Speech Genres Research Articles

Horoscope in the media space: a linguocommunicative aspect

The article considers the phenomenon of horoscopic text relevant to modern linguistics in general and analyzes it as a type of speech genre in particular. The article argues that the horoscopic text, functioning in the media space, is a cluster integrative unit created under the influence of a number of extralinguistic factors, which is directly reflected both in the linguistic means used in horoscopes and in their structural organization. The ubiquitous digitalization of the information space causes a reduction of a predictive text’s volume and brings it closer to media genres. The proof that the horoscope is a separate speech genre is the regular use of a certain set of speech acts in its texts, which make up the formula of the genre, while the range of relevant speech acts gets limited by this formula. As a result of our analysis of three hundred horoscope texts, we found that two types of a regularly used speech act can be distinguished in their structure, or two basic components of the media horoscope structure. The first component, implemented in a proposition, is represented by an assertive; the second part, perceived as a recommendation, is represented in the form of a directive of various types. We consider that assertives can be divided into informative and evaluative; directives are verbalized by means of prescriptive and motivational varieties, phraseoreflections, promptings with a forecast, permissions and suggestions. Each type of a speech act is verbalized through a certain set of lexical and grammatical means of the language strengthening the communicative position of the author.

Языковая репрезентация речевого жанра «пояснение» в медицинском дискурсе в рамках телевизионной просветительской передачи (на примере передачи «Мед. эксперт»)

The paper analysed the speech genre of explanation often implemented as a popular scientific description of a disease within the framework of the television genre of educational transmission of medical topics, that is, the researchers consider medical discourse. The aim of the study is to identify the differential features of explanation as a speech genre based on the material of television medical discourse. The study is novel in that it is the first to highlight the linguistic features that define the speech genre of explanation. As a result, it has been revealed that in the medical discourse in Russian, the genre of explanation is characterised at the pragmatic level by the adaptation of information for the audience of potential viewers. A trusting atmosphere is created by emphasising the status of the addresser. The pragmatic attitude toward explication simplicity is expressed in speech at all levels. The speech genre of explanation can be constructed according to the classical scheme on a “simple-to-complex” basis, but it is also possible to use the reverse technique.

Tracking the transmission of culture: a cultural discourse analysis of narratives of circulation in the US undergraduate public speaking course

ABSTRACT Ethnography of communication studies conducted by communication scholars, including those informed by cultural discourse theory, typically approach the cultural transmission of discursive resources using a narrow conception of language socialization. In this conception, expert speakers instruct or otherwise compel novice speakers to speak in locally recognized, normative ways and thereby achieve or affirm membership in the collective. I perform the cultural discourse analysis of narratives of circulation to extend this approach. In particular, I study narratives representing the movements of the Anglo-American speech genre known as public speaking in a US undergraduate course and a series of focus groups. Speakers narrated movement along four paths: from beyond the classroom into the classroom; inside the classroom (with the class acting as primary agent of dissemination); inside the classroom (with student speakers acting as secondary agents of dissemination); and from the classroom beyond the classroom. The analysis suggests three extensions of the existing approach to cultural transmission and, thereby, of cultural discourse theory: accounting for cultural ideologies (or metacultures) of transmission; producing more comprehensive accounts of transmission’s participation structure; and accounting for the local meanings of mobile resources both in context and in motion.

‘Folk’ in the Age of Algorithms: Theorizing Folklore on Social Media Platforms

Over the past few decades, folklore scholars have demonstrated that online expressions and performance play a role in folklore studies and that folklore thrives in digital spaces. However, theorization of the specificities of digital spaces as sites for folklore is still just getting started. This article is a contribution to this theorization, focusing on one specific and popular area of connective culture: social media platforms. Combining Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of speech genres with perspectives from critical algorithm studies and science and technology studies (STS), I suggest that social media algorithms are actors which simultaneously promote change and continuity, and as such take part in folk culture and the production and transmission of folklore. The aim is to develop a theoretical framework that accounts for how the algorithm takes part in communication (whether human users are aware of it or not), in order to deepen our understanding of how tradition is created and sustained in algorithmically governed communication.

OATHS CLASSIFICATION. OATHS OF THE FIELD

the article includes the essence of speech genres, issues of classification, distinguishing types, and genetically close phenomena bordering on it, among the topical issues of the theory of speech genres. At the same time, the classification of speech genres is one of the most controversial and complex areas of the theory of modern speech genres. It should be noted that until today, excluding the list of speech genres, opinions have been expressed about the fact that there is no universally accepted typology of them.

