Linguistic Position Research Articles

What do you mean? Linguistic sensitivity and relational reflexivity in scholarly writing

We argue that privileged forms of scholarly writing in the English language perpetuate inequalities in academia. While writing and language, on the one hand, and marginalization and exclusion, on the other, are subject to critique, we propose that these are considered together as interrelated elements of an unequal academic system. We call for linguistic sensitivity to challenge the systemic inequalities that condition our writing in English and discuss this by elaborating what relationally reflexive writing can mean in organization studies. We highlight the Polish and Finnish linguistic positions from which we speak and confront hegemonic rhetorical conventions in the English language to argue for more dialogical and inclusive forms of scholarly writing.

Phenomenology and cognitive linguistics in dialogue: A review of Ortega y Gasset's theory of emotive gesture as metaphor

AbstractThe present study pursues three objectives. First, to expose and discuss the contributions of the philosopher José Ortega y Gasset to the phenomenological study of gestures and emotive gesture. Secondly, to critically review one of the central theses defended by Ortega, according to which “every expressive phenomenon”—including, therefore, the emotive gesture—involves “a transposition, that is to say, an essential metaphor.” This thesis invites us, in the third objective, to establish a dialogue between phenomenology and cognitive linguistics (as developed by Lakoff, Langacker and Talmy), assuming an experientialist position vis‐à‐vis human reason and language, in opposition to the objectivist and formalist position of Chomsky's generative linguistics. In this interdisciplinary context, we will study the phenomenon of emotive gesture, in particular the expression of the emotion of anger, as analyzed phenomenologically by Ortega y Gasset.

Identity Around Multilingualism:

As no country houses people speaking solely one language in the present world, various studies regarding the use of multilingualism were done over the years not only in the field of empirical research but also in literary contexts. Code-switching has been the most researched phenomenon in literary language from a multilingual perspective. The debate between considering literary characters as real-life human beings or merely textual constructs has intensified over the years. Subsequently, a middle ground combining both humanizing and non-humanizing aspects of literary characters emerged. In this study, I analyze the use of multilingualism in a literary character’s portrayal by examining her linguistic identity through her behaviors involving language use and comprehension. Yolanda, the second daughter of the De La Torre family depicted in the novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, written by Julia Alvarez in 1991, is the target character for this study. Using a qualitative research approach, Yolanda’s character is analyzed by using the characterization model developed by Culpeper in 2001. Three textual cues, namely explicit, implicit, and authorial, are examined in the descriptions and language uses of Yolanda’s character. The outcomes of the study not only portray Julia Alvarez’s philosophy and attitude regarding multilingualism, but also show Yolanda’s unique traits, struggles, confusion, liminality, and linguistic position in the world of the novel.

The concept “KIMONO” in figurative units of the Japanese language

The purpose of this article is to describe Japanese phraseological units and lexemes with figurative meanings as a fragment of the lexical-phraseological system of the Japanese language, to identify the images underlying their formation, and to study their linguistic and cultural characteristics. The material for the work is the data from the dictionaries of the Japanese language, in which figurative units connected with the nominations of the types and details of kimono are recorded. The research is based on the linguacultural approach, which identifies linguistic units with national-cultural semantics, reflecting national and specific vision of the world on the lexical-phraseological level. Semanticthematic analysis allowed us to identify four groups of the most frequent lexemes, representing the concept “kimono”, on the basis of which phraseological units were formed. The group of figurative units, which do not include the names of kimono or its details, but which implicitly refer to this concept, was also examined. The etymological analysis revealed the cognitive basis for the formation of phraseological units and the mechanism of metaphorization of these lexical units. From the whole considered corpus of language units, the most representative are gesture phraseological units formed on the basis of idiomaticization of gesture units. The second largest group consisted of phraseological units derived from the clearly regulated ritual and rules of putting on and wearing kimono. They reflect the aesthetic views of the Japanese about the ideal image of kimono. The method of quantitative analysis allowed us to confirm the significance of the concept “kimono” as a symbol of Japanese culture and to reveal its phraseological productivity. A large number of figurative language units, related to kimono, indicates that this concept has pronounced culturally marked characteristics, reflects special models of worldview and stereotypes of behavior. The considered language units require special attention to the cultural context in which they function. The study of figurative meanings of words nominating kimono parts, as well as stable combinations, created on their basis, allows expressing the cultural information they contain. The concept “kimono” is one of the most important constants of Japanese culture, so its study from the position of cultural linguistics is extremely relevant.

