Fictional Texts Research Articles

FEATURES OF FUNCTIONING OF EXPRESSIVE REDUCED VOCABULARY IN CONTEMPORARY FICTION TEXTS

This article is devoted to the consideration of the category of expressiveness and its embodiment in literary language and art text. Expressive lexical units belonging to the reduced lexicon in fiction works of the first quarter of the 21st century (“Textˮ by Dmitry Glukhovsky, “Earthˮ by Mikhail Elizarov and “Hijackingˮ by Danil Korecki) are singled out and their functions are determined. The analysis is carried out on the material of various lexicographic editions, among which both explanatory dictionaries and highly specialised dictionaries (dictionaries of argot, jargon) are used. The most common functions that were identified in the context of the named works are the following: characterisation of the linguistic picture of the world of the hero and the author, the “anti-aestheticˮ artistic picture of the world of the author (author’s intention) and a means of characterisation of the character – speech or author’s when using non- self-directed speech. It is indicative that some functions can be combined in the text, which is confirmed by the examples from contemporary works of fiction given in the article. It is concluded that the use of reduced expressive vocabulary in the modern fiction text demonstrates both general linguistic processes and methods of creating artistic imagery, the specificity of which is associated with a kind of “anti-aestheticˮ.

Художественно-педагогическая реконструкция и теоретический анализ опыта взаимоотношений «учитель – ученик» в образовательной сфере России начала ХХ в.

The study aims to determine the role of a teacher’s personality in solving moral and pedagogical problems arising in the process of teacher-student relations in the educational sphere of Russia in the early 20th century by conducting a theoretical analysis of individual documentary fiction texts by K. G. Paustovsky in the genre of documentary prose. The paper substantiates the importance of the priority spiritual and moral principles and values of Russian pedagogy and psychology as the basis of the traditional knowledge paradigm of education, actualizes their relevance in modern Russian theory and practice. The study is original in that it is the first to reveal the role of a teacher’s personality primarily as an educator and bearer of moral universal values in the traditional knowledge paradigm of education based on K. G. Paustovsky’s documentary fiction stories about the teacher-student relations in the educational sphere of Russia in the early 20th century. In addition, the paper determines the importance of a teacher’s personal self-esteem (professional reflection) and their individual threshold of tolerance and responsibility for the process of forming the personal image of pupils, humanistic qualities and psychological characteristics of students. As a result, it was found that an essential factor of success in solving moral and psychological problems in the system of teacher-student relations in both traditional and modern humanistic paradigms of education is the personality of a teacher, their “human factor”. The professional reflection of a teacher, which is their personal self-assessment manifested in psychological, creative, moral and mental abilities at an active and interactive level to influence the spiritual world of a pupil, creates conditions for the movement of the educational process towards the creative self-expression of a student’s personality. A teacher’s ability to correctly assess and take into account students’ personal and psychological characteristics ensures the formation of conditions for pupils’ personal growth, their values and worldview orientations.

ASPECTS OF FRENCH IDENTITY THROUGH THE PRISM OF LANGUAGE (USING THE EXAMPLE OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE LEXEMES PAYS-PAYSAGES-TERROIRS-VILLAGES)

The article is devoted to the designations in the language of cultural references that form and reflect the sense of identity of its bearers. Among them is the image of “your own space”, which is marked and formed with the help of special words related to both language and culture. Taking into account the works of F. Brodel, P. Nora, R.A. Budagov, L. Febvre, A. Rey, M. Ozouf, etc., the concept of “force-words” (mots-force / lieux de force), having a long history, reflecting the culture and values of the collective, possessing emotional power and historically changeable, is substantiated. On the material of dictionaries, scientific, science fiction and fiction texts, Internet sites, two poles of representations of the Frenchmen about themselves are established. The first is marked by lexemes associated with civil society (Patrie - Nation - Etat / Nation, Contract, Drapeau; République). The second one is reconstructed in the article on the basis of the lexemes Pays, Paysages, Terroirs, Villages, Langues (plural) and is associated with the values of private life, the idea of the native land, local and family memory. Using the example of these lexemes, it is revealed that the nature of force words and the direction of their development are not data once and for all: in some circumstances, the identifying function of the word develops, in others, the force word weakens and loses its emotional impact and ability to be an identity marker.

