Linguistic Examination Research Articles

Conflict-Prone Time Frame Nominations in Business Discourse: Linguistic Expert Approach

The practice of conducting linguistic examinations on documentary disputes reveals the urgency of the issue connected with interpretation of time frames nominations by the parties. Time frame nominations starting from ... to ..., through ..., from ... to ..., and similar word combinations have a conflict potential, which is explained by their polyinterpretability. The article is devoted to the description of particular temporal meanings and identification of semantic regularity in the functioning of these word combinations. The research was carried out employing the information from lexicographic sources, the National Corpus of the Russian Language, and the author’s practice of linguistic expertise. The lexicographic description of prepositions involved in the formation of temporal structures was analyzed. Turning to the data from the National Corpus of the Russian Language made it possible to identify two opposite types of functionally actual precise meanings of the studied temporal structures: time frame nomination with the right boundary included in it; and the one not included. The regularity and conditions for the formation of these meanings have been established. Significant factors that influence the realization of one of the meanings within the distinguished antinomy include the semantic signs of the structure components: “pointiness” or “extension” of the object that denotes the right boundary of the time frame, as well as the duration or extension of the process within the time frames. The dominant meaning of the model under study was determined: the structure from ... to ... and the corresponding semantic model with the right boundary included in the time frame nomination. To demonstrate specific expert situations, cases are presented, in which the subject of dispute was the interpretation of constructions indicating the time frames of legally significant processes. Recommendations are given for eliminating ambiguity in time period nominations in documentary texts.

Криминалистический компонент судебной лингвистической экспертизы

The article is devoted to the criminalistic constituent element of forensic linguistic examination singled out at the contemporary development stage. This component means that linguistic experts solve diagnostic tasks to identify (as an examination object) criminalistically important information about a crime in general or its separate circumstances in a dialogue.

Unmasking Malicious Stance Indicators and Attitudinal Priming: An ‘Evaluative Textbite’ Approach to Identity Attacks in Violent Extremist Discourse

The article explores the patterning and functioning of attitude semantics in the practice of identity attacks within terrorist communications. Positioned in facework and stance-taking research (e.g. Tracy & Tracy, 1998, 2008, 2017), it introduces the concepts of ‘evaluative textbites’ and ‘attitudinal priming’ to linguistic examinations, advocating a functional approach to unravelling identity attacks, drawing on corpus analysis methods (e.g. word frequency, and concordance-line qualitative analysis) and the Appraisal framework (Martin & White, 2005). Findings reveal that, linked with stance-taking activity, attitudinal priming offers insights into how specific ideational targets are primed for particular attitudinal, evaluative functions. Evaluative textbites provide linguistic evidence of an author’s encoded hostile attitude and the nuanced patterning and functioning of ‘ideation-attitude’ co-occurrences in these attacks. Identity attacks are a rhetorical tool, normative and valuation-based, targeting individuals’ or out-groups’ immoral behaviours and devaluing victims by reference to their personal traits, power-distance relationships, interactional roles, and master identities. This article offers implications for future study of identity attacks in hate crimes, genocidal rhetoric, and defamation texts, and strengthens counter-extremism efforts by illuminating the investigative value of identity work.

LINGUISTIC MARKERS OF EXTREMISM IN ISLAMIST TEXTS OF THE RELIGIOUS GENRE “SERMON”: METHODOLOGICAL ASPECT

Linguistic examination of texts with allegedly extremist content is carried out using special methods. The most popular today are lexical-semantic, semantic-syntactic methods, as well as the method of discourse anal-ysis, which allow an expert linguist to make an objective expert opinion on the issues raised. An expert linguist conduc ting an examination of texts with allegedly extremist content has to identify linguistic markers of extrem-ism that are implemented at all language levels. The linguistic examination of Islamist discourse texts involves taking into account genre features of a religious text, having an impact on linguistic markers. Islamist discourse is understood as texts related to political radical trends of Islamism. The article presents fundamental diff erenc-es between the terms “Islam” as a world religion and “Islamism” as a political trend. We propose an algorithm for the me thodology of analyzing texts of allegedly extremist content based on the material of an Islamist text of the “sermon” genre, the main function of which is to instruct believers. Linguistic markers of extremism in the sermon genre are identifi ed during the analysis and are classifi ed according to their main functions: motivation and appeal, negation, demonstration of the superiority of one person or group of persons over other people based on nationality, origin and attitude to religion. These linguistic markers are implemented using the following lin-guistic means: morphological (verbs of obligation, verbs of the 2nd person singular or plural in the imperative mood, the form of the imperative of the 1st person plural); syntactic (particles in imperative sentences, complex sentences with subordinate clauses, addresses in combination with verbs in the imperative mood of the 2nd per-son plural); rhetorical means (rhetorical questions, antithesis); lexical and semantic means (nouns, verbs and oth-er parts of speech with negative connotations); morphemic and word-formation means (comparative, superlative forms). The identifi ed linguistic markers realize the function of demonstrating superiority, appeal, negativity in relation to “strangers”, “others”.

