Vol 12, No 1 (2021)

FUNCTIONAL GRAMMAR & FUNCTIONAL SEMANTICS

Biz birgemiz, or Revisiting the Diversification of Russian Language in Kazakhstan

Suleimenova E.D., Akanova D.K., Aimagambetova M.M.

Abstract

The criteria for pluricentric languages, generalized by the Working Group on NonDominant Varieties of Pluricentric Languages (WGNDV), as well as our earlier condition of tightness, opacity, incomprehensibility of Kazakh Russian were used to discuss the possibility of its gradual formation. Two main conclusions were made: a) the Russian language of the post-Soviet space currently meets the criteria for pluricentric languages; b) the Russian language in Kazakhstan is going through rapid and noticeable diversification processes. The arguments of Kazakhstani linguists who assert (B.Kh. Khasanov, E.A. Zhuravleva, D.D. Shaibakova, etc.) or deny (Z.K. Sabitova, A.K. Kazkenova, etc.) the qualifications of the Russian language as variant in Kazakhstan - a country of long-term and massive Kazakh-Russian bilingualism. Generations of Russian speakers (monolinguals - ethnic Russians, Koreans, Ukrainians and others and bilinguals - Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Uighurs and others) with a dominant Russian or a dominant ethnic language - are involved in the processes of Soviet Russification and modern Kazakhization with different effects. Nowadays the diversification of the Russian language in Kazakhstan is taking place against the background of a fundamental change in the status and functional state of the Kazakh and Russian languages; reducing the number of native Russian speakers; fundamental changes in Kazakh-Russian bilingualism, reflected in the crisis of the linguistic identity of a part of Kazakhstanis, in a linguistic shift towards the Russian language (Koreans, part of Kazakhs, Ukrainians, small ethnic groups, etc.) and a turn of the linguistic shift of Kazakhs; strengthening the position of the Kazakh language in business, culture, education, mass media, interethnic communication; the changed vector of influence of languages (Kazakh Russian) and the openness of the Russian language for oral and written borrowings, especially in media texts; finally, new communication needs of Kazakhstanis. The long-term linguistic and cultural borderland, which forms the internalized conceptual-mental picture of the world inherent in Kazakhstanis, has become a fundamental factor stimulating the diversification processes of the Russian language in Kazakhstan.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2021;12(1):7-22
pages 7-22 views

Speech Interference as the Result of a Two-Pronged Negative Influence

Dzhusupov M.

Abstract

The article considers the problem of the interaction of languages in the process of forming a bilingual personality and society. A comparative study of the material, the mother tongue and the studied language, reveals the causes of interference in bilingual speech in a foreign language. Traditionally, the causes of speech interference are determined by the characteristics of a native language, which are not found in the language studied, therefore they negatively affect the process of mastering the second language, which generates speech errors. This is a one-sided approach to understand interference in general and its origins (causes) in particular. The article considers the problem of a two-way approach to understanding the phenomenon of speech interference. Speech interference is a result of the negative influence of both the characteristics of the native language and the characteristics of the language being studied, i.e. it is a simultaneous two-way process in dual unity. Both processes of negative influence on an individual’s mastery of a second language are defined as one action in bilinguality, giving the same result - interference in bilingual speech, which is expressed in phonetic-phonological, semantic and other types and types of speech errors. The simultaneous and inconsistent negative influence of the features of the native language and the non-native language considered on the material of consonant combinations in the initial words of the Russian and Kazakh languages, when the absence of combinations of consonants in this position of the Kazakh word and their presence in this position of the Russian word to the same extent and at the same time negatively influence on the correct - the literary pronunciation of Kazakh words and Russian words. Thus, in contrast to the traditional explanation of the phenomenon of speech interference as a result of a one-sided negative process, it is proposed and proved that this phenomenon is the result of (simultaneous) two-way influence of features, native and studied languages. Errors of an individual in speech in a foreign language are considered according to the provisions of the syntagmatic typology of interference (plus segmentation, or minus segmentation).

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2021;12(1):23-40
pages 23-40 views

Functional Category of Aspectuality in the Russian And English Languages

Derdzakyan H.A.

