Moscow University Bulletin. Series 19. Linguistics and Intercultural Communication. 2026. 1.

The paper is devoted to a topical issue of the communicative P. Grice’s cooperation principles and J. Leach’s politeness maxima. The research is based on the theory of cooperation and politeness combined with the strategic approach to the study of communicative and pragmatic characteristics of the literary text/discourse. The subject of the analysis is the strategy of differentiation the “positive politeness” and “negative politeness” phenomena. The result of the study is the implementation of the negative politeness strategy in the modern literary text/discourse. It is carried out through specific speech tactics (such as compliance with speech formalities and communicative distance; deliberate uncertainty and vagueness of statements; contrasting of speaker’s achievements to his opponent’s negative expectations; demonstration of success in fulfilling the promises; self-presentation.) One of these negative politeness tactics is considered to be so called “political correctness.” The author comes to the conclusion that the implementation of this type of negative politeness strategy is not carried out properly. The results of the study can be used and applied in the search of the specific language tools that allow to convey literary text/discourse effectively.

The present paper explores WAHALA, AFRO and ASO EBI as ethnocspecific concepts which operate in the novel “Wahala” by N. May, an Anglo- Nigerian writer, and allow her to depict identity construction in biracial female characters along the normal, hyperethnic and hypoethnic trajectories.

The type of hybrid identity constructed by a mixed-race person is a function of one’s perception of their own group and other groups. An optimum level of tolerance towards one’s group and other ethnicities is referred to as normal identity among mixed individuals within the framework of this research. Hyperethnicity manifests itself in hybrid identity through foregrounding one of the cultures of one’s parents, whereas eliminating a culture as unimportant compared to the other one is a marker of hypoethnicity.

The results obtained through a study of the abovementioned concepts as represented in N. May’s novel show that the protagonists’ mixed identity develops along the hypoethnic trajectory when they reject the African half of their hybrid self. Hyperethnicity develops alongside giving more prominence to that very part of their cultural identity. Normal hybrid identity in its turn is constructed due to emphasizing the moral anchors of one’s mixed-race group and putting their personal qualities and deeds before their roots.

The article focuses on the study of the modus category of evidentiality in media discourse using the method of language modeling. Particular attention is given to the development of a neural network model capable of predicting the progression of evidential statements (ES) in accordance with the communicative intentions of the author or speaker. The application of the linguosynergetic approach enabled the differentiation between basic and extended evidential semantics, as well as the description of the interrelation between evidentiality and other modal categories, such as authorization, approximation, perception, modality, negation, evaluativity, personal reference, persuasiveness, expressivity, emotivity, and temporality. The research is based on a corpus of English-language media discourse (BNC), annotated according to the phasal structure of EUs. The typical combinations of modal categories identified through combinatorial analysis served as the foundation for training the language model, which is capable of predicting modal development in discourse context and effectively recognizing both explicit and implicit cases of evidentiality. The results confirm the effectiveness of language modeling in tasks related to the recognition, description, and interpretation of polymodal semantics and highlight the potential of neural network methods for the linguistic analysis of complex discursive structures. The proposed methodology can be applied in the development of automated linguistic expertise systems for media texts, including the detection of manipulative strategies.

The absence of regulatory frameworks for artificial intelligence (AI) in education negatively impacts AI-supported language education in Russia, resulting in inefficiency and a lack of systemic integration. So, it is crucial to consider the regulatory implications of AI-assisted FLT & FLL. To tackle this issue, what must be done is to evaluate theoretical and applied researches on AI in language education, alongside a linguodidactic analysis of Russian regulations governing AI in education. Current studies indicate that many linguodidactic specialists mostly emphasize the positive aspects of AI in language education while overlooking significant educational risks faced by university teachers and learners interacting with AI for teaching and learning purposes. This paper examines the psychological, pedagogical, educational, and ethical risks associated with AI-driven FLT and FLL. The author’s analysis of the “National Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence for the Period up to 2030” highlights important considerations for developers creating a regulatory framework for AI in language education. A scientifically grounded and experimentally validated framework is essential for university settings, ensuring that developers address both the potential benefits of AI tools and the associated psychological, pedagogical, and ethical risks.

This article focuses on the development of a model for professionally- oriented language training and development of foreign language teachers. The relevance of the research is explained by the need to improve the quality of pedagogical education in Russia, as reflected in national educational projects and concepts. The authors analyze existing approaches to teacher training, highlighting key problems such as uneven quality of training and lack of shared approaches to its implementation.