On the Question of Admissibility of Certain Methods in Forensic Linguistic Examination

The article raises the question of the criteria of admissibility of the use of certain methods in forensic linguistic examination. Despite the methodology of forensic linguistic examination that has been worked out over the years, some specialists prefer to use extremely controversial methods, for example, such as the method of associative experiment and phonosemantic analysis. These methods do not meet the criteria required by forensic expertology, which leads to the expert exceeding the limits of his/her competence, as well as to serious expert mistakes.

MEMORIAL URBAN NAMES OF UZHGOROD THROUGH THE PRISM OF ECOLINGUISTICS

At the current stage of the development of Ukrainian proper vocabulary, in particular in the post-Soviet period, the subsystem of modern Ukrainian urban names has undergone deeper and more systematic changes. According to linguists, this situation was caused by a distinct development trend such as de-ideologization. After all, the massive nature of the changes observed in Ukrainian urbanonymy, in particular in the western and central parts of Ukraine, is explained by the democratic procedure of replacing the proper names of streets, squares, parks, squares, microdistricts, etc., which, according to current Ukrainian legislation, is implemented on the basis of a resolution of the local council, and not the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, as provided by the procedure for changing the proper names of settlements. However, the democratic nature of the procedure for changing Ukrainian urban names, in our opinion, became the main reason for the insufficient or superficial linguistic examination of both urban neologisms and already traditional onims, which enables the functioning of many proper names of urban objects, the structure of which contradicts the norms of the Ukrainian language. Spelling errors are a characteristic type of violation of the norms of the Ukrainian literary language in the subsystem of Ukrainian urban names of the post-totalitarian era. Most often, when writing modern Ukrainian urban names, the rules of capitalization are violated. Urbanonymy is a specific onymic subsystem, which reacts extremely actively to social changes and is especially dependent on the political regime, which is connected with the memorial function of the names of inner-city objects. In this connection, the analysis of the concept of historical memory in urbanonymy becomes especially relevant. the negative influence of the environment affects the ecolinguistic state of various levels and even classes of the Ukrainian onymic vocabulary of the post-totalitarian era differently. Ukrainian anthroponymy, in particular people’s proper names and patronymic names, as well as oikonyms, urbanonyms, ergonyms, are adversely affected at the lexical level. Key words: concept, ecolinguistics, onim.

The Formation of the Image of Forensic Science by the Example of the International Project “East — West: Partnership in Forensic Science”

The formation of the modern appearance of the field of forensic examination is the definition of its external outlines and boundaries, technological potential, a set of features that characterize the main vector of special knowledge, the priorities of internal methodological structures and the content of professional competencies. This has always been due to the desire to find an optimal balance between the needs of the law enforcement officer and the capabilities of the subjects of applying special knowledge. Scientific and practical conferences and forums have always been of great importance in these processes. The international project “East-West: Partnership in Forensic Science” is one of the clearest examples of this. As a result of the study of the final materials of this project over twenty years the author examines the genesis of a new class of humanitarian forensic examinations, which was a response to modern challenges in the Russian Federation. The tasks of forensic expert support for the protection of spiritual and moral values, national culture and historical memory are formulated. Along with the already established comprehensive psychological and linguistic examination, a whole interdisciplinary complex of additional forensic studies of information materials is identified as priority forensic areas. These are political science, ethics and religious studies forensic examinations. The professional sovereignty of the Russian Federation and friendly foreign states in the field of forensic activities is essential for the implementation of strategic national priorities, namely state, public and information security.

