Vol 15, No 1 (2024)

GENNADY PROKOPIEVICH MELNIKOV: TO THE 95TH ANNIVERSARY

Gennady Prokopievich Melnikov: to the 95th anniversary

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Abstract

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RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):9-9
pages 9-9 views

Meaning and Sense of the Case Form in the Systemic-Linguistic Perspective

Rybakov M.A.

Abstract

The question of the relationship between meaning and sense has repeatedly become the subject of both - linguistic and philosophical discussions, because of the difference in conceptual approaches, and as a typical in the history of science result of the synonymous use of these terms in some works and differentiated use in others. The systemic linguistics has drawn attention to the accuracy of linguistic terminology and the value of precisely differentiated use of synonymous terms. The relevance of the undertaken study is determined by the significance of this problem for the further development of the linguistic theory, semiotics, and semantics. The problem of meaning and sense in relation to the sign was generally discussed in the works of G. Frege and representatives of the analytical philosophy of the 20th century (R. Carnap, G. Ryle, W. Quine). The issue of the meaning of a sign as an element of a linguistic (or any other semiotic) system was firstly brought to the fore by F. de Saussure. It was the subject of active discussion in Russian linguistics - in the 19th century in the works of A.A. Potebnya, I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay, in the 20th century - in the works of V.A. Zvegintsev, A.F. Losev, Ju.M. Lotman, V.M. Solntsev, Ju.S. Stepanov. In relation to grammar, the issue of meaning and sense was posed much less frequently; its detailed analysis is available in the systemic linguistics of G.P. Melnikov, and the functional grammar of A.V. Bondarko. The purpose is to study the possibilities of using the terms “meaning” and “sense”, consistently distinguished in systemic linguistics referring to the linguistic sign, for a particular case - the analysis of the semantics of case forms as a specific type of grammatical signs.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):10-21
pages 10-21 views

The Interconnection of Substance, Structure and Function in High Systemicity Texts

Valentinova O.I.

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to establish the texts substance properties, to identify the features of its relationship with text structure and function and also to prove that the exclusion of substance as the most important, but not obvious for the current state of science, aspect of the system leading to semiotic distortion which cannot be improved. The study was carried out on the material of texts of different etiologies - religious and artistic, united by a functionally determined ultra-high degree of their levels consistency. The relevance of the work is determined by its significance in the development of a systematic method, the formation of the methodological foundations of systemic philology and the semiotics of culture. The systemic linguistics ideas developed in the works of W. von Humboldt, A.A. Potebnya, I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay, I.I. Sreznevsky, G.P. Melnikov, and the systemology developed by philosophers (K.F. Samokhvalov, G.P. Shchedrovitsky) and representatives of the natural and exact sciences (P.K. Anokhin, V.A. Engelgardt, L.V. Krushinsky, R.O. Bartini) did not have a direct impact on the systematic research of texts. Awareness of the significance of substance in the understanding of highly systemic texts begins to take shape in the exegesis and philosophy of art. Philology, focusing its interest mainly on fiction texts, contributes to the development of a systematic method with the emergence and development of ideas about the text dominant (yu.N. Tynyanov, R.O. yakobson), the diversity of its units (y. Mukarzhovsky), the discovery of the author’s image supercategory (V.V. Vinogradov), the identification of the method of estrangement (V.B. Shklovsky) and the universalization of it as a principle of assimilation of reality (V.B. Shklovsky, L.A. Novikov, M.L. Novikova). The comparison of different nature texts substance properties - against the background of the properties of the substance of language - allows us significantly refines the text substance understanding as the extreemly important system aspect.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):22-37
pages 22-37 views

Mechanisms of Understanding: Nikolay A. Rubakin’s Mnema Theory

Bubnova N.A.