Abstract

This article studies functional and semantic Tense/Aspect complexes in Russian and English, focusing on their similarities and differences. In Russian, Tense-Aspect meanings of the verb forms correlate with the semantic components of Aktionsart, while in English both Imperfective and Perfective aspects of the verb semantics are realized by the constituent category of Tense/Aspect. The inner asymmetry of the verb forms and meanings is acknowledged for each of the contrastive languages, especially for the two languages compared. The material of the study is retrieved from grammar books and manuals and from literary text samples, principally concerns the use of Tense/Aspect forms of the Russian verb and the forms of the English Perfect. The novelty impact of the study is determined by focusing on the irregularity of the aspectual meanings of English Perfect forms and Tense/Aspect forms of the Russian verb, whereas they are mostly due to lexical meanings of the verbs influenced by intralinguistic specificities of the semantics of lexical indicators as well as mechanisms of communication on the whole. Aspectual meanings both for the Perfective and Imperfective Aspect in languages under comparison used to make up lexical and grammatical aspectual categorical complexes. In terms of Aspect and Tense, peculiarities are found as functional and semantic ones, highly dependent on the situation and context of communication, thus involving extralinguistic factors which also concern the extralinguistic environment of Tense/Aspect verbal forms in use. The comparison of functions and the semantics of Aspect and Aktionsart in the Russian language with those of English Perfect asymmetry is proved to emerge, being caused by cross-linguistic structural and typological differences, particularly, the existence or not the similar forms, their varying semantic load, analytical or synthetic tendencies and others. The asymmetry is especially vividly seen translation and lexicographic field to compose varying kinds of bilingual dictionaries.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2021;12(1):41-60
pages 41-60 views

Illocutionary Compulsion as a Sign of Pseudocommunication

Ponomaryova I.V.

Abstract

The study is timely and actual, since at present, due to the aggravation of interethnic and interstate relations, it is necessary to study discursive mechanisms, taking into account which would more successfully develop methods and models of dialogical discourse, formulate criteria and choose adequate means of carrying out dialogical activities at different levels of communication. The purpose of the study is to identify the features of dialogical speech in ineffective communication situations. The dialogical discourse fragments extracted by applying continuous sampling method the 20th century fiction which served as the material of the study. The methods of contextual analysis, interactional and intentional analysis were used in the study. The research allows comprehend from a linguistic point of view the regulation process of speech behavior of the dialogical interaction participants, to deepen the knowledge of nature and features of speech communication. Illocutionary compulsion is considered to be creating conditions by the communicant when the communicative partner is forced to participate in the communicative process contrary to the will and desire. The factor of illocutionary compulsion means dialogic interaction infringement on the communicative level, performing communicative characteristics of the dialogical discourse and determining the unity of the content aspect of the dialogical interaction; on the interactive level, which determines the interconnectedness of speech actions in communication; and on the perceptual level, associated with the personal socio-psychological and emotional-expressive characteristics of the communicants. On the communicative level such violations mean inconsistency of communicative intentions and strategies of the partners, inadequacy of the illocutionary focus, both structural and semantic incompatibility of replicas of partners, uninformativeness, unactuality, insignificance of messages within the dialogical interaction, violation of the principles governing speech communication. On the interactive level, such violations are manifested as the lack of interaction synchronization of speech actions of the communicants, non-focus of the partners’ actions on correlating the goals of each of the parties and on organizing their achievement, the lack of connection between speech courses and the lack of verbal and non-verbal signals providing interaction regulation. On the perceptual level such violations are incompatibility of peculiarities of worldview and world perception of the communicants, inadequacy of perception, interpretation and assessment of communicative partners of each other, inconsistency in motivation for actions, inadequate tonality of communication, incompatibility of expression of an emotional state and psychological mood. Thereby the factor of illocutionary compulsion promotes the formation of pseudocommunicative contacts situations. The process does not lead to the jointly created result, since it is carried out exclusively as a speaking process. The phenomenon of the pseudocommunicative contact includes various types of other negative phenomena and is characterized by the lack of general communicative meaning. The communication is made as a process but not a result therefore it is considered as unsuccessful, ineffective and unpromising

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2021;12(1):61-70
pages 61-70 views

Problems of Translation of Parenthetic Clauses from Russian into Turkish in Social and Political Texts

Oganova E.A., Alekseeva O.A.

