Vol 20, No 2 (2016)

Articles

Cultural Linguistics: Studying Linguocultural Universum

Ivanova S.V.
Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2016;20(2):9-16
pages 9-16 views

Ex Pluribus Unum: Linguocultural Concept as an Integral Entity

Vorkachev S.G.

Abstract

Content and peculiarities of the Russian branch of anthropological linguistics - linguocultural conceptology - as well as its basic term - linguocultural concept - are studied. It is established that linguocultural concept possesses a set of differential features most important of which is the presence of various different components reflecting the interdisciplinary character of this discipline in its semantics. Disciplinary status of the Russian linguocultural conceptology is proved by the fact of possessing its own terminological system which includes both general linguistics terms and special terms. Being rather integral this system has its weak points turning it into an object of criticism. Apart from the constructive criticism linguocultural conceptology is confronted with ideologically motivated criticism which denies its basic axiom: the existence of the language and culture ethnospecificity.
Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2016;20(2):17-30
pages 17-30 views

Perception of Cultural Concept “Wine” in French Evaluational World View

Loginova P.G.

Abstract

The paper focuses on analysis of idiomatic expressions such as proverbs and sayings in French language within two semantic groups such as «man’s spiritual reality» and «wine as interpretation of folk wisdom». Their semantic features are discussed as well as their role in french evaluational world view. The author attempts to illustrate the peculiarities of cultural mentality and national character of French people within their attitude to wine as a cultural value. The author also focuses on intricacies of language and touches the difficulties of translation and interpretation of phraseological units that occur in the present study due to the absence of similar connotations in Russian culture. The language units that are exposed in the paper and cited as examples were taken for analysis from up-to-date dictionaries, foreign research scientific works and were also kindly provided by native speakers. Idiomatic expressions that include cultural concept «wine» in French language represent the interpretation of outworld fixed in collective consciousness that incarnates historical and cultural values. Wine culture in France is very ancient that is why language units related to concept «wine» represent profound linguistic material that is worth of being analyzed within the frame of language and culture as well as within the scope of intercultural communication.
Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2016;20(2):31-45
pages 31-45 views

The Image of the Enemy as a Stereotype of Thinking

Fomenko T.A.

Abstract

In this article we analyze the process of stereotype thinking and its verbal expression. We focus our attention on the symbolic vision of our society in the mind of Europeans: Russia is evil, a country where law and democracy have deteriorated. Our aim is to examine the process of mind manipulation and imprinting of the enemy image on the mind of the society by means of communication and show the difficulty of destruction of stereotypes which prevents people of the 21st century from the objective perception of reality. We conducted our study on dictionary entries, articles, B.Obama’s speech in particular, and the extract from David Mitchell’s book “Black Swan Green”. The research is based on the data worked out by a number of sciences: Cultural Linguistics, Psychology, Psycholinguistics, Cross-Cultural Communication. We used the methods of functional and pragmatic analysis of the text. A stereotype is defined as an element of the cultural code which can be decoded by means of language; itt affects the way of thinking, behavior and lexis. Thus, the proposed thesis of a stereotype is supposed to be changing but too slowly. It is concluded that the sterotype “Russia is the enemy” possesses its formal linguistic, mental, and behavioural parametres.
Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2016;20(2):46-60
pages 46-60 views

Precedent Phenomena in Quebecois Linguistic World View

Bolotina K.E.

Abstract

This article is devoted to the linguocultural analysis of precedent phenomena as parts of Quebecois’ cognitive base. Precedent phenomena being cultural facts are one of the key issues in modern linguistic and cognitive studies. By precedent phenomena we mean, according to Y.E. Prohorov, such entities when verbalized in discourse that refer to a certain cultural fact behind them. In the article the precedent phenomena such as precedent text, precedent situation, precedent utterance, and precedent name are analyzed. The main theses of the precedence theory given in the article (Y.N. Karaulov, Y.E. Prohorov, V.V. Krasnyh, D.B. Gudkov) are at the heart of precedence studies on the basis of different languages. However, a complex analysis of precedent phenomena in the Quebec national variant of French is new to Russian linguistics. The study of precedent phenomena enables us to elicit features of their functioning in ethnospecific discourse and determine cultural dominants existing in Quebecois’ linguistic world view. Given the fact that the size of the article is limited, we undertooke the analysis of eight phenomena precedent of the bearers of Quebec linguoculture. The choice of phenomena is determined by the frequency of their use in discourse. The facts analyzed are of national character, i.e. known to all members of the linguocultural community. A certain cultural fact is at the very core of each precedent phenomenon given in the article. To get the whole picture we analysed historic, political, and cultural context connected to the precedent phenomena in question. The study enables us to elicit distinctive features that are at the core of each phenomenon. The results are backed with the supportive material drawn from analysis of different types of discourse. The analysis of precedent phenomena undertaken in this article allows us to reconstruct, to a certain extent, Quebec cultural space and is a stepping stone to the reconstruction of the Quebecois linguistic world view.
Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2016;20(2):61-76
pages 61-76 views

