Semiotic Units Research Articles

Дискурсивная специфика компьютерных игр

The present paper refers to the current problem of semiotic signs’ specifics in the context of gaming discourse based on texts from action first-person shooter game Ultrakill developed by Finnish creators. The problem is relevant due to the influence that computer games have on people’s mind – in particular on the minds of the younger generation. Moreover, the study will help to understand the linguistic mechanisms of the impact of video games on players. The study used methods of semantic analysis, semiotic analysis, observation and description techniques. As a result, the research revealed that developers use intertextual units to create patterns that are familiar to the player, but which at the same time have new characteristics. While 66% of all intertext is universally known, obscure allusions play an important role in creating associations for the recipient as well, which proves the importance of intertext in video game discourse. Well-known allusions play a role in creating semantic images in the game, while the lesser known intertext has easy to understand semes that could provoke the player to action in game. The research identified the following types of intertext: allusions to songs, music albums, other games, myths, the Bible and literature. The synthesis of intertext and author’s text in level names gives the player an idea of the upcoming challenges without informing of the level context, and in some cases even intriguing the player. The combination of borrowings and original semiotic units in the names of characters creates images that are familiar to the player, but at the same time, it creates properties that are specific to this particular game. Dialogues are mainly inherent in this genre, but the conversations also have deviations from this genre, which is also done in order to affect the player – the author gives the recipient a familiar behavior pattern in order to replace it afterewards, causing cognitive dissonance to the player. Conclusions are drawn about the discourse mechanisms in video games, how they affect the player and for what purpose the developer uses one or another linguistic technique.

Cultural codes in epic works of Belarusian literature at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries

The article is devoted to the consideration of cultural codes in Belarusian prose at the turn of the 20th-21st centuries. Research objectives: to justify the use of the term cultural code as a literary concept; using the example of different types of codes to show the features of interpretation of a literary work. The subject of the research is spatial, character, action, animalistic, floristic, color codes in the epic works of Vladimar Gnilomedov, Kastus Tsvirka, Vikror Kazko, Ales Navarich, Andreji Fedorenko. It is noted that the cultural code as a semiotic unit, which is the bearer of deep historical and cultural meanings through which social, economic, geopolitical, cultural features, the specifics of the national worldview, behavior patterns of representatives of a certain nation or the population of the country as a whole are manifested, is considered in literary studies within the framework of semiotic approach. Methods (historical-literary, structural, semantic) and methodological basis of the study are the works of M. Epstein, Y. Kristeva, V. Khalipov, I. Shved and others. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time the features of the use of cultural codes in the epic works of modern writers are analyzed. Conclusions are drawn that among the cultural codes found in Belarusian prose, emphasizing national markings, are “partisan forest”, “kuzhal”, “cornflower”, “Belarusian partisan”, “volkolak”, “tolokak”, etc. Practical area application of the results of the work is seen in the possibility of using this material for a deep understanding and study of such academic disciplines as “History of Literature of the CIS Countries”, “History of Belarusian Literature”, university historical and literary courses, during independent research work of students, when writing coursework and theses.

Artistic gymnastics as a semiotic construct: the case of the Chinese national team at the Olympic Games / La gimnasia artística como constructo semiótico: el equipo nacional chino en los Juegos Olímpicos

China is one of the most dynamically developing countries that experienced rapid and tumultuous modernization in the second half of the twentieth century. This modernization consisted of the sports organization improvement and appropriate target-setting in Olympic sports. Sport is the most important sphere of international communication, and gymnastics pertains to the expression of semiotic units by the movement itself. The purpose of this research is to study a semiotic construct embracing the victories, behaviour patterns and organization of the Chinese gymnastics team at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where China demonstrated its highest achievements in gymnastics. Another reason for selecting these Olympic Games is that semiotically significant elements of the athletes’ behaviour differ from other contexts and Olympics. Consequently, the latter feature facilitates the segregation of these elements through phenomenological research.

