Fictional Texts Research Articles

Cultural reality as a phenomenon of language and artistic text.

The article investigates the specificity of literary realities with a national-cultural component of meaning in the context of a fiction text. Different approaches to the interpretation and classification of this linguistic phenomenon are analyzed, the peculiarities of the use and transfer of cultural realities into the target language are considered. The author analyzes how these cultural elements influence the perception and interpretation of texts, emphasizing their importance for understanding the context and meaning of works. The paper aims to broaden the understanding of the relationship between linguistic and cultural aspects, and to provide readers with a new perspective on the role of cultural realities in enriching language and fiction. The author also analyzes how these cultural elements influence the perception and interpretation of texts and emphasizing their importance for understanding the context and meaning of works. The article aims to broaden the understanding of the relationship between linguistic and cultural aspects, and to provide readers with a new perspective on the role of cultural realities in enriching language and fiction. The main conclusions of the conducted research are the identification of a deep relationship between cultural reality, language and artistic text. The scientific novelty of this article lies in the systematic analysis of the influence of cultural factors on the formation of linguistic reality and its reflection in literary works. The study identifies the key linguistic mechanisms of transmission of cultural concepts, reveals the specifics of text perception in different cultural contexts. These findings provide a basis for further research in linguistics and literary studies, deepening our understanding of the interaction between culture, language and artistic creation. The results can be used to develop language and cultural studies teaching methods and to better analyze literary works in cultural contexts.

Dialogic discussions for enhancing children’s argumentation skills in Indonesian reading sessions

Dialogic discussions offer advantages in improving language and literacy skills. However, research in the Indonesian context on this topic is limited. Furthermore, existing studies also tend to overlook the challenges associated with children’s interactions. To bridge this research gap, this study investigated the role of dialogic discussions in advancing children’s argumentation abilities during Indonesian reading sessions. This study utilized a case study approach, involving sixteen fourth-grade children from a public elementary school. Data were collected through observations, field notes, and audio recordings. The children participated in small group discussions during six reading sessions. These sessions involved exploring both Indonesian fiction and non-fiction texts, centered on significant moral or social questions and dilemmas. The findings revealed an increased use of various argumentation strategies by the children, including presenting reasons, posing challenges, and responding to challenges. Using personally engaging texts proved beneficial for sustaining discussions, as it encouraged children to share their lived experiences and opinions. However, the findings also indicated that children who did not participate seemed distracted during individual tasks. The study provides valuable insights into the dynamics and complexities of small group discussions during Indonesian reading sessions.