О ЖАНРОВОЙ ПРИРОДЕ СЕТЕВОГО КОММЕНТАРИЯ

The purpose of this article is to analyze the degree of applicability of the traditions of text and discourse analysis to such a type of speech interaction as network communication, which allows us to take a fresh look at the theory of speech genres and its place in the general theory of genres. The material of comments in the social network “VKontakte” is analyzed based on the theoretical studies of M. M. Bakhtin, V. G. Admoni and T. V. Shmeleva. The use of the logical-deductive method makes it possible to develop a categorical research apparatus and substantiate the hypothesis; the observation method makes it possible to identify the expected characteristics in the empirical material, and the comparative method reveals the limits of applying traditional philological methods to new communicative material. As a result of the study, it was possible to establish that the question of the limits of the use of traditional philological approaches in relation to the latest types of discourses should be resolved taking into account the role assigned to the verbal component in a particular type of discourse.

Dialogic investigations: Motivation in Japanese language learning

Over the past 15 years, the L2 motivational self system (Dörnyei, 2005, 2009) has been a dominant framework in the field of second language (L2) motivation. Yet, since the model’s introduction, there has been a theoretical discordance between the two components associated with future self-images (the ideal L2 self and the ought-to L2 self) and the third component related to the actual process of learning (the L2 learning experience). To remedy this shortcoming, this study draws on Bakhtin’s (1981, 1986) theory of dialog. Bakhtin claims that any use of language is a dialog between self and others and that language is learned through the assimilation of speech genres used by others for similar purposes in typical situations of social communication. The analysis of interview data obtained from three Japanese-as-a-second-language learners shows how situation-specific and future-oriented motivations are related to each other. The learners’ engagement in dialog with imagined Japanese speakers is developed through their engagement in dialog with actual Japanese speakers, and regardless of whether the dialog is actual or imagined, the participants orient themselves to speech genres of the language that correspond to particular social contexts.

Pragmatic Syncretism in the Use of Hedges (Based on Russian Thesis Reviews)

Introduction. The article deals with pragmatic syncretism and syncretic aspects of hedges – words and phrases used to mitigate claims, that is make them vaguer, more tentative and more uncertain. Hedges are looked upon as a type of discourse markers which are focused on the writer-reader interaction and the writer’s self-presentation.Methodology and sources. The research is based on the speech genre of the official thesis review known for its especially mitigated language, which may be determined by publicity of thesis defences at a viva voce in Russia, positive evaluation of thesis made at a predefence stage and potential personal relations of the degree seeker, their supervisor and the reviewer. The corpus of 64 reviews (about 90 000 words) written by Russian scholars was analyzed including reviews in linguistics, literature studies, history, physics, chemistry and medicine.Results and discussion. The author introduces the notion of pragmatic syncretism which involves the merging or assimilation of several pragmatic functions performed by one linguistic unit while realizing several illocutionary tasks. The research allowed to single out two varieties of hedges: 1) single purpose hedges aimed only at mitigation of claims and 2) general purpose hedges aimed at mitigation of claims together with some other interactive task. Among these additional tasks are the following: authorization (self-mentions), performative, evaluative in relation both to the proposition or to the words used by the author. According to the quantitative analysis, syncretic hedges make up 52 % of all hedges used in the reviews. The author provides the pragmatically oriented analysis of syncretic hedges realizing strategies of indetermination, subjectivisation and depersonalization. Strategies of subjectivisation and depersonalization are registered as most frequent.Conclusion. It is emphasized that hedges are predisposed to syncretic usage due to their inherent modal meanings which are realized integrally and which are, therefore, difficult to specify. The ontological ground of this tendency is associated with the symbiotic nature of human thinking where rational and sensuous baselines are naturally and productively reconciled.

Приметы времени и репрезентация актуальных событий в текстах современных пожеланий

Such a speech genre as wishing, which functions both in real communication and in the Internet environment, has considerable flexibility in terms of content, despite the rather stereotypical forms of expression. The content of wishes is traditionally influenced by the personality factor of the addressee, their gender, age, social and professional affiliation, hobbies. In addition, the wish genre actively responds to changes taking place in the social sphere. Themes, vocabulary and intertextuality of wishes reflect various processes that occur in the modern culture. The purpose of this study was to identify markers, or signs of time, that label the text as belonging to a specific historical period. The material of the study was mainly the friendly wishes of young people, recorded in speech and Internet communication, as well as the wishes of older people. The article analyzes the linguistic and content signs of time. Various types of precedent phenomena that are often found in wishes are considered, such as: song lyrics and advertising texts, names of musicians, media personalities, movie characters, names of social networks, popular public places. Precedents, firstly, give wishes an individual creative character, and secondly, serve as features of the 21stcentury. They can be said to be establishing the dates of the texts of wishes. Particular attention is paid to how global extralinguistic events that concern all age groups of people (such as the coronavirus pandemic, a special operation in Ukraine) affect the content plan of wishes, generate new thematic components in their texts, or update and fill traditional desiderata (meaningful wish components) with new connotations. The conclusion is made about the dependence of human values, actualized in the texts of wishes, on the social processes of the given period.

