Vol 14, No 4 (2023): INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH OF LANGUAGE AND SPEECH

-

Day-to-day interaction is overtly standardized and being associated with the expectations and norms imposed by a society as well as stereotypical societal being. When communicating, an individual is perfectly aware of the roles that could be attributed to him and aims to stand up to them. At the same time he intends to promptly comprehend and process the data he obtains from the outside and fit them into his niche, or the hierarchical environment determined by his unique set of properties. To put it differently, the subject of communication reflects upon those elements which are relevant for his being, and he can comprehend given his organization. With this it makes sense to relate to repetitive nature of some actions that have proven instrumental in maintaining the hierarchy of this environment and ensure self-preservation of the subject. Chilean biologists Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela have coined the term recursiveness to relate to the repetitive character of the activities of a living entity in different cases of this living entity’s interaction with is medium. The authors of the theory of autopoiesis mainly focused on biological species, and humans being one of those. In the publications while they cover the foundations of their theory, Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela refer to social systems as complex third order systems being regulated by the same self-preservation laws as a living entity. This serves as a prerequisite to attribute recursiveness to communicative behavior of a human aiming to step into social interaction and design a model of recursive communicative behavior. To verify this model we planned and ran a psycholinguistic experiment to measure the degree of the steoretypization in communicative behavior of mainstream representatives of the society. The participants were subdivided into two contrasting subclusters: “those under 24” and “those over 45”. They were offered a number of experimental cases with a task to model the communicative behavioral patterns typical for them in various day-to-day communication settings. Overall the experiment involved 219 subjects. The analysis of the data obtained outlines those settings implying a higher degree of the standardization in communicative behavior as well as the gender and age-related specifics of the participants with more stereotypical speech patterns.

In the process of speech ontogenesis, various mechanisms of language acquisition play different roles. Both basic and auxiliary mechanisms can be distinguished. The basic mechanisms are proposed to include generalization, differentiation and imitation. The role of differentiation in speech ontogenesis is very significant, and this mechanism plays a special role in language acquisition by boys, primarily expressive ones. The study is based on records of spontaneous speech of young children, as well as on the experimental data. The main part of the study is based on the data of the experiment with 16 children - 8 referential (4 girls and 4 boys) and 8 expressive (4 girls and 4 boys). As a result, in contrast to previous studies, it is concluded that there is no clear evidence that the role of differentiation in the speech ontogenesis of expressive children is significantly more important than its role in the speech ontogenesis of referential children. At the same time, the assumption made earlier that differentiation is more significant for boys than for girls is confirmed. The obtained results are proposed to be interpreted as follows: the referential children, and girls in the first place, are more capable of generalization as the most basic mechanism of language acquisition. At the same time, all children, both referential and expressive, tend to rely on differentiation, but the lower ability to rely on generalization in expressive children than in referential children leads to the fact that they (especially the expressive boys) are forced to rely on one of the other two basic mechanisms of language acquisition - differentiation or imitation. Since differentiation is a more basic mechanism of language acquisition than imitation, the reliance on differentiation in expressive children is especially significant. Therefore, reliance on differentiation, with an insufficient ability to rely on generalization, plays a particularly significant role in the process of speech ontogenesis of expressive children, and, first of all, boys.

The first holophrases of a child’s speech mark the beginning of the development of oral discourse. Various typologies of genres fall mainly into two groups: those that are based on the external criteria (functional-pragmatic, social-pragmatic) towards the text, and those that are based on certain textual traits of the text. Mastering oral discourse also means mastering its genre forms. Children with primary developmental language disorder usually face difficulties in generating discourse text. Their oral discourse acquisition processes are not well studied yet; information regarding Russian-speaking children is particularly lacking. The aim of this paper is to discuss the dynamics of mastering various genres (narrative, description, expository discourse, and instruction) of oral discourse of preschool children with primary developmental language disorder compared with their typically developing peers. To design a situation of natural communication for the subjects and to elicit their personal discourse, an experimental methodology of Simulating a Conversation with a Peer was developed. The study involved 20 children aged 4-5 years with primary developmental language disorder and 12 typically developing peers. All children were assessed three times with an interval of 3-4 months; each wave of assessment included three meetings. The developed corpus of oral personal discourse was transcribed, annotated morphologically, and submitted to linguo-statistical distributive analysis of discourse passages. In addition, narrative texts were evaluated in terms of the elaboration level of the narrative structure. Statistical analysis evidenced significant between-group differences in the distribution of narrative and expository passages and in the elaboration level of the narrative structure. Dynamic characteristics distinguishing children with primary developmental language disorder from typically developing children were revealed.