Abstract

The study provides a brief overview of the Mnema Theory, a bibliopsychological theory based on the achievements in physiology and evolutionary biology formulated by Russian bibliographer, book critic, popularizer of science and writer Nikolai Alexandrovich Rubakin (Nicholas Rubakin), and the one which allows consistently and vividly reveal the structure of the human psyche, and show the mechanisms associated with understanding in general and understanding words and text, in particular. The Theory of Mnema, although presented to the scientific community at the beginning of the 20th century, is nevertheless highly relevant after a hundred years, and there continues to be more and more evidence pointing to the veracity and credibility of its provisions from modern humanitarian and natural sciences. Nikolay A. Rubakin’s Theory of Mnema is formulated on the basis of three laws of bibliopsychology: Zemon’s Law, Humboldt-Potebnya’s Law and Teng’s Law, and shows the structure of the human psyche in the form of mnema, which is a system of records received from external stimuli. According to Nikolay A. Rubakin’s theory, the mnema are a complex open system that is in a state of permanent development, and is always being added to and is continually changing. The complex composition of the reader’s mnema determines the perception and interpretation of a text, which is also understood as the external stimulus that generates a set of engrams and their activation leading to their subsequent ecphorias, as well as the projections that a reader receives when understanding texts. The validity of Nikolay A. Rubakin’s Theory of Mnema is confirmed by psychophysiological experiments aimed at measuring the semantic proximity of words (experiments of A.R. Luria and O.S. Vinogradova), psychological and psycholinguistic experiments (for example, Rorschach tests and various kinds of associative experiments), as well as the achievements of the philological science itself with regard to the study of the space of artistic and non-artistic text, the actual images of the author and the characteristics of the interpretations of the text by readers and researchers.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):38-50
pages 38-50 views

COGNITIVE RESEARCH

Images: Cognitive Mechanism, Poetics, Semiosphere

Shestak L.A.

Abstract

The study is devoted to the phenomenon of the image as a concept of many humanities. The cognitive mechanism for creating a linguistic and textual image (apperception, application of frames with a matching slot, basic categorization of the world) is under consideration. A typology of linguistic images is given: an acoustic image as a second channel of meaning, along with a lexical-and-semantic one; the means of figurative derivation; a figurative internal form of a word of a secondary direct nomination ( осточертеть, накостылять ); lexical figurativeness and syntagmatics of direct and figurative meanings of a monocode (metaphors of one thematic zone) and polycode (metaphors of different thematic areas) kind. It is concluded that the semantic syntagmatics of figurative language means demonstrates the operation of the law of semantic agreement at the level of both explicit and implicit language means. The types of text figurativeness (figurative detail, image-character, correlation of the figurative structure of texts with the concepts of language and style) are considered. The cultural imagery of naming-characteristics of the cultural paradigms of Europe - Antiquity, Middle Ages, Renaissance, Modern times; the evolution of civilizational meanings of previous epochs and their transformation into images of modern language ( египетский труд, высокие амфоры ног, площадная брань, макиавеллизм ) is under the studies. The conclusions are made about the function of an image as a systematizer, an ontology parameter. At the same time, metaphor is a magic crystal of focusing space, time and thought, a linguistic way of connecting simultaneity and continuity of the developmtnt of culture. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the identification of the mechanism of semantic syntagmatics of direct and figurative meanings of lexemes (iteration of denotative, connotative and potential semes; semantic consistency - compatibility of thematic zones “anthropomorphic metaphor - artifact metaphor, anthropomorphic metaphor - naturalmorphic metaphor, phytomorphic metaphor - zoomorphic metaphor”, etc.), as well as in establishing the semiotic evolution of the civilizational meanings of cultural paradigms - the historical transformation, due to the loss of denotations and referents, of the names of denotations into the characteristics of a wide range of objects: патрицианский профиль А.Ахматовой (M. Tsvetaeva) as ‘Roman’, ‘with a proud landing of the head’; марионетка ‘non-independent subject’, ‘state under external control’, барочный торт (L. Ulitskaya) ‘overly decorated’. The article proposes an algorithm for the analysis of a polymetaphorical poetic text.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):51-63
pages 51-63 views

Bakhtin’s Philosophical Anthropology in Translation: Rhetoric Devices and Text Cohesion

Bruffaerts N.S., Moskvitcheva S.A.

Abstract

The concepts developed by Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin, a Russian theoretiсian of the 20th century, have had an important impact on the evolution of paradigms in humanities. However, his later works on literary theory continue to be far better known than his early essays on philosophical anthropology despite their key role in shaping Bakhtin’s thought. Published achronologically and imbued with innovative terms, Bakhtin’s works were sometimes translated by those who were unfamiliar with his concepts. The purpose of this study is to examine one of the earliest Bakhtin’s essays, Author and Hero in Aesthetic Activity , through a comparative perspective. The analysis is based on its French (1984) and English (1990) translations. It aims at revealing how the mechanisms of text cohesion and rhetoric are rendered in translation in order to convey the author’s ideas. The analysis has shown that the strategies chosen by the translators into French and English do not coincide and vary from ellipsis in French to amplification in English. The choice of coreferential models turns out to play a crucial role in structuring ideas in the target texts.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):64-77
pages 64-77 views

Ugliness as a Prototype Category: Cognitive-and-Semantic Analysis

Mudrovskaya A.M., Temirgazina Z.K., Aselderova R.O.

