Articles

The present paper belongs to a series of articles with a focus on ethnospecific concepts and identity construction in multicultural fiction from a cognitive- functional perspective. It seeks to take a new look on ethnospecific concepts, namely those which belong to an author’s idioconceptual subsystem, the latter being understood as a unique configuration of concepts in one’s mind, and constitute cognitive matrices. In accordance with N.N. Boldyrev’s research, the term «cognitive matrix» is used to denote a system of interconnected cognitive contexts which open onto different conceptual domains. The aim of the study is to demonstrate the potential of using cognitive-matrix analysis to reveal the connections between the cognitive contexts in the structure of an ethnospecific concept which unfold in a work of fiction, as well as the conceptual domains they are related to, on the one hand, and the many facets of an author’s cultural identity on the other. The paper outlines the results of the cognitive-matrix analysis of the concept BISON as represented in the novel “A Grandmother Begins the Story” by M. Porter, a Canadian writer of Métis background. Detail is given on several cognitive contexts in the structure of the concept in question pertaining to the following conceptual domains: NATURE, HISTORY, SPIRITUAL CULTURE, SPACE, TIME. The results obtained show that the ways in which the ethnospecific concept BISON functions in the text under consideration are affiliated with the writer’s identity and allow her not only to implement her creative ideas but also actualize her cultural identity in fiction.

This article deals with the comparative study of the old age designation in Russian and Chinese phraseology. The subject of research in this paper are phraseological units of Russian and Chinese, in which the object of description is the age of an elderly person. The main research methods used in the article are the methods of definitions, field, linguocultural and comparative analyses. The aim of the paper lies in identification of similar and distinctive perceptions of an elderly person from the point of view of representatives of Russian and Chinese linguocultures. The paper analyses the plane of expression and the plane of the content of Russian and Chinese phraseological units, as well as cultural and linguistic features of those units. The scientific novelty of this study reveals itself in the fact that for the first time the phraseological means of elderly age representation of a person in Russian and Chinese linguocultures have been defined; for the first time the phraseosemantic microfield ‘old age’ in Russian and Chinese have been presented and compared. The results of the study make it possible to represent similarities and differences of the old age conceptualization by means of Russian and Chinese phraseology and to identify the features of the microfield ‘old age’ of the languages compared.

The focus of research devoted to the study of a term as a scientific conceptual unit is currently moving to the consideration of its metaphorical nature, given that the processes of metaphorical term formation occur in different scientific fields constantly, but with varying degrees of intensity, which does not reduce the level of relevance of this topic. In the vocabulary of terminological systems, a large role belongs to word-forming elements or derivational formants (prefixes), thanks to which new lexical units are formed and thereby the conceptual-categorical sphere of science is re-encoded. The prefix gives the base of the word and its first, main meaning a new meaning, and antonym prefixes cannot, in theory, be combined in one word. It is all the more interesting, in our opinion, to pay attention to terms formed by a combination of prefixes and antonyms (deconstruction). These formants have great derivational potential; they create new terms and concepts, new metaphors, in a word, new formants of thought, as happened thanks to the concept of déconstruction, one of the basic ones in the philosophy of Jacques Derrida. The purpose of the article is to consider the features of the derivational function of formant prefixes using the example of the terminological nest construction, which includes the terms reconstruction, déstruction, déconstruction.

The object of this article is mythonyms that move into another class of proper names — pragmatonyms or verbal trademarks. The subject of the article was chosen mythonyms from the ancient Greek poem “The Odyssey” by Homer, which are widely used in modern advertising and commercial practice in Italy to name various products: furniture, interior items, clothing, jewelry, food, technical and medical equipment. The purpose of the article is to refute the generally accepted idea that the meaning of an onym (in our case, a mythonym) is impoverished during transonymization into a verbal trademark. The article identified mythonyms from the Odyssey that most often become pragmatonyms — Odysseus, Penelope, Polyphemus. As a result of their analysis, it was demonstrated that peripheral semes of meaning that are not relevant in the mythonym are actualized in the Italian advertising discourse of 2000-2021. Thus, the semantic field of the mythonym, functioning as a trade name, expands and enriches, and not vice versa. The article highlighted the following updated components of meaning: Odysseus — masculinity and freedom, Penelope — thriftiness and beauty, Polyphemus — creative force in the service of man. In the last mythonym, the core meaning of “the destructive power of the savage” completely changed the meaning to “civilizational power of creation”, and the vector of assessment changed. In this case, advertising discourse reflects the linguistic and cultural tendency that exists in Southern Italy to master and appropriate the symbolic space of Mediterranean culture not so much through the figure of Odysseus, but through the Sicilian Polyphemus. The study used a two-stage corpus analysis method: a continuous sample of product names to identify mythonyms from the Odyssey (68 product names) and a representative sample of products with the names Odysseus, Penelope, Polyphemus.

