Vol 22, No 2 (2018)

The psycholinguistic study is aimed at investigating the impact of culture and language on the images of socially important concepts in linguistic consciousness. The study is based on the data obtained in the massive associative research implemented in Tatarstan and Sakha (Yakutia), which involved sample groups of Russians, bilingual Yakutians and bilingual Tatarians. It employs the conceptual framework of linguistic consciousness developed by Russian psycholinguists and associated with the notions of speech act, consciousness and culture. Linguistic consciousness reflects speech acts in relation to cognitive processes and the transformation of these acts into communication. The sample was obtained by a free associative experiment which registered the first reply. The study presents the obtained results as Karaulov’s model of “associated gestalt“, modified to meet the requirements of the study. The model is divided into semantic zones and subzones which are further compared in different samples. The paper demonstrates that the associative meanings of lexemes-stimuli contain components clearly dependent on the differences between not only the ethnic language structures, but also between the Russian, Yakutian and Tatarian cultures and their mutual influences in the course of intercultural communication and interaction in vitally important areas.

The worldview of any ethnic group includes the concept of “family” as one of the key cultural constants. Lexical means of its expression possess both universal value and cultural specifics, which account for the importance of the study undertaken in this paper. The research deals with phraseological units belonging to the thematic field “kinship relations” in languages of different origin: Russian, English and Kumyk. The difference in their properties is explained by the fact that Russian is one of the inflectional synthetic East Slavic languages; English is an analytical language belonging to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European family; and Kumyk is an agglutinative language, which belongs to the Kipchak group of Turkic languages. The multifaceted comparative study of lexico-semantic components expressing the vertical type of kinship, their structure and means of expression is aimed at the discovery of cultural specifics in the perception and understanding of the concept “family” in Russian, English and Kumyk. The paper contains a structured analysis of lexical characteristics of the lexeme “family” (“line”, “clan”, “tribe”, “nation”) arranged on the linguistic, conceptual and mental levels. The research is done from the perspective of cultural studies, cognitive linguistics and semantics. It employs the methods of descriptive, analytical and semantic analyses (with elements of componental and definitional analyses). The study contributes to a broader discussion of the correlation of language and mind and is significant for revealing the culture-specific linguistic and cognitive features of Russian, English and Kumyk cultures. The comparative study of phraseological units belonging to the thematic field “kinship relations” is instrumental in revealing communalities and differences in the worldviews of the three cultures.

The framework for the present research is diachronic political metaphor studies that deal with the historical development and historiographical potential of political metaphors. The relevance of diachronic analysis of political metaphors in British political discourse (1945-2000) is determined by both linguistic and extralinguistic factors. The paper analyzes the evolution of conceptual images associated with World War II. The study utilizes the principle of uniform fragmentation with a 5-year fragmentation step (9 May 1945; 9 May 1950; 9 May 1955 ... 9 May, 2000) interconnected with the principle of focus fragmentation. A digitized sample from the British Newspaper Archive corpus is investigated through corpus analysis, cognitive and discourse analysis and metaphorical modeling. The statistical outcomes demonstrate that the frequency of references to “Russia’s V-Day” in the issues dated by 9 May in each fragmentation step correlates with the general decrease of interest in Russia. The conceptual analysis shows that the military-political discourse is mythologized and tends to present the image of the world as a black-and-white value model. The paper evaluates the pragmatic potential of the dominant metaphorical models, elicits the discursive factors that shape the usage and meanings of metaphors, demonstrates the interdependence between metaphors and the images they generate and emphasizes the role of the historical context in this process. The results of the work are of interest to a wide range of Russian and foreign specialists in cognitive linguistics, political linguistics, political science, history, sociology.

The paper compares the rhetorical, grammatical and discourse approaches to the study of language by focusing on issues of systematization and the contrast between controlled and adaptive systems. The key category of the analysis is homeostasis, a system to maintain its functions within certain limits. First, the study interprets the social meaning of rhetorical systemizations, traditionally interpreted as pre-scientific and terminologically laden, and identifies the reasons why the ancient systematization was successful but cannot be applied to o grammar. Then the idea of rhetoric as a secondary grammar is challenged by contrasting grammar as a controlled system and rhetoric as an adaptive system; while grammar selects discrete variants, rhetoric constructs continual metaplasms. Similarities between rhetoric and grammar concerning unmarked forms are also considered irrelevant because neutral forms cannot be produced for each trope and figure, which is proven by rhetorical period. Finally, the paper states the proximity of the discourse and rhetorical approaches. Different interpretations of discourse demonstrate different relations with rhetoric. The discursive approach is productive beyond the speech act, which means that the discursive community can be considered in terms of homeostasis. This idea is illustrated by the problems faced by individuals in joining the academic discourse community, communicating within it, and the viability of the community itself. The difference between the rhetorical and grammatical approaches determines the strategies of language teaching and language study. The paper concludes that the rhetorical approach can contribute to the concept and framework of discourse if this framework is constructed with reference to homeostasis.

The interest in this issue is caused by the global spread of English, the diversity of regional English language teaching (ELT) communities and the different interpretations of key ELT terms. Under the current political, economic and sociocultural conditions of a world where English is an International Language, many previously neutral ELT terms acquire particular relevance and significance. Thus, the term “native speaker” gains special importance in the discussion of goals (English language variants), the norm (standard) and the model, teachers and their qualifications, methods and techniques appropriate to societal needs in a certain socio-cultural context. This paper explores the differences in usage of the term “native speaker” used in English and Russian ELT discourses. The case study employs comparative definitional analysis of the corresponding Russian and English terms and reveals both the common meaning and significant differences. As the study shows, in Russian professional discourse, the term nositel’ yazyka (native speaker) is used in the traditionally established meaning, while in British-American ELT discourse it acquires new meanings and leads to a change in the ELT paradigm. The authors conclude that the Russian and English terms are not identical; on the contrary, their equivalence is illusory.

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