Цветосимволика в блазонировании национальной геральдики (лингвокультурные аспекты)

The purpose of the article is to study the semantics and role of color symbols in the verbal description of national heraldry, and its relevance is due to the current trend towards an increase in the number of independent states with their own national symbols. The objectives of the research include determining the semiotic specificity of the color symbol, establishing the object prototypes motivating this symbol and identifying new concepts and ideals symbolized in modern national heraldry with the help of color. The study was carried out on the material of the state emblems of countries united by a common language of blazoning, using the technique of analyzing color images. It has been established that in color symbolism there are two types of semiotic units: symbols in which the image refers to some natural standard of color that motivates color, and symbols in which the connection between the expression and the content planes of the semiotic formation turns out to be conventional and conditioned exclusively by cultural tradition. In most cases, the appearance in national heraldry of a particular color or shade of the latter is determined by the taste preferences of the compiler of the coat of arms, but sometimes the symbolic meaning of the color in the blazon is explicitly stated. The content plane of color symbols, which receive an explicit interpretation in state heraldry, is represented both by specific objects, which act here as prototypes motivating the symbol, and by concepts of one or another level of abstraction, and the connection of these concepts with color is not figuratively motivated in any way and is determined exclusively by cultural traditions. The medieval list of secular and Christian virtues, to which the main heraldic colors refer, is supplemented by modern concepts and ideals in the state heraldry of today. At the same time, the black color as a symbol of sadness and mourning does not appear in state heraldry, and there is no purple color in the studied national heraldry. The results of the study lead to the conclusion that the color symbolism reflects the national, cultural and linguistic specificity of the countries that own the state emblem.

Социолингвистические проекты типа «Языковая единица года»: типология и динамика развития

Introduction. The paper provides a complex system analysis of sociolinguistic projects of the "Language Unit of the Year" type in various linguistic cultures. There are several studies related to the topic of sociolinguistic "Word of the Year" projects, which focus on the activation of lexical and thematic groups within the calendar year. The relevance of this study is based on the lack of scientific papers that provide a comprehensive understanding of socio-cultural projects aimed at identifying the mechanisms and priorities of linguistic reflection through other semantic units. The purpose of the study is to record projects initiated by different countries in the period from 1971, the launch of the first project in Germany, to the present, to identify regularities and notable differences. The novelty of the research lies in the consideration of these sociolinguistic projects in a broader scope of linguistic cultures and the analysis of various semiotic units reflecting the influence of extralinguistic processes on linguistic consciousness. Materials and Methods. A critical analysis of databases and official pages of project sites was carried out, scientific publications and news articles of online publications were studied. The research used the methods of observation, comparison, generalization, analysis, synthesis and interpretation of data. Analysis. The regularities and distinguishing features of the development of the "Word of the Year" projects in the media discourse are studied. The projects under the study are systematized by languages, countries, and periods of implementation, the venues for posting information about the projects are identified and the organizations implementing the projects as well as their goals pursued are discovered. Results. The study has allowed us to record 71 projects of the "Language Unit of the Year" type, which have been carried out since the second half of the XX till the first decades of the XXI century in 29 countries of Europe, Asia, North and South America, Africa and Australia in 21 languages of the world. A meaningful change in the interest vector of the public, media actors and researchers towards other semiotic units, like gestures, hieroglyphs, numbers, emoji, and memes, has been revealed.

Hermeneutic perception of the text of musical works in the formation of the spiritual experience of the person

Spiritual potential is one of the most important experimental reservoirs of a person. The work deals with the hermeneutic analysis of the spiritual experience in perceiving the text of musical works. The author draws attention to associativity, which constitutes an additional source and establishes the connection between the musical information and the personal experience of the individual. The article highlights the factors of interaction between the semantic contexts of the student and those of the teacher in the process of perceiving a work of art, which requires not only the ability to highlight each semiotic unit of the text, but also to know the principles and ways of combining them within a text, as well as the coherence of each phrase integrated in the context of the work. Within the whole, the meaning of each element of a work of art is revealed. At the Institute of Arts of the ”Boris Grinchenko” University in Kyiv, research is conducted on the development of an important field of pedagogical science - the pedagogy of the spiritual potential of the personality.

ARTISTIC IMAGE AS A REFLECTION THE PROCESS OF SOCIALIZATION OF PERSONALITY

The article deals with the problem of en image as a semiotic unit of visual communication and its functional ability during persons socialization through the common function of culture.

