Speech Genres Research Articles

Speech and Genre Characteristics of Express Consultation as a New Phenomenon of Medical Discourse

Introduction. The aim of the article is to analyze an extramural express consultation as a genre of oral medical discourse. New telemedicine technologies expand the forms of communication, it results in transformation of the dialogue between a doctor and a patient when communicating online, which requires linguistic research.Methodology and sources. The article is based on the main theses of the theory of speech genres formulated by M.M. Bakhtin, T.A. Van Dijk, O.B. Sirotinina, T.V. Shmeleva and others. The author has taken the scientific works on the study of speech genres of oral medical discourse as the methodological basis of the analysis. This includes the works of V.V. Zhura, E.A. Ponomarenko, M.I. Barsukova and others. The study applies methods of linguistic analysis of recorded online consultations for speech-genre characteristics of express consultations.Results and discussion. The article gives a description of an express consultation, including the following parameters: communicative goal, utterance content, speech roles of communicators, linguistic embodiment of the genre. The author pays special attention to doctor's communicative style and gives its assessment in terms of achieving communicative and consequently professional success. The author also describes a speech-genre scenario of a medical online consultation and a chain of communicative moves in a doctor's speech.Conclusion. The study shows that doctor's every speech act is specified by a complex system of communicative targets, primarily related to informative goals (requesting information from the patient and providing information in the form of an explanation and recommendation) and therapy goals to maintain a patient's psychological and emotional well-being. Communicators' speech behavior is regulated by the institutional roles of «an agent» and «a client» of an institution, native speakers having their own invariants. The utterance content is specified by a patient's specific complaint and is organized in accordance with the stages of a medical consultation. The study concludes that genre competence as a part of communicative competence in the form of online communication is the most important professional tool of a consulting specialist.

К проблеме интегрального описания речевых жанров

The article formulates the subject and tasks of the future speech-genre discipline – the integral description of speech genres – which, in the author’s opinion, claims to be central to the general theory of speech genres. The main sources of the theory of speech genres integrality include the high level of a speech genre as a speech and language unit, the complex, multidimensional and multicomponent nature of the theory of speech genres, the multidisciplinarity of the theory of speech genres (it draws on data from almost all the humanities and partly non-humanities). The integral description of speech genres will include the following parameters: the cultural and historical context of the speech genre; typological characteristics of speech genre (including their place in various typologies); speech-genre variantology and recurrence, including new technogenic and Internet derivatives from primary, traditional genres; representation in the corps. The integral description of speech genres and its parameters are discussed in connection with the division of linguistics (partly – other sciences, for example, literary criticism). It is shown that the majority of divisions of linguistics that are significant for the integral description of speech genres go back to Saussure’s idea of opposing internal and external linguistics, and the main tasks of the theory of speech genres correspond to those three “eternal” problems of linguistics formulated by V. M. Alpatov: “How is language structured?”, “How does language function?” and “How does language develop?” The author discusses directions of the most important genre studies, from which the integral description of speech genres should be “composed”, and the criteria used for their selection: 1) the model is already integral (multi-component and interdisciplinary); 2) universal (applicable to many languages and national cultures, in different historical periods); 3) based on this model, the largest number of studies was carried out. The first criterion is met by the model of T. V. Shmeleva, the second – by the universalist model of A. Wierzbicka, the third – by traditional speech-genre models: lexical, syntactic and pragmatic. In conclusion, the author discusses the unresolved problems of speech genres, which can be logically solved on the basis of the integral description of speech genres: typology (integral bases for the classification of speech genres claim to be more reliable), variantology, applied and experimental aspects (vocabulary representation of speech genres and corpus aspect, including the analysis of key phrases of speech genres).

