels of written fixation, as well as the analysis of the linguo-pragmatic effectiveness of the measures taken. The study reveals that the introduction of office work in the Friulian language in local governments seems to be ineffective in the fi eld of language practice, but is justified from a cultural, historical, political and ideological point of view because it confirms the prestigious status of the official language. An unexpectedly strong vector for the actualization of linguistic identity was the introduction of written fixation of the Friulian language in the form of translation of sacred texts, toponyms, signs, commemorative inscriptions into the Friulian language, as well as the creation and publication of a huge number of bilingual dictionaries. This trend is already determined from the point of view of ethnolinguistic intention: it is necessary to remove the minority (Friulian) language from the traditional sphere of functioning of Italian dialects — oral speech

The purpose of the article is to consider the similarities and diff erences between concepts of language attitudes and language ideologies, the proximity of which implies their synonymy and even identity. Particular attention is paid to how these concepts are interpreted and used in Russian and Western scientific discourse. The research revealed that language attitudes and language ideologies differ in a number of parameters: the degree of normativity and awareness (rationalization), the nature of acquisition, group vs. individual representations, and abstract vs. object-specific character. The paper shows the bidirectional causal infl uence between language attitudes and language ideologies, although it is more evident how ideologies, as a more comprehensive and abstract construct, can influence attitudes and language practices. Language ideologies also differ from language attitudes in that the latter do not necessarily translate into speech behavior and can remain at the level of attitude to language without any actions, while language ideologies are detected through language practices. It is emphasized that the term ideology has both a broad and a narrower meaning; in the first case, ideology is understood as an all-encompassing construct without political connotations, inherent in any social group, in the second case, its source is seen in ruling groups imposing it on subordinate groups

The role of slang in modern English is highly controversial since the purpose of its use is rarely a simple exchange of information. Slang serves more as an identification of a social group; its functioning is a linguistic reflection of the modernity, which comes down to the changing of a certain discourse towards informal speech. The article is devoted to the study of slang in the Colloquial Singapore English. SMS of 2004 and 2012 from the NUS SMS corpus were used as the material for the study. The NUS SMS is the corpus developed by the linguists from the National University of Singapore. The purpose of this article is to observe the use of slang and its role in SMS. This study presents a corpus-driven approach where the statistical data analysis was used. As a result, it was found that the words which are commonly referred to slang originated from the Chinese and performing pragmatic functions of addressing and expressing the authors’ emotional state are widely used in SMS of 2004 and 2012 from the NUS SMS corpus.

The article deals with the typical means of personal deixis encoded in the texts of popular legal discourse, as well as the techniques that a scientist as a popularizer uses to construct his image. Popular legal discourse is viewed as a kind of popular science discourse with a number of distinctive features inherent in scientific communication. The authorial position in the text under analysis is impersonal, which is typical of scientific discourse, but the popularizer demonstrates greater freedom and variability of expression due to the less rigid stylistic framework of the popular science discourse. The combination of certain strategies of scientific and media discourses employed by the author, enables him to manifest high competence and professionalism in his field and at the same time establish some personal contact and convey the necessary legal knowledge to the audience of nonspecialists. Personal narrative, including subjective assessment of the events described, allusions to precedent court cases and known criminals, as well as the use of various stylistic devices, are powerful and efficient means to achieve various purposes and goals, namely, encouraging interest in legal knowledge in the future. The concepts verbalized by the author of a law-related popular science article are relevant for legal discourse.

The article provides the results of a study of German football fans’ communication where reference to the Third Reich can be detected. The represention of this issue is preceded by a general description of the problem with a reference to respected Russian and foreign scientists. A conclusion is made that allusions to the Third Reich are still strong in the national cognitive base and are inevitably projected onto the German linguistic consciousness and futher on to discourses, including sports discourse. New lexical markers are identifi ed to represent the conceptual sphere ‘The Third Reich’, especially its area in which German football fans (mostly ultras) let themselves resort to anti-Semitic narrative and symbols. The reasons for using nazi lexicon by fans are revealed, the prospects for studying this and related problems in linguistics (sexism, social discrimination, etc.) are highlighted. In the course of empirical material analysis complex methotodologies were employed: integrative approach, discourse, component, conceptual analysis, classifi cation, observation, description, lexicographical, contextual method, deduction and induction method. The obtained results allow us to supplement with new data the idea of what conceptual meaning constitues the categories “us — them”, “identity” in football fans’ world view, how individual and collective (linguistic) consciousness works within a certain subculture and on the level of the national sphere of concepts.

The article is devoted to changes in the semantics of color symbols in French from the 20th to the 21st centuries within the framework of cultural interaction. The examples chosen for the study are the names of the colors of everyday goods, because, as a communicative means of action, they are used as an emotional argument aimed at manipulating the buyer’s will at the level of his neuropsychological processes. Emotional color information is realized through advertising texts, verbal components of logos and emblems and refl ects, by creating additional meanings and connotations, the value preferences of buyers. In today’s world, with the growing interest in consumer goods, marketers are creating original color shades, which, on the one hand, are aimed at promoting the product, and, on the other hand, are features of the color categorization of a given era. The starting point is that, as part of the convergence of cultures, the process of creating color designations with a color reference represented by facts or realities from a foreign culture, is accompanied by the integration of intercultural concepts and the creation of a new mental space. The work uses the results of a study of the dynamics of the connotative potential of color designations in French of the XX–XXI centuries conducted on the material of advertising catalogues, websites of everyday goods and dictionaries of modern French language.