From Monsters to Mazes: Sociotechnical Imaginaries of AI Between Frankenstein and Kafka

The emergence of ChatGPT and other Generative AI tools (GenAI) capable of producing human-like texts sparked debates concerning whether we are at the dawn of a new age of writing and meaning-making. Rather than weighing in on the potential impact of GenAI, this paper engages with the implicit sociotechnical imaginaries underpinning reactions to GenAI. One particularly evocative source for sociotechnical imaginaries are fictional texts, which can shape our shared imagination of possible and probable futures. Accordingly, I analyze two seminal works of fiction: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (Planet eBooks, 1818) and Franz Kafka’s The Trial (Echo Library, 1925). Frankenstein is regarded as an enduring myth that has shaped perceptions of artificial life. This paper sets out to explore the limitations of the ‘Frankensteinian sociotechnical imaginary’ by unpacking AI’s assumed modes of meaning-making along three axes: (1) agency, (2) relations, and (3) control. Within the Frankensteinian sociotechnical imaginary, AI is approached in anthropomorphic terms, emphasizing the struggle over control of meaning-making without reshaping its overarching logic. The Trial, in contrast, offers a lens that challenges common dichotomies underpinning the Frankenstein model: (1) highlighting the entanglement between AI and human intentionality in processes of meaning-making, (2) exploring human-AI relations as recursively shaped through the complementary tendency of humans and GenAI to generate and infer meaning, and (3) shifting the notion of control from a struggle over domination to an emphasis on how GenAI concurrently expands the available choices while limiting humans’ influence over patterns of meaning-making.

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

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.

ظاهرة التناص مع القرآن والحديث في رواية "القاهرة الجديدة" لنجيب محفوظ: دراسة وصفية تحليلية

The concept of religious intertextuality involves integrating selected religious texts, whether from the Holy Quran or the noble Prophetic Hadith, into the original text of a novel. These texts are carefully chosen to harmonise with the narrative context and serve a cognitive or artistic purpose. It is undeniable that the Holy Quran and the Prophetic Hadith are among the most significant sources from which both ancient and contemporary novelists have drawn inspiration, prominently featuring them in their creative works. Consequently, this research aims to investigate the phenomenon of religious intertextuality in Naguib Mahfouz’s novel “Cairo Modern,” intending to comprehend the reason for its employment within the novel’s texts. The research follows a descriptive-analytical statistical methodology. Among the key findings are that Naguib Mahfouz was significantly influenced by Islamic culture, as evidenced by his extensive incorporation of religious texts from the Holy Quran and the Prophetic Hadith in “Cairo Modern.” This influence extends to shaping the events and narrative structure, enriching the fictional texts to generate new meanings. The results also suggest that creative writing critically depends on such literary vitality derived from the mechanism of interweaving and blending known texts, known as intertextuality. This process proves to be a crucial and dynamic tool for both authors and readers alike.

Representation of Sources of the Conceptual Metaphor of 'Love' in Chinese and Russian Fiction Texts of the Postmodern Era (a comparative aspect)

The proposed article examines in a comparative aspect on the material of postmodern Chinese and Russian literary texts the representation of the conceptual metaphor of feelings, namely love. The subject of the study is the sources of the conceptual metaphor of love, representing the scope of the goal of the metaphor in the analyzed texts. The aim of the work is to clarify the similarities and differences in the representation of the sources of the studied conceptual metaphor in Chinese and Russian texts. During the study, the following methods were used: the method of semantic analysis, the comparative method, the method of conceptual analysis. Comparative analysis showed the presence of similarities in the representation of the studied metaphor in the areas of the source "Fire", "Disease", "Light", "Reservoir", "Material value". A distinctive feature of the Chinese texts is the representation of the metaphor in the "Plant" area, and the Russian texts – in the "Living Being" area. The practical value of this work is seen in the fact that these materials can be used in classes on the interpretation of artistic texts of the Chinese language in universities. The works of such a plan create a good prospect for the further development of one of the new areas of linguoculturology, namely comparative linguoculturology, within which there is a comparison of heterogeneous unrelated languages. The scientific novelty of this work lies in the fact that for the first time it reveals similarities and differences in the representation of the conceptual metaphor of love using the material of postmodernist fiction in Chinese and Russian. In the course of the work, it was found that in languages of different structures, Chinese and Russian, the presence of more similarities in the representation of the sources of the conceptual metaphor "love" indicates the universality of the formation of this metaphor in the minds of native speakers, which indicates the prospect of developing universalogy in the context of comparative studies of unrelated languages.

