The author examines compositional and stylistic features of law-related posts as a cross-genre of popular legal discourse, functioning in a virtual setting. Posts comprise hybridity of different types and levels. The combination of verbal and non-verbal elements makes posts polycode and enhances the impact of the online media text on the target audience. Legal terms and professional expressions are implanted into the texts of posts (linear hybridization). Much attention is given to multiple intertextual connections, represented by the use of allusions and cross-genre inclusions. Elements of institutional and personal discourse are intertwined, which is characteristic of virtual discourse. A mention is made of verbal indicators of popular legal discourse, which enables the reader/listener to easily identify and typologize the communicative situation as law-related. A wide variety of figurative and evaluative tools (emotionally colored words, fashionable words, metaphors, rhetorical questions, etc.) is employed by text authors to make a profound emotional impact on the target audience. The main goal of the articles of the post genre which belongs to computer-mediated popular legal discourse is to popularize the law and convince the audience to follow its norms, which determines the choice of appropriate discourse strategies and tactics.
Keywords:
genre; cross-genre; virtual/online discourse; popular legal discourse; hybridization; polycode; intertextuality; figurative use of language; verbal/non-verbal discourse indicators
The article deals with the issue of the British pronunciation norm and the changes in it in the course of the last few decades. Both segmental and suprasegmental features of phonation are considered with the aim of describing the most noticeable phenomena that characterize Standard Southern British as the norm of today and distinguish it from Received Pronunciation as the norm of the past. A comparative study of several pronouncing dictionaries starting from the earliest one published at the end of the 19th century to the latest one has made it possible to verify the changes in the phonemic as well as the phonetic composition of words. A large corpus of authentic recorded speech has been subjected to analysis through the prism of observations made by British phoneticians concerning the recent changes in the articulation of vowels and consonants. A few most obvious changes in the pitch movement of British English have been commented upon as their influence on the Russian language is impossible to ignore. No less important was the issue of the system of terminology used when describing the British pronunciation standard: as it reflects the changing nature of the norm, its overview helped to clarify the nature of the changes themselves.
Keywords:
dictionaries of pronunciation; Received Pronunciation; Standard Southern British; BBC pronunciation; articulation of sounds; pitch-movement
The article is devoted to the problem of polyfunctionalism of terms that arise in the process of interdisciplinary contacts and intercultural communication. The purpose of the study: to consider the features of the semantics of terms in the context of interdisciplinary contacts. The object of research in the article is the multifunctional term and concept of architectonics (l’architectonie) in scientific, cultural and public discourses. The task is to generalize the practice of using the term as a factor of synergistic thinking. This topic is relevant in the context of expanding the boundaries of the scientific worldview. Methodology: the study was conducted using methods of comparative analysis and synthesis of information, scientific search and comparison of the vocabulary of the French and Russian languages. The results are obtained on the basis of a wide range of contexts related to the concept of “architectonics”. The translation of the French word l’architectonie into Russian has led to the concept of “architectonics” being integrated on a large scale into Russian science and culture. Having received a new content in the Russian philosophy of the twentieth century, this term is actively used in the language of science. The findings support the hypothesis that the synergy of interdisciplinary research enriches the cognitive space of language and contributes to expanding the boundaries of the scientific picture of the world.
The paper aims to explore the interaction and functioning of a set of cognitive metaphors within the text fabric, which form an extended metaphor. The extended metaphor, in its turn, is viewed as part of such a phenomenon as metaphorical clustering. A cluster of several and more metaphors within a particular text fragment enhances cognitive and appellative functions of this linguistic and cognitive phenomenon. Thus, on the one hand, a group of metaphors allows for a more holistic image of a certain object described. On the other hand, this phenomenon helps one penetrate into deeper layers of the individual picture of the world and to examine some specific individual characteristics concerning the processes of reality categorization and conceptualization, reflected in the nomination of objects and phenomena of the world around us. The author demonstrates that the extended cognitive metaphor can encompass a group of metaphors with a single source domain (source domain, donor), as well as a set of metaphors units with different source domains.