SEMIOTIKA FISKE TERHADAP IDEOLOGI PATRIOTISME FILM "GUNDALA"

This writing aims to reveal the ideology of patriotism in the film Gundala. Namely, when today's film can be reached as a social practice and a medium of mass communication. The problem that is focused on is understanding the signs, meanings, and codes contained in the film's scenes. This paper also describes the history of film in Indonesia and its practice. In order to explore the study of signs and codes in films, this paper uses John Fiske's semiotic unit analysis, namely through the stages of reality, representation, and ideology. The data obtained through search searches, which are sourced from Google and Telegram, and analyzed descriptively qualitatively. This writing concludes that today's film can deconstruct the unity of meaning, symbol, and code in exposing its naturalness as an ideological construction.

REFERENTIAL PROPERTIES OF ENGLISH DETACHED NONFINITE CONSTRUCTIONS WITH AN EXPLICIT SUBJECT: OPERATIONALIZATION AND QUANTIFICATION

This article presents the results of quantitative-corpus parameterization of reference properties of English detached nonfinite constructions with an explicit subject, carried out from the perspective of the cognitive-quantitative approach to language study. Through the prism of cognitive-constructive grammar, the syntactic patterns under scrutiny are recognized as grammatical constructions, i.e. complex semiotic units, non-compositional cognitively motivated pairings of form and conceptual meaning/ function, stored as holistic, conceptually connected, and interacting structures. Corpus-quantitative parameterization of referential properties of the given constructions presupposes the analysis of the linguistic means of expressing coreference between five micro-constructions and a corresponding matrix clause, reflected by the factors “Coreference” (COREF) and “Absence of coreference” (ØCOREF) of the parameter “Reference relations” (REFREL). Quantitative verification of the data involves a three-stage quantitative procedure incorporating 1) a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), 2) a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and 3) Tukey’s multiple comparison test performed with a computer statistical data analysis software R. The obtained results prove that the non-augmented constructions show a stronger semantic integration into a matrix clause, compensating lack of syntactic connection by closer reference relations, manifested by explicitly expressed full or partial coreference. The use of augmentors facilitates the identification of with-, without-, despite- and what_with- augmented constructions as syntactic patterns, thus balancing the absence of coreference and ensuring adequate cognitive processing of constructions.

Methods of modelling of socio-economic phenomena – method of constructing multiple spirals and multimodal analysis

The article considers the methods of semiotic modelling (method of constructing multiple spirals, and multimodal analysis, etc.). The relevance of the use of these methods for the study of socio-economic phenomena is determined. Features of the use of these methods are described with help of two groups of key notions: a) the group of concept-variables of such concepts as code (genetic, iconic, information, cultural, memetic, social, civilisation, language), gene (biological, cultural, social, philosophic, economic), spiral (Archimedes, double, multiple, plane, spatial, triple, etc.); b) the group of concept-variables of such concepts as modalisation, modality, mode and multimodality. Differences between the methods under consideration are due not only to the different sets of concepts used to describe them, but also due to the main objects studied using these methods. So, as the main object of modeling using the method of constructing multiple spirals, various types of such complex signs as codes and genes are most often used. The objects of multimodal analysis are, as rule, macrolevel semiotic units (video, comic books, creolised and poly-code texts, posters, and other polymodal texts). The conclusion is substantiated that the method of constructing multiple spirals and multimodal analysis, together with the previously considered semiotic and chain analyses, form a single methodological system of social semiotics.