Abstract

Actively developing mass media field generates high demand for specialists who are able to translate texts of social and political topics from Russian into a foreign language and vice versa quickly and efficiently. While learning, students make common mistakes, which should be carefully corrected and prevented. The purpose of this article is to identify the most common mistakes made in translations of parenthetic clauses from Turkish into Russian and to develop recommendations for translating this type of sentences. The research is based on the translations of parenthetic clauses from Russian into Turkish made by three Turkish native speakers who are proficient in Russian, and ten Russian-speaking informants who are 4th-year undergraduate and graduate students of the leading Russian universities where Turkish language is taught as a major. The lack of research papers on the topic indicates the scientific novelty of the study. As a result of the study, the authors conclude that translation of parenthetic clauses presents significant difficulties for students and propose the following recommendations: there are two variants of translating Russian parenthetic clauses into Turkish - a subordinate clause with the conjunction ki and a participle clause with a participle of present-past tenses -(y)An . The first variant reflects the meaning expressed by Russian parenthetic clause most accurately, i.e. makes an emphasis. When referring to this variant, it is necessary to pay attention to the fact that the subordinate clause must have its own subject, which is most often presented by the pronoun bu ‘this’, or its subject must coincide with the subject of the main clause. The second variant mainly performs a determinative function, therefore, the sentence emphasis is made lexically. The stylistics should also be considered: a subordinate clause with the conjunction ki , as emotionally more powerful, is mainly used in analytical newspaper publications, while a participle clause with the participle -(y)An is more neutral stylistically. Therefore, if there are any difficulties with choosing the correct way to translate parenthetic clauses from Russian into Turkish, it is recommended to refer to - the (y)An participle.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2021;12(1):71-88
pages 71-88 views

The Unidirectionality of Grammaticalization in Modern Linguistics

Novospasskaya N.V., Avagyan A.A.

Abstract

The present article contains the results of study on unidirectionality of grammaticalization which is understood as a shift from lexical to grammatical signs. The research aims to find out and describe present approaches to the unidirectionality idea and identify the current tendency in attitudes towards this property of grammaticalization. The research methodology includes a content analysis of approaches to the unidirectionality issue, their generalization and analysis of some units questioning the unidirectionality of grammaticalization. The relevance of grammaticalization studies is due to a growing interest of Russian and foreign linguists in grammatical changes, current differences in identifying the main properties of such change as grammaticalization and terminological variation. The theoretical framework of this study is based on the research by T. Givón, Ch. Lehmann, T. Lindström, E. Traugott, B. Heine and other famous linguists working in the field of grammaticalization. It is noted that the issue of unidirectionality of grammaticalization is almost ignored in Russian linguistics where unidirectionality is often seen as an integral property of this process. The study results have shown the tendency to accepting the unidirectionality idea and a controversial nature of some examples used to overturn this idea. Such examples include English infinitival to , the verb to dare and the suffix -ish . It has been established that the terms ‘degrammaticalization’ and ‘lexicalization’ used to refer to processes opposite to grammaticalization can be considered reasonable depending on their understanding and the meaning of the term ‘grammaticalization’. This study is a part of a more extensive research aimed to describe and analyze the mechanisms of grammaticalization in Germanic languages.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2021;12(1):89-104
pages 89-104 views

Fashion Vocabulary: Borrowing, Adapting and Rethinking

Nedopekina E.M.

Abstract

Fashion is a rather significant mechanism that organizes the life of any society and regulates the social behavior of people. It subordinates not only the choice of clothing, interior, personal hygiene items, gastronomic tastes, musical preferences, but also the way of thinking, the formation of criteria for assessing the phenomena of reality. At the same time, fashion is not only a powerful social regulator, but also a significant cultural phenomenon, the study of which is of particular importance nowadays. In this context, the vocabulary of fashion is interesting, as, on the one hand, it enriches the Russian language due to the abundant borrowing of foreign words, on the other hand, it indicates how actively the Russian language adapts new names for fashion items, and demonstrates how Russian mentality and culture accept this vocabulary. In order to consider the Russian vocabulary in the sphere of “fashion” in all three aspects, it is important to trace the derivation of the lexical meaning of the denotations of the “fashion” semantic field in their connection with the historical period and the change in the native speakers’ way of thinking in different historical times of the country. To this end, it is necessary to turn to the etymology of the basic elements of the Russian wardrobe, identify their coherence with the gender of their owners and trace how this coherence has been changing over time, as well as analyze the ways of grammatical adaptation of borrowed vocabulary in the Russian language, and finally, note the functional specifics of the same lexemes in Russian and other donor languages.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2021;12(1):105-120
pages 105-120 views

SEMIOTIC AND POETIC TEXT STUDIES

BRIDGE as a Linguistic and Cultural Symbol

Karasik V.I., Milovanova M.S.