Abstract

The study proposes a cognitive-and-semantic approach to the study of the category ‘urodstvo’ (‘ugliness’). This approach allowed, using a component analysis of the meanings of words - denote main lexical representatives of the category of ugliness in the Russian language, and establish a set of features of the category relevant to the basic level. Several prototypical features of ugliness have been identified: ‘the carrier of the feature is a living organism (human, animal, plant)’; ‘abnormality in the structure’; ‘innate abnormality’; ‘its physical (anatomical) character’. An exemplary representative of a category has all the prototypical features in contrast to non-exemplary representatives. Blurring of prototypical features in non-ideal representatives of the category is carried out in the process of development and expansion of the semantics of the words urodstvo (‘ugliness’), bezobraziye (‘deformity’), nekrassivost’ (‘unattractiveness’) in Russian.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):78-91
pages 78-91 views

Conceptualization of the Notion of FREEDOM in the Worldview of Foreign Students of Journalism

Strelchuk E.N., Lepkova A.S.

Abstract

The study presents the results of a study of the fragments of the journalistic conceptual worldview. This phenomenon is gradually emerging in the minds of future journalists in course of their studies at Russian universities. The key position in the work is occupied by the concept of FREEDOM. This concept was analyzed for its structural and semantic content. The relevance of the study is due to the continuously ongoing transformations in the world and the media. Such changes inevitably affect the worldview of future specialists and their ideas about the basic value for this profession - freedom . The purpose of the work is to determine the linguistic content of the concept under consideration by highlighting and analyzing its elements of the nuclear, near-nuclear and peripheral zones. The study is based on an associative experiment using a cinquain technique. The associative questionnaire made it possible to select and analyze from the point of view of semantic content the most frequent representing the concept of FREEDOM in the journalistic worldview of foreign students. The experiment was attended by the 3rd-4th year foreign students-journalists studying in RUDN University. As a result, it was concluded that the concept in question appears in the minds of foreign students studying journalism at Russian universities, primarily as a basic value associated with life and happiness, and not as a professional term fixed in dictionaries.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):92-106
pages 92-106 views

A Comparative Lexical Analysis of Kazakh, Russian and English Children’s Folklore

Tokpayeva L.S., Kuzembayeva G.A., Spulber D.P.

Abstract

Occupying a special position in the oral folk art of any nation, children’s folklore is a complex field, which interrelates two areas: folklore for children and folklore created by children, learned from adults, and passed on from some children to other children. Human world and values are reflected in folklore - thus the ethnographic study of children’s folklore contributes to the understanding of the specifics of various cultures, and children’s participation in them. The purpose of the study is to describe children’s folklore in the Kazakh, Russian, and English languages from the linguistic and cultural comparative perspectives. The importance of identifying the lexical and phraseological features of different genres of children’s folklore and describing their common and culturally marked characteristics lies in the fact that despite the availability of ethnographic studies of children’s folklore in some cultures, there doesn’t exist a single research on cross-cultural comparative perspectives of various genres of children’s folklore. The study employed analytical descriptive, and comparative methods. The research data were collected through the online sociolinguistic surveys parallelly conducted in the Republic of Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation. Texts of children’s folklore in English were taken from the collections Nursery Rhymes and Mother Goose’s Songs . The amount of research data made nearly 2000 Kazakh, Russian and English children’s folklore texts. The study revealed that the genre variety of children’s folklore leaves an imprint on the language of each genre. The lexical and phraseological analysis of various genres of children’s folklore demonstrated an active use of neologisms, transrational language and personal names. Children’s folklore is characterized not only by genre and intragenre dynamics, but also by historical changes.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):107-125
pages 107-125 views

Types of Synesthesia in B. Pasternak’s Story “Childhood Luvers” (“Childhood Eyelets”)

Trufanova I.V.