Englishes in China: Evolution and Recognition in World Englishes

This study offers an in-depth examination of the development of “China English” (CE) within the framework of World Englishes (WE). Tracing the historical trajectory of English in China, from its origins in Chinese Pidgin English to the contemporary manifestations of CE, the paper conducts a comprehensive analysis of its various stages. Situating CE within the broader context of WE, the study engages in debates regarding its recognition as a distinct variety of English. Moreover, it investigates the process of nativization of CE, highlighting its phonological features, lexicon enriched with cultural nuances and discourse patterns shaped by sociocultural dynamics. Despite ongoing debates surrounding the legitimacy of CE, the paper argues that its evolution conforms to established parameters of nativization, thereby establishing it as a legitimate variant within the global landscape of English. Beyond linguistic examination, the study emphasizes the significant role of CE in facilitating international English communication amidst China's expanding global influence. By delving into the intricate interplay of language, culture, and identity in our interconnected world, this research provides valuable insights into the evolving dynamics of global communication.

Речевой жанр криминальной угрозы в интернет-коммуникации

The author attempts to explore the threat as a speech genre of verbal aggression. It is argued that the threat is most often found in the texts of modern online-communication, the characteristics of which are close to a synthetic oral-written form of communication and the colloquial genre. It is emphasized that in modern studies the threat is researched from a legal and linguistic point of view. The author proves the idea that there are two main types of threat statements – a threat-warning, including a causal action, and a threatpunishment. A specific sub-genre of threat is a blackmail, which includes manipulation by means of information compromising the addressee. Semantically, the threat can be explicit, clearly expressed, and implicit, whose interpretation requires an appeal to the logics of the statement. Implicit threat in online-communication is the most difficult type to research, since its interpretation involves analyzing the logic of constructing a statement by identifying linguistic techniques presented in the text – the use of euphemisms, idioms, semantic convolution, metaphors, sarcasm, precedent case reference and non-verbal components of communication (images, emoji. Implicit threat is studied using data from various explanatory linguistic dictionaries and fragments of texts submitted for forensic linguistic examination. It is reported that the genre of a criminal threat should be distinguished from other genres such as promises, orders, warnings, verbally expressed suicidal intentions, malevolence, a threat in a broad sense, and calls to a violent action.

Use of forensic examination opportunities during the investigation of corruption criminal offenses committed by judges

The article emphasizes the significant pre-trial importance of forensic examinations in investigating corrupt criminal offenses as one of the forms of utilizing specialized knowledge. The authors disclose the definition of forensic examination. Based on the works of criminologists, survey results from practitioners, and the study of verdicts from the Higher Anti-Corruption Court, it was established that forensic examinations are assigned to state specialized expert institutions but to various subjects of forensic activity. A list of forensic examinations types, primarily appointed in the investigation of criminal offenses committed by judges, is also identified. The most common types of forensic examinations in the investigation of corruption criminal offenses committed by judges are considered. The authors emphasize the importance of forensic criminalistic examination of audio and video materials, forensic document examination, forensic portrait examination, forensic handwriting examination, forensic computer-technical examination, forensic dactyloscopic examination, psychological examination, and forensic linguistic (semantic-textual) examination. It is outlined that conducting examinations in corruption-related proceedings is an effective means of determining the crime mechanism, identifying comparative sample and traces of the suspect, and the subject of the unlawful benefit. The main tasks set for the expert to solve during the investigation of corruption criminal offenses committed by judges are systematized. In the modern context, attention is focused on solving identification and diagnostic tasks. All these achievements are substantiated by statistical data results and interviews with practitioners, as well as through the analysis of criminal proceedings in the specified category of offenses.

К вопросу о судебных лингвистических исследованиях и судебных лингвистических экспертизах текстов экстремистской и террористической направленности

The article is devoted to the issues of conducting forensic linguistic research and forensic linguistic examinations. The history of their origin, formation and conceptual differentiation is traced, as well as the problems that researchers (experts) have to face with extremist texts in the Russian penal system. It is proposed to create a special unit at the Federal Institution Research Institute of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia not only to develop forensic linguistic research and forensic linguistic examinations at the request of the structural divisions of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, but also to study issues of optimizing their content and compositional basis.

Television awards and integrative complexity: A preliminary linguistic examination.