<p>
The article is dedicated to the study of different theoretical approaches to identifying the social role of Public Relations as a discipline and a practical field of human activity. The analysis is conducted in the framework of cognitive linguistics through the prism of cognitive metaphor in the domain of professional PR-discourse. Methods of cognitive linguistics allow for the discovery of language and consciousness interconnectedness, establish certain understanding of key ideas and notions in the professional sphere to the analysis using different language manifestations. We proceed from the premise of categorization being inalienable part of any professional activity which leads to PR specialists and theorists resorting to expressive language means in pinpointing vital characteristics of the most important notions in the field and creating certain attitudes towards them. Based on the inherent values and research angles different theoreticians define the social role of public relations, either as a tool in the war with different audiences, or a mechanism for peaceful regulation of a conflict or an adjustable social body for improving and criticizing the trends within society. Overall, pragmatic, idealistic and critical standpoints use of expressive means to serve certain ends in conveying a certain meaning or attitude.
</p>
Keywords:
cognitive metaphor; public relations; PR; English; interpretation; sense; public influence; social role
The paper focuses on “kaleidoscopic” concepts, which are defined by A.P. Babushkin as cognitive structures that take different forms under the same verbal “skin”. The core of the research is the question raised by the author about the pos- sibility of “kaleidoscopic” performance being a feature not exclusively found in the concepts “captured” by abstract words. The idea that the concepts verbalized by concrete words can also be “kaleidoscopic” is investigated through a study of the concept TIGER, as actualized in the discourse space of the novel “When You Trap a Tiger” (2020) by Tae Keller, a young Korean-American children’s writer. The author presents a series of examples from the novel showing how cognitive structures of different kinds (e.g. mental pictures, frames, scenarios, schemes) are verbalized by one and the same concrete word, that is the name of the concept TIGER. For each case the type of the “kaleidoscopic” concept is defined, and the cognitive processes (i.e. profiling, conceptual metaphor, perspectivization, symbolization) activating the “shapeshifting” performance of the concept are described. Furthermore, using the data on the nucleus and peripheral areas of the concept in question, as presented in definitions of the key word tiger in several of the most authoritative dictionaries of English, the author formulates the principle of categorization of “kaleidoscopic” concepts that are verbalized by concrete words. It is deemed important that the above-mentioned principle is essentially different from the one pertaining to “kaleidoscopic” concepts named by abstract words.
Keywords:
“kaleidoscopic” concepts; cognitive mechanisms; types of cognitive structures; category; prototype; concepts in discourse
A comparison of the treatment of three culturally significant concepts, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, in dictionaries of several languages, in the hope of learning about dictionaries and the dictionarate cultures that produce and use them – and in order to encourage my colleagues to undertake such comparisons.
At the beginning of this century, which is known as the century of globalization, learning a foreign language is inevitable. Therefore, almost a large part of society partly have to deal with foreign languages. Learning a foreign language is associated with many problems. Not only grammatical and lexical problem in both languages, but also the phonetic system in all their aspects such as acoustic and articulation characteristics, accent, intonation and stress. Such problems should be solved in order to realize the main purpose of the education, which means communicativeness with maximum approximation to the original language. The experiment was aimed at improving the acoustic and pronunciation skills of Persian-speaking students. The purpose of the analysis is to eliminate the interfering influence of phonetic phenomena of the native language on the target language as well as to correct and improve students’ pronunciation and using special instrumentation techniques bring it closer to the normative pronunciation of modern Russian literary language. The results of this study show that mistakes in pronouncing consonants depend directly on the characteristics of the consonant systems of the Russian and Persian languages. A comparison of articulatory movements of speech organs involved in the production of speech (both active and passive) of Persian and Russian fricative consonants revealed the fact that there is no similarity between them.