Нерегламентированная реплика как жанр парламентской речи (на материале русского парламентского дискурса начала XX века)

The article deals with the remark as a special genre of Russian parliamentary speech. The author analyses various approaches to parliamentary genres. Parliamentary discourse is viewed as institutional, having a dynamic genre structure. The research studies the institutional restrictions imposed on statements in the form of a remark. There is a conclusion about the role of procedural regulation in the formation of a system of discourse genres and the possibility to distinguish unregulated and regulated remarks. The State Duma discussions of the early twentieth century are a basis of the research which focuses on unrestricted remarks from the hall and their genre status. Parliamentary remarks are classified according to the communicative aspect. The article presents the results of the analysis of more than 200 statements by members of the State Duma from the hall, recorded in official transcripts. Three types of remarks are singled out: an interrogative remark, a replying remark and an imperative remark. The conclusion is made about the provocative nature of the remark as a parliamentary genre. The functional features of two types of remarks are distinguished: a regulated remark is conventional and dialogic; an unregulated remark is aggressive and provocative. The main features of an unregulated remark are non-normativeness in terms of procedural regulations, super-briefness (one phrase), reactivity, expressiveness, evaluativeness and provocativeness.

Речевые жанры негативной реакции

The article presents a study of a group of speech genres, where the factor of the past is relevant, i.e. which are reaction genres. The relevance of the research is determined by the need for the next step in the study of speech genres: from the description of specific genres to the identification and description of systemic relationships between them. The study is a genre analysis of the statements of the Russian language, recorded in the Corpus of the National Russian Language. The article identifies subgroups of genres of negative reaction in relation to the type of initial remark: reactions to imperative genres, reactions to informative genres and a group of genres, which can be caused by both initial remarks and facts of reality. In the course of the research, it was found out that groups of genres united according to the characteristics of the initial remark break up into other groups in case negative reaction genres are grouped according to their illocutionary purpose. Thus, it can be argued that in the genre system of Russian discourse one can see relations similar to paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations in the language system. Each genre, according to different genre-forming features, is associated with different groups of other genres. The approach proposed in the article allows to see those features of the speech genre that are not obvious in its isolated characterization.

Культурное знание как концептуальное основание речевого жанра религиозного наставления (на материале медиадискурса)

In the modern media environment covering all fields of human endeavour different types of discourse, religious ones with their genres as well, get representation. The speech genre of religious instruction seems to be most widely spread. The genre under discussion is viewed as a part of the primary genre in the religious discourse – preaching which is presupposed to interpret principles of practical usage of religious postulates and rules. In the Internet this genre acquires new characteristics, studying of which is seems relevant due to the researchers’ interest to media communication issues as well as to the society’s growing attention to religion in general. The present research is aimed at studying the ways of actualizing the speech genre of religious instruction, its cultural-conceptual bases, the genre being introduced in Internet publications at the biggest Orthodox websites. The interpretative and notional analysis, the conceptual analysis of discourse and the cultural-semiotic analysis of media texts have been applied as the research methods. The authors have defined cultural knowledge units which realize the main affective function of the speech genre of religious instruction. The cultural meanings and concepts are believed to be key knowledge phenomena organizing the semantic concept of the speech genre of religious instruction. The cultural dominant of the conceptual genre basis is the Holy Scripture text. The components of cultural knowledge are objectified by illustrations of the ways of behavior, appealing to the authority figures’ opinion and biblical texts’ quotations.

PERSUASIVE STRATEGIES AND TACTICS IN ENVIRONMENTAL TED TALKS

The article focuses on strategies, tactics and linguo-stylistic means of persuasion in such a prototypical speech genre of media environmental discourse as TED talks: the analysis of TED talks genre peculiarities is presented; the two main communicative strategies of media environmental discourse are identified – the strategy popularizing eco-friendly activities, and the strategy discrediting eco-unfriendly activities; depending on the argumentation principle employed, the three groups of tactics for expressing logos, ethos and pathos are singled out; the most frequent linguo-stylistic means of persuasion in environmental TED talks have been identified. The strategic approach emphasises that to achieve the desirable effect in public speaking within the TED format it is necessary to employ the combination of persuasive tactics to maintain a balance between the ethos, logos or pathos components of argumentation and provide a persuasive impact on the addressee increasing their environmental consciousness and promoting environmentally competent behaviour.