Abstract

The study is devoted to the issue of developing a typology of synesthesia. In our card index there are 40,000 examples from the works of Russian writers, in the story “Childhood Luvers” (“Childhood Eyelets”) there are about 200 of them, there are 32 types of synesthesia in the story, and, if synaesthesia is included in synesthesia, there are about 40. The study is written on the material of the story “Childhood of Eyelets” by B. Pasternak “, since the story reveals rare types of synesthesia, without which the typology of synesthesia would be incomplete. The lack of a consensus on the mechanism of synesthesia, a generally accepted definition of synesthesia, a generally accepted typology, and the discovery of new forms by psychologists determine the relevance of our work. The purpose of the study is to describe synesthesia in the story “Childhood Luvers” (“Childhood Eyelets”). Scientific novelty is determined by the development of a new typology of synesthesia, the introduction of original linguistic material into linguistic use, since previously synesthesia in the prose of B. Pasternak was not the subject of linguistic research, a description of occasional synesthesia (In the works of predecessors, the subject of analysis was mainly usual synesthesia). The peculiarity of the typology of synesthesia proposed in the article is the synthesis of typologies of synesthesia existing in linguistics and psychology. The need for such a synthesis is substantiated; The signs of occasional synesthesia are listed. The set goal determined the choice of integrative analysis of linguistic and psychological data as a research method. This method made it possible to describe occasional synesthesia, which is the cornerstone of B. Pasternak’s poetics; establish that the heroine of the story is a synesthete of visual touch; and also to identify in the story types of synesthesia that were not previously identified in linguistics: the sensation of a person in color, in geometric form, the sensation of a word in color, the sensation of a word by weight, taste, smoothness-roughness, moisture-dryness, as having a temperature, etc. Verbal Synesthesia is highlighted in our article for the first time in linguistics and psychology.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):126-137
pages 126-137 views

Text, Discourse, Dicteme, Language Personality as Basic Concepts of Text Linguistics

Asratyan Z.D.

Abstract

The study is devoted to the consideration of the terms, which are the most frequently used and significant for the formation of meaning in linguistics. The relevance of the study is, on the one hand, determined by the variety of approaches to their definition and interpretation, and, on the other hand, by the necessity to specify them to facilitate academic communication and linguistic analysis. The purpose of this work is to consider a number of such concepts and substantiate our approach to them and their interpretation. The study uses both general theoretical and linguistic research methods. Particular attention is paid to phenomenological analysis while considering the terms themselves, as well as semantic, categorical-constitutive, positional and pragmatic analysis while studying empirical material. There are considered the concepts of text, discourse, dicteme as a text unit, language personality of an author, or a narrator and a reader/listener. The article analyzes differences between the text and discourse concepts. The work substantiates heuristic potential of a dicteme as a minimum text unit. The dicteme is studied both - from elementary and holistic approaches, as a fractal that forms the space of the whole text according to synergistic laws. The study emphasizes the ideological role of a linguistic personality both at the stages of creation and consumption of a text. There is carried out a linguistic analysis of an English literary text in order to identify denotative and conceptual information in its ideological and aesthetic manifestation in it. The study highlights the role of strong positions of text in the transfer of conceptual information and considers the function of influence in an artistic and media works, which, in the first case, is mainly emotive in nature, and, in the second, manipulative. It underlines the interdependence of the conceptual priorities of the creator and consumer of a media text.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):138-151
pages 138-151 views

Comparative Analysis of Contextual Usage of the Lexemes мiръ / миръ / мир and their translations into Spanish

Chichina M.O.

Abstract

In the critical literature devoted to the L.N. Tolstoy’s novel «War and Peace», the contradictory contexts of usage of the lexemes мiръ / миръ / мир and their relation to homonymy, were repeatedly discussed. The study is a comparative analysis of the contexts of usage of the lexems мiръ/ миръ / мир in Russian in the texts of the «War and Peace» novel by L.N. Tolstoy, as well as their translation into Spanish. The author refers to two editions of the novel - in 1912, before the spelling reform of 1918, and mid-20th century, as part of the 90-volume edition of the works of L.N. Tolstoy. The aim of the study is the comparative analysis of the semantics of the мiръ / миръ / мир in connection with the idea of the novel-epic. It is determined in what context and why L.N. Tolstoy prefers the lexemes of мiръ / миръ / мир , and also considered the use of the word глобус ‘globe’, meaning the ‘world’. The conclusions of the work are a proposal to introduce in the commentary to the novel interpretations of the meaning of the word peace in accordance with the context of the media world , in the curricula of students-philologists, as well as to take into consideration the data in translations into foreign languages, Spanish in particular,. Taking into account the specificity of semantics of words Mir and Worlds in the pre-revolutionary edition and the word world in the modern editions of the novel-epic «War and Peace» and their functioning with the literary text under the consideration contributes to revealing the idea of the multi-layered work, a special place in the artistic heritage of L.N. Tolstoy.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):152-173
pages 152-173 views

DISCOURSE & CORPUS STUDIES

The Problem of Semantic Shift in Modern Russian: Corpus Research on the Example of a News Media Discourse

Belyakov M.V., Maksimenko O.I.