Keywords:
Fricative consonants; Russian consonants; Persian consonants; intensity; strength; computer program Praat; acoustic characteristics; formant; articulation
Auditory speech perception is the most important type of human speech activity carried out in the process of language existence. What cognitive procedures does a person use when moving from a chain of sounds to the meaning of a message? What units are created by a complex interaction of lexical-grammatical and phonetic means? Segmentation of the speech flow is now the focus of linguists working with orally generated speech (hereinafter-UPR). The segmentation basis is recognized as semantic predicates of N.I. Zhinkin, clause of W. Cheif, syntagma of L.V. Shcherba, accent-melodic pattern, prosodic breaks. It is known that the study of UPR is impossible without spelling fixation, the creation of which turns the sounding substance into a graphic one, and the process into a product. The methods of creating transcription, as well as the methods of using it, depend on the task set in the study. The article presents segmentation performed in three modes: auditory analysis without visual transcription support, auditory analysis with transcription support, and transcription analysis without sound support. The obtained results indicate that the main unit of UPR reliably isolated from the sound continuum is the phonation period, segmented on the basis of two perceptual-auditory features: the tonal design of the terminal syllable and the phonation break.
Switzerland’s multilingualism is a rich material for geopolitical, regional studies, (socio) linguistic research. In particular, the notion of the border between the areas of the French and German languages, called “Röstigraben”, is a phenomenon that has been superficially covered in domestic and foreign literature. The article shows how “Röstigraben” is used in the French-speaking press in Switzerland, what image it has and for what purpose the French-speaking population of the country use this term.
The term “Röstigraben” means “Rösti foss”, where “Rösti” is a potato dish native to Bern, the German-speaking canton of Switzerland. Overcoming the boundaries of the German area “Röstigraben” is used by the Swiss people to ironically denote the border between French-speaking and German-speaking areas in the context of culture and language. “Röstigraben” is used by the Swiss people to ironically denote the border between French-speaking and German-speaking areas in the context of culture and language. However, the expansion of the meaning of the concept under study indicates that the “Röstigraben” also has political, economic and social components. “Röstigraben” is a popular lexeme in the French-speaking media in Switzerland, and in the process of semantic derivation it undergoes some changes, preserving the archiseme “border” and acquiring the additional meaning of “difference”.
Keywords:
Röstigraben; French; Switzerland; border; conflict; expansion of terminological meaning
The article aims to analyze the word and the concept of mobilité / mobility in the language education discourse. This question is part of the broader issues related to the study of “discourse of modernity” and its markers – keywords, images, metaphors, reflecting the processes of globalization and glocalization which take place in society. The article shows that the field of teaching foreign languages is included in the streams, that M. Bernardo designated by the triad of keywords: mobility (mobilité), hybridity (hybridité), fluidity (liquidité). Meanwhile, this sphere is a special “territory” of culture because of the exclusive development of the term and concept of mobility / mobilité, as well as a complex of related lexemes that form a connotative knot: motilité – mobilizer – motiver – motivation. The subjects of mobility in this area are a foreign student / étudiant international and their teacher. Taking into consideration the works of Russian, French and Quebec authors, we conducted our own survey of teachers and master program students from China working under the program “Russian and French languages and cultures”. The parameters of mobility, the peculiarities of its perception as social capital are identified, and the assessment of its results as a social imperative and the main condition for the formation of the “third area” formed during the socialization of a person in a foreign language is given.
Keywords:
term; social imperative (impératif social); mobility; discourse; language education; French language and culture; third area (espace-tiers); social capital (capital social); globalization; glocalization; questionnaire
The objective of this action research is twofold, first, to work out the possible ways of Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) integration in a blended CLIL course and to analyze the pedagogical impact of this intervention on developing student language and collaboration skills. The theoretical framework of the intervention is based on current MOOC theories, connectivism (G. Siemens, 2005) and SAMR model by R. Puentedura (2011) for implementing new technologies and open educational resources into teaching. Thirty bachelor students from Lomonosov Moscow State University enrolled in a blended course Methodology of English Language Teaching participated in the first cycle of the research. Student participation in the MOOC Understanding language: Learning and Teaching (Southampton University, UK) was evaluated using two assignments: the e-portfolios that reflected their participation in the MOOC forums and the course blog peer collaboration where they could comment on each other’s contributions and experience. The analysis based on the qualitative and quantitative data (post-intervention questionnaire) demonstrated the learners’ positive attitude to this intervention due to the following possibilities: getting familiar with the theories and terminology on EFL teaching and learning, sharing ideas and experiences on the MOOC forums with the learners from all over the world, and finally, improving their writing skills, digital literacies and EFL terminology knowledge.