THE INITIAL STAGE OF MASTERING THE COMMUNICATIVE SYNTAX AND GENRE SYSTEM OF THE NATIVE LANGUAGE

In this article, using the method of observation, the initial stages of mastering the communicative syntax and the genre system of the native language are analyzed. The material of observation is the speech of the child at the beginning of the third year of life. An analysis of the material made it possible to establish that at the age of two years and two months, the child’s speech competence enables them to form an idea of the presence of a certain number of speech genres opposed to each other by illocution, the past factor, the future factor and the type of discourse. Genres with expressive illocution are represented most diversely among the initiative utterances of the utilitarian-everyday discourse: different types of complaints, joy, sympathy, condemnation and etiquette forms of expressing emotions. Within the framework of a directive illocution, a request, a demand, and a question are distinguished. Genres of rejection and protest appear in the reciprocal remarks of the utilitarian-everyday discourse, and the genre of a joke appears in the cognitive-game discourse. The syntactic side of the utterances is heterogeneous; signs of narrative speech appear in three-word utterances. The prospect of the study is connected with testing the hypothesis that the syntax of asyndetic and compound sentences is formed in a child earlier than the syntax of a simple sentence.

The Poetics of Persianate Disaffiliation: Recusative Gestures for a Royal Genre

Abstract Across the Persianate regions of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century Eurasia, the discourse of modernization had a deep, perhaps even dominant aesthetic dimension. Apparently disparate anxieties about oriental indolence, homosexuality and unmanliness, flattery and unmeaning speech, and submission to despots all may be understood as elements of a coherent critique of a single literary mode: taghazzul. Insofar as ghazal was a “royal genre” (Ireneusz Opacki), it provided the formal-aesthetic framing for numerous literary and speech genres, and thus for the social and political order. In case studies from across the Persianate zone, this article considers how writers’ refusal of taghazzul, or its excision from their texts, became a recognizable gesture of disaffiliation from the Persianate. In the resulting reordering of the literary field, taghazzul took on new functions in relation to the Western category of lyric.

LAPIDARITY AS A FEATURE OF LINGUISTIC ECONOMY

Lapidarity as a feature of linguistic economy. The article is devoted to the concept of “lapidarity” as a linguistic definition of conciseness, brevity and compression of language means in view of the principle of linguistic economy. The analysis, evaluation and interpretation of changes according to various factors that influence language in its theoretical interpretation and practical use are the starting points for the presented research. The aim of the study is to provide a brief overview of contemporary scientific works where lapidarity as a linguistic term is mentioned and used in linguistic research. For this purpose, a thorough analysis of theoretical works on the concept of “linguistic economy” is carried out. To achieve this goal, such general scientific methods as description, analysis, generalization and explanation were used. The article provides a list of conceptual developments of linguistic economy, which we find in the latest modern works of a number of researchers. In the course of analyzing the practical implementation of the principle of linguistic economy and defining its main features, the following are highlighted: brevity, content, conciseness, accuracy, semantic compression and pregnancy. According to the study, the areas of application of the concept of “lapidarity” are limited to the following: text stylistics and extralinguistic factors; cognitive-discursive reconstruction of communicative deviations; axiological aspects of speech; optimization of interlingual communication; pragmatic potential; internal dynamism of speech and authorial modality, etc. The obtained results can be used to establish the relevance of the term “lapidarity” in linguistic studies. The study makes a significant contribution to the scientific heritage of textual linguistics. The conclusions of the study indicate the prospects of developing the above-mentioned linguistic phenomenon in view of the ways of realizing lapidarity in specific speech genres.