Семиотика символа по данным российского научного дискурса

Based on the publications of Russian scientists, the notions of the symbol in the humanities are studied. The problem of the nature, essence and purpose of a symbol, raised back in Antiquity, remains quite relevant at the present time. In Russian linguistics, the "symbolic" theme occupies one of the leading places, but a clear and unambiguous definition of the symbol is still missing. It is established that a symbol is an umbrella semantic formation, covering the subject areas of several scientific disciplines, outside the context of a specific scientific field or theory; it is a pro-term and can act as a generic name for any semiotic unit. The symbolism of the exact sciences and most of the linguistic signs falls into the category of conventional signs, in which the correspondence of the plans of expression and content is arbitrary, the symbolism of the exact sciences and most of the linguistic signs, while the symbolism of all other areas of knowledge falls into the category of motivated semiotic units, in which the plan of expression is one way or another connected with the content plan, and this connection is conditioned by similarity, contiguity, or in some other way. Endowing a motivated sign with a name leads to a ―doubling‖ of the semantic structure of a new formation, when the signifier of this sign – an image or a generalized representation – turns into a signified, sending to another signified, in relation to which it acts as a signifier. A symbol in its most general form is a sign in which the primary content is used as an exponent of another, more abstract and culturally valuable content. The list of specific characteristics of a symbol, both obligatory and optional, compiled according to scientific discourse, includes: ―vector‖ – the direction of symbolization from the concrete to the abstract; transcendence – going beyond the limits of real existence; vagueness and fragility of semantic boundaries, layering and depth; interpretation – the need for active work of thought and imagination to comprehend the symbolized meaning; coded deep meaning, mystery and mysticism; ―passwordness‖, intended for the initiated; intuitiveness; emotiogenicity, mobilizing force; axiology and ideology. The optional properties of a symbol are aesthetic appeal, emphasizing its socio-cultural significance, and, for ancient symbols, ―archetypeness‖ as belonging to the number of primary ideas and images. The functions of the symbol include: generally semiotic – informative and communicative; specific – epistemological, axiological, emotive-affective, social, cultural-unifying, representative, and in some of the symbols – aesthetic and mobilizing.

Building the Tourist Destination Through Multiple Semiotic Modes

Over time, multiple semiotic modes have contributed in different ways to the construction and exchange of cultural meanings in Tourism Discourse. This has required the analysis and understanding of the modes employed and the recontextualization and adaptation of texts and images, especially to the new web genres. Nowadays, the tourist experience is mediated by personal, digital, and mobile technologies, which redirect the tourist gaze and become the mediator between the traveler and the tourist destination. 
 
 Consequently, the tourism text must be considered as a single unit, where different semiotic resources intermingle to enhance its communicative strength. 
 
 The present study will attempt to propose a methodology to read and write tourism texts in a comprehensive and effective way. It will start by focusing on the relationship between text and image to see how they co-exist in the page and in the way the page is arranged. Then, it will apply a functional approach to the analysis of such semiotic units. The result will show how the boundaries between image and text have become blurred, and textuality is built less through verbal syntax and more through rhetorical visual design.

Cognitive Thesaurus of Cultural Code: Communicative and Epistemological Aspects

The article discusses the problem of the formation of the cognitive thesaurus of the developed theory of the cultural code, defines some aesthetic-communicative strategies of the literary discourse of Kazakhstan. It is noted that in the implementation of these strategies a specific role is played by specific epistemes– cultural codes. The cultural code is defined as a significant semiotic unit of text included in its conceptual core. Such concepts of the theory of cultural code as philosophical, ideological, conceptual core, ethnostereotype, heterotopic markers, detailed multicultural landscape and others receive terminological design. The thesis of knowledge of the world and understanding of history, modernity, the possible future through the universalization of the art world, multiculturalism, complex narrative structures is substantiated. The specificity of a historical narrative is analyzed with its characteristic capacious referential mode, involving the reader in the active communicative process of decoding narrated events, cultural artifacts. The heterotopic markers of myth-folklore units in the structure of a literary text are studied, the stability and iteration of traditional ethnocultural codes are noted