Keywords:
MOOC; CLIL; collaborative language learning; interactive environment; collaboration skills; language skills; digital literacies
The article considers parenthetical insertions and inversion as signals of emotivity of a literary text. Parenthetical insertions, inversion, and interjections refer to such significant words or phrases that do not carry a syntactic load, but they express the attitude of the speakers to the utterance, give them a certain assessment, and characterize the ways of their design. According to the author, they fit perfectly into the scheme that organizes the emotional space of a literary text. The main goal of the work is to identify the role of such language tools as inversion and parenthetical insertions as some “signaling” of the emotivity of a literary text. As a result of the research, fragments from the novel by Ch. Abdullayev “The Court of the Wrongs” were identified in which these linguistic means in total charge the text with expression. At the same time, it is taken into account that, on the one hand, they differentiate feelings and emotions that are part of the semantics of the emotive field. On the other hand, they are unified according to certain criteria. The results of the research can be used in courses of lectures on linguistics, analysis of literary text at seminars and workshops. This article will be of interest to linguists dealing with the problems of parenthetical insertions and inversion. В результате исследования были выделены фрагменты из романа Ч. Абдуллаева «Суд неправых», в которых данные языковые средства в совокупности заряжают текст экспрессией.
Keywords:
artistic text; emotivity; inversion; plug-in construction; terminology; Chingiz Abdullayev
The syllabus of the discipline “Language situation and language policy in European countries” is an interdisciplinary review of key issues related to the problems of language policy in European countries and the current language situation in Europe. Classical methodological approaches to the study of these categories (sociolinguistic, legislative, institutional, medial, language teaching, etc.) as well as new ones (discursive, politically correct, pluricentric, economic, etc.) are analyzed. In addition, the course focuses on the specificity of language policy in some European countries, considering the variety of pluricentric European languages (e.g. the German language and German-speaking countries). The content of the program includes materials on the following topics: relationship between language and the state, language and society, language and power, definitions and typologies of language situations and language policies, language planning, language regime, minority languages, language rights, language contacts and conflicts. The course analyzes in detail the practices of language policies in European countries in various socio-discursive areas: legal regulation, language education, science, economics, media, applied terminology and others. The influence of the theory of political correctness on the development of language policies of European states is also discussed. The program is based on the author’s experience of lecturing at the Department of Linguistics and Intercultural Communication and the Translation Department of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies at Lomonosov Moscow State University.
Keywords:
language situation; language policy; language legislation; language planning; language rights; language conflicts; minority language; variety
<p>
The article analyzes the features of the functioning of numerals in the texts of Chinese fiction, and also considers the problems of their translation into Russian. The research is based on the stories of Bi Feiyu, who is one of the Chinese writers of the 1960s. The analysis of the usage contexts allowed us to distinguish (in addition to the actual designation of the abstract quantity – this universal function was not considered) three more functions: the plot-forming function, the function of using numerals as a component in rhetorical techniques, and as a component of the idioms. The authors analyze the translation strategies: they give a description of the causes of translation difficulties and possible ways of translating numerals. The collection of novellas “The Moon Opera” published in Russia (translated by A. and O. Rodionovs, St. Petersburg: Azbuka, 2014) is taken as a source of material for the analysis of the translation into Russian. Difficulties associated with cultural, linguistic and emotional differences in the perception of numbers, as well as caused by ignoring the plot, are highlighted. Considering possible ways of translation, the authors draw on translation theory that focuses on social semiotics. This theory uses the concepts of domestication and foreignization. Depending on the presence of cultural values in the numeral in the original text the authors follow a literal translation (foreignization strategy), or a free translation / translation with equivalent replacement (domestication strategy).
</p>
Keywords:
Chinese literature; Bi Feiyu; functions of numerals; translation of numerals; translation problems; foreignization; domestication; equivalence