Formation patterns of schoolchildren’s scientific linguistic world picture at Russian language lessons in the Russian Federation

The relevance of the research is due to the importance of forming a scientific linguistic picture of the world in the Russian language lessons as a cognitive component of the students’ linguistic worldview and to the need of developing linguistic-methodological foundations to achieve this aim. The aim of the study is to identify and describe the patterns of forming the scientific linguistic world picture in the process of teaching Russian in secondary schools. Theoretical analysis of scientific literature, observation, pedagogical experiment were used as scientific methods. The scientific publications on cultural linguistics, cognitive linguistics, theory and methodology of teaching the Russian language were the research materials. The definition of the concept “scientific linguistic picture of the world” is given in relation to the tasks of teaching the Russian language. The authors revealed that the formation of the scientific linguistic picture of the world is formed through learning new words and concepts as a result of observation, analysis and interpretation of language phenomena from linguistic positions during categorization and conceptualization primarily at the lexical level. The formation of scientific linguistic world picture is based on the knowledge, skills and abilities acquired at Russian language lessons and, to a certain extent, is set in the guidelines of the textbook authors. The main didactic means of forming the scientific linguistic world picture is the scientific linguistic text. The leading method of forming the scientific linguistic world picture is cognitive linguistic tasks, including comparative ones. Prospects for further study of the problem lie in developing a methodology for forming a scientific linguistic world picture at Russian language lessons on the basis of various sections of linguistics.

ТОПОНИМДЕРДІ ЗЕРТТЕУДІҢ ӘЛЕМДІК ТІЛ БІЛІМІНДЕГІ ӘДІСТЕРІ

Annotation. The use of data and methods from several scientific directions in onomastics, more specifically, in toponymy, allows us to raise research to a new qualitative level and achieve new scientific results. Over time, onomastics established itself as an independent discipline with its own linguistic methods. Due to its interdisciplinary and complex nature, onomastics was initially considered a marginal field of world linguistics. However, in the 20th century, in the 1970s and 1980s, the field of onomastics got rid of its marginal position in world, Russian and Kazakh linguistics and began to move towards the core of “large, continental” linguistics. This is due to the fact that the empirical, scientific and theoretical base of Russian and national onomastics during the years of the Soviet Union expanded and became more complete, the methods of systematic self-research became mature, and it was recognized as a full-fledged fundamental independent linguistic discipline. This article presents global methods for studying toponyms and conducts a comparative analysis. Traditional and modern technological types of research in Kazakh onomastics are described. Key words: onomastics, ontology, toponym, toponyms of Mangistau, topoarea, toponymic information, toponymic code.