Unveiling the Necropolitics of Oil on Migrant Bodies in Deepak Unnikrishnan’s Birds

Oil played a significant role in fuelling the sociopolitical and economic development of Middle Eastern nations, attracting mass migration from South Asian nations. The article draws a nexus between the energy dynamics and labour exploitation within these petroleum-rich nations. It undertakes a close reading of the text Birds from Deepak Unnikrishnan’s novel Temporary People as it depicts the lives of migrant labourers who navigate an exploitative petro-capitalist system. The fictional text employs a narrative strategy juxtaposing elements of magic and realism, opening up a space for multilayered marginalised voices. The article engages with energy theories and interweaves Mbembe’s theory on necropolitics to grasp oil’s sovereign influence in delineating the boundaries between life and death in migrant lives. The surplus energy generated through fossil fuel extraction contributes to notions of boundless growth, coupled with technical and economic progress, which conceals the intensive manual labour underpinning these petrocultures. The magical property alluded to oil and the spectral absence of labour in the socio-cultural imagination co-constructs an exploitative and dehumanising labour regime for migrants. The migrant body is kept alive, and their existence is contingent upon the instrumental value of their labouring body, which constructs them as easily disposable and expendable as they are positioned outside the formal boundaries of citizenship.

Cognitive Modelling of Fictional Text

The article is concerned with the problem of cognitive modeling forming the basis of fictional text interpretation. The novelty of the research is conditioned by a) the topicality of the interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of linguistic phenomena; b) the necessity of in-depth study of the problem of fictional text perception and interpretation; c) the insufficient development of the problem of cognitive text interpretation. The article is aimed to define the process of cognitive modeling and develop the algorithm of its implementation. The research is done on the material of the English language. The main methods are conceptual analysis and cognitive modeling at the certain stages of which stylistic and propositional analysis are used. As a result of the research the conclusions about a) the specificity of literary concepts and the conceptosphere of a fictional text; b) the typology of literary concepts according to the criteria of conceptual significance, linguistic representations and reference correlations; c) the expediency of applying the method of cognitive modeling to text interpretation. literary concept having common cognitive mechanisms with other types of concepts, nevertheless is characterized by its own specific features: a) relativeness with the conceptual information of the fictional text; b) the reflection of stylistic categories: c) axiological significance; d) the dynamic status; d) contextual determinism. According to the developed criteria for typology literary concepts are classified into three groups: 1) mega-, macro-, miniconcepts; 2) explicit (lexical, phraseological, syntactical, etc.) and implicit; 3) thematic literary linguoconcepts are subdivided into concrete and abstract. The linguistic representations of literary linguoconcepts are specified by a frequent usage of stylistic means, actualizing the most significant for fiction imagery, emotive and axiological components of the concept. A multi-step procedure of fictional text cognitive modeling including a certain sequence of the interpreter’s actions aimed at conceptualization and interpretation of the information about the author’s imaginary world and individual world picture has been developed.

A contextual theory of fictional names

Abstract We review some of the most prominent challenges in the semantics and pragmatics of fictional names and propose a pragmatic theory of fictional names whereby understanding a fictional name requires imagining possible contexts of interpretation of the name. Similarly to other pragmatic approaches to fiction and fictional contexts, we maintain that fictional texts require that the interpreter engages in a game of pretense of sort and are, therefore, prescriptions to imagine a state of affairs that is not the real one. In contrast to these approaches, however, we propose that interpreting a fictional text does not require imagining a set of possible state of affairs where the text would be true but, rather, requires imagining a set of possible contexts where the text would be meaningful. In order to apply this framework to fictional names, we adopt a contextual theory of proper names, which we have proposed and defended in previous work.

Metaphorical image “star” and its varied conceptual interpretation (based on the material of the Russian and French languages)

The article is devoted to the study of the metaphorical image of a star in Russian and French language pictures of the world. The material for the study was Russian and French fiction, as well as religious texts, in order to identify its various conceptual interpretations. Using the analysis of sources from both cultures, the differences and similarities in the semantics of this metaphorical image are compared and analyzed. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that during the comparative analysis it was discovered that the metaphorical image of a star in different texts is transformed through various concepts (the sphere of physiological state, religious, existential, animate spheres). Such a comparison allows us to more deeply understand the specifics of the formation of metaphorical transference in general in different cultures. The purpose of this study is to study the manifestation and behavior of the metaphorical image of a star in texts of various origins within the framework of a cultural context in the Russian and French languages. The relevance of this work lies in the fact that the study of the rich metaphorical image of a star is significant for understanding cultural, literary and ethnic aspects. This study examines in detail the metaphorical image of "star" and its conceptual interpretation in various cultural contexts. During the analysis, comparative research, corpus analysis method, continuous sampling method, and cognitive analysis are used. Particular attention is paid to the method of comparative study of metaphorical transfers of the image “star” in the Russian and French languages. The research methodology is based on the theory of conceptual metaphor and on the analysis of texts of various origins: religious texts of Orthodox akathists, canons, texts of Russian and French fiction.