Pseudo-communication vs Quasi-communication

Chernichkina E.K., Luneva O.V.

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of such specific forms of human interaction as quasi- and pseudo-communication. The authors specify the terms which sometimes are used interchangeably. The aim of the conducted research is to find out and demonstrate existing differences and similarities of these communicative phenomena on the basis of theoretical and empirical analysis of the research material in the Russian and English languages. The authors describe communicative features of these phenomena and consider the reasons for such forms of communication and their increased use at present. The research material is represented fiction extracts, film scripts, jokes, print media, a collection of oral speech records both in Russian and English. The authors make use of the following research methods: definitional analysis (to define the terminology of the research), the method of linguistic observation and introspection (to select the communicative situations), the descriptive-analytical method and the method of comparative analysis (to identify similarities and differences of the target phenomena), and the conversational analysis method (to view productivity and effectiveness of a dialogue), etc. The classification of possible forms of their existence in different discourses is suggested. The authors assume that both pseudo- and quasi-communication are characterized as fictitious forms of human interaction with some noticeable violation of the basic communicative model. Pseudo-communication suffers from the discrepancy of the meaning of a coded and decoded message. The authors put forward the main parameters of scientific classification of it as follows: adequate understanding, intentionality, and the stage of communicative action where the failure takes place. At the same time they stress the necessity to distinguish the cases of pseudo talks from phatic and indirect communication. Quasi-communcation is marked by the lack of a real partner and hence the lack of any adequate feedback. The authors assume that any kind of communication can acquire a quasi-form. The preliminary conclusions of the comparative analysis prove that these kinds of communication are characteristic of both Russian and English communicative behavior. The authors stress the importance and perspective of research and scientific analysis of these communicative phenomena (in its comparative aspect as well) for linguists and experts in the theory of communication, the theory of crosscultural communication, and linguistic ecology.
Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2016;20(2):77-90
pages 77-90 views

Language Cultural Specificity of the Language Units “Cat” and “Dog” in English and Chinese Languages

Baghana J., Iakovleva E.S.

Abstract

The article deals with the national and cultural features of zoonyms “cat” and “dog” in English and Chinese languages. The authors point out zoonyms’ main characteristics and their national cultural originality. Zoonyms represent the special features of national linguistic world view and values in the comparative analysis’ aspect The article represents interpretation of the language units in the monolingual explanatory dictionaries. The dictionary definitions of the terms phraseology and zoonym are given. The research is devoted to phraseology in the English and Chinese languages. The historical notes about the attitude toward cats and dogs in Britain and China are shown. Also some peculiarities of zoonyms function in English and Chinese animal fairy-tales are observed. Based on the differences the authors notice differences of phraseology between zoonyms “cat” and “dog”. Some examples in the English and Chinese languages are observed. The analysis represents universal and national specific semantic features of the present units in the languages so far as phraseology contains the most vivid representation of the national-cultural specificity of world view, connotative features and values peoples in Europe and Asia.
Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2016;20(2):91-99
pages 91-99 views

Truncation in Korean Cyber Communication

Egorova K.G., Ahn San Chol -.