Ad hoc Screen Translation in Soviet Estonian Film Clubs

In Soviet Estonian official cinemas, foreign films were always dubbed into Russian with Estonian subtitles. Founded at the end of the Thaw, film clubs and other semi-official screening locations became popular as part of the alternative scene and unauthorised discourse. They screened uncensored original Western European and Hollywood films and thus the works of forbidden film directors and cinema movements from the West were introduced to a limited audience of film enthusiasts. Compared to other Soviet Socialist Republics, Estonia was in a privileged geographical and linguistic position to be able to access the films of the West via Finland. Film clubs looked beyond the Iron Curtain and opened up a cultural dialogue between the West and Soviet Estonia. This article analyses the repertoire of foreign films and different translation modes, social relations and the agency of the interpreters, and it looks at their interpretative act from theoretical perspectives discussed by Juri Lotman and Naoki Sakai. Lay Summary: In the era of Soviet Estonia, where foreign films were typically re-edited and dubbed into Russian, film clubs emerged as underground screening locations that offered uncensored original Western European and Hollywood films. These clubs played a crucial role in introducing the works of forbidden film directors and cinematic movements from the West to a limited audience of film enthusiasts. Soviet Estonia stood out in three significant aspects: 1) it was the only SSR to subtitle all films in the official cinema into Estonian; 2) it had a vibrant film club culture in universities with diverse repertoires from Finland, and all films had a live translation into Estonian, 3) and it had access to Finnish television broadcasting Western movies that were otherwise not shown in the Soviet Union (Estonian and Finnish are closely related languages that share many semantic and grammatical structures). Compared to other Soviet Socialist Republics, Estonia had the advantage of its geographical and linguistic position, facilitating a socio-cultural dialogue with the West. The various translation methods employed, often conducted on an ad hoc basis, social dynamics, and the role of interpreters in the film clubs, played a transformative role in dismantling the barriers of the Iron Curtain. Interpreters, by navigating the boundaries between the original films and their translations, significantly influenced the understanding of Western cinema and culture in Soviet Estonia.

Deconstructing the Language Laws: Arundhati Roy’s Linguistic Strategies in The God of Small Things

Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (1997) is a story which portrays how things deemed to be the smallest are connected to, shaped, and constructed by the bigger discourses of history, colonialism, gender, caste, and religion which define the subject. With her linguistic strategies aiming at deconstruction of the language, Roy unveils how the voice of the subaltern is located on the margins of the dominant discourses, and therefore, listening to the subaltern’s voice requires dwelling on the alternative spaces of existence constructed by the subaltern. Estha’s refusal to speak, Ammu, Velutha and Rahel’s resistance to the laws that determine interpersonal relations and their use of the language of the body are among the significant examples of the mechanisms used by the subaltern to resist domination. By exploring Roy’s linguistic strategies through close reading and textual analysis of the silences and alternative linguistic positions of the postcolonial subject, who is further marginalised by gender, caste and religion, from a position that combines postcolonial theory with a Lacanian perspective, this study aims to highlight how Roy creates a unique linguistic expression through the subversive strategies she utilizes to disrupt hegemonic power structures and challenge the established norms of society, culture and language. Designing, constructing, deconstructing and reconstructing, as in the architectural profession in which she was trained, Roy transforms standard English into an effective tool of communicating the postcolonial subject’s experiences of subalternity.

DISCUSSION WITHOUT CONTRADICTIONS IN BRIEF STATEMENT OF THREE LINGUISTIC CONCEPTS OF THE XX CENTURY

The article discusses the consistency and aesthetics of language in comparison of the views of three outstanding linguists of the 20th century. Their judgments about the continuity of linguistic transformation are distinguished by originality. Despite the fundamentally different approaches of K. Fossler, E. Coceriu and R.A. Budagov in comprehending the aesthetic function of language, their views are united by the norm of the language․ Comparison of three independent linguistic positions is built as a kind of discussion without contradictions on the analysis of the system and norm, the aesthetics of language and linguistic form. Forecasts on these issues are updated especially hard during periods of a serious reboot of the communicative space. Changing the regulatory framework is an inevitable process of any national language and is clearly visible at the functional level. Therefore, the mechanisms for changing the norm do not depend on the recognition or non-recognition of the systemic nature of the language and its levels, but strictly correlate with the aesthetic function. The aesthetic function of language itself is of interest to linguists especially when tectonic shifts of the standard positions of the norm occur in the changing times.

