Moscow University Bulletin. Series 19. Linguistics and Intercultural Communication. 2023. 2.

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 article deals with the cognitive essence of zoomorphic metaphor and its national and cultural identity in the Russian language. The study was carried out based on dictionaries and text corpora of the Russian language. The purpose of the article is to analyze the vocabulary material and its textual implementations in order to determine, based on the analysis, which cultural information is not fully reflected in explanatory dictionaries. In the course of the study, it was found that the names of animals, which represent cultural standards in the Russian language, mainly capture negative character traits of people and their appearance. The images of flying birds, on the contrary, capture and describe in a figurative form the positive characteristics of a person. The analysis of dictionary definitions showed that different names of the same animals often have different associative potential in the national-cultural sense. Explanatory dictionaries do not always capture differences in the connotative volume of lexical units. The results of this study can be used in lexicographic practice when creating a complex dictionary, which involves the inclusion of connotative and associative meanings in the interpretation of words. Such dictionaries are necessary both when teaching Russian as a native language and when working with foreign students who study Russian.

There are two opposing tendencies in the French speech stream. As a vocal-type language with a dominant open syllable and the absence of lexical stress, French creates sequences of two vowel sounds (gaping/l’hiatus) on the border of words in speech. Phonetic processes such as coupling (enchaînement) and binding (liaison) are used to remove this coarticulatively unfavorable context at the word junction. It is obvious that the implementation of coupling and binding at the border of words in the speech stream creates a diffuse acoustic marking of the external sandhi: words merge into a continuous physical signal. How do speakers create this co-articulatory cohesion of sounds in the speech stream? How do listeners manage to recognize in a continuous stream separate words that enter into certain syntactic and semantic relationships with each other? The article considers the external sandhi from the point of view of its articulatory, acoustic, auditory and cognitive processing.

The article aims to study modern aspects of the variation of linguistic and cultural space and to clarify approaches to its study, using the example of the French-speaking space. The role of Romance studies in the development of the principles of spatial research, the establishment of spatial patterns, mapping and the creation of atlases is shown. It is proved that the peculiarity of the Romance school of areal studies is the increasing desire to reflect the connection of language and culture. Taking into account these features, it is established that the French-speaking space is a vast, fragmented area with a core and regional centers, showing a tendency to expand, having relative integrity, which is supported by the interconnections and development trends of its constituent zones. The question of whether the unity of the Francophone area is preserved or weakened as it expands requires further research. The results of the study confirm the immanent nature of variability as a property of language, the complexity of the relationship “center” — “periphery”, the role of borders in language and culture, the importance of self-esteem of speakers in maintaining the integrity of the area. These questions are important for studying not only the Francophone area, but also the areas of other supranational communities formed on the basis of other languages — Romance and non-Romance.

The article discusses the principles of nomination in the field of Italian wine production for the period 2018–2022, the identification of an onomastic shift relative to the traditional principles of naming classic vintage wines in Italy in the 19th-20th centuries. Using the method of continuous sampling from the websites of wine producers and the blog of wine marketers, the units of the study were analyzed in terms of linguistic-cognitive criteria that guided wine producers when choosing non-traditional and innovative names for wines and champagnes. The article also reveals word-formation models of pragmatonyms in the wine-making sphere and a hierarchy of communicative functions. Particular attention is paid to the actualization of the associative-connotative series when forming the names of wines.

Foreign languages have always occupied a prominent place in Russia and the Russian culture. The paper states that despite being seemingly isolated from the outside world, Russia has always been closely connected with it, and not only by trade and political relations, but also by spirit and culture. The research contributes to the discussion of the role of foreign languages in Russian culture and reviews the development of foreign languages teaching system in Russia. Adoption of Christianity was the first significant reason for the spread of foreign languages in the society that brought not only a new religion, but also the Greek language along with the theological books. Over time, more and more foreign languages began to spread in the society, sometimes even entering into a conflict with one another: Latin with Greek (in the theological field), German with French (in the sphere of politics), French with English (in the literary field). In certain historical periods (for example, in the first half of the 19th century), foreign languages even displaced the Russian language in some social strata. The contribution underlines the importance of analysing such historical periods with special reference to interconnection between language as a means of communication and national identity. The investigation also argues that at times, for example, like in Soviet times, foreign languages acquired the status of the ‘dead’ languages and became an exclusive tribute to the tradition and a means of reading. In conclusion, the paper declares that foreign languages have always retained their important role, opening up new horizons for the Russian people and connecting them with the outside world.