Дискурс технически опосредованного мошенничества: жанр «развод» / «разводилово» и его стратегии

The article examines fraudulent discourse – a special type of discourse, the purpose of which is to take possession of other people’s property and obtain benefits through deceit or breach of trust. The author differentiates the legal understanding of the phenomenon of “fraud” and its perception in the ordinary worldview. It is proved that the concept of fraudulent discourse should include a number of communicative acts qualified by the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation as theft or extortion. The central genre of fraudulent discourse is the speech genre “swindle” / “con game”, based on the conscious and purposeful manipulative influence of the initiator of communication (fraudster) on the addressee (victim). Nowadays, the wide spread of remote communication determines the predominance of “swindle” using various technical means that provide synchronous or asynchronous interaction between the subjects of communication. The “swindle” / “con game” genre embodies the formulaicity of fraudulent discourse and is implemented through a limited number of strategies, each of which uses a stable set of means of influence. The main strategies are the appeal to fear, the appeal to luck and creation of the illusion of routine. As part of the fear appeal strategy, three tactics are distinguished, namely, the tactics of instilling fear for one’s prosperity and well-being, the tactics of instilling fear for the safety of a family member, and the tactics of instilling fear of public reprimand. The analysis is carried out by a continuous sampling method and is based on messages (more than 400 units) of potential victims or victims of technically mediated fraud, presented in the form of a narrative and posted on various communication resources in the media space.

Мотивационная речь: специфика функционирования речевого жанра

The study aims to describe the speech genre of “motivational speech” in English-speaking motivational discourse. The relevance and scientific novelty of the research are determined by the need to construct the definition of motivational discourse, to clarify its discursive intention and strategy, and to study and describe its genre specificity. The article distinguishes between the concepts of motivation and impact and their respective discourses based on the addressee type (particularlyaddressable, targeting a specific communication partner, and generally addressable, oriented towards an abstract addressee), as well as based on the subject types that depend on the individual’s chosen “achievement motivation” strategy – either striving for success or avoiding failure. The analysis of motivational speeches demonstrated their thematic heterogeneity and varying degrees of formalization, ranging from rigid and soft formalization genres to free genres. The study identified eight main types of motivational speeches differentiated according to their basic intention and addressee concept, and determined their compositional structure. Furthermore, the research established characteristic features of this genre, such as the incorporation of storytelling, humor, different types of evidential information, emotive lexis and syntax, as well as the use of the so called “inclusive language”.

Функционально-стилистическое своеобразие нормативного речевого жанра Schulordnung der Grundschule (на материале немецкого языка)

In the article the normative speech genre Schulordnung der Grundschule (Internal Regulations for Primary School Students) is considered on the material of the German language in the aspect of the functional and stylistic approach. The hypothesis is tested that the functional and stylistic peculiarity of the genre is the result of the interaction of formal and business style and the colloquial one, which act as the environment for the functioning of the genre and the texts actualizing it in the situation of institutional communication of adult norm-senders and children norm-recipients. The empirical material is represented by 100 text units created in accordance with the genre, the main purpose of which is to regulate the behavior of young schoolchildren while they remain in the educational institution. On the example of three stylistic features of formal and business speech – impersonality, non-emotionality and accuracy – it is shown how multi-level language means of colloquial style penetrating the normative texts violates their stylistic homogeneity, modifies stylistic features, and forms the inter-style nature of texts, reflecting the intention of addressees to take into account the cognitive and psychological characteristics of the younger subjects of the norm in the process of decoding normative messages by them. It is concluded that the genre of Schulordnung der Grundschule, as a way of selecting and combining linguistic means, shows openness towards different style inclusions, giving the addressees the opportunity to freely vary the linguistic means at their discretion in accordance with the ideas of the pragmatic effectiveness of the statement.

Хеджинг-стратегия в оценочном научном дискурсе: междисциплинарное исследование

The article presents the research into hedges and hedging strategy realization in evaluative academic genres viewed from a transdisciplinary perspective. To this end, 64 dissertation reviews written by Russian male and female scholars in humanities (linguistics, literature studies, history) and sciences (physics, chemistry, medicine) were analyzed. Hedging is understood as a system of linguistic means, which perform a mitigating function associated with expressing vagueness, uncertainty, skepticism and doubt. Perlocutionary effects of hedging are connected with reducing the illocutionary strength of the writer's claims or risks of opposition, face saving, positive and negative politeness. The following classification of hedges is proposed: self-mentions, mitigation hedges, hedged performatives, evaluations of propositions and vagueness hedges. The results of the comparative quantitative and qualitative analyses reveal that hedging strategy is determined by a number of discursive and personal factors such as sphere of communication, speech genre, gender and professional experience of the writer. In dissertation reviews hedges show high frequency of occurrence, which can be explained by the public nature of reviews, their potential traumatic effect on the reader, the existing requirements for scientific data presentation in a tentative and indeterminate way, as well as high academic competence of reviewers. The research proves that in humanities hedges demonstrate a higher frequency rate than in sciences. At the same time, male reviewers reveal higher hedging frequency than female reviewers.