The Fundamental Principles of Corpus Linguistics. Tony McEnery and Vaclav Brezina

In the past decades, corpus methods have been extensively utilized in the research among social scientists and linguists in digital humanities (Bach, 2019; Luhmann and Burghardt, 2021). However, there is still some variance and misuse in the way how research problems are approached in the field of corpus linguistics, as a dynamic and fast-developing perspective to studying language use. It is the case for some scholars that they choose the corpus method in order to ‘use the corpus’ rather than truly facilitate their research methodology. Focusing on a number of fundamental issues in corpus linguistics, this thought-provoking volume The Fundamental Principles of Corpus Linguistics, written by Tony McEnery and Vaclav Brezina, seeks to spell out the reasonable grounds of how corpus data can be most effectively relied on to advance our understanding of language in digital humanities. This book comprises an introduction and eight chapters, which can be divided into three function-related parts: (1) to present forty-eight principles that, taken together, describe the ontological sense of the digitally realized approach to (social) science in general and corpus linguistics in particular (Chapters 1–5); (2) to provide a concrete illustration of how these principles negotiate in the repeatable and replicable process of linguistic research (Chapters 6 and 7); and (3) to conclude the epistemological position of corpus linguistics as an empirical discipline of digital scholarship in the humanities (Chapter 8). In the introduction, McEnery and Brezina point out the limited consideration of fundamental principles of corpus methods in the study of language, highlight the theoretical reference of this book on the critical realism from Karl Popper, and clarify that their true aim is to encourage fresh perspectives on established issues in traditional corpus linguistics, all of which foreground the subsequent three main parts.

Attributive Valence of the German verb GEHEN and the Russian Verb ИДТИ (Cognitive Aspect)

The aim of the work is to identify similarities and differences in the attributive valence of the German verb of movement "gehen" and the Russian verb "идти" in German and Russian. The subject of the study is the sectors of the manifestation of the attributive valence of the above-mentioned verbs in the cognitive aspect. These verbs are considered only in their direct sense, namely from the point of view of transmitting the expression of a person's movement from one point to another. The attributive valence of verbs of movement was chosen due to its insufficient study in comparative linguistics from the position of cognitive linguistics. In the study, the comparative method was used as the main one; methods of semantic and cognitive analysis were also used. The material of the analyzed examples was German and Russian lexicographic sources. The scientific novelty of this study lies in the fact that it reveals for the first time similar and specific cognitive sectors of the manifestation of the attributive valence of the German verb "gehen" and the Russian verb "идти". As a result of the study, the presence of such sectors of attributive valence as "direction of movement", "type of movement" and "pace of movement" was revealed in the verb "gehen". The analyzed examples of the Russian verb "идти" showed the presence of the following sectors: "time", "direction" and "type of movement", "accomplice of movement", "pace of movement" and mixed cases. As a result of comparative analysis, it was found that in German and Russian there are the following similar sectors of the attributive valence of human movement: "direction", "type" and "pace of movement", and the sectors "direction of movement" and "pace of movement" significantly prevail quantitatively in the analyzed examples. The article also draws conclusions about the peculiarity of the perception of the directional movement of a person in the Russian and German linguistic cultures.

Philosophy of the intertextuality as a method of studying the Kyz Zhibek opera

This article examines the first Kazakh opera ‘Kyz Zhibek’ is considered from the point of view of the philosophy of intertextuality. Intertextuality is a concept first outlined in the works of poststructuralism theorists Julia Kristeva and Roland Barthes, and refers to the emergence and understanding of any single text from the vast network of discourses and languages that make up culture. No text, in the light of intertextuality, stands alone; all texts, including musical ones, are interconnected with the preceding texts, while the author of the text, determining in the process of creativity the relation of his text to others, not only enters into the dialogical context of the preceding, present and subsequent culture, but also develops his aesthetic and ideological position and artistic forms that most adequately allow it to be expressed. The concept of intertextuality goes back to the fundamental idea of postmodern nonclassical philosophy, which allows us to consider the phenomenon of opera not only from purely musicological, but also from philosophical, cultural, linguistic positions. Opera is considered as a system of signs: a combination of songs, different types of arias, dances, as well as various storylines and musical framing. The use of the concept of intertextuality as an expression of the highest theoretical achievements of Western philosophy in relation to the national domestic musical and artistic material allows us to take a fresh look at the famous opera work and prove that the opera ‘Kyz Zhibek’ is a unique product of the era, based on both the Kazakh musical and Western European opera tradition.