Realia vs irrealia in non-fiction vs fiction texts: A case study of translation

In response to the ever-growing globalization and intercultural exchange, the cultural aspects of translation are of the utmost importance. This article aims to examine and compare the translation procedures and strategies used to render culture-specific items, particularly realia and irrealia, in non-fiction and fiction texts. Realia, being culture-bound concepts in the real world, and irrealia, denoting similar concepts but in a fictional world, are challenging for translators since they have deep cultural ties. This study involves a translation analysis, comparative analysis, descriptive methods, and frequency calculations. This study employs a dataset of 400 culture-specific vocabulary items from the non-fiction book by L. Johnson What Foreigners Need to Know about America from A to Z and the apocalyptic novel Seveneves by N. Stephenson and their translations into Ukrainian. The analysis reveals that realia and irrealia are translated by employing different procedures, with calque being a popular choice for realia and contextual synonyms for irrealia. Notably, translation through neologisms has been found only in irrealia. Despite the contrast in translation procedures, both realia and irrealia were predominantly translated using a domestication strategy, boosting Ukrainian readers' cultural comprehension.

Linguistic analysis of fiction texts in the context of the frame theory

The aim of the study is to identify and analyse frame structures, activators, and concepts in texts to reveal their impact on the reader' s perception. The research employed the methods of semantic, structural, and intertextual frame analysis. Cronbach' s alpha was also used to verify the instruments used. The following cases were used in the work: Oxford English Corpus and International Corpus of English (ICE). It is noted that frame activators such as "great heat", "hell heat", "hot wind", and "scorching sun" evoke associations with scorching heat and unusual warmth in the desert. These frames convey the impression of life danger, exhaustion, and severity of conditions. In turn, phraseological units such as "fresh waters", "bloody sunset", and "dried earth" reveal the contradictory nature of the image of the desert, where even such natural phenomena as water and sunset acquire a new, deep shade of meaning. The application of this theory was found to reveal complex language structures and their influence on the understanding and perception of texts. The obtained results open up new opportunities for educational and literary analysis, deepening the understanding of language mechanisms in fiction. Further studies in the field of linguistic analysis of texts should be aimed at considering the interaction between different works of art, focusing on the frame perspective. It is also worth paying attention to the possibilities of using the theory of frames to fulfill practical assignments, such as automatic text analysis.

Лингвостилистические особенности литературы фанфикшн (на материале англоязычного фандома «Пушкин»)

The paper presents a linguostylistic analysis of English-language fan fiction works based on the novel “Eugene Onegin” by Alexander Pushkin. The studied texts are stylistically dependent speech works – stylizations and parodies, and, therefore, the characteristics of the works are considered taking into account the criteria of the theory of secondary texts by M. V. Verbitskaya. The research is comparative in nature and reveals the methods of linguistic transformation of the source text when creating fan fiction works. In addition, the paper touches upon various aspects of “secondariness” as a phenomenon in text linguistics, providing some observations on the place of fan fiction among scientific concepts of derivative texts. The aim of the research is to determine the methods of linguistic transformation of the source text in the creation of fan fiction. The scientific originality of the research is determined by the combination of textual and intertextual approaches to the fanfic. The paper is the first to examine in detail the stylistic aspects of the transformation of Russian classics into an English-language fanfic. As a result, the analysis allowed us to identify the most common approaches to the linguistic realization of amateur interpretations and to expand linguistic knowledge about fan fiction texts.

A Critical Study of Blade Runner from A Posthumanism Perspective

Posthumanism is the theory concerned with how the developments in technology and science has challenged our conception of what it means to be human. It looks for representations of a posthuman condition within literature, mostly in science fiction texts. The theory mapping the development of humanism into the present day and its relationship with technology and devoting in looking at the distinction between humans and animals and/or humans and machines. As one of the most notable artworks in the film industry, the Blade Runner is always regarded as a representative research object of posthumanism theory. This paper would mainly focus on the analysis of Blade Runner, to see how posthumanism is performed and distillated in this classical film.

