Vol 28, No 2 (2024)

Articles

Self-focused versus dialogic features of gesturing during simultaneous interpreting

Cienki A.

Abstract

The present study considers an implicit debate in the field of gesture studies as to whether gestures are produced primarily for the speaker or for the addressee. It considers the unique monologic setting of simultaneous interpreters working in a booth in which there is no visible audience present and where they only hear and do not see the speaker whose words they are interpreting. The hypotheses (H) are that the interpreters might produce more representational gestures, to aid in their own idea formulation (H1), and self-adapter movements, to maintain their self-focus (H2), rather than pragmatic gestures, which are known to serve interactive functions. Forty-nine interpreters were videorecorded as they interpreted two portions of popular science lectures, one from either English or German (their L2) into Russian (their L1) and one from Russian into their respective L2. The results showed that a vast majority of the gestures produced were either pragmatic in function or self adapters. H2 was thus supported, but H1 was not. The frequent use of pragmatic gestures is interpreted in terms of the internalized dialogic nature of talk and gesturing itself. Both beat gestures expressing emphasis and reduced forms of presentation gestures can facilitate the interpreters’ speaking by prompting the presentation and emphasis of ideas. Though focused on their own process of speech production, simultaneous interpreters may embody elements of the lecturer of the source text engaging with the audience, blended with their own dialogic speaking behaviors, aspects of which we may see in their gesturing.

Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2024;28(2):227-242
pages 227-242 views

Facework in teacher-student email interactions

Tsoumou J.M.

Abstract

Two trends have become prominent in higher education worldwide. On the one hand, globalization has favored the expansion and influence of the English language. On the other hand, email has become one of the main forms of communication in academic settings, especially in teacher-student out-of-class correspondence. While these facts have increasingly attracted scholarship attention, studies in education seem to focus more on the students’ display of face(work) alone, while neglecting the teacher’s counterpart. To redress this imbalance, the present study aims to examine face(work) as displayed in students’ email requests for consideration (e.g., on late assignments submission and class attendance) and teachers’ responses. A qualitative analysis of 20 sets of teacher-student interactions reveals different strategies opted for by the students and the teacher in face(work) management. Drawing on face-constituting theory, the findings show that whilst the students are concerned with their own face alone, the teacher is concerned with how to avoid classroom conflicts in the way that attends to one’s own face, the students’ face and the classroom harmony. In this way, the management of face(work) operates in a complex and dynamic way that allows the co-construction and reaffirmation of their respective identities. For example, whilst the students’ actions overlook the relevance of the interdependence relation between them, their peers and the teacher, which is critical for the harmony of the classroom, the teacher’s actions privilege connectedness over separateness. Furthermore, the findings suggest that cultural specificities governing the backgrounds of both the teacher and the students are not always influential in the management of face in email interactions.

Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2024;28(2):243-265
pages 243-265 views

The difference in positivity of the Russian and English lexicon: The big data approach

Solovyev V.D., Ivleva A.I.

Abstract

Psychological cross-cultural studies have long noted differences in the degree of cognition positivity, or optimism, in various cultures. Herewith, the question whether the difference shows up at the level of the language lexicon remains unexplored. Linguistic positivity bias has been confirmed for a number of languages. The point of it is that most words have a positive connotation in the language. This begs the question: is linguistic positivity bias the same for different languages or not? In a sense, the issue is similar to the hypothesis of linguistic relativity suggesting the language impact on the human cognitive system. The problem has been researched only in one work (Dodds et al. 2015), where data on the positivity bias values are given for different languages and the comparison for each pair of languages is based on merely one pair of dictionaries. In the present study, we radically increase the computational baseline by comparing four English and five Russian dictionaries. We carry out the comparative study both at the level of vocabularies and at the level of texts of different genres. A new, previously untapped idea is to compare positivity ratings of translated texts. Also, English and Russian sentiment dictionaries are compared based on the scores of translation-stable words. The results suggest that the Russian language is somewhat slightly more positive than English at the level of vocabulary.

Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2024;28(2):266-293
pages 266-293 views

Fictive motion categories in modern Persian: A cognitive semantic approach

Nikabadi M., Lotfi A., Hadian B.

Abstract

Motion is the cornerstone of cognitive structures which can be signified factively and fictively. Fictive motion events in English are classified into six categories (Talmy 2000a). While Iranian linguists have worked on verbs and typology of fictive motion, they almost failed to discover these categories. This study made an attempt to examine these categories by addressing the questions: What are fictive motion categories in Persian? To what extent is the speakers’ cognition influenced by the structure of the language they speak? What are Persian speakers’ preferable tenses? With this aim, using convenience sampling and qualitative research design, sixteen sentences extracted from Talmy’s model plus nine fillers were rendered into Persian. To avoid ordering effect, sixty participants were organized in a counterbalanced technique and accomplished completion and picture description tasks so that one half of the participants filled the completion task first and dealt with the picture description task later, while others acted in the reverse order. In completion task the participants performed accurately except the pattern paths category. However, they did not produce fictive motion sentences for the prospect, pattern, and advent paths, frame relative with factively stationary observer and site manifestation in the picture description task. They tended to adopt present tense in producing fictive motion sentences for the depicted categories. More importantly, the paper analyses the participants’ performance in completing the tasks related to the sixteen fictive motion categories and shows that cognition is influenced by the linguistic structure of the speakers. It is hoped that this study can be a contribution to the field of cognitive and semantic linguistics and also advance fictive motion studies in different languages.

Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2024;28(2):294-320
pages 294-320 views

Modern forms of a prophecy: From written word to audiovisual Internet product

Fomin A.G., Karacheva N.S.

Abstract

Prophecies contain a unique cultural and linguistic code, which plays an essential role in organizing the linguistic worldview and shapes national consciousness. The article aims to specify the linguistic features of prophecies and identify their modern forms. To achieve this goal, biblical texts were compared with modern prophecies within and outside religion. Due to the phenomenon's complexity, the material selection criteria were flexible. The Canonic Bible was the initial source of the material (4 books of Major Prophets and 12 books of Minor Prophets). The modern prophecies were obtained from 2 collections of written prophecies (157 texts) as well as 10 audio recordings of prophetic sessions (4 hours) and 40 videos (10 hours). We explored prophetic texts and changes in their forms using semiotic modeling. The interdisciplinary nature of the research necessitated the use of the descriptive method, as well as methods of contextual, interpretative, and content analysis to identify the meaning of the linguistic units by highlighting mechanisms of the construction of meaning. The chosen methods helped to identify the meanings of linguistic units, highlighting the mechanisms of constructing meaning, as well as the ethnocultural language code of prophecies. The method of interpretative analysis made it possible to determine the patterns of expression of meaning associated with the system of ideal images and the rules for their transformation into meanings. The results of the study demonstrated a clear simplification of the initial characteristics during the transition of biblical prophecies from written form to an audiovisual Internet product. In addition, the results revealed an obvious displacement of the vector of decoding and interpretation of ethnoculturally-conditioned components. Further research will allow us to build a linguosemiotic model of prophetic discourse to trace ethnocultural and linguistic changes in the form, content, and entire genre of prophecy, which will open up new prospects for the study and interpretation of the phenomenon itself.

Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2024;28(2):321-337
pages 321-337 views

Structure and dynamics of communicative interaction between a potential patient and a doctor during written medical Internet consultation

Komalova L.R.