Abstract

This study discusses the issue of semantic shifts observed in high-frequency words, such as discourse, paradigm, narrative , in the news media discourse in the Russian language. It is shown that one of the effective methods of research is corpus analysis, for which an author’s corpus was created based on a random sample of texts of news articles published on the portal of the state news agency RIA Novosti over 2020-2023. Dynamic processes in the semantics of the analyzed highfrequency words were studied on the material of the National Corpus of the Russian language for the period 2000-2019. When considering the results obtained by the corpus analysis method, it was found out that, being initially the linguistic term, “narrative” turned into a functional proforma as a result of a semantic shift that occurred due to the diversity of newly acquired meanings, i.e. there was a modification of the original meaning of the word ‘ story, narration’ , which made the world into the universal one. The classical meaning of the word ‘ paradigm’ , characteristic of linguistics, is not represented in journalism, in the news media discourse it has been given other connotations such as scheme, model, idea, situation , which have moved into the core, nuclear area from the position of the near periphery. Some values are unique, so they have a small frequency (ipm). The interdisciplinary term “discourse” has turned into a term with vague semantics, but, unlike “narrative”, it is not a universal professional form, although it denotes processes occurring in various social spheres. It is shown that the semantic shift is not identical to the increase in the meaning of the word and is not determined strictly contextually. It is necessary to distinguish between the concept of semantic shift and the appearance of new meanings of the word, since the former is fixed in non-standard contexts and the demonstrated meaning cannot be clearly defined. In the course of the study, it was possible to establish that not all semantic shifts should be classified as erroneous, since it depends on the sphere in which the shift was detected. The use of the considered words in a different meaning is not profane, since the mobility of the lexical level of the language leads to transformations in speech and media discourse, allowing the appearance of texts stylistically close to the spoken style. Thus, we have identified and confirmed quantitatively the process of transformation of the words selected for analysis into pro-forms used as substitutes for a wide range of concepts.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):174-194
pages 174-194 views

Natural Language Processing and Fiction Text: Basis for Corpus Research

Gorozhanov A.I., Guseynova I.A., Stepanova D.V.

Abstract

The study deals with NLP procedures on the material of the fiction texts in German and in English, which are considered as strong cultural texts. The aim of the study is to develop a model of such a technical device to process, analyze and interpret a fiction text, which would reveal the full potential of popular NLP tools within the corpus approach. The general methods used in the study are analysis and synthesis. Special methods are additionally used to solve certain specific issues: descriptive method, modelling and qualitative and quantitative analysis. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the authors apply the crucial principles of the classical theories of text interpretation according to the latest methods and tools of the applied linguistics. As a practical result, special software has been developed, which is able to process SQL based linguistic corpora, automatically built with spaCy NLP library and Python programming language. This software can be used for a fiction text interpretation, as well as for compiling learning materials in Home Reading. It is assumed that the development of special software for strong cultural texts stimulates the search for scientific solutions and at the same time allows one to understand the essential differences that exist between natural and artificial intelligence.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):195-210
pages 195-210 views

Visual Metaphors in Pedagogical Discourse

Chulkina N.L., Makashova V.V.

Abstract

A visual metaphor is an image that allows you convey the meaning that escapes during verbal representation, as well as to enhance the impact of the message. It is for this reason that visual metaphor occupies a special place in pedagogical discourse. The explanation of unknown concepts and phenomena by referring to the formed units of knowledge presented figuratively is a necessary stage of cognition of reality. Visual metaphorization of complexly organized aggregates of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world facilitates their perception, thereby representing their essence in a visual and accessible form. The basis of the visual metaphor is the similarity in function, purpose, shape, color, size. A number of scientific papers are devoted to the methodology of analyzing individual verbal metaphors. At the same time, the visual metaphors used by the teacher to explain the transmitted educational information have not been practically investigated. This provision determines the relevance of the research. The target of the study is to study the specifics of visual metaphorization in pedagogical discourse. As part of the educational process, visual metaphors are embodied in the form of mind maps, mood boards, singular metaphorical references that explicate an Abstract idea in a system of images formed during the development of curricula and personal subjective experience. It is established that the use of these methods of visualization of theoretical material, built on the basis of a given visual metaphor, contribute to the structuring and memorization of educational information, the development of creative and cognitive potential. A visual metaphor acts as a vector for analyzing a problem situation: the creative process of interpreting a visual image leads to the identification of a logical relationship between the images, revealing the nature of the object or phenomenon being studied, as well as the formation of creative thinking of students.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):211-231
pages 211-231 views