The Subject of Queer Community in Teenage Books: Ukrainian Discourse

<p><strong><em>The purpose of the study</em></strong><em> is to find out the specifics of the perception of the LGBTQ(IA+) community in books for Ukrainian adolescents.</em><em></em></p><p><strong><em>Research methodology. </em></strong><em>A survey was used to identify the respondents’ opinions on the topic. A number of assumptions were made. In particular: 1) such literature will be more interesting to young people; 2) respondents will believe that this topic should be presented in teenage literature because the world in general and Ukrainian society in particular are multifaceted and diverse, so it is normal to hear all voices; 3) realistic prose and genre publications will compete for readers’ attention; 4) such books will be in demand if they are primarily about an interesting story. Accordingly, our task was to verify these assumptions. Based on this, we created a questionnaire of 7 questions: 2 open-ended questions and 5 with possible answers (+ «other» option). The «Teenage Books on an Important Topic» survey was conducted on November 10–13, 2023, using the snowball method with the help of Google Forms. A total of 145 respondents were interviewed. To process the information received, the following methods of generalization and analysis of information were used: systematization, grouping, qualitative (text analysis, classification) and quantitative (digital data) methods of data interpretation. The results are presented as a detailed verbal description. </em><em></em></p><p><strong><em>Results.</em></strong><em> It was found that the vast majority of respondents are young people living in large cities. 96.6% of respondents believe that the topic of the LGBTQ(IA+) community <strong>should be</strong> represented (including a balanced representation) in Ukrainian teen literature. 3.4% of respondents believe that it <strong>should not be</strong> represented. According to the key messages, the following groups can be distinguished from the category «<strong>should be</strong> represented» because it: 1: 1) promotes awareness of adolescents about the topic of the queer community, overcoming prejudice and stigma; 2) helps to understand that the orientation of people who are part of the queer community is a variant of the norm, and it is the norm that should be accepted by all members of society; 3) promotes the development of a culture of tolerance, gender equality, self-awareness, and self-acceptance by any member of society; 4) promotes cultural identification and representation of adolescents belonging to the queer community; 5) makes it clear that literature should cover all aspects of life; 6) is a reality for many adolescents; 7) because the niche needs to be filled. The arguments that the topic «<strong>should not be</strong> represented» include personal rejection; stereotypical understanding of the «usefulness of literature/art»; misunderstanding of the role of cultural identification; and the traditional accusation of the threat to the institution of the «traditional» family.</em><em></em></p><p><em>Only 55 respondents were able to name certain works from this segment by 27 foreign and 8 Ukrainian authors, and there is no distinction between books by age categories. On the Ukrainian book market, publications on the topic are represented by two genres: science fiction and fantasy and realistic prose. Annotations to publications containing elements of queer culture rarely mention this. Indirect and disguised/metaphorical/allusive references dominate.</em><em></em></p><p><em>Almost all respondents are ready to buy books that cover the topic of queer culture, among other topics. However, 4% of respondents would not buy or read such books under any circumstances. Thus, the results confirm all our assumptions.</em><em></em></p><p><em>It should also be noted that the Ukrainian book market is dominated by translated editions. In addition, we can assume that for Ukrainian authors and publishers (in order to avoid being judged), the best way to present the topic of the LGBTQ(IA+) community in books for Ukrainian adolescents would be to present it through well-written and published interesting/important stories in which characters belonging to the queer community act on an equal basis with all other characters and this is justified and is the norm.</em><em></em></p><p><strong><em>Novelty. </em></strong><em>This is the first niche audience study of the perception of the specifics of the representation of the LGBTQ(IA+) community in books for Ukrainian adolescents.</em><em></em></p><p><strong><em>Practical importance.</em></strong><em> The obtained results can be used in the process of forming publishing portfolios of Ukrainian publishing houses; promoting reading; teaching disciplines related to teenage literature, in particular, the author will include the data obtained in the content of the author’s course «Fiction Text from A to Z» and the module «Teenage Literature» for students majoring in 061 «Journalism» (curriculum «Publishing and Media Editing», «Media Production», «Journalism and Social Communication», «Advertising and Public Relations»).</em><em></em></p><p><strong><em>Key words:</em></strong><em> LGBTQ(IA+), queer community, queer history, queer culture, reading, teenage literature.</em></p>

Cli-fi videos can increase charitable donations: experimental evidence from the United Kingdom.

Recent research has begun to investigate if climate fiction, or cli-fi, can increase people's support for pro-climate initiatives. Emerging evidence focuses on whether cli-fi stories affect people's self-reported emotions, attitudes, and intentions. Few studies, however, examine the effect of such stories on revealed behavior, and whether the cli-fi story medium, i.e., whether stories are presented in text, audio, or audio-visual format, matters. We investigate the causal effect of cli-fi stories, and the medium through which they are communicated (textual, audio, or audio-visual) on self-reported support for climate policy, individual and collective action intentions, and a revealed measure of charitable donations. In a pre-registered online experiment (n = 1,085 UK adults), participants were randomly assigned to one of 5 conditions - to read scientific information about climate change (scientific information condition), read a story unrelated to the environment (control), read a cli-fi story in which a protagonist took intentional pro-environmental actions (fiction text), listen to the same cli-fi story in audio format (fiction audio), or watch an animation of the cli-fi story (fiction video). When comparing the fiction-text, fact-text, and control conditions, we found that cli-fi stories are not always more effective than alternative climate communications: participants in the fact-text condition reported higher support for climate policies, and intentions of taking individual environmental actions, and negative feelings of sadness, disappointment, and guilt, compared to the text-based control and cli-fi text condition. When comparing the cli-fi media format, we found that cli-fi