Encoding Advertising Discourse from Linguistic Positions

Encoding Advertising Discourse from Linguistic Positions

SPEECH FORMULA OF ETIQUETTE IN THE CARNIVAL PLAYS OF HANS SACHS AND THEIR TRANSLATION INTO RUSSIAN

The article aims to study the form and functions of some etiquette speech formulas in Early New High German. On the material Hans Sachs’s carnival play Das Narrenscheyden (Cure of Fools, 1557) from the standpoint of speech etiquette, the cases of using addresses, greetings, farewells, requests, advice, etc. are analyzed. The methodological basis is determined by the theoretical position of historical pragmatic linguistics of the potential possibility of using old texts as a source of linguistic material. The article presents for the first time the specificity of the use of speech formulas of etiquette in the works of H. Sachs in the aspect of their translation into modern Russian. Particular attention is paid to the features of the genre of Shrovetide plays, as well as to the problem of translating of Knittelvers, traditionally aligned in Russian into iambic tetrameter. The article notes the role of H. Sachs as one of the first authors of his time, who consistently assigned linguistic features of social differentiation to the speech of the characters. In this regard, an attempt is made to trace the variability of etiquette speech formulas depending on the situation of speech interaction. In addition to thе main functions of etiquette formulas, regulatory and characterizing functions are distinguished (etiquette speech formulas as markers of the development of dramatic action and means of creating character images). The obtained results contribute to the study of the features of speech interaction, presented on the basis of texts from distant eras and their translations.

Экспрессивный синтаксис английского языка: систематический обзор

The aim of this systematic review is to identify the key tasks in the description of expressive syntax constructions by the material of the English language. The article deals with the Russian linguists’ papers written within the framework of the pragmatic-oriented approach and devoted to the classification and functioning of expressive syntactic forms. The scientific novelty consists in an attempt to determine the main problems of the expressive syntax of the English language from purely linguistic positions. As a result, the main research problems in the field of the grammatical description of expressive syntax constructions in the English language have been identified and the ways to solve them have been outlined.

Speaker discrimination as a function of vowel realization: does focus affect perception?

The acoustic-phonetic characteristics of speech sounds are influenced by their linguistic position in the syllable or sentence. Because of acoustic-phonetic differences between different speech sounds, sounds vary in the amount of speaker information they contain. However, do spectral and durational differences between realizations of the same sound that were sampled from different linguistic positions also impact speaker information? We investigated speaker discrimination in [−focus] versus [+focus] word realizations. Twenty-one Dutch listeners participated in a same-different task, using stimuli varying in focus, vowel ([aː], [u]), and word context ([ɦ_k], [v_t]), spoken by 11 different speakers. Results showed that an effect of focus on speaker-dependent information was present, but limited to words containing [u]. Moreover, performance on [u] words was influenced by (interactions of) word context and trial type (same-vs. different-speaker). Context-dependent changes in a speech sound’s acoustics may affect its speaker-dependent information, albeit under specific conditions only.

Вербализация образа яблони в поэзии В.А. Солоухина

We analyze linguistic features of poetic texts by V.A. Soloukhin, included in the collection “Poems” (1990). The subject of research is the image of an apple tree from the point of view of the specifics of its verbalization in the individual author’s picture of the world by V.A. Soloukhin in comparison with the linguistic embodiment of the image of an apple tree in the linguistic picture of the world of Russian people. The relevance of research lies in the fact that V.A. Soloukhin’s poetic picture of the world is analyzed from various linguistic and cultural positions, which is associated with the ability of a lexeme to absorb both ethnocultural information and individual author’s information. The purpose of study is to comprehend the role of the dendronym apple tree in the author’s work as a carrier of figurative folklore and mythological meanings. The image of a tree is considered in the context of the manifestation of the Russian mentality, culture and history. The study may have a practical focus in the teaching of Russian, including Russian as a foreign language; when studying the creativity of V.A. Soloukhin in the literary course and in the compilation of author’s dictionaries. It is concluded that the apple tree in the artistic picture of the world of V.A. Soloukhina is inextricably linked with the image of the Russian garden. The author, associating the concept of life and death with the apple tree, recalls the harm that a person can cause to wildlife, and by including in his works lexemes describing the flowering of an apple tree, the beauty of its fruits, wilting of leaves, coarsening of trunks and roots, he shows cyclicality life not only of a tree, but also of a person.