We discuss theoretical issues connected with methodological construction of problem-solving tasks for development of polycode competence in the system of language tertiary education. As one of the salient genres of polycode texts we take British and American political cartoon and the process of its interpretation. Yet another object of discussion is formed by particular difficulties when we try to include this format into text analysis. It gives us grounds to single out key features of polycode texts, which make them different from traditional text format. Here we include lack of precise genre typology, combination of various semiotic codes, lacunas presence, clip character, specific nature of intertextual chains. We single out several stages in the process of polycode competence formation and development. In particular, problem-solving tasks aimed at identification and primary decoding of certain elements typical for any polycode text; problem-solving tasks aimed at interpretation of verbal and visual components; carrying out group project/group projects of scientific educational or scientific research, of cultural and discourse character; participation in culturally-oriented discussions; assessment of the level of student’s polycode competence formation when interpreting a certain genre of polycode text. In this article, we focus upon possible problem-solving tasks of the first two stages. As one of possible solutions, we suggest conceptual cognitive metaphor modelling and oppositions. The oppositions in this case are built on basic sociocultural values while metaphor modelling includes structural, orientational and ontological concepts, which can be further found out in various types of polycode texts. As possible advantages of this approach, we consider it giving ground for interdisciplinary connections in the course of professional foreign language training. It also enables to widen the scope of questions and topics discussed with students as well as introduce certain linguocultural and sociocultural phenomena. All this assists in building professional competence of a would-be specialist as far as foreign media and multimodal environment is concerned, including its destructive practices. We also describe results of the experimental work. As part of the experiment, we assessed student’s ability to recognise images, symbols, archetypes, linguocultural subjects and meanings, precedent phenomena, continuity of forms and structures, conceptual metaphors and models, conceptual oppositions, basic and transferred meanings, connotations.

The article discusses the strategies for using artificial intelligence (AI) in the context of providing written corrective feedback in language education. It provides an overview of the latest research in this area, starting from the most significant publications in the field of Russian neurodidactics and international conferences dedicated to the use of AI in education, to practical examples of using chatbots for feedback in language teaching. The article emphasizes the transformation of the role of language educators through the application of artificial intelligence, highlighting the importance of focusing the teacher on the essential aspects of students’ communicative development while delegating the technical aspects of proofreading written assignments to artificial intelligence. The application of such technologies changes the ways feedback is provided, allowing for a more in-depth linguistic analysis and the creation of more extensive comments on written works. Examples of specific requests made to artificial intelligence when marking assignments and examples of their implementation are provided. In addition, the article summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of using AI technologies for assessment and draws conclusions about its role in providing written corrective feedback. The article also highlights the need for a thoughtful integration of AI into the educational process and calls for further research on the impact of artificial intelligence technologies on the development of students’ written productive language skills.

The article is a synthesis of a series of studies conducted over the last 10 years at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies of Lomonosov Moscow State University and is devoted to the current topic of digital technologies application in linguodidactics. The paper provides an analysis of legal acts regulating the development of artificial intelligence technologies in the Russian Federation in all spheres of activity, including education, national standards that apply to the field of education and establish general provisions and terminology in the field of the use of artificial intelligence technologies in education, a description of the basic principles of the operation of generative artificial intelligence technologies, an analysis of the formats of tasks for the introduction of mobile, electronic and generative tools, including those based on neural networks, into General English courses. The main results of the study are the identification of new task formats based on artificial intelligence technologies, as well as the need to form provisions for updating the regulatory framework for the introduction of artificial intelligence technologies in foreign language higher education.

