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The paper highlights (from a position of conceptual integration techniques) the ways the verbal anti/memes function in the modern political communication. Special attention is paid to the role and ways in which the definite memplex is used in the special politically controversial situation of Brexit, particularly for persuasive purposes.

This article is devoted to a review of academic topics and reports presented at the international interdisciplinary academic and practical conference “Language. Culture. Translation. Communication”, which took place on October 26–27, 2020 at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Area Studies of Lomonosov Moscow State University. During the conference a wide range of issues was discussed: the functioning of archetypical mythologemes in modern discourse, the representation of system-forming concepts in the linguistic picture of the world, the phenomenon of productivity in culture and language, methods of corpus linguistics in the study of a foreign language, consideration of the cognitive foundations of contact between two cultures, the manifestation of cross-modal iconicity in different types of discourse, communicative characteristics of the absurd. A wide coverage of the problems of studying intercultural communication, area and cultural studies was given in thematic sections, which took two days and became the most numerous in terms of the number of speakers. Questions of theory, history and methodology traditionally formed the basis of a heated sectional discussion. The participants shared their scientific research results in the field of modern linguistics, traditional and innovative approaches to the study of language problems. A separate sectional discussion was related to traditions and innovation in modern concepts of teaching foreign languages and Russian as a foreign language. The workshops allowed the participants to improve their competence in the use of information and communication technologies in teaching foreign languages.

The aim of the present paper is to focus on identifying the main cognitive mechanisms in the mental world by which the human consciousness and traditional classical myths are renovated as motivated by the contextual factors and underlying modern technologies. Through a frame/slot analysis of the modern text/discourse we draw attention to the way in which the most typical intertextual properties of the renovated myths are represented. They are as follows: 1) the division of input spaces and their quantity number; 2) the semantic intertextuality; 3) the formal (structural) interteхtuality; 4) the allusive intertextuality; 5) the memetic intertextuality. We conclude that the archetypal myth strategies in the modern text/discourse can be renovated by two means: 1) remythologisation (that is, exploration and usage of the traditional archaic plot, narration, a literary bookish stylistic register, names, structural arrangement, semantic meanings in the new context); 2) demythologisation (that is, negative or ironical attitude to the main gods, titans and heroes; non-formal stylistic register; a low-level pathos; the modern plot and social context). All these properties transfer the archaic myth into the new semiotic unit, able to be functioning in the new social and temporary situation and communicating with the new generation of the 21st century.

The paper is devoted to the survey of chronological classifications that had been offered by the cognitive and communicative approaches to the theory of generation boundaries. These include sorting out two types of data: 1) Russian generational chronology consisting of siх generations according to the classification by V. Radayev (2019): “generation of mobilization” (1941–1955); “generation of Thaw” (1956–1963); “generation of stagnancy” (1964–1984), “generation of reforms” (1985–1999); “millennials” (2000–2016), “centennials” (reached the stage of emerging adulthood after 2017). 2) American generational chronology consisting of four generations according to the classification by J.M. Twenge: Baby-boomers (1946–1964); generation Х (1965–1979); millennials (1980–1994); centennials or I-Genners (Internet generation) (1995–2012). On the basis of these, we outline some social and cultural characteristics of the two great cultures and their young New Generation representatives.

The conference was held from 19th to 20th of November 2021 within the framework of Scientific and Educational School of Moscow State University “Preservation of World Cultural and Historical Heritage”: focus area “Communicative Modality (codes) as a means of New Generation Humanities Competence.” The conference was dedicated to the 270th anniversary of the foundation of Lomonosov Moscow State University (the chair of the Programme Committee — academic V.A. Sadovnichiy, the vice-chair - dr. hab., prof. G.G. Molchanova.) One of the key issues argued during the conference was the discussion of the rapidly developing academic field — “the Digital Humanities”, an interdisciplinary area of research that unites the methodological and practical approaches within Humanities with the aim of implementing and interpreting the new technologies and ICTs. One of the aims of the conference was to contribute to the rather neglected area of the research — the dark side of digital instruments. Some plenary reports focused on what happened when the abilities of digital tools were overestimated. It was made clear that a detailed and careful study of the issue should be undertaken in order to save our teachers and students from some disappointment in the future.

The paper deals with the issue of decoding and functional characteristics of such stylistic device as pun or play of words in a literary text, paying special attention to one of its main subdivisions — paronymic attraction. On the extensive linguistic material (more than 600 pages) the most important decoding stylistic functions of this phenomenon (such as evaluative, expressive, characterizing, etc.) have been identifi ed, and the initial hypothesis that paronymic attraction may be closely tied up with all the language system levels, not only phonetic, has been proved. Besides that, the role of communicative, informative and expressive functioning of this stylistic device was established not only in the humouristic literary texts, but in the most serious political discourses as well.

The purpose of the paper is to point out some theoretical problems concerning the role of cognitive methods in linguistics, and in the widening the humanitarian competence in general. The paper focuses on the investigation of the cognitive metaphor as a sense-creating device in the literary discourse, using cognitive, conceptual, frame/slot analyses with the elements of the component analysis. The author investigates R. Bradbury’s “Embroidery” in close connection with the metaphorical transfer of meaning and draws the conclusion that this approach opens new facets of conceptualization. The cognitive aspects of a literary text are analyzed, its deep intertextuality and ability to generate the new texts is established, the chain links are constructed. Such approach gives a new impetus to outlining the ways of its possible role in derivational text history. Much attention is paid to the intertextual inclusions, specifically emphasizing their role in changing and reframing the readers’ cognitive system. Furthermore, the paper shows the movement along the multiple ways of creating sense, ensures unlimited possibilities for literary and linguistic sense revealing.

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.