Packaging Information as Fact Versus Opinion: Consequences of the (Information-)Structural Position of Subjective Adjectives

ABSTRACT How do we distinguish fact from opinion? We tested whether people’s ability to detect opinion-based content—as indicated by the use of subjective adjectives (e.g., amazing, frustrating)—depends on the linguistic position of the adjective. Our results show that simply changing the linguistic structure of a sentence influences our perception of the sentence’s subjectivity: The same basic information, packaged differently in linguistic terms, yields significantly different subjectivity ratings. Specifically, our results show that texts with subjective adjectives in syntactic positions associated with new information and “main news” are rated as more opinion-based than texts conveying the same core information with the same adjective presented in a position that presents the information as already-known information or as secondary information. We also show that this information-packaging effect is independent of whether the sentence provides grounds/evidence for the opinion. More generally, our results suggest that linguistic-packaging choices can be used to blur the distinction between fact and opinion or, at least, our ability to perceive opinion-based information as such.

ПОТЕНЦИАЛЬНЫЕ ВОЗМОЖНОСТИ ПЕРЕВОДА В АСПЕКТЕ ТЕОРИИ КОММУНИКАЦИИ

The presented article is written on a topical topic. In it, within the boundaries of the main acts of communication, emphasis is placed on some supporting factors. First of all, the two-part formula is subject to correction: translator-reader. Without in any way questioning the inviolability of this traditional formulation, the article attempts to saturate it with new content. In particular, based on the works of leading Russian and European scientists, it is shown that the translator, using different communicative capabilities, brings to the reader the meaning of the transmitted information, drawing ideas from the arsenal of several options. This is how the discussion about the variability of translation activity arises and develops, which in turn is closely related to the signification and denotation of the text. These terms are not only disclosed, but also subjected to a little critical analysis. The article is written exclusively in a theoretical way: a large place is occupied by the statements of scientists who are actively involved in the problems chosen in the article, and from various linguistic positions. Meanwhile, such an approach, in our opinion, fully justifies the goal set: to point out the broad potential possibilities of translation, using purely theoretical material for this. It includes: A) Definition of monolingual or bilingual communication as an integral part of translation; B) An indication of the equivalence, identity or difference of the language codes of the sender and the recipient of the information; C) Identification of the nature of language communication with its inherent factors; D) Definition of the role of significates and denotations. At the end of the article, the translation possibilities are subordinated to some cultural ideas.

Review and prospect for the Research on Language Origin

The origin of language is still a pending major issue. The basic connotation of language origin includes the definition of language, the conditions of language origin, the specific process of language origin, and the relationship between language origin and naming of things. The study of the origin of language has a clear turn in the new century, and the relevant research is more comprehensive, systematic and scientific. The common presupposition of language origin hypothesis defines language from the communicative function of language. Some hypotheses overlap in essence. Although the hypothesis of language origin lacks empirical materials, it has certain research reference value. There are two opposites in the study of the language origin, one is the opposition between the One-source theory and the Multi-source theory, the other is the opposition between the Gradualism and the Mutationism. The origin of language has its necessity and scientificity to become an academic issue. The origin of language has distinct interdisciplinary research nature, and the new research platform for the origin of language is evolutionary linguistics. In the future research on the origin of language, academic circles should establish a high degree of problem awareness, in addition to strengthening interdisciplinary cooperation, and constantly consolidate the latest research position of evolutionary linguistics.