Abstract

The paper deals with a linguistic and cultural conceptualization of reality. A symbolic dimension of a concept is analyzed on the basis of its notional, perceptive and axiological features. The concept BRIDGE has been described in its verbal representation in the Russian and English linguistic cultures. The material of the study includes definitions from dictionaries and encyclopedias, textual samples from the Russian and English national corpuses, proverbs and aphorisms and poetic texts. Metaphorically, a bridge is understood as an opportunity to move on along the road via some natural obstacles, usually rivers. Symbolically, the following ideas come to the fore when applied to the concept BRIDGE: crossing an obstacle, raising up, possibility or impossibility of coming back, safety or insecurity. The novelty of the research consists in the description of these vectors of conceptualization of a BRIDGE as a cluster of the symbolic meanings of building or destroying a bridge and going up or falling down from it.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2021;12(1):121-136
pages 121-136 views

Harmony and Disharmony: Acoustic Opposition in the Early Lyrics of Alexander Blok

Temirgazina Z.K., Zhakupova G.K.

Abstract

The article studies the role of the observer - the subject of acoustic perception of poetic narrative, in particular, in the construction of a dual reality in the early work by Alexander Blok “Poems about the Beautiful Lady”. Acoustic perceptual data is the basis for the creation of complex mystical and philosophical symbols and poetic images. The divine, ideal world of the Beautiful Lady and the real world of the lyric hero are in opposition to each other in acoustic terms, which give rise to the opposition HARMONY - DISHARMONY. The opposition is realized in musical sounds, songs, and bell ringing typical of the upper world. The real world is characterized by other sounds, non-musical: groans, creaks, complaints, and crying. Accordingly, emotions also differ in value depending on belonging to one or another world: in the world of the Beautiful Lady they quietly laugh, rejoice; in the world of the lyrical hero they cry, moan, complain. SILENCE is a significant symbol of the divine world. The world of the Beautiful Lady is thus harmonious, musical and quiet. Its important element is the voices of birds: swans, cranes, eagles. Smell, touch and taste play a minor role in the creation of the Blok’s dual reality. Temperature sensations participate in the formation of the COLD symbol as a phenomenon hostile to the divine world. Thus, the concept of dual reality in Blok’s early lyrics is embodied in a number of acoustic oppositions and acoustic symbols of silence, song, and bell ringing.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2021;12(1):137-152
pages 137-152 views

Linguocognitive Specifics of the Disease Myth

Stepanova E.S.

Abstract

The article deals with the question of cancer myth representation in the popular science medical discourse. This study is carried out according to the linguocultural approach to the study of the cancer myth, which is based on the reconsideration of linguocultural phenomena. Myths about diseases are of linguistic and cultural significance and they are passed down from generation to generation. Those of phenomena that are incomprehensible and frightening are considered to cause additional associations. Cancer diseases refer to such linguocultural phenomena. Myths about diseases reflect the results of this or that form of reconsideration or experience of some phenomena by a particular linguocultural society. The work provides the definitions of the notions “myth” and “disease”. The methodology of the study is based on the research by foreign and Russian scientists in the field of study of the notions of “myth” and “disease” as semiotic systems. The popular science medical survey “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” by Siddhartha Mukherjee served as a research background. It analyses the way the disease myth actualizes in the popular science medical discourse. It shows a mythological plot (or mythological information) to get actualized in a particular situation by means of reference, and the way it contributes to the explication of a particular disease myth. Neither the subject of the message nor the plot of the myth is of importance for the reader, only the influence of the myth on the patient’s representations of disorder and his emotional state and on the society as a whole makes sense. The study helps conclude that mythological information representing the disease myth is nationally and socially marked, and is characterized by a particular conceptual presentation and is expressed by different linguistic means.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2021;12(1):153-164
pages 153-164 views

Discursive Aesthetic Impact Strategies in Medieval Literary Texts

Vyshenskaya Y.P.

Abstract

The paper deals with the matter investigating the nature of the aesthetic impact of the belles-lettres style being generated within the scope of great transfer from high Middle Ages to the start of Renaissance. In course of the analysis, some traditional ideas and terms adopted in the historical stylistics are used. The mentioned ideas turned up into being during the period of its discrimination from other disciplines of linguistic historical cycle. Acquired linguistic independence charged the ideas with the function of marking the borders between the historical stylistics and other disciplines mentioned. One of the markers of the type is the voluminous historism, i.e., co-relationship between stylistic phenomena and the context of their existing. Flexible borders of the latter regulated by targets and tasks of the proper research can be extended up to the certain type of culture. Importance of a special character gained by the medieval culture during the period of the «international» Gothic dominating when considered as a type of a context necessary for analysing the belles-lettres style generating corresponds to the importance of combining philological and non-philological kinds of practice and induced by the purpose to enrich the analysis as well as to increase the research output verification. It is suggested that the analysis of the elements of another semiotic nature presented by types and illustrations highly important for discursive strategies to influence the recipient should be thought of as an instance of a combination of the kind. One of the mighty instruments of the mentioned sort of the esthetic impact is the medieval illuminated book of the epoch of the “international” Gothic (XIV - XV centuries) dominating within the borders of European cultural space. «Soft» power, immanent to it, id est, some ability to modify emotional state of consciousness and behaviour of a recipient is characterised by semiotic attractionness and cognitive power, and embodies one of the type of strategies of the kind.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2021;12(1):165-184
pages 165-184 views