APPROACHES TO INCREASING THE LANDSCAPE CAPACITY OF A BIG CITY

The article considers the problem of limiting the territory of large cities in terms of expansion and expansion of park areas. The issues of landscape organization of local territories of large cities are raised: arrangement of entrance zones and railway green strips, organization of flat green coverings over platform spaces, arrangement of means of landscaping of semi-underground and underground garages, functional delimitation of pedestrian territories. The concept of semiotic units of landscape design is illustrated: point, line, plane, mass. Methods of distinguishing fragments of the urban environment and examples from foreign experience are given.
 The high concentration of anthropomorphic activity, creating a number of unconditional advantages, has led to a violation of the optimal balance between natural and artificial components of the landscape. As a result, cities feel an urgent need to maximize the natural component of the urban environment. The urgency of the topic is due to the approach of humanity to a critical limit, beyond which the process of deterioration of the biosphere will be beyond his control.
 The aim of the article is to generalize the experience of using landscape design tools to create a safe environment, enrich the city with landscaping elements, which are located not in traditional parks, but in local recreation areas, to design pedestrian spaces, create certain barriers between pedestrians and parking lots. favorable microclimate in the territories adjacent to production zones and railways, etc .; as well as developing approaches to increase the landscape potential of a large city and improve the microclimate of the urban environment.
 Transforming the landscape of large cities using landscaping tools and techniques will lead to a more harmonious relationship between anthropogenic and natural components of the urban environment, and ultimately reduce the factors that adversely affect human health. Attitudes towards the use of landscape design to achieve the artistic expressiveness of the urban environment is increasingly becoming an indicator of the civilization of the country.

ЯЗЫКОВЫЕ ОБРАЗЫ КАК ЕДИНИЦЫ ЭТНОКУЛЬТУРНОГО СОЗНАНИЯ

A linguistic image, unlike its substratum, a mental image, is, in the author's understanding, a visual perception of the realities of a communicatively significant event verbalized in a person's consciousness, fixing the results of visual perception and the isolation of culturally marked elements in it. The linguocreativity of the ethno-cultural spirituality of a person contained in them is manifested not only in the creation of primary linguistic images, but also in their creative adaptation to new discursive situations of speech generation. The mechanism of this kind of adaptation is the linguocreative type of thinking. The linguistic image is considered in the status of a semiotic unit of ethno-cultural memory.

Rhetoric, Music and Philosophy in 88 Constellations for Wittgenstein by David Clark: Intermedial and Intertextual Practices

88 Constellations for Wittgenstein (to Be Played with the Left Hand) (2008) by Canadian artist David Clark is a web-based Flash creation that explores the life and works of Austrian-born philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. As the title suggests the digital work should be “played with the left hand”, this means that there are additional semiotic units (e.g. videos, sounds, images, linguistic texts) hidden in the metaphysical strings of the constellations that the reader can add to the narrative by means of interaction and manipulation. We argue that by discovering unexplored paths and creative unknowns the reader encounters examples of gestural melodic manipulation that will consequently lead to the creation of visual music. The visual music produced by the secret of the Left Hand, whose notes (piano keys) are the gestural enunciation of different discourses and diverse thematic, expose the potential intermedial literary characteristics of the text. Our analytical approach will demonstrate how rhetoric and digital technologies join to visually express philosophical concepts.

Analysing discourse analysis for cliches of scientific texts

The article looks at the methodology of discourse analysis relating to language cliches in scientific discourse, by covering along the integral features of cliche as constructs of internal discourse grammar.The definition of ‘cliche’ is considered in the context of the underlying principles of cliche theory. The linguistic field may treat the cliche with the binary vectors of interpretation, at the same time nominating the phenomenon of language and being materially expressed as a cliche of consciousness. The language cliche means a regular (constant) combination of autonomous verbal signs seen as linguistic formations which form traditionally conveys the given meaning. The most developed question today is the specific use of language cliches in documentary discourse.Scientific discourse presupposes situations marked by a highly-regulated language of science. Scientific texts are characterized by a typical multidimensional and multilevel compositional structure. The highest degree of standardization that determines the frequency of usage associated with cliches as stereotypical language units is natural of texts in the scientific domain. Language cliches play the role of a standard in specialized linguistic texts, deliver the most complete information and save the speech by communication participants. Such units feature relevant semiotic and discursive properties regulated by the general functional and stylistic features of a scientific variety of language.The use of cliches depend on the specifics of scientific communication. That includes the purpose of scientific information, the sequence of its presentation, the content of scientific linguistic work. The language cliches in scientific discourse mainly aim at the systematization of utterances on the research findings, substantiation of hypotheses, proof of theories, conclusion of classification schemes. Cliches as semiotic units allow for understanding the language of this specialized social sphere and perform a number of communicative and pragmatic guidelines. The use of standard units in scientific linguistic communication is associated with the frequency and recurrence of situations in the presentation of scientific data to society.