The paper presents the structure, content and organization of the glossary of English verbs and their word combinations functioning in the geographic register of scientific speech. The glossary is compiled at the Department of Foreign Languages for the Faculty of Geography. It is a kind of “active” lexicographic source which helps students and scientists to master ESP of geographic disciplines. Verbs are given as part of the most common lexical and grammatical collocations such as river flows, sea level rises, rain falls accompanied by brief contexts illustrating their real usage in scientific articles, textbooks and terminological dictionaries on geography. Verbs of different kinds: terminological verbs, verbs of general English, verbs of general scientific vocabulary are usually used in recurrent collocations and free word combinations. Their linguistic functioning is confined to a set of rather simple and logically based patterns. These verbal word combinations serve as the “building material” of scientific speech in the field of Earth sciences. Thus, our glossary contains the most essential information about the use of basic geographical verbs. It can also serve as the material for testing the knowledge of geographic ESP.

The article is an analytical review of some problems of dictionary codification of Luxembourg German Standard. The relevance of the study lies in the fact that the Luxembourg variety of German Standard, which differs in a number of distinctive features from other national varieties of the German language, is still poorly studied. Some aspects of the study of the German language in Luxembourg, the criteria of the standard in general and the features of the Luxembourg standard of the German language in particular are briefly described. The main part of the study is the analysis of current lexicographic sources that codify the specific features of the pronunciation, grammar, lexical and semantic norms of the Luxembourg Standard. The results of the analysis of lexicographic sources, which are descriptive codifiers of the German Standard in Luxembourg, are presented: a pronunciation dictionary of the Standard High German language, the project “Regional Variation in the Grammar of Standard German”, dictionaries of varieties of the German language. The structure and content of the dictionary of the Luxembourg standard for the German language [Sieburg, 2022] are considered in detail. This includes general information about the mega-, macro- and microstructure of the dictionary, the subject and variable characteristics of the codified vocabulary, the features of the structure and content of dictionary entries. As a result of the analysis, a conclusion is made about the development of the normalizing activity of the Lu­xembourg German Standard and about the recognizing of this standard, which has specific features at different levels of the language system.

The present article aims to reveal the particular features of the way proper names function in an operatic text, in particular in the libretto of the British comic opera “The Sorcerer” created by William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. This study is based on the following hypothesis: within the framework of theatrical discourse, one of the main functions of a proper name is an information-accumulative, or cumulative, function. As an integral part of culture, an onym has the ability to store culturally significant information. “Decoding” such onyms in a literary or an operatic text provides the reader or viewer with all the context necessary for an understanding of what is happening according to the plot. For example, in “The Sorcerer” there are anthroponyms that indicate the status that the main characters have in the Anglo-Saxon society. Apart from anthroponyms there are also culturally significant toponyms, which have to be understood in order to grasp the comic effect created by William Gilbert, the author of the libretto. The analysis of the few chosen onyms made it possible to prove that a proper name may play an important role in the construction of the plot and in the creation of characters’ images within the framework of a musical theatre piece.

The present study is devoted to one of the topical issues of linguoculturology — integration processes taking place in the intercultural space. The realization of these complex processes is possible owing to the word and its semantic content, which is constantly enriched with new or well-known, but rethought in the practice of speech activity meanings. The article presents the results of the study of the semantics of the word mind and its adjectival variant smart in the comparative aspect of the Russian and French languages (l’intelligence, intelligent). The semantics of these words is actualized in modern speech due to new technological aspects of human life, such as artificial intelligence, information and digital technologies. They are of interest as concepts that formed the intercultural space of Russia and France as a result of the mutual influence of French surrealism and Russian avant-garde.