Children with different levels of reading proficiency demonstrate different information processing speed, reading accuracy and cognitive strategies. The study presents the results of analyses of eye movement features when performing letter search tasks in lexical and sub-lexical environments. The task of searching for a particular grapheme by the respondents is approximated to real-life conditions, since in the course of language learning students regularly face the tasks of searching for certain orthograms in educational texts or self-checking tasks (i.e., errors in their own texts), which is especially important for children with dysorphographia, regulatory dysgraphia, and other learning difficulties. Forty-nine children aged 9 to 10 years participated in the study. Reading skills were assessed using the Standardized Assessment of Reading Skills (SARS). Nonverbal intelligence was assessed by using Raven’s coloured progressive matrices. Participants performed a letter search task in text and letter list, eye movements were recorded using the EyeLink 1000 Plus eye tracker. Rank correlation analyses showed that the level of reading skill development was related to the efficiency of finding specific items in a given context. In addition, the duration and number of gaze fixations on the searched units in the letter list were not always related to the number of correct answers, indicating a complex process of visual attention during the search task. In addition, it was observed that foveal vision was not always necessary for performing search tasks in children with normally developed reading skill levels. The study also investigated the concept of functional visual field and how the surroundings of the items being searched affect the attentional mechanisms involved in visual search. Overall, this study provides evidence on the relationship between reading skills, attention and visual information processing, which contributes to understanding reading strategies in children with dyslexia and creating new methods for screening children with dyslexia in the future.

The study deals with discourse emblems treated as recognizable identifying signs of communication participants. They occupy a certain place in a general system of semiotic interpretation of reality - they are indices characterizing the pragmatic vector of a sign, according to Ch. Morris. The difference between emblems and allegories or symbols consists in their main quality - the former should be immediately recognized by the people who belong to a certain culture whereas the latter may be deciphered. Emblems as a system constitute an outer form of culture. Discourse emblems are inherent in any type of communication and may be regarded as discourse type indices. Their linguistic and cultural essence is to show communication partners as belonging to the joint community. Emblems in a personal habitual discourse demonstrate a restricted communicative distance, in an institutional discourse they indicate the group status of communicative partners, and in an artistic discourse they show a multiplex extensible variety of meanings contained in the text or any art object having an aesthetic value.

The study deals with the proverbal semantics from the point of view of its attitude to the surrounding world as an object of cognition, evaluation, verification and verbalization. The aim of the study is to describe the main semantic types of paremiological units (proverbs) according to the criterion of “relation to reality” in empirical, axiological, ontological and logical aspects. The research was done on the material of proverbs in the Kalmyk language from the collection of V.L. Kotvich (1905). The author’s methodology of categorizing the semantics of the aphoristic units, and their differentiation into semantic types according to the criterion of “relation to reality” was used. It has been revealed, that in the proverbs all major aspects of aphoristic categorization of the reality are represented, according to which the proverbial semantics is differentiated into six categories: “nomological” and “centential” (In the empirical aspect), “truistic” and “gregarious” (In the axiological aspect), and also paradoxical (In the logical aspect) and absurd (In the ontological aspect). It has been established that the categorization of the attitude to reality in proverbs is characterized by different quantitative representation and content heterogeneity. The attitude to reality as an object of cognition and evaluation is represented to the greatest extent in proverbs, and to the least extent - as an object of verification. Proverbs of different semantic categories have a specific set of prototypes, concepts and images. The categorisation of the attitude to reality in proverbs is universal, but it is distinguished by selectivity in terms of its distribution in the semantic types and conceptual imagery, which represents the ethnolinguistic and cultural specificity of the categorisation and conceptualisation of the proverb picture of the world.

The study is devoted to actual issues of cognitive linguistic and cultural linguistic. Both sciences are sciences of the synthesizing type, and they make it possible to explore a linguistic sign in its deep functions related to the mentality and culture of a particular linguistic community. The object of the research is the commonly used Russian lexeme a head , which is the key sign of the corresponding concept. Its semantic structure, paradigmatic and national-cultural characteristics are established. The novelty of the study lies in the complex of applied methods: vocabulary definition analysis, contextual analysis, introspection method, cognitive interpretation of the results obtained. A culturological commentary is provided. Theoretical value of the study: the synthesizing approach allows us identify the structure and content of the concept, as well as cultural attitudes transmitted by language signs. Applied value: the results of the study can be used in lexicographic practice, as well as in the courses on cognitive linguistics, cultural linguistic, theory of intercultural communication.