Explorationen zur Genre-Grammatik von Volksnarrationen

AbstractThe following essay aims at elaborating some aspects of the genre grammar of linguistic practices embodied in folk narratives. It starts from the idea that linguistic practices like narratives are controlled by a corresponding genre-knowledge just as it holds for most types of human actions in general. Individual linguistic practices are thus sequenced and arranged according to a corresponding knowledge frame that is related to the situationally activated genre. The termtextis used to denote this sequence of situationally and interactionally coherent linguistic practices that are construed according to thegrammarof a ‘genre in action’. Agenrewill be understood as a semiotic unit whosesignifiantcorresponds to a set of types of lexical and grammatical patterns ultimately represented by the micro-structure of the text. Itssignifiéwill be interpreted as a text world model (TWM) that is internally invoked by the functionality, semantics, and quantification of the types of construction that occur in a text together with their syntax as well as by corresponding world knowledge. The essay first discusses some theoretical aspects of a genre-based approach to one kind of linguistic practices, namely narratives before turning to an illustration of the approach by referring to some selected aspects of two folk narratives, one taken from Grimms’ collection of folk narratives, the other stemming from the Udi community in the Eastern Caucasus (Northwestern Azerbaijan).

Fifth graders’ use of gesture and models when translanguaging during a content and language integrated science class in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT Translanguaging in science includes the use of semiotic repertoires complete with non-linguistic modes of meaning (e.g. gesture, tactile) that until recently have gone unnoticed in research into content language integrated learning (CLIL). Currently, there are calls for classroom research in CLIL settings that examines the semiotic processes in the spontaneous translanguaging of emergent bilinguals. In response, this study aims to expand bilingualism research by investigating the ways in which fifth-grade emergent bilinguals’ draw from their semiotic repertoires when translanguaging in content-based science lessons. Multimodal transcriptions made from video recordings of the lessons allow a cross-case analysis of the emergent bilinguals’ shifts from oral to gestural or tactile modes during a biology and physics unit. Findings illustrate that emergent bilinguals use non-linguistic modes to aid their science discourse in four distinct ways: replacement, support, demonstration and imitation. For instance, gestural and tactile meanings replace unknown everyday words and science language during demonstrations. A fine-grained analysis of the semiotic units shows that tactile moves, gesticulations, pantomime and imitation each play a role in the semiotic processes involved when translanguaging in a content-based science class. They allow the expression of ideas, the mediation of language and the unaided flow of discourse.

Cognitive-pragmatic concept of artistic discourse (based on the language of Olga Kobylyanska)

The development of linguistics, a multidisciplinary approach to the coverage of linguistic phenomena have led to a change in the scientific paradigm – the discursive paradigm has come instead of text-centric one. In linguistics a philological discipline has been arised – discourse studies aimed at characterizing the speech communication of people in certain situations taking into account the unity of scientific approaches. The purpose of the article is to comprehend the author’s artistic discourse as a philosophical and humanitarian reality, to form a cognitive and pragmatic concept of artistic discourse. The polysemy of the term discourse makes it possible to use the concept of artistic discourse in two meanings – broad and narrow. Discourse1, or author's discourse, is a part of cultural space where semiotic units formed according to the laws of certain genres function, in which the author's knowledge, information, assessments, mentality as a representative of a certain sociocultural community are creatively and verbally reproduced and which have a pragmatic load. In a narrow sense discourse2 means a fragment of text (context). The cognitive aspect (knowledge, information, assessments, mentality in general) is realized in the plan of text – author, pragmatic – in the plane of text – reader, although we are aware that such a division is to some extent conditional. For effective analysis of artistic discourse in cognitive and pragmatic aspects we consider it`s necessary to enter into scientific circulation two abstract units – cognitema and pragmatema. Cognitema is a generalized unit in which a quantum of information about the world is realized (for example, thinking, color, mental state, etc.). Pragmatema is an abstract unit which has influence into the reader.