The proposed model includes five main blocks: normative-goal-setting, methodological, content-technological, competence-based, and result-oriented. The normative-goal-setting block is based on state educational standards and professional teacher standards. The methodological block relies on action-oriented, interdisciplinary, competence-based, communicative, integrative reflective, socio-cultural, and strategic approaches. The competence-based block defines the basic professional competencies of a language teacher, such as general pedagogical, linguodidactic, communicative, managerial, research, and self-educational. Special attention is paid to professional communicative pedagogical strategies, which are considered a key element of the learning content. The content-technological block includes a learning resource module with programs of disciplines and advanced training, as well as methods and forms of personality-oriented and blended learning. The importance of a unified assessment toolkit for comparing the level of training of students and practicing teachers is emphasized.

The effectiveness of the model is aimed at increasing the number of language teachers with developed professional communicative competence, which, in turn, should contribute to improving the quality of pedagogical communication in the country. The experience of implementing the model in a number of leading universities in Russia confirms its potential for further implementation.

The article studies the issues of developing special competencies necessary for working with digital libraries among undergraduate and graduate students in the field of “Cultural Studies”. In the context of digitalization of the Russian educational and cultural space, the question arises of developing appropriate competencies in students — future specialists in the field of cultural heritage representation. An analysis of the national project “Culture” showed that one of the most important and pressing tasks is the digitization and replenishment of electronic libraries. However, in addition to working with digital copies of cultural heritage objects, modern specialists must be ready to work with those objects that are initially digital in nature. In this regard, the creation of new formats for systematization and reconstruction of information about cultural objects becomes relevant. The most popular tool for this are digital libraries, working with which it is impossible to do without supplementing professional competencies with components of ICT competence. In addition, ICT competence, developed through interaction with digital libraries, helps to implement personal projects to create one’s own knowledge base. In conclusion, it is advisable to include ICT competence as an independent competence in the list of professional competencies as well as develop a course aimed at forming the components of this competence necessary for working with digital libraries.

Since the 1970s, the intralinguistic specificity observed in oral and written forms of utterance has been explained by the specificity of the production channel. However, the oral-written interaction present in real-life communication situations today is characterized by such diversity that it is sometimes difficult to determine the dominant production mode in each specific case.

This article examines the discursive interaction of production channels using a hybrid form of speech production created by professionals writing and reflecting on an important and relevant issue during oral discussion.

Working in the conditions of irreversibility and progressiveness of the oral speech production process, the speaker simultaneously verbalizes substantive-factual information (SFI-attitude), including it in his discursive activity: addresses his audience (extroverted attitude) and controls the process of speech production (introverted attitude).

The role of prosody in this process, marked by a pause and a pre-pause terminal contour, ensures information processing both at the production and comprehension levels. These markers are discussed in the article within a comparison of extroverted and introverted variants of monologue speech.

The article develops the concept of the image-map. It arises as a result of applying a spatial approach to the study of literary texts from a cultural and geographical perspective.

An image-map is a conceptual geographical image (of a country, region, or city) created by an author and capable of being visualized on a map.

An image-map is formed by looking at the world from above, from a bird’seye view, a view imagined by a writer or poet. Therefore, words such as bird, ethereal being, flight, sky, clouds, and mountains are characteristic indicators of this vision of the world.

The concept of a map image includes three levels: conceptual, literary, and geographical.

The conceptual component is expressed in the author’s spatial idea — geopolitical, geocultural, geohistorical. It forms the author’s vision of the described space.

The geographical component of the map-image is aimed at the cartographic visualization of the literary text, which allows us to better understand the spatial scope of the author’s thought and the geographical images of places that he has invented.

Literary texts that contain toponyms or ethnonyms as markers of space reflect geographical reality. Such “geographical” texts of literary works can be considered as a geographical supertext of literature.

Literary texts that contain map-images are associated with spatial or cartographic imagination. The spatial scope of map images is limited not by the author’s gaze, but by the author’s thoughts and imagination. Therefore, map images in literature are usually geographical images of the world, images of countries and regions.

This article examines map images of Russia and the Caucasus based on specific literary texts.

The article explores the phenomenon of cultural code accommodation in Italian fashion using examples from Dolce & Gabbana collections. The author analyzes the exhibition “Art Adorned,” held in London in 2019, where fashion items by this brand were integrated into an exposition of Italian paintings dating back to the 14th–17th centuries. The main goal is to identify the potential of fashion in transmitting national cultural codes, determining principles for selecting signs and symbols, as well as analyzing the influence of classical painting on contemporary design. Methodologically, the study employs semiotic and systemic approaches to analyze the interaction between fashion items and background artworks, identifying elements that reinterpret famous painted images on dresses. Special attention is given to the principle of polyvalence and multifunctionality in fashion, which manifests itself through its ability to create hybrid signs and complicate their interpretation. Specific case studies demonstrate how fashion becomes a means of preserving and transmitting historical-cultural heritage, reinforcing generational connections, and forming collective identity. Research confirms the hypothesis about the significant role of fashion in shaping and strengthening cultural values, illustrating the possibility of modern design serving as a bridge between history and modernity. Conclusions emphasize the importance of interdisciplinary research in studying the interplay between fashion and art, highlighting the roles of designers and curators in actualizing cultural codes and representing them in contemporary society.