Phraseologigal Units with an Evaluative Component in Public Speech of Modern Politicians

Zhunussova Z.N., Nugumanova A.N., Volkova Y.A.

Abstract

Under the conditions of modern realities, among linguists, there exists an interestingness in studying political texts. By transmitting the abundant information to millions of people, it is possible to have a significant impact not only on public opinion, but also to influence everyday life, relationships between individuals, and shape the behavior of a society. Phraseological units functioning in political communication are able to express a thought most vividly, carry an evaluative meaning, and have a manipulative effect on an addressee. The relevance of the study is due to the relatively weak coverage of studies of phraseology as a component of the political discursive and communicative space based on the comparative material of speeches by Russian and Kazakh politicians. The purpose of this study is to examine the phraseological units of public speech, containing an evaluative component, delivered by politicians of the two countries. The study uses a continuous sampling technique, content analysis, as well as a descriptive and analytical method. The result of the study is an analysis of distinctive features, a comparison of the appliance of political phraseology in the political space of Russia and Kazakhstan. However, it should be noted that there has not been formed a unified classification of evaluative phraseological units in political discourse. The authors of the article distinguish the regularity of separating phraseological units into negative and positive contexts, and political phraseology is most often provided in the form of the opposition good - bad // self - other . Special attention is drawn to the analysis of proverbs and sayings in political speech. The authors marked the tendency self - other opposition in political speech on a rigid axiological basis, which is associated with the opposition of good - bad . In the course of the study, we noted that Kazakh politicians are less likely to turn to the categorical assessment of others, and do not use specific subjects of political activity as opponents. The description of the methods of transformation of phraseological units on the material of public speeches makes it possible for the addressee to formulate a point of view on any subject or phenomenon, evaluate it or give it a new stylistic nuance.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):232-247
pages 232-247 views

Certainty Stance Adverbs in Chinese Linguistic Academic Writing: A Corpus-based Study

Dugalich N.M., Han H.

Abstract

This study delves into the intricate usage of certainty stance adverbs in the academic writings of the Chinese. The object of this study is to conduct a contrastive analysis of certainty stance adverbs between Chinese linguistic MA novices and linguistic experts. The subject of this study is to explore the similarities and differences in the use of these adverbs within the academic discourse of the two groups mentioned. In addressing these disparities, the study seeks to analyze them from the perspective of interlanguage and interpersonal function, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the production of high-quality academic papers by the Chinese. The study employs two key methods: the contrastive analysis method and the corpus-based method. The novelty of the study lies in its contrastive examination of certainty stance adverbs between Chinese linguistic MA novices and experts. Through an in-depth analysis of theoretical frameworks and linguistic data extracted from the MA theses of Chinese linguistic novices and research articles of linguistic experts, the study underscores the importance of considering the similarities and differences in the use of certainty stance adverbs within the realm of second language acquisition and pragmatic studies. This consideration aims to refine learners’ syntactical and pragmatic command of certainty stance adverbs to align with expert academic discourse, ultimately fostering effective interpersonal communication in academic writing. The findings of this research offer valuable insights into the specific linguistic challenges encountered by the Chinese, thereby laying a solid groundwork for the development of targeted pedagogical strategies to bolster their academic writing skills.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):248-261
pages 248-261 views

“Supertext” as a Form of a “Strong” Fiction Text Existence

Razumovskaya V.A.