The article is dedicated to the lexical and semantic analysis of Mexican riddles about plants. The study of the picture of the world perception and verbalization associated with fl ora representation in folklore texts is of particular interest. Phytonyms in riddles carry a great semantic load, help to better understand ethnic priorities. Of particular interest are riddles in which ethno-specifi c features of the Mexican linguistic picture of the world are manifested. Units of culture are revealed in the texts of riddles, firstly, because they contain linguistic elements that are peculiar only to a given culture, and due to unique ethno-specific elements directly reflect the features of the corresponding culture in the language. Secondly, in addition to such a direct reflection, cultural units can be transmitted indirectly in texts, through specifi c structures, which find their expression in the way of describing hidden phytonyms. The lexical and semantic analysis of riddles about the plant world makes it possible to reconstruct the folklore features of phytonyms and, on the basis of the typology of these features, describe plants that are prototypical for the Mexican linguistic personality. The study of non-standard language explicants of plants allows not only to determine their most relevant features, but also to generalize the metaphorical or metonymic aspect of transfers.

The search for a new word for the name of a political, social or cultural phenomenon is the essence of the communication process and the development of the language as a whole. But in each area of intellectual activity, this process has its own characteristics, depending on the cognitive, stylistic or cultural postulates of each discourse. In the conditions of non-rigid boundaries between the objects of scientifi c fi elds of study, the intensity of interdiscursive interaction increases, during which a figurative, metaphorical comprehension of reality makes it possible to identify new, previously unexplored facets of the objects being compared. The process of finding similarities and differences between the phenomena studied is at the heart of scientific activity, in its language, in which there is inevitably a stage of “approximate meaning” of the concept before it takes shape in the form of a term. The spontaneity of oral speech, variability and verbal creativity in the broad understanding of these phenomena contribute to the emergence of new lexical formations — quasi-terms. The epistemological value of a quasi-term consists in the absence of the need for its clear definition. Changing the context entails the appearance of terminological analogues and quasi-terms. The subject of this research is the quasi formant in natural science, philosophical and cultural discourses, its grammatical, semantic, stylistic features in Russian and French. The purpose of the article is to compare the semantic and pragmatic qualities of the quasi–formant, to consider its discursive variant, to show its heuristic potential for interdisciplinary interaction.

The article is devoted to the specifi cs of teaching foreign languages to Chinese students in a Russian university. The purpose of the study is to identify and rationalize the linguistic and cultural features of teaching the French language and culture. According to a common point of view, representatives of diff erent cultures are characterized by diff erent forms of strategic thinking (Vyach.Vs. Ivanov, A.I. Kobzev, L. Levy-Bruhl, K. Lévi-Strauss, Yu.M. Lotman B.N. and others). Traditionally, several types of thinking are distinguished: a synthetic, eastern one, which is characterized by asymmetry, imagery, symbolism, and an analytical, western type of thinking (its features are logic, algorithmic, conceptual, systematic). These features infl uence the stereotypical scenarios of intercultural interaction, including the process of teaching foreign languages. The article analyzes some basic principles of educational and pedagogical communication in the Chinese cultural tradition and considers modern technologies for teaching foreign languages, refl ecting national educational traditions. Possible diffi culties for students are analyzed on the example of diff erences in the systems of French and Chinese at all structural levels (phonetic, lexical, morphological and syntactic). To conclude, it is necessary to take into account not only signifi cant diff erences in languages of diff erent structure in the learning process, but also the diff erence in methods of learning foreign languages, due to nationally specifi c features of speech behavior, cognitive strategies and culture in general.

The aims to study the interaction of two factors — hybridity and border — on the example of language education and functional multilingualism. The theoretical basis of the work is the concept of L.V. Shcherba on the relationship of language education with many other disciplines. It is established that the phenomenon of hybridity is associated with the idea of overcoming boundaries, mixing, in the field of language education, with the heterogeneity of students representing different countries and regions; belonging of students to different cultures, including educational ones. It is also connected with hybrid forms of education — full-time and distant learning; the concept of bilingual and multilingual teaching of foreign languages and cultures. It determines the relevance of the topic in terms of cultural and methodological aspects. Taking into account the works of N.V. Baryshnikov, N.I. Gendina, M. Causa, D. Marsh it is shown, that the use of a multilingual format mobilizes the resources of several languages that are in a situation of functional complementarity; it develops functional plurilingualism which is supporting an integrated system of communication. The condition for this is the systematic change of codes, or languages, in order to master and transfer the content of a particular discipline (translanguaring). The concept of information literacy (littératie / literacy) is considered, which implies the use of information resources in foreign languages, including digital ones, in order to educate a person who speaks several languages and has several sources of information. The question is raised about the results of the transfer of knowledge and concepts in a multilingual context and about the quality of the formed knowledge: integrated or disintegrated.

This article discusses designing and developing an innovative version of a digital textbook for teaching foreign languages. The main difficulty at the moment lies in the creation and design of the online learning environment of educational institutions, which implies the availability of relevant online materials, in particular, electronic textbooks, which are fundamentally diff erent from those used in the traditional form of education. Only specially prepared educational materials, requiring signifi cant intellectual, time and material investments, help to overcome many difficulties and increase the efficiency of the process of teaching and learning of foreign languages remotely. The article discusses the structure, general principles of designing an e-textbook, analyzes the digital and pedagogical technologies that are most often used to create this digital learning tool. The form of information presentation, educational interaction, task formats, types of control and assessment in a digital textbook are different from printed publications. Therefore, when designing a digital textbook, it is necessary to take into account requirements extending to the content of an e-textbook (methodological); the design (pedagogical design or ergonomics) and the technical features of an e-textbook. Particular attention is paid to the methodological principles that determine the quality and eff ectiveness of the content of an e-textbook. Developed in accordance with modern methodological requirements, the content will allow the teacher to implement a student-centered approach, provide individualization and diff erentiation of learning, taking into account the abilities of the student, apply the so-called adaptability of teaching aids, which is impossible when using a printed counterpart.