The article presents an analysis of precedent statements in socio-political discourse, which is reflected in different types of media texts thematically related to the coronavirus pandemic. The described means of language contributes to the realization of various communicative strategies, first of all the strategy of persuasion. The article demonstrates the role of precedent statements and illustrates their persuasive potential as one of the fundamental elements of intertextuality category in the framework of rhetorical media discourse. As an effective means of implementing both the global strategy of persuasion and specific communicative tactics — warning, threatening, manipulating, discrediting, etc. — precedent statements are regularly reproduced in different types of rhetorical discourse (political, economic, religious, etc.) and make a significant contribution to achieving the main perlocutionary effect — inducing the recipient to take a certain action.⁠

Science popularization is undergoing significant transformations, including changes among popularizers themselves, which leads to the diversification of communication strategies and a shift in functional potential. The article deals with the strategies employed by the journalist author in the text of a book on law as a genre of popular science legal discourse. Two key popularization strategies that contribute to the implementation of the author’s communicative intention, and enable the agent not only to activate background knowledge of the target recipient, but also influence their axiological attitudes are analyzed and described. The right choice of popularization strategies makes special information accessible to the recipient and directly affects the effectiveness of the perception of a popular science text. The informative-explanatory strategy is used by the popularizer to interpret key legal concepts. The strategy of manipulative influence enables the agent to influence the target recipient by presenting special information from a certain angle. The conclusion is drawn that a contemporary popular science book on law does not only contribute to the public legal education but also shapes a reader’s ideology.

V.N. Komissarov as a famous theoretician in the sphere of translation was introduced to his Chinese colleagues in 1984, when modern translation theory just started in China. For forty years now, his translation theories have been disseminated, adopted, and developed. V.N. Komissarov’s major works, including Questions of Translation Theory in Foreign Linguistics (1978), Linguistics of Translation (1980), Translation Theory (Linguistic Aspects) (1990) and Modern Translation Studies (1999), have been reviewed in Chinese academic journals. His last monograph, Modern Translation Studies (2004), was translated into Chinese. Chinese translation studies introduced his theoretical ideas in the sphere of translation, such as the nature of translation, translation equivalence, translation models, translation correspondences, translation norms, translation pragmatics, textological aspects of translation studies, cultural and sociological aspects of translation studies, translation teaching methodology, etc. Certain ideas, such as pragmatic translation adaptation, have been further developed. In general, V.N. Komissarov’s theoretical viewpoints have been studied and summarized in many scientific papers and various works, which contributed to the development of Chinese translation theory. Moreover, his translation thoughts are widely used by Chinese scholars for theoretical research and the training of future translators. Some of V.N. Komissarov’s views are applied to the study of the function of cultural translation, translation adaptation, the definition of translation, translation of the national style of speech and other theoretical problems. The scholar’s theory of translation is most often used to address a variety of issues in translation practice. The most influential theory is undoubtedly the theory of translation equivalence. While using this theory, numerous master theses and translation reports analyze issues in both fiction and information translation, as well as problems in interpretation and audiovisual translation.

An ideologically-bound unit is a reference to a specific ideology that exists in the context of a particular epoch, and can be explored as an intrinsic element of the global vertical context. Undoubtedly, ideologemes represent a certain challenge for simultaneous interpreters who are not always able to adequately perceive the global vertical context of the source utterance and to properly convey the associative and connotative potential of these units. The present study is undertaken to pinpoint the peculiarities of the modern American political discourse, namely the public speeches of Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and their simultaneous interpretation into Russian, carried out by media interpreters of “Voice of America”, an international multimedia news network of the USA. The research is aimed at identifying and comparing interpreting strategies employed to achieve the required level of rendition appropriateness and usability. The findings further reveal that the global vertical context of the source utterance and the communicative pragmatics of the interpreter-mediated event seem to impact the choice of an interpreting strategy that encompasses specific techniques. It is noteworthy that in order to render an ideologically-bound unit and its derivatives, an interpreter is expected to use corresponding equivalents in the target language, which do not distort the speaker’s intentions and voiced position, as well as convey the communicative effect of the source utterance and fit into the recipient’s ideological picture of the world.