Pemanfaatan Media Teks Fiksi Dan Mentimeter Dalam Peningkatan Literasi Bahasa Sastra Dan Numerikal Pada Siswa/I SMA Swasta Tri Sakti Lubuk Pakam

Community Service (PkM) Faculty of Teacher Training and Education (FKIP) HKBP Nomensen University Medan is a service program carried out by a team of students and DPL lecturers with the title "Utilization of Fiction Text Media and Mentimeter in Increasing Literacy in Literary and Numerical Language in High School Students Private Tri Sakti Lubuk Pakam”. The Community Service Program (PKM) of the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training is implemented by the university in an effort to increase knowledge in students to gain added value and as a means of increasing insight and experience which can trigger broader knowledge for students. This activity aims to improve student character by using fictional text media and time meter in learning Indonesian and Mathematics, especially for TRI SAKTI Lubuk Pakam Private High School students, to be able to apply and receive Indonesian and Mathematics tutoring well, and be able to demonstrate knowledge Using the Mentimeter application or characters on students after participating in PKM community service activities can help the community, especially students, in completing missed lessons.

Queerfeminist Strategies for the Reconstruction of Spanish Memories of the Civil War and Franco’s Dictatorship in El cuarto de atrás (1978) and Cartas a María (2015)

Queerfeminist strategies in the reconstruction of memories, such as performative uses of fantasy in (auto)biographical (non)fiction texts, can bring out what has been repressed by androcentric narratives of History. Through memory dispositives, which trigger frictions between past and present, fiction and reality, creators manage to confront trauma. This is illustrated by close reading two works dealing with (post)memories of the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship: Carmen Martín Gaite’s novel El cuarto de atrás (1978) and Maite García Ribot’s documentary film Cartas a María (2015). While Martín Gaite navigates through her own fictionalized memories, García Ribot reconstructs her grandfather’s exile.

METHODS OF USING REALITIES IN A FICTION TEXT

The purpose of this article is to consider the peculiarities of translation of realia in a fiction text, as well as to study the most common methods of translation of realia in the novels of A. Chulpan "Day and Night" and Aibek "Navoi". As a result of our research, it was revealed that in the works of fiction realities convey a special national flavor, so the translator should pay special attention to them. Analyzing the realia of these works in translation into French and Russian, the following methods were found: transcription, transliteration, calque and descriptive translation.

International students’ language and cultural integration: Expert comments by a teacher of Russian as a foreign language

The article provides the results of the study of the educational programs potential within academic courses of Russian as a foreign language in the fields of “Philology” and “Linguistics” when solving the issues of language and cultural integration of international students into realities of modern Russian society. The study has revealed the merits of tools and resources for teaching Russian to international students: a number of profile academic disciplines. The study confirms that the solution of the issues of linguistic and cultural adaptation of international students is achieved in the course of doing the academic disciplines “Lexicology”, “Linguocultural Studies”, “Linguocountry Studies”, “Translation Theory”, in the study of linguistic sections “Non-Equivalent Vocabulary”, “Semantics”, “Cognitive Linguistics” and in mastering the competences of analyzing the fictional text (its stylistics and phraseology). We outline the role of the relationship between Cognitive Linguistics and Linguocultural Studies in bringing international students closer to the issues of linguistic consciousness, which predetermines the full command of the language. The study allows us to conclude that the degree of mastering professional competences for a linguist and philologist can be considered as their level of linguistic and cultural competences.

Examining the Transformative Effect of the RADEC Learning Model on Student’s Fictional Writing Ability

This study originated from the observation of teachers employing traditional teaching methods, leading to a notable deficiency in students' proficiency in crafting fiction texts. The aim of this research is to investigate the impact of the RADEC (Read, Answer, Discuss, Explain, Create) learning model on the development of fiction writing skills among fifth-grade elementary students. Employing a quasi-quantitative experimental approach, this study utilizes a non-equivalent control group design, incorporating experimental and control classes. Data collection methods include observation, pretest and posttest assessments, and documentation. Data analysis involves normality testing, homogeneity of variance testing, and independent sample testing using SPSS IBM26. The findings reveal a statistically significant disparity in the average fiction writing ability between groups utilizing the RADEC model and conventional methods, with a significance value of 0.047 0.05. The noteworthy average improvement of 17.5 in students' fiction writing skills subsequent to the implementation of the RADEC learning model underscores its effectiveness, advocating for its adoption by educators, particularly for enhancing the writing proficiency of fifth-grade students.