Using the methodological framework of narrative linguistics and linguistic stylistics, this article studies the narrative organization of Dmitry Bakin’s short stories. Functional, structural-syntagmatic, and figurative-expressive parameters of the writer’s unique literary language are illustrated through analyzing the story “Leaves”. Andrew Bromfield’s English translation of the story is examined to identify optimal translation techniques for recreating the complex aesthetic form of the source text, constructed according to the principle of narrative polyphony and dynamic shift s in narrative modes (with zero, external, and internal focalization). The comparative translational analysis is used to identify a general program of translation actions (translation strategy) that enables the translator to achieve formal-aesthetic equivalence between texts in two languages and fulfill the pragmatic task of preserving the source text compositional and syntactic invariance in all its structural, semantic, and stylistic complexity. Translational syntactic assimilation is described as a translator’s strategy for working with the narrative form of a text, the development of which occurs through the cascading syntactic complication of simple sentences and through the branching juxtaposition and contrasting of different types of coordinative and subordinate connections within a single narrative passage.

The article discusses the problems of scientific criticism of literary translation. The research material was translations of short stories. The purpose of the study is to determine the spiritual semantic dominants of the analyzed texts, including emotional, evaluative and pragmatic components, based on the analysis of the role of Orthodox concepts and realities in the structure of the content of the stories, and to find an algorithm for their translation interpretation, which can become a starting point for searching for relevant translation equivalents and for constructive and critical analysis of the finished literary translation. The chosen strategy is based on a categorically oriented model of analysis of the original text, namely, an appeal to the ways of transmitting the categories of the author, chronotope and text dynamics, the most important in the genre of the story. The author’s category, author’s intentions, and hidden dynamics make up the complex structure of the subtext. This phenomenon of Chekhov’s short stories is the main translation problem and requires an in-depth analysis. Specific language problems are associated with misinterpretation of individual situations and inadequate vocabulary selection.

The urban communicative space — or linguistic landscape — is composed of informational and symbolic elements. While the first type of sign aims to inform city residents, the second type is more complex to perceive and may reflect intricate social processes. Such signs are created not for the purpose of conveying information, but to enhance the appeal of a place, create a desired atmosphere, and ultimately serve marketing objectives. The article provides an analysis of the symbolic resources in the linguistic landscapes of Moscow and St. Petersburg and identifies three strategies for their creation: the use of precedent phenomena, the imitation of interpersonal communication, and the co-creation of symbolic communicative acts. The analysis employs a geosemiotic approach to enable a more comprehensive assessment of the role played by symbolic elements within their linguistic and social context. For each strategy, the means of speech expressiveness aimed at achieving a specific pragmatic effect are analyzed. The conclusion highlights how symbolic elements of the urban linguistic landscape complement contemporary advertising discourse by relying on the creation of an emotional connection with the addressee and explores their potential for the development of the creative economy in the future.

The current article forms part of the broader research that investigates the mechanisms of gradient semantic shift within synonymic series of adjectives denoting personal characteristics in Russian and Chinese languages.

The paper is devoted to examining the semantic dynamics within a synonymous series with the lexeme “агрессивный” (aggressive) as a core element and its synonyms in Russian, as well as a number of its Chinese equivalents (such as 侵略性, 攻击性, 强势, etc.). The aim of the article is to identify systematic patterns in the conceptualization of aggression as a human characteristic in distantly related languages, namely, the changes in emotive valence and cultural load within the synonymous series.

The research is carried out within the framework of cognitive semantics, relying on the integrative methodological approach that combines the tools of prototype theory, componential analysis, and conceptual analysis.

Through a detailed comparative analysis of synonymous series of descriptive adjectives in Russian and Chinese, the structural and connotative differences in the semantic dynamics across the synonymic series in the two languages under study are demonstrated. The study establishes the universal nature of the gradient shift in emotive valence from the negative to the positive pole when moving from the core to the periphery of the synonymic row. It is also demonstrated that the linguistic embodiment of this shift is conditioned by the perceptions of aggression inherent to native speakers of Russian and Chinese. The study illustrates the profound interconnection between semantic processes, the language-specific conceptualization, and the value systems of Russian and Chinese cultures, contributing to the theory of semantic variation and intercultural communication.