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies into the educational system in general and foreign language teaching in particular makes it possible to significantly enhance students’ foreign language practice and create conditions for more effective formation of foreign language communicative competence components. At the same time, the gradual implementation of AI tools in the educational process, along with its obvious advantages, may cause teachers’ concerns related to the gradual exclusion of the teacher from the learning process and their complete replacement by AI. As a modern paradigm of education, the authors suggest the triad “learner — teacher — artificial intelligence”, within which the interaction of learners with AI is built into traditional teaching methods, enhancing the educational process with new additional opportunities for learners’ foreign language practice. For objective reasons, little time and attention is often allocated to teaching learners to write in a foreign language. AI, which has significant language didactic potential, is able to take over the teacher’s functions of evaluating students’ written work and providing them with feedback in the form of an AI-generated version of an essay and/or recommendations for the revision of written work. In this paper, the authors propose 11 stages of a method for teaching learners to write creative works in a foreign language in the triad “learner — teacher — artificial intelligence”. Special attention in the method is given to the following aspects, which are new for teaching practice: a) compliance of students with the norms of authorship ethics when receiving various types of feedback from AI; b) the need to discuss the results of students’ interaction with AI during classroom sessions. At the same time, the authors note that the teacher is not excluded from the process of teaching learners a foreign language and evaluating their written work. The traditional method of teaching students’ written speech is enriched with additional stages of interaction with artificial intelligence, creating more conditions for students to develop the necessary foreign language speech skills.

AI technologies are already beginning to change the learning process, they contribute to the creation of a personalized learning path; help to analyze educational metadata almost instantly; provide access to big data, helping in solving various professional tasks and problems. The purpose of this article is to provide an analytical review of examples of the use of artificial intelligence technologies in language teaching and to create a typology of AI-based technological solutions that have been actively used in the educational process over the past five years. The proposed typology of AI-based technological solutions used in teaching a foreign language is based on areas of didactic activity and didactic tasks that can be effectively solved with the help of AI. Under the directions of didactic activity, we mean: teaching and learning of foreign languages; management of the educational process, including the analysis of educational analytics, the development of an individual learning path, the creation of recommender systems; organization of the educational process, that is, control and assessment, providing feedback and reflection, developing didactic materials for adaptive online courses and intelligent learning systems.

The paper is aimed at the objective analysis of positive and negative sides connected to the pragmatic and scientific investigation of Artificial Intelligence technologies. Special attention is paid to the opportunities provided by the artificial intelligence in different fields of social usage, such as: education, culture, medicine, communication, management, ethical code, academic science, military sphere, jurisdiction, etc. Bringing the studies together, the author proposed an expanded view of AI functions, which crucially emphasize the role and importance of network ties, at one side, and at the other side, drawing on a number of examples shows what happens when such network ties become loosened as a result of Artificial Intelligence overestimation.

In the process of creating emotive color structures, color nomination is considered as a product of cognitive-emotional activity. The purpose of the article is to show, using the example of the nomination of colors for consumer goods, the formation of complex mental emotive formations that program human consumer behavior. In today’s world of abundance and aggressive advertising, the consumer becomes immune to the influence of traditional marketing techniques. New methods and techniques that consider the individual psychological characteristics and states of a person (perception, imagination, memory, vision, touch, smell, emotions) are becoming relevant, since consumer behavior represents the interaction of cognitive and emotional processes due to external and internal circumstances. In this regard, the analysis of the perception of new information takes place in parallel with the study of the instincts and emotions that determine our needs, which are transmitted through color associations. Within the framework of neurolinguistic programming, color nomination is considered as a tool for influencing the buyer, its influence on the perception of information and decision making is studied.