Identifying and interpreting euphemisms and dysphemisms in RFL classes (the case of political discourse)

This article is devoted to the issue of the need to include in the course of Russian as a foreign language the work on the analysis of Russian-speaking political discourse, the issues of identifying and interpreting euphemisms and dysphemisms in the political discourse, in particular. Euphemisms and dysphemisms are widely used by Russian speakers in a variety of communication situations and speech genres, including political discourse, which makes the research devoted to the systematic description of their functioning in modern Russian-language communication and their place in the Russian language picture of the world urgent. The relevance of the present study is due to the need to integrate the results of cognitive and pragmatic research into the purposeful activities of the teacher of Russian as a foreign language to form the linguistic personality of a foreign student, capable of educational and professional activities in the conditions of multicultural dialogue. The paper deals with the formation of foreign students’ skills and abilities of discursive analysis of the Russian text, identification and interpretation of speech tactics and strategies, the strategy of dominance and resistance, implemented in speech through the use of euphemisms and dysphemisms, in particular. At high levels of proficiency in Russian as a foreign language B2-C1 these skills are a necessary element of the professional competence of humanities professionals. The choice of political texts as the material for the analysis is connected with the fact that for professionals in the humanities, in the field of international relations, in particular, political discourse is a significant sphere of official communication and professional interaction. The aim of the present study is to analyze the theoretical foundations for describing euphemisms and dysphemisms for linguistic and pedagogical purposes, and to develop an approach to creating learning materials aimed at building the skills and abilities of foreign students to recognize hidden meanings and tools of indirect communication in Russian political discourse. The use of the proposed approach helps to develop in foreign students the ability to analyze political discourse and to identify the author’s key and secondary intentions, as well as to improve the skill of operating political terminology and the selection of lexical and verbal means in accordance with the communicative situation and the communicative goals and intentions pursued. The authors relied on the works of domestic and foreign linguists and methodologists in their research. The sociocultural, competence and systemic approaches were used in the research, and the method of complex text analysis and descriptive method were applied.

Speech Genre of Reminder and Discursive Conditioning of its Features in Virtual Pedagogical Discourse

The study examines the genre-defining features of the speech genre “reminder” in virtual pedagogical discourse. The relevance of the research is determined by its inclusion in the problems of modern discourse studies (the problem of discursive conditioning of the genre) and virtual pedagogy (the involving of computer technologies as a means and platform for learning in the information-educational environment). Based on T. V. Shmeleva’s genre survey, the genre features of the speech act “reminder” are described, taking into account their determination by communicative-pragmatic conditions in virtual pedagogical communication. It is established that invariant features of the genre include (1) a communicative goal, which is related to the need to activate the addressee’s existing knowledge, and (2) the presence of language markers — syntactic constructions modeled by verbs remind, remember, and don’t forget. The discursive conditioning of the genre is manifested at the level of its dictum content (the sphere of pedagogical communication united by the semantic field “Teaching”), participants in communication (status-oriented roles of communication participants), and those substantial characteristics that are determined by the electronic information carrier (attachment of media files, communication interactivity).

Soviet Socio-Cultural Practices from Perspective of Genres in <i>Pioneer</i> Magazine

The article presents some results of the project that is aimed at constructing a mediatised model of the Soviet society in periodicals for children. The data has been drawn from the Pioneer magazine published in the 1970s. This paper focuses on its structure and contents, as well as typical genres that construct the representations of the Soviet society and socio-cultural practices. The degree of ideology is defined that characterises various genres. In terms of methodology, the study draws on constructivism, critical discourse analysis, theory of journalistic genres, theory of speech genres, and semiotic analysis. Genres are interpreted based on their ideological charge, types of socio-cultural practices they represent, and the semiotic resources employed. The findings show that the ideological charge can be graded from being non-existent to dominating the factual information. The ideological component is secondary in genres of popular science and general education, whereas genres that reproduce adults’ institutional socio-political practices demonstrate a high degree of ideological charge, which is conveyed through specific semiotic resources. At the same time, the magazine adapts the representations of Soviet values for adolescents through the use of everyday language and visual images of routine life.

REPRESENTATIVE FORMS AND SPEECH GENRES OF UKRAINIAN JUDICIAL DISCOURSE

The article is devoted to the definition of linguo-pragmatic parameters of judicial discourse, in particular, formal aspects and types of speech genres are emphasized. Oral and written forms of judicial discourse functioning are considered. The main speech genres of the Ukrainian judicial discourse are singled out and characterized. Genres such as: instruction, announcement, petition, confirmation / denial, interrogation, court speech, court decision were analyzed. It has been proven that the announcement is a monologue speech of a regulatory nature that opens and ends the judicial session; the instruction is a regulatory detailed response of professional participants in the court process; the motion is a request for the involvement of additional information, unknown before the direct consideration of the case in the court process; confirmation / refutation is an argumentative interpretation and commentary on the course of the court session for the direct participants; the interrogation covers the questioning-relevant interaction between the main participants in the judicial process; a court speech is a reasoned presentation of a position in the form of a monologue; a court decision is a monologue speech of a judge, which has a verdictive character.