The Speech Genre of Commentary as a Way to Realize the Social Needs of Internet Communication Participants (Based the Survey Results).

The Speech Genre of Commentary as a Way to Realize the Social Needs of Internet Communication Participants (Based the Survey Results). The article studies commenting as a speech activity for creating and reading comments and an effective way to realize the social needs of representatives of a digital society. It reveals the features of comments as a primary network genre existing in the context of network discourse. During the research, a survey of Russian-speaking Internet users was conducted. The following conclusions are made: network users create a digital discourse designed to meet their needs for social interaction on a new emotional and cognitive level, as well as the need for self-expression in the outer world. The specific speech norms of commenting are: sincerity, focus on personal experience; constructiveness; positivity; benevolence; usefulness, relevance; "the right of the speaker". The results of the work can be used as a basis for further research of network discourse, communication on the Internet, in the process of codification of communicative and ethical norms of network communication, as well as in sociological researches of digital society.

Genological stratification of diplomatic discourse on social network X (based on the material of the countries of the Romance and Germanic language areas)

Relevance. The rapid advancement in technology has profoundly impacted various aspects of human life, including communication. The advent of the internet and microblogs like X has revolutionized not only personal and professional interactions but also diplomatic discourse. This evolution presents new avenues for philological research, particularly in the domain of communicative linguistics.Purpose. The purpose of this article is to determine, describe and make an attempt to predict the levels and structure of genres of diplomatic discourse in the coming decades using examples of its manifestations on X in the best traditions of classical linguistics schools and considering the achievements of new research areas in linguistics.Methodology. The analysis utilises a comprehensive review of existing literature on discourse theory and internet communication genres. It incorporates a detailed examination of X�s role in modern diplomatic interactions to propose a new stratification matrix for genres termed twiplomatics.Results. The article highlights the genres of tweeting as the implementation of diplomatic discourse within the framework of virtual (internet) communication on the example of the social network (microblog) X. A contribution is made to the development of the theory of genological theory, in particular, the genre of virtual communication. A hierarchical stratification of speech genres for twiplomatics is offered.Conclusions. The findings contribute significantly to the field of discourse genology by providing a structured genre classification system for diplomatic discourse on X. This research not only enriches our understanding of digital communication dynamics but also sets a foundation for future studies in virtual communication genres, potentially guiding the development of more effective digital diplomatic strategies.

«…Мы отливаем нашу речь по определенным жанровым формам…»: размышления о прочитанном

The article provides an analytical review of the ideas set out in the book by L.V. Balashova and V.V. Dementiev “Russian speech genres” (Moscow: YASK Publishing House, 2022. 832 p.) in the context of the formation and development of speech definitions as a reflection of the language picture of the world. The concept of the theory of speech genres and its interpretation in the aspect of communicative and cognitive linguistics is revealed. It is said about the linguistic and cultural potential of the study of Russian speech phenomenon in this aspect. Related problems are considered: genre and creativity, genre and linguistic personality, etc. It is noted that much attention in the book is paid to the analysis of the value characteristics of speech communication — the study of genres such as heart-to-heart conversation, small talk, genres of the Runet, etc. A special place in the concept is occupied by the sphere of political linguistics and its verbal and genre organization. The role of the clerical speech, analytical review and friend-and-foe oppositions in the mass media is emphasized. It is indicated that the vector of evaluation meta-commentaries in the news pages of the media has changed. Attention is drawn to the applied importance of studying speech genres based on the use of the National Corpus of the Russian language, computer analysis of texts and digitalization of language material in the Russian Scientific Citation Index. The discussion of controversial issues related to the definition of the status of popular expressions as speech units of special organization is introduced. This circumstance makes it possible to include them in the system of speech genres. The rich historical and linguistic experience is used: from the classical ideas of M.M. Bakhtin, V.V. Vinogradov, G.O. Vinokur and other scientists who stood at the origins of this problem, to the concepts of modern domestic and foreign researchers. The reception of their views suggests possible vectors of the development of the theory of speech genres, the need to identify and analyze them in the conditions of centrifugal trends of communicative practice.