The article is the first to propose a periodization of the world history of food. The chronological framework covers the period from the emergence of “Homo sapiens” to the present day. Periodization is based not only on the changes in the process of production and preparation of food, but also on a whole complex of phenomena related to food: the order of eating and serving food, taste preferences, cultural and social traditions, place in the historical context and interaction of cultures, national characters and issues of self-identification. This kind of systematization of the “gastronomic” history of mankind allows us to fit it into the general context of world history, to show the place and role of food and food traditions in the history of mankind. The article highlights the following periods, which do not always coincide with the general periodization of history. 1. The primitive period. The emergence and establishment of traditions of cooking and eating (40,000 BC — 10,000 BC) 2. The emergence and establishment of agriculture. The emergence of the first civilizations (10,000 BC — 1,000 BC) 3. Antiquity. Division of peoples based on food (1,000 BC — 5th century) 4. The period of formation of the food systems of the world. 5th century — turn of the 19th — 20th centuries. 5. The period of food globalization. Modern times. The turn of the 19th — 20th centuries. — present time.

The article analyzes M.V. Lomonosov`s heroic poem, which is about Peter the Great’s visit to the Solovetsky Monastery. The founders of the Solovetsky Monastery are Saints Zosima, Savvaty and Herman, who settled on a deserted island in the first third of the XV century. Over time, the monastery not only grew, but became one of the most revered in Russia. It is visited by thousands of pilgrims; kings and boyars make rich donations. The first of the Russian tsars to visit the Solovetsky Monastery was Peter the Great (1694). This visit will be described by M.V. Lomonosov in his poem. To create the image of an ideal ruler, the poet uses historical realities based on the Kholmogory and Solovetsky chronicles. However, there is also a free interpretation of historical facts that contributes to the creation of a heroic image to glorify the Russian state. The “historical inaccuracies” made by the author are identified and indicated: the feat of Peter during a storm on the White Sea, the history of the construction of the walls of the monastery, the “Solovetsky sitting” of the monks who refused to accept the reforms of Patriarch Nikon.

The paper analyzes the use and translation of zoometaphor in political media and Internet discourse. Translation of zoometaphors is discussed based on an English fable about the Donkey, Tiger and Lion. The research has revealed that in British English the word donkey metaphorically objectivizes the semes of ‘pomposity’ and ‘stubbornness’; in American English, like in Russian, the semes of ‘stupidity’ and ‘stubbornness’. However, the Chinese English discourse reveals a new meaning — ‘humbly doing hard work’, which is similar to the Russian derived verb ishachit ‘to drudge’. Meanwhile, a Chinese English context can be either negative and positive when the semes ‘without tiredness’ and ‘perseverance’ are activated. The word lion creates a metaphoric image due to the semes ‘power’ and ‘majesty’. British and Indian Englishes, as well as Chinese English reveal one more meaning — ‘power guard’. The word tiger as a metaphor has traditionally activated the semes of ‘danger’, ‘aggressiveness’, and ‘force’, but nowadays in the Asian context it has the positive seme ‘rapid development’ and the negative ‘high-ranking corruption’. The article compares the participation of these words in making phraseological units used in the political discourse and points to the challenges they present in translating to Russian. The paper concludes that it is a cultural underpinning that causes most problems in translating pluricentric English.

This paper focuses on the comparative analysis of the linguistic means of expressing ‘high self-esteem’ with the unit ‘face’ on the basis of the analysis of lexemes, phraseological units, proverbs extracted from explanatory and phraseological dictionaries of the Russian and Chinese languages. The methods used in the study include descriptive analytical method, definition, comparative analysis. The authors introduce the results of the research revealing that in both languages one of the meanings of the word “face” is associated with high self-esteem. But the difference is that in the 16-18 centuries in Russian the meaning of ‘face’ included ‘dignity, honor’, which is the key concept of ‘high self-esteem’, however, now this meaning is fixed only in Russian idioms. The word “face” in Chinese can express a whole range of meanings: ‘self-esteem’, ‘the desire to have a positive public opinion of oneself’, ‘the desire to achieve success in order to occupy a higher position in society’ . It not only includes the semantic component ‘dignity’, but also the additional meaning ‘vanity’ . Thus, “face” in modern Chinese is one of the most important means of expressing a person’s high self-esteem.