Abstract

Due to the increased pace of digitalization in all areas of life, including medicine, more citizens can receive qualified medical care. The period of the СOVID-2019 pandemic has clearly demonstrated that telemedicine is becoming a relevant area of medical practice. In particular, the role of online consultation in medical communication is significantly increasing. In this regard, medical network discourse becomes the focus of scholarly interest. Our research is aimed at verifying the scenario of medical consultations on medical online forums. The research material includes 5259 messages in Russian from 2018-2023 as part of 60 medical consultations on cardiology on rusmedserv Internet forum. The empirical study design included the collection and structuring of research material by means of corpus methods; the data were described, systematized and generalized; the qualitative interpretation of the data was carried out on the basis of the communicative and pragmatic method of analysis developed by Issers (2008). It was found that the dynamics and structure of medical consultations are generally maintained while a doctor and a potential patient are interacting through an Internet forum. The obtained data also confirm the findings presented in academic literature on “doctor - patient” communication via Internet forums. The results of the research contribute to the understanding of written medical Internet consultation proving that it unfolds inconsistently, but recurrently; the communication innovations mainly relate to the dynamics of communication scenario during medical Internet consultation deployment. The obtained results may contribute to the development of a more effective “patient - doctor” communication model focused on the mission of telemedicine.

Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2024;28(2):338-364
pages 338-364 views

Song and poetic text Bella ciao in a mosaic of languages, cultures and arts

Chesnokova O.S., Alonzi R., Gishkaeva L.N.

Abstract

The development of textology and intertextuality opens up new perspectives in the interpretation of famous texts, including the song of the Italian Resistance participants Bella ciao . Its numerous polymodal representations in different languages and arts account for the need to systematize them on uniform methodological grounds. The material of the article is the song and poetic text in Italian dialects and in the common Italian neo-standard, its translations into Romance languages, interpretations in Russian, Caucasian and other languages, as well as multimedia and polychannel versions. The goal of the article is to discuss intertextual, semantic and semiotic parameters of the text; to establish the parameters of internal and external intertextuality of the versions of the original text; and to characterize the precedent phenomena serving as the basis for the development and transformation of their aesthetics. The study aims to build and interpret the precedent links and associations of the song Bella ciao in its intertextual transformations; to determine its specificity in the semiocultural conditions of reading and interpretation and at the same time to evaluate its place in the context of Italian and world culture. The methodology is based on a set of methods at the intersection of linguosemiotic, functional and semantic approaches focusing on such parameters of the text as precedence, variation, correlation of linguistic and non-linguistic codes, comparison of the original and translations, polycode, polymodal and translation transformations. The study has established that, as a result of numerous intertextual transformations, the original text expressing unique Italian cultural meanings acquires new interpretations acting as a starting point or the development of both precedent and new plots. It is used as a polycoded intersemiotic model for the creation of new interpretations and, in the long term, becomes a tool for the preservation and reproduction of cultural memory.

Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2024;28(2):365-390
pages 365-390 views

Polymodality of perception and its reflection in fiction text: Сognitive and semiotic perspectives

Kozlova L.A., Kremneva A.V.

Abstract

The issues related to the polymodality of perception and various forms of intermediality are widely discussed in linguistics whereas the aspect of their interrelation is seldom considered. This research is aimed at tracing the participation of various modes of perception in the process of interaction with the world, the reflection of this process in our consciousness and memory in the form of various images up to the manifestation of those images in the intermedial relations in fiction text. The study draws on cognitive semiotics, text linguistics, polymodality and intermediality. The theoretical analysis sugessts that the polymodality of perception results in the formation of synesthetic mental images represented in the phenomenon of intermediality. The empirical material of the research includes text fragments from the works by Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, Joyce Cary and Adam Thorpe containing samples of linguа-artistic and linguа-musical techniques of writing as forms of intermediality. The intermedial analysis of the empirical material shows how the polymodality of perception determines the specificity of the authors’ creative thinking represented in the choice of language means that activate musical and visual images in the readers’ minds. As a result, such fiction texts are constituted as related to a specific art whose forms and devices are used in it. The analysis has also revealed that in the process of verbal representation of musical or artistic images language exploits all forms of its semiotic signs: symbols (for naming colours, shades of light, sounds of music), indices (allusions to works of art or their authors) and icons (the use of forms and devices characteristic of other arts). The study confirms the productivity of exploring intermedial interaction in the cognitive and semiotic perspectives to demonstrate the relations between perception, conceptualization and the embodiment of the results in fiction text.

Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2024;28(2):391-414
pages 391-414 views

Cognitive underpinnings of misperceptions in morphed humor

Ageev S.V., Pushkarev E.A., Antonenko N.V.

Abstract

A meme as a cultural and semiotic phenomenon has been actively studied within the framework of humor research; however, the question why memes may not elicit a humorous response remains unanswered. This article examines the causes of typical cognitive errors in the perception of humor in the so-called morphed units (memes, image macros, photoshopped images and virals) characterized by a combination of signals of one or different modalities and potentially capable of eliciting a humorous response in the meme consumer. The goal of the study is to describe and classify such errors on the example of a morphed unit from the sad keanu meme cycle. The conducted survey yielded empirical data permitting further qualitative analysis of the respondents' answers regarding the perception of the proposed meme. The obtained results show that in an ideal situation a stimulus image should metonymically activate script structures essential for the understanding of a morphed unit; a script may include allusive experiences which correlate with previously appropriated culture-specific situations. The paper defines meme interpretation errors as related either to the process of perceiving a stimulus at the level of the i consume memes metascript or а cognitive failure occurring during the activation of the scripts constituting the humorous opposition if only the relevant scripts are conceptualized and internalized by the individual. Any type of interpretation failure may be attributed to partial or zero cultural literacy in the meme consumer. A failed humorous response in the situations of sufficient cultural literacy of the subject may be explained by social and pragmatic factors, such as the consumer’s norms and values which may differ from those of the meme originator. The study claims that the main source of cognitive errors lies in the inability of a meme consumer to activate the scripts (or their parts) relevant to the understanding of humor. This methodology can be applied for any multimodal humour research.

Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2024;28(2):415-438
pages 415-438 views

Trends in the research of world-modeling from the perspective of Russian linguistics: Paradigmatic framework and conceptual apparatus

Kushneruk S.L.

Abstract

In the first quarter of the XXI century, world-modeling has been actively discussed in the theory of literature, text studies and discourse studies. The concept of world-modeling in linguistics significantly differs from that in literary studies, which determines the relevance of this research. The paper aims to review the publications by Russian scholars that raise the problems of world-modeling in communication, to highlight the dominant tendencies of research within the framework of the cognitive-discursive paradigm and to discuss their theoretical potential. The sample consists of 334 publications retrieved from eLibrary database. The paper argues that due to the influence of the dominant paradigm in linguistics, an independent cognitive and discursive trend of world-modeling research is being developed in Russia, and is becoming more specific, which leads to the emergence of discrete areas of research that accumulate their own system of concepts. The paper discusses the research potential of lingua-cognitive, conceptual, functional, axiological, semantic, stylistic, lingua-ideological, cognitive and pragmatic trends. The author argues that the logic of the development of discrete trends is determined by the inter-paradigm interaction, thanks to which knowledge about the representation of the world in communication is built on general paradigmatic principles as well as the achievements of particular disciplines. The paper concludes by drawing attention to the lingua-cultural, socio-semiotic, lingua-personological and psycholinguistic research traends observed in some recent publications. The interdisciplinary nature of modern linguistics makes it possible to combine several perspectives of the world-modeling analysis. The results of the study can contribute to the further development of the cognitive and discursive world-modeling theory in linguistics and social studies.

Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2024;28(2):439-465
pages 439-465 views

BOOK REVIEWS

pages 466-469 views

Review of Zhao Ming. 2023. Cultural Semantics in the Lexicon of Modern Chinese.Leiden: Brill

Urayim R.
Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2024;28(2):470-474
pages 470-474 views

OBITUARIES

In remembrance of Jurij D. APRESJAN

- -.

Abstract

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Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2024;28(2):475-479
pages 475-479 views

An epoch has ended: to Apresjan’s dear memory

Mel’čuk I.

Abstract

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Russian Journal of Linguistics. 2024;28(2):480-483
pages 480-483 views

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