Сайт Омского государственного педагогического университета как оценочный гипержанр

Based on the basic concepts of the theory of speech genres and theoretical positions in the field of functional semantics of evaluation, genre forms typical of the hypergenre “Omsk State Pedagogical University Website” are analysed: news, reports, interviews. The positive-evaluative tonality of the hypergenre as a whole and its constituent speech genres is revealed. The predominance of indirect forms of expressing a positive assessment of the university through the use of various sub-genre speech formations is noted. The linguistic means of forming evaluative meanings are determined.

НАУКОВІ ДИСКУРСИ ПРОФЕСОРА ФЛОРІЯ БАЦЕВИЧА

The article outlines the main research ideas of Professor Florij Batsevych, which have become relevant in modern communicative studies, linguistic pragmatics, and linguistic narratology. The analysis is made in accord with the main spheres of Professor’s studies: the research of estranged artistic texts, literary prosaic texts of Ukrainian and foreign authors, oral speech and memorata, research on text theory and textdiscursive categories, and discursive markers. The authors of the article focus on the integrity of the linguist’s scientific conception, which is manifested in the interrelationships of the multifaceted research on text, discourse, speech genre, in the development of new scientific directions in linguistics, and the search for scientific perspectives. Prospective innovations in Florij Batsevych’s scientific output, which represent the study of language/speech in the communicative-cognitive paradigm, are analyzed and reveal the linguist’s own theoretical views and their practical implementation on various language material. Among other Professor’s ideas, it is worth mentioning the development of deviatology as a linguistic-pragmatic sub-discipline, keen interest to texts created in altered states of consciousness, absurd texts, texts as the reflection of some traumatic experience, family communication, etc.; particular attention is paid to minor but important elements of discursive-pragmatic speech organization (e.g., particles, which he classifies as discourse markers) because classical structuralist approach to their investigation, in F. Batsevych’s point of view, does not reveal all the value of these components in the creation of new senses. The authors conclude that the specificity of Professor’s scientific output lies in the nature of his view on language and its research – anthropocentricity and humanism.

ПРОБЛЕМА ДОСТОВЕРНОСТИ ЖАНРОВОГО ИСТОЧНИКА

This article is carried out in line with research on the problems of genre studies. The author tries to solve the problem of developing a method for describing the speech genre as a communicative unit of the ethical level. The relevance of the study is due to the unsatisfactory result of many years of attempts to develop a methodology for describing the genre that can identify the meaningful factors of a typical utterance as an object. As one of the solutions to the problem, it is proposed to put forward the theory of genre source studies with the development of a technology for modeling a genre source by introducing a formula of a communicative situation into the model of a typical utterance as a factor determining the reference of the genre.The novelty and significance of this work is due to the description of an original and potentially productive approach to determining the genre structures of an utterance through the construction of a genre source model through the prism of communicative components.

Малые фольклорные жанры и их гендерная специфика как отражение этнокультурных универсалий русских и тувинцев

The paper provides an examination of the specifics of the functioning of small genres as a verbal way of representing semiotic codes of the conceptual worldview of Russians and Tuvans. The purpose of the study was to explore the place and role of small genres in the upbringing of children as a reflection of the specific ethnocultural universals of Russians and Tuvans. Russian and Tuvan folklore, such as lullabies, jokes, nursery rhymes, and detecting the place of small folklore genres in the system of ethnic cultures of Tuvans and Russians for the formation of their gender identity, determined the objectives of the study; identification of the symbolic essence of the subject symbols corresponding to the dominant rituals of the two peoples in consolidating gender differences, as well as the influence of these genres on the expansion of the linguistic picture of the child's world. The paper focuses the attention onto the research of Tuvan and Russian folklore, which absorbed the stereotypes of gender behavior and moral and cultural guidelines governing the national type of relationships between men and women, embedded in small speech genres. The authors came to the conclusion that the study of small speech genres that foster respect for national cultural values correlates with the tasks of preserving the traditional cultural traditions of two peoples — Tuvans and Russians.