Abstract

The aim of the research work is to deliver a consistent patterns of truncation in the internet communication and the factors that initiate the truncation based on the Optimality Theory suggested by McCarthy and Prince 1995, McCarthy 2008. The tasks of the research are to review the types of truncation in Korean language, to make a detailed analysis of the overall processes of truncation based on analytical tool - the Optimality Theory. Truncated forms in Korean language are mainly observed in the Internet communication, but not in regular communication. There are three main types of truncation in the internet communication. This paper examines the patterns of truncation in internet communication and suggests the major factors triggering truncation and desyllabification. To this end, we employ the basic framework of Optimality Theory (McCarthy & Prince 1995, McCarthy 2008) as our tool of analysis. During the discussion, we invoke several major constrains and show how they interact to represent the surface realization of those new forms. First of all, two major constraints, Truncate-Weak and Recoveralility, indicate that morpho-phonologically weak elements can be truncated only if the original form or meaning can be recovered from the truncated ones. Beside these, the markedness constraints, *Off-glide, *CC, *VV, and *VhV, interact with the faithfulness constraints, such as Max-Initial and Max-σ, in which the markedness constraints are ranked higher than the faithfulness constraints. In any morphological changes the main constraint is RECOVERABILITY. It is also shown that the same analytical method applies to the truncation in English loanwords as well.
Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2016;20(2):100-111
pages 100-111 views

Semantics of Kinship Terms in Tamil from the Semantic Typology Point of View

Smirnitskaya A.A.

Abstract

In this article the author examines the lexical-semantic group “kinship terms” in Tamil, applying the attainments of modern semantic typology and the theory of semantic derivation. The kinship terms describing nuclear and extended family are explored. The “semantic shift” relation between two different meanings is established if such relation is realized by synchronous polysemy in one lexeme, semantic derivation, diachronic semantic change, cognates or some other means. The starting point of the study is the typological data from the DatSemShift catalogue of semantic shifts in languages of the world developed by a group of researchers under the guidance of Anna A. Zalizniak in the Institute of Linguistics, RAS. We verify the presence of semantic shifts described in the Database in Tamil. Also, we propose new semantic shifts specific only for this language. We confirm the presence of semantic relation of the studied type among the meanings with English “labels”: father - parents, girl - daughter, to deliver (a child) - parents, - child, old woman - wife, owner - wife and others. The data also allows the assumption that the same relation exists between the meanings: old - grandfather, earth - mother, son - courage, unripe - son and others. The meanings of this field are the sources of semantic movements to abstract notions, lexicon of posession, forms of address and others; in addition many inner semantic relations inside this field are revealed. The meanings covering the nuclear part of the kinship system participate in universal semantic shifts described in the DatSemShift catalogue, while the meanings from collateral branches of this bifurcative kinship system (uncle, aunt) turn out to be incomparable with kinship terms from indo-european lineal systems. Their meanings can be included in the DatSemShift catalogue only with an indication of system specifics. The information about semantic shifts can be useful for explanatory and translation dictionaries, for anthropological research and for reconstruction of meaning in historical linguistics. Systematic understanding of the semantic connections in the kinship terms allows a different vision of their place in the conceptual space of the Tamil culture.
Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2016;20(2):112-127
pages 112-127 views

Adaptation Technique in the Translation of Literary Texts (as Exemplified in the Translation of French and English Literary Texts)

Tasenko P.S., Nelyubova N.Y., Ershov V.I.

Abstract

This article describes some particularities of translation of literary texts from French and English into Russian as exemplified in the novel “The Lady of the Camellias” by A. Dumas and the novel “Wuthering Heights” by E. Brontë. The article examines in particular the use of the adaptation technique in order to confirm the hypothesis of the connection of this translation transformation with conveyance of the original's stylistic features. This transformation is applied in the translation of some phenomena and phrases in the original text that can barely be translated because of their national singularity, a significant time gap, or peculiarity for other culture bearers. The theoretical foundation for the article are literary style researches [Barkhudarov, 1975; Komissarov, 1990; Chaikovskij, 1997; Chukovskij, 2014; Baker, 2011], as well as researches in the field of the use of adaptation in the translation of literary texts [Alekseeva, 2004; Vlakhov, Florin, 1980; Shchetinkin, 1987; Clifford, Landers, 2001; Newmark, 1988]. The research methods used in the study are the following: relevant scientific literature analysis, statistical approach, comparative study of literary texts and their translations. A thorough analysis of the nature of adaptation enabled us to specify a range of translation transformations which allow adaptation to be applied in the reanslation of literary texts. According to the results of the research, the informative as well as the aesthetic function plays a very important role in the translation of literary texts.
Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2016;20(2):128-141
pages 128-141 views
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Appeal to Readers

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Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2016;20(2):152-153
pages 152-153 views

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Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2016;20(2):154-161
pages 154-161 views

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Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2016;20(2):162-165
pages 162-165 views

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