Imperative Statements - one of the Forms of Representation of a Linguistic Personality

Vasileva A.A.

Abstract

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of the functioning of imperative statements used in various situations of communication. The purpose of the article is to analyze the main imperative constructions in the context of the speech behavior of the linguistic personality of the main character of a literary text. The method of comparative analysis allows identify the features of the functioning of incentive tactics. This article is an overview of the research available in linguistics on issues related to imperativeness. A broad view of the concept of imperative allows to go beyond the established definitions and expand the field of modality of a literary text. The work examines the main semantic groups that clearly characterize the literary character as a linguistic person. The analysis of imperative incentive statements is viewed through the prism of purposeful communicative activity. A variety of means and ways of expressing imperative statements in the speech of the main character provide an opportunity to differentiate semantic nuances. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that for the first time on the material of the modern Russian novel “The Geographer Drank His Globe Away” by A. Ivanov, the main classes of expression of the semantics of motivation are analyzed. The study identified imperative and non-imperative, but expressing the urge to action, statements, means of lowering the imperative. The lexico-grammatical and syntactic constructions used in the speech of the main character, most common in pedagogical and everyday discourses, are analyzed. The research results are presented as a functional-semantic space.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2021;12(1):185-195
pages 185-195 views

Corpus Linguistics: Theory Vs Methodilogy

Chilingaryan K.P.

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comprehensive study of the stages of formation and development of corpus linguistics. The purpose of the article is to analyze various scientific approaches to the scientific significance of this linguistic discipline and identify a set of concepts and criteria that form the foundation of this field. Corpus linguistics is one of the most promising and rapidly developing areas of language research. Linguistics of the XIX century set as its goal the study of language as such, and linguistics of the XXI century sees the relevance of the research not in identifying absolute linguistic categories and meanings but in the practical application of linguistic knowledge. The relevance of the article is determined by the fact that the linguistic corpus contains a vast potential, which the scientific community has not fully comprehended since the text as the main object of corpus linguistics in various forms of its implementation is one of the central components systems of language and speech-thinking activity of a modern native speaker of any language. The content and volume of linguistic corpora of various kinds allow obtaining reliable information about the modern and real use of a particular term: the corpus becomes a tool for analyzing the functioning of this term both in the linguistic field of morphology, syntax, and vocabulary and in the theory and practice of translation, identifying the register of its formal or informal usage. The fundamental novelty of this study’s results allows us to speak about the legitimacy of the creation of corpus dictionaries and corpus grammars of a new generation, developed and verified concerning a specific fixed corpus. Simultaneously, the author substantiates the proposition that the corpus nature of dictionaries and grammars increases their reliability and objectivity and avoids the subjectivity that is often characteristic of research-based solely on the intuition of a linguist. The corpus is a medium for obtaining new scientific data, the comprehension of which seems to be a priority for modern linguistic description and necessary in the scientific activity of a modern researcher. From our point of view, this article's relevance and novelty lie in the fact that the expediency of corpus research is an essential requirement of the time, associated with a new quality of linguistic reality and meeting the needs of modern society. The article examines the main stages of the formation of corpus linguistics as a scientific field, characterizes the scientific concepts and approaches inherent in each of these stages, provides an overview of the main conceptual provisions of corpus linguistics within the framework of domestic and foreign linguistics. The author analyzes in detail the polemics between representatives of various scientific directions and reveals the advantages of one or another approach, traces the similarities and differences between approaches to the study of corpora at various historical stages of their formation. The review's focus is the role and place of corpus studies of language in modern linguistics, comparison of the pro and contra arguments of the use of corpus technologies in linguistic description. Considerable attention is paid to the main criteria for the classification of corpora, a brief overview of the most famous corpora in history is offered, and the prospects for their use in various fields of modern language science are discussed.

RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics. 2021;12(1):196-218
pages 196-218 views

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