A professional blog as a special structural hypertext unit in the space of Internet communications

The purpose of the study is to identify the hypertext features of a professional blog in the space of the Internet environment. The professional type of blog is a separate unit of the Internet environment and is characterized by a hypertext structure within the framework of Internet communication. The article analyzes the main structural and content characteristics of a professional blog from the point of view of the hypertext organization of the Internet environment. The study is based on the material of the English language. The theoretical significance is determined by the fact that the data obtained make it possible to deepen knowledge about such important aspects of modern linguistics as the linguistic nature of electronic hypertext, its structural and substantive aspects. In addition, the study of hypertext features of professional English-language blogs contributes to the development of the theory of speech genres in the context of Internet communication. The practical significance of the research is reflected in the fact that its results can be used in the process of teaching general language theory, the basics of computational linguistics, sociolinguistics, pragmalinguistics, as well as in the development of elective courses on Internet communication. Using the methods of continuous sampling and description, the study analyzed the text units of 3 professional blogs of large foreign companies conducted in English. As a result, it was revealed that the professional type of blog is a hypertext unit of the Internet environment, representing a frame model with periodically updated author's posts, hypertext links, and comments. Despite the large number of works devoted to the study of hypertext, its organization and genre affiliation, there is currently no single and generally recognized typology of hypertext in the context of the professional variety of blogs, its creation is one of the priorities of modern researchers due to the rapid development of blog technologies. The scientific novelty lies in the approach that was taken to study the structural and content features of hypertext in the context of other types of blogs. In this regard, the basic principles of this approach are analyzed, the defining features of a blog are identified, taking into account its professional variety. Special attention was paid to the structure of electronic hypertext: the functional differentiation of hypertext links and ways of organizing links between hypertexts were considered.

МЕДІЙНИЙ ДИСКУРС ЯК СЕМІОЗИС: ПОТЕНЦІАЛ СЕМІОТИКИ ДЛЯ ВИЗНАЧЕННЯ МЕДІЙНОГО ДИСКУРСУ

The methodological apparatus of linguistics and various related fields such as sociology, culturology, psychology, and linguosemiotics, is applied to study, comprehend, interpret, and formulate the methodological principles of discourse analysis (including media discourse as a subtype of institutional discourse) and its components (text, utterance, communicative event, communicative act). Methods and approaches to studying media discourse mostly complement each other, thus being participatory. At the current stage of language science development, media discourse is the object of numerous research investigations by Ukrainian and foreign linguists. The article aims to propose a definition of media discourse by identifying its key features as a category of communication generated by mass media. To achieve this purpose: a) we consider media discourse as a complex sign and analyze its action of sign (semiosis); b) with a focus on the sociosemiosic approach to discourse analysis, we identify characteristic features of this discourse and define it as a subtype of institutional discourse; c) we provide an interpretation of the main metalanguage units used to describe the proposed approach. Media discourse is characterized by the following features: generated by various agents (including media producers – institutions and individuals – and recipients); comprises a variety of speech genres embodied in texts, which are complex signs, the signification of which is characterized by code, information and cultural dimensions; directed towards interaction. The core finding of our investigation is considered to be the reasoned presentation of the effectiveness of applying a semiotic approach to the analysis of media discourse. Media discourse is a complex sign, the signification of which occurs in the informational space and is characterized by code, informational, and cultural dimensions.

Análise do gênero epístola bíblica à luz dos estudos linguísticos contemporâneos

ABSTRACT The article aims to examine the behavior of contemporary speech genre theory in the analysis of Pauline epistles. The genre of letters is conceived within its original communicative purpose, limited to sender and receivers, whereas the epistle refers to the letter read outside of its original context, considered as literature. The research corpus is composed of the Corinthian epistles of the New Testament, which are accepted as authored by the Apostle Paul. They are selected due to their shared audience, enabling a comparison of production context aspects in the apostle’s writings over time. Research findings include: letters that acquire new meanings, when transformed into epistles with a broader readership; the epistle genre, despite undergoing significant modifications, remains recognizable to present-day readers due to its macrostructure; the social role and communicative intent of the sender that result in alternating usage of formal and informal language, as well as variations in discourse person.

