No 1 (2014)

This paper discusses the dynamic relationship of word meaning with context, which implies a reciprocal process between the two. On the one hand context specifies word meaning, and words can create their own context. According to current pragmatic theories meaning depends on its context. However, this is only one side of the matter. Words encoding standard prior contexts can create their own context. World knowledge is available for us in two forms: 1) Actual situational context in which the interaction occurs, and 2) Lexical units that encapsulate the history of their use, i. e., the situations in which they have been used (see Kecskes 2004, 2008, 2013). The paper introduces the Dynamic Model of Meaning that explains how actual communicative meaning is created as the result of the interplay between prior context encoded in the words used in the utterance and actual situational context in which the interaction takes place.

This article is a cross-cultural analysis of idiomatic expressions of biblical origin in five languages: Russian, Spanish, Italian, French and English. Biblical idioms are regarded as important phenomena which strongly influence different speech acts. The article discusses the most important structural and stylistic characteristics of these idioms and identifies and compares their substantive differences.

This article undertakes a comparative analysis of the associative meaning of standard images in the Russian and German idiomatic expressions of comparison on the basis of their use in texts of national corpora. The following relation between the analyzed words are determined: equivalence, intersection, discrepancy and lacunarity. These demonstrate different associative content of semantically identical language units.

This article focuses on the ethical aspects of mass communication and key trends of russian media language. The author analyses ethics and law in modern journalism, culture of speech in media discourse, intentional, structural and social aspects of mass communication. Ethics of mass communication presupposes the observance of legal and moral norms, social responsibility and respect for the audience.

The article examines the problem of identifying the typological characteristics of a “linguistic identity”. An analytical overview of the main types of “linguistic identity” brings out the differences in the approach to their reconstruction. Using research experience, the author, as an example, puts forward the components of an integrated approach to the study of typological characteristics of the new Russian “linguistic identity” that has emerged at the turn of the XX-XXI century in the CIS countries.

The linguistic situation existing in Quebec (a Canadian province) at present calls for the need to study the Quebecois linguistic personality. This article examines the concept Québécois in the linguistic consciousness of French-speaking Quebecers. The paper provides the results and conclusions of the conducted experiments and research.

This article studies the interrelation between the word as a sign, its meaning, image and concept. It likewise studies the link between meaning as a unit of translation and the referential aspects it denotes.