The problem of perception of age in the folk consciousness, which is studied on the basis of proverbs in the English and Russian languages with the meaning “old”, “young”, touches on issues that are relevant for all people - awareness of the laws of human existence, therefore, turning to proverb material in the context of this issue seems relevant and productive. The main objective of this study is to compare proverbs of the Russian and English languages on this topic in the aspect of structural and semantic analysis and to reveal important features of the national and cultural thinking of both peoples. The first aim of the study is to identify and systematize the basic meanings of proverbs, which reveal a view on the accomplishments of old people and the inherent advantages of an old age; a look at the problem of the state of the body and spirit, which depends not only on age, but also on the inner determination; the disadvantages of the old age and the problem of its inevitability; the virtues and traits of the youth, as well as its weaknesses; a look at typical traits that are traditionally associated with age, but do not depend on it, and, finally, the opposition of the old age and the youth both in the context of confrontation and in the context of cooperation and complementarity. The second aim is to determine the similarities and differences in the choice of linguistic and figurative means in proverbs of the two languages. Proverbs use linguistic devices such as comparison, conformation, opposition, metaphor, metonymy, personification, gradation, hyperbole, irony, allegory, paradox. Similar means of expressive syntax are distinguished: asyndeton, impersonal sentences, syntactic parallelism, ellipsis, compression, rhythmic and phonetic arrangement of proverbs, imperative and conditional sentences, and for the Russian language - infinitive and generalized-personal sentences. Proverbs use expressive vocabulary: zoonyms, somatisms, and Russian proverbs also more often use archaisms, vernacular, words with reduced stylistic colouring and words with diminutive suffixes (diminutives). The novelty of the study lies in the choice of research methodology based on the systematization of proverbial material into groups within the chosen topic and the comparative structural and semantic analysis of proverbs in each thematic group along with revealing similarities and differences in the choice of methods of expressiveness, figurative motivation, figurative means, as well as lexical components and syntactic structure in the proverbs of two languages. The analysis made it possible to show the nationally specific features of the understanding of the main characteristics of the old and young age by both peoples, as well as to identify the role of linguistic means that reflect the specifics of their mentality.

The studies treat the peculiarities of riddles functioning in different genres of literary discourse in three literary texts by the English writers L. Carroll’s «Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, J. Tolkien’s «Hobbit, Back and Forth» and R. Austin Freeman’s «The Mysterious Visitor». The relevance of this work is determined by the interest of linguists to a riddle as a linguistic phenomenon, possessing a certain cognitive-pragmatic potential, and is still insufficiently researched. As a valuable source of knowledge about the culture and traditions of a particular ethnic group, the riddle has a great linguistic and cultural potential and reflects the variability of the world’s pictures. Coding an object of the existing reality in the riddle aims to create a problem situation for the guesser, who should demonstrate the flexibility and non-standard analytical or insight way of thinking. The purpose of the study is to describe the cognitive-pragmatic potential of riddles functioning in a literary tale and a detective story. It has been established that the riddle can be not only an independent communicative event, but also an integral part of complex literary genres. The use of riddles in literary discourse is motivated by the author’s intention and reflects the creative nature of thinking. In the fairy tale, the riddle is aimed at game communication with a reader, while in the detective discourse it represents the main genre-forming element around which the plot and the system of characters are built.

The study analyzes the proposed by professor O.A. Krylovaʼs technique of text analysis in the aspect of speech stylistics, focused on the interpretation of non-fiction texts of various functional-stylistic affiliations, from the standpoint of the possibility of its use as one of the stages of a comprehensive linguo-poetic examination of texts representing artistic speech. Such an opportunity is created by the obvious correlation of a number of features characteristic of both types of texts, a certain transformation of which in verbal and artistic text structures is due to the priority of manifestation of the aesthetic function of language in them. The possibility of using the technique of analysis developed by O.A. Krylova, as a component of linguo-poetic analysis, is demonstrated by examining one of the lyrical texts - the poem by V. Miroshnichenko “We are Donbass, we should not complain!”. However, according to the author, this practice can be quite successfully applied in the interpretation of verbal and literary works of other genus-literary affiliation, where the language is embodied in an aesthetically complicated form: prose and drama.

The relevance of this study is explained by the fact that despite the diversity of linguistic landscape studies of urban spaces, the methodology for studying the linguistic landscape of educational organizations is not systematically described and there is a lack of research on the communicative space of universities. Meanwhile, the linguistic landscape of a university is one of the important tools for its management and transmission of values and ideology, it is also a space for interaction between administration, teachers and students. In addition, the linguistic situation developed at Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia, where the campus is a unique multinational multicultural space with a peculiar linguistic landscape, is of scientific interest. The purpose of the study is to describe the linguistic landscape of the international campus of RUDN University as a classical university with high level of internationalization with the use of the methodology developed by the authors. The material presents visual texts posted on RUDN University campus. The objectives of the study involved the following methods: sociolinguistic methods and techniques; descriptive method with characteristic techniques of generalization; classification and interpretation; quantitative, comparative and semiotic methods. The main results, which also contribute to the scientific novelty of this study, are as follows: 1) the authors proposed a methodology to describe the linguistic landscape of an educational organization; 2) clarified methodologically important issues related to the concept and functions of the linguistic landscape of a university; 3) identified the subjects shaping the linguistic landscape of the university, and determined the degree of their activity in its creation and contribution to the linguistic diversity of the landscape; 4) established that the ratio of languages, as well as the dominant language of written communication, depends on the subject of the texts; 5) pointed out that the linguistic landscape reflects the focus of RUDN University on internationalization; 6) formulated preliminary recommendations for organizing written communication on campus to increase its effectiveness and improve the ergonomics of the campus communicative space; 7) noted that the linguistic landscape is only a part of the complex communicative space of a university campus, for a comprehensive study of which the authors of the article introduce the term ‘communicative landscape’.