Evidence of Zipfian distributions in three sign languages

One striking commonality between languages is their Zipfian distributions: A power-law distribution of word frequency. This distribution is found across languages, speech genres, and within different parts of speech. The recurrence of such distributions is thought to reflect cognitive and/or communicative pressures and to facilitate language learning. However, research on Zipfian distributions has mostly been limited to spoken languages. In this study, we ask whether Zipfian distributions are also found across signed languages, as expected if they reflect a universal property of human language. We find that sign frequencies and ranks in three sign language corpora (BSL, DGS and NGT) show a Zipfian relationship, similar to that found in spoken languages. These findings highlight the commonalities between spoken and signed languages, add to our understanding of the use of signs, and show the prevalence of Zipfian distributions across language modalities, supporting the idea that they facilitate language learning and communication.

‘Cracking the teacher’s code’ – an ethnographic study of students preparing for oral exams

ABSTRACT This paper explores students’ preparatory processes for high-stakes exams using Danish oral exams as an example. To graduate, students must convince two teacher-examiners as the state’s representatives that they deserve to pass. Average grades determine students’ admission into tertiary education. Fieldwork data following students transitioning from teaching to exams show students ‘cracking teachers’ codes’ instead of delivering the curriculum requirement of independent critical interpretations of text material. norms of subjects called ‘super-addressees’ (Bakhtin sss1986 [“The Problem of Speech Genres.” In Speech Genres and Other Late Essays, edited by Carol Emerson and Michael Holquist, 60–102. Austin: University of Texas Press]) are not transparent to students despite an almost symbiotic interrelationship between teaching and exams. Students identify ‘Fitting responses’ (Bitzer 1968 [“The Rhetorical Situation.” Philosophy & Rhetoric 1 (1): 1–14]) for exams by navigations named 1: Disciplinary seduction in a transparent exam system, 2: Physically observing the teacher’s reactions in an opaque exam system, or 3: Jotting down an encyclopaedia of teacher’s keywords. Researching students anticipating exams illuminates their notions of what it takes to succeed in education.

“Doe wat ik schrijf, anders gaat zij eraan…” Contrastieve analyse van anonieme brieven in het Pools en in het Nederlands

This article deals with the topic of anonymous extortion letters. Anonymous extortion letters are a challenge for linguists and criminal intelligence services and raise a whole range of questions that ultimately allow a creation of the psycholinguistic portrait of the possible author/-perpetrator. One of these questions concerns the emotional layer of the anonymous letter and the way anonymous authors express their emotions in language. This article describes a specific type of speech genre, which is anonymous extortion letter and analyses, in short, emotions in language. The last part presents the author’s own research, focusing on the characteristics of simulated and falsified extortion letters in the Dutch and Polish languages.

A dialogical approach in an educational conversation on the topic of ethnicity and identity

This article presents a look at ethnicity from the point of view of some important sociological and socioanthropological theories and based on empirical data. One of these theories is Frederick Barth's theory of ethnicity. Everyday life communication and the practice of social interaction are the subjects of the study of ethnomethodology by Harold Garfinkel, and it is an important topic in the dialogic theory of Mikhail Bakhtin. In my study of ethnicity, these approaches, since it is in them that communication is given a primary role, are central and are also reflected in the research method - the method of conversational analysis. Two empirical examples from a rural hospital in Kazakhstan show speech genres in which the ethnic category becomes an integral part of the action and an important means of communication. In this case, the interlocutors resort to the ethnic category in order to clarify the identity of the person they are talking about. In such moments of social interaction, ethnicity is important for interlocutors not in the sense of collective group identity, which divides people into groups, covering up a person's personality, but as information necessary for recognizing and clarifying a specific personality. We are not talking about family, friendship or other close relationships in which the ethnic difference has either long been forgotten or did not matter at all, but about relationships where the interlocutors do not have sufficient information about each other. In this sense, ethnic categories can be compared to a certain extent with the name of a person. The author believes that the use of ethnic categories in everyday language speaks about the similarity of people, about their common speech practices, which are often dominated by stereotypical knowledge, about their common socialization, communication environment, worldview that developed at the beginning of the formation of the (multinational) Soviet state.