Television awards and integrative complexity: A preliminary linguistic examination.

Notion of Beauty in the Selected Pakistani Advertisements: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis

Beauty advertisement is one of the most potent and successful tools for significantly influencing consumer purchasing behavior as it modifies individuals’ views of beauty, social conventions, and gender roles. From a Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis standpoint, this study looks at the beauty advertisements in a few chosen social media (Instagram) posts. The study’s goal is to concentrate on how the idea of beauty is used in these Pakistani advertisements to control and influence consumers through both language as well as images. For this particular reason, four ads from different Instagram pages have been chosen via purposive sampling and they have undergone both linguistic and visual analysis. Fairclough’s Three-Dimensional Model (1995) serves as the foundation for the linguistic examination while Kress and van Leeuwen’s Grammar of Visual Design (2006) is applied for the visual analysis of these ads. The nature of this study is qualitative. The findings reveal that advertisers have employed a variety of discursive techniques like surreal representation, scientific evidence, celebrity endorsement, & self-representation etc., and linguistic devices, such as pronouns, catchy phrases, adjectives, repetitions, etc. in addition to visual tactics, e.g., modality, gaze, social distance, salience, and camera angles etc. to influence women by portraying an idealized version of beauty in the chosen advertisements. Additionally, it shows how advertisers—who are essentially powerful people with vested interests—marginalize and restrict the status of women in society to propagate the ideology of beauty just for boosting the sales of their products. Thus, the companies and creators of these commercials employ images and language as a means of controlling Pakistan’s female consumer base by luring them to get on their items. It is anticipated that this study will increase awareness of the usefulness of multimodal critical discourse analysis and open the door for future researchers to investigate the language and pictures used in advertisements for a variety of other products.

The Jargon of «AUE» Criminal Organization (from the Practice of Forensic Linguistic Examinations)

The criminal plans disclosure and the illegal activities suppression, the implementation of forensic linguistic examinations is complicated by the presence of a special secret language in the criminal world. In this regard, it is necessary to study and systematize such jargon, create vocabularies. The extremist organization «Prisoner Criminal Unity» (AUE), the study of the jargon of which is undertaken in this article is especially dangerous and the most closed. The article is devoted to the consideration of some features of the language characteristic for AUE representatives concerning naming, abbreviation, word formation, obligatory cliched expressions at meetings and in the epistolary genre. It is established that the speech of the AUE representatives reflects their mental values, among which they themselves call the thieves’ brotherhood, the thieves’ family and strict adherence to its principles. The language of this extremist organization is difficult to learn largely due to the fact that it lacks a common governing body, a leader, and each place of detention has its own leader, its own language rules and features. These linguistic units are either not recorded in the criminal jargon dictionaries, or have territorial specifics. A short dictionary of basic language units used by representatives of AUE in places of detention of the Southern Federal District of the Russian Federation is proposed.

Semantic differentiation in the linguistic examination of trademarks

INTRODUCTION. The controversial issues of trademark examination are considered. The analysis of the ways of comparing single-word and compound commercial designations is given. A universal method for identifying a strong element in a composite designation has not yet been developed. The purpose of the study is to identify the semantic potential of non-identical concepts: a strong element and the main word in the phrase of a trademark or commercial designation.MATERIALS AND METHODS. Using a specific example from the experience of conducting linguistic examinations (comparison of the WHITE AURORA and AVRORA designations), the methodology for identifying a strong element of a composite designation is illustrated and the origins of typical errors in determining a strong element are analyzed. When developing the mentioned methodology, it is proposed to be guided by the following considerations: the concept of a strong element of designation and the main word of the corresponding phrase are concepts that are not common; the method of identifying a strong element in a phrase differs from the method of identifying the main word in a phrase; the phenomenon of a strong element correlates with the linguistic idea of a strong and weak lexical position in the text; a strong element can be located both in the first and second place in a phrase, including a trademark or other commercial designation.RESULTS AND DISCUSSION. It is shown that due to the semantic potential of a strong element of a composite designation, it becomes possible to transfer to the consumer the necessary information about the object of nomination. That is why the definition of an element bearing the main disti nguishing features must be carried out in the context of a situation or a communicative task. Based on the material of a specific example of linguistic expertise, it is shown that the element white of the designation WHITE AURORA in the context of the provision of dental services and dental care services can be interpreted as a strong element. This becomes a serious factor preventing the appearance of confusingly similar designations for WHITE AURORA on the one hand, and AVRORA on the other.CONCLUSION. Semantic differentiation is the main criterion for distinguishing strong and weak elements in the linguistic examination of trademarks. The very concept of a “strong element” of a designation can be considered a relative concept; the definition of an element bearing the main semantic features must be carried out in the context of a situation or a communicative task.