Abstract

The emergence and existence of a systemic-structural texts’ unity, defined as a center of translation attraction and formed by a “strong” text of fiction and its secondary versions of various semiotic nature, are considered in the article. The study is addressed to the hypothesis of formation of a “supertext” within the boundaries of the above mentioned center, which has polylingual, polycode, multimodal and polyauthory parameters. Being a multidimensional information object, a “supertext” unites the variations of the original information in translation, which increases the limits of its translatability and degree of its translatedness. The formation and functioning of a center and the corresponding “supertext” are defined as a prolonged, continuous and limitless semiosis, described primarily through the interpretation and adaptation. As a complex semiotic object, a “supertext” is formed as interpretations continuum of a “strong” original information potential, which makes it possible to reveal its aesthetic resources and contribute to its preservation in spatio-temporal coordinates of culture. The hypothesis of “supertext” is considered on the material of a “strong” text of W. Shakespeare’s tragedy “Hamlet, Prince of Denmark”, which is world culture heritage, and its numerous secondary versions generated for more than 400 years. In accordance with the Jakobsonian types of translation, main attention is paid to the interlingual and intersemiotic versions of the original. A brief history of play’s Russian translations covering the period of the 18th-21st centuries is given. As one of the most filmed literary texts, “Hamlet” has numerous screen adaptations, revealing their close connection with the world cinema history. There are cases of the Shakespeare’s text retranslation (In the broad sense of the process of original information reinterpretation by means of one foreign language or one semiotic system), as well as shifts in the ontological categories of primacy and secondarity related to verbal, nonverbal and not only verbal secondary texts belonging to the center of translation attraction. The analysis of “Hamlet” as a “supertext” presupposes its consideration in the trajectories of description and prescription and can contribute to the emergence of the history and theory of “supertext” as an object of translation semiotics.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):262-275
pages 262-275 views

Morphological Methods of Noun-Origin Derivatives Creation in Secondary Root Formation in the Modern Standard Arabic Language

Vavichkina T.A., Stepanyan K.N., Vlasova Y.E.

Abstract

The study is devoted to the topic of Arabic generic derivatives formed from nouns аccording to Masdar models of four-letter bases from names of states, organizations, their abbreviations, which is little represented in the academic literature. The authors set a goal to analyze and generalize the features and methods of secondary root formation in the Arabic on the material of the lexical corpus of derivatives grouped by semantic and word-formation identity. The data source was the texts of modern Arabic-language media. Sixty-six lexemes-neologisms with the general semantics of the process or state and formed according to the Masdar models of the fourletter basis were selected by the continuous sampling method. The selected lexemes were examined in asynchronous aspect and were subjected to lexico-morphological analysis. It was concluded that all the studied neologisms were formed on a morphological basis. The leading method is lexical derivation, which can proceed with the participation of word-forming formants, phonetic expanders, gemination of the root element, and without suffixation. All lexical derivatives were formed along the traditional path known and described by historians of the Arabic. The process examined in the article turned out to be analogous to the hypothesis of the formation of three-letter bases based on two root consonants accepted in Arabic studies. This allowed the authors suggest that new fourletter bases appear from existing three-letter roots, which over time can potentially become the base of four-letter roots, which will lead to the expansion of Arabic roots and the formation of new word-formation nests.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):276-291
pages 276-291 views

Semantics of the Birth Myth as a Cultural Code

Stepanova E.S.

Abstract

The study analyzes the birth myth from the symbolic point of view as a way to indicate the beginning of any existence, real or fictional: the birth of the Universe and a man, which sets out the primary understanding of the world and a man, time and space. The purpose of the analysis is to study the semantics of the birth myth, which reflects the archaic ideas of a person about birth, which made it possible to present the typology of the birth myth as a cultural code. The methodology of the study is based on the works by foreign and domestic scientists in the field of studying the notion “cultural code” as a semiotic system in linguoculturology and ethnolinguistics. The popular science works by Barbara S. Sproul “Primitive Myths. Creation Myths from Around the World” and “The Seeds of Life: From Aristotle to Da Vinci, From Sharks’ Teeth to Frogs’ Pants, the Long and Strange Quest Where Babies Come From” by Edward Dolnik, which contain a large collection of creation stories of the universe and a man, relating to the most different eras and cultures, including the ancient Egyptian and Hindu served as the material for the research. It shows that birth myths contain value orientations for representatives of a certain linguocultural society, which is manifested in cosmogonic, ritual, ancient and Bible myths. It analyses the means of representation of the birth myth as a cultural code. The given language means make possible to describe the process of birth more vividly and emotionally. It concludes that the birth myth represents a fragment of the linguistic view of the world through a mythological text, which helps introduce a man to sacred values that are inaccessible to human understanding, and besides the birth myth personifies natural phenomena, endowing them with anthropocentric properties.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2024;15(1):292-304
pages 292-304 views

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