Between the Hoops: A Linguistic Examination of Media Biases Among Filipino Sportscasters

Between the Hoops: A Linguistic Examination of Media Biases Among Filipino Sportscasters

Մխիթար Գոշի և Սմբատ Սպարապետի դատաստանագրքերում ամուսնաընտանեկան և ժառանգական քաղաքացիական հարաբերություններ կարգավորող օրենքների և կանոնների իրավական բառապաշարի ձևաիմաստային քննություն / Formal-Semantic Analysis of the Legal Lexicon of Laws and Rules Governing Matrimonial-Family and Hereditary-Civil Relations in the Judical Codes of Mkhitar Gosh and Smbat Sparapet

The aim of the article is to present the formal and semantic peculiarities of the legal lexicon of the laws and rules regulating marital-family and hereditary-civil relations in the judicial codes of two brilliant medieval jurists - Mkhitar Gosh and Smbat Sparapet, the knowledge of which ensures a clear and accurate presentation of legal speech in the modern Armenian language in terms of content and language. In order to achieve the goal, we have set the following tasks: to subject the judicial codes of medieval jurists to linguistic examination, to identify formal manifestations of the lexicon of the studied material, to present their development, to compare them with the professional lexicon of the corresponding codes, to identify archaisms, historical terms, as well as viable legal terms of the modern Armenian language.

Using Expertise in Performing Linguistic Examination

The article describes the usage of expertise in performing linguistic examination in regards to the procedural aspect of forensic practice, as well as the level of expert’s professional competence. The possibility for non-state experts to apply their specialized knowledge during a trial is noted to depend on who initiates the examination – the court, the prosecution or the defence. The notions of “an expert” in the sense of “standing in the proceedings”, “qualifications as per graduation certificate” and “official capacity at an expert institution” are analysed. The author provides cases from personal practice which expose errors related to competent establishment of an object of examination and to remaining within the boundaries of expert speciality.

The origin of the self-appellation Sinti: A historical and linguistic examination

The origin of the self-appellation Sinti has been the subject of investigation for well over 200 years. In the wake of the discovery of the Indo-Aryan affiliation of Romani, one of the earliest sources (Biester 1793b) mentioning the term “Sinte” interprets it asder wahre Name(the true name) of all Gypsies and allocates its origin to the province Sindh of the Indian sub-continent (Biester 1793b: 365–6). More recently, Matras (1999; 2019) argued for the termSintito be a European borrowing in Romani due to its employment of inflectional patterns characteristic of European loanwords. In this paper, early attestations of this self-appellation with regard to their dialectological inferences are examined and an underlying rootsintis ascertained. Via the Middle High German (MHG) etymonsint, in the meaning of “way, road, journey,” and the German collective and appellative suffix-e, the meaning ofSintiis interpreted as “wayfarers” or “those who journey.”This article was published open access under a CC BY licence:https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0.

On the Pragmatic Properties of Statements with an Offensive Nomination of a Person (Linguistic Expertise and Invective Functioning of Language).

The article is devoted to the description of the pragmatic properties of statements with an offensive nomination of a person. This problem is relevant in both applied and theoretical aspects. To date, the question of the nature of the described speech acts in semantic and pragmatic terms has not been resolved; in particular, the question of whether offensive speech acts are specific speech acts and, if they are, to which class or classes they should belong within the framework of speech act theory is still open. These questions are solved within the framework of the classification of speech acts by J. Searle and J. Austin. The article focuses on the illocutionary purpose and the nature of the perlocutionary effect of the analyzed statements. The explanatory possibilities of classification of illocutionary acts for describing the properties of these statements are considered. It has been established that the description of such statements is more in line with J. Austin's theory of speech acts, according to which the type of statements under study should be recognized as verdicts. The results obtained in the article are relevant for the production of forensic linguistic examinations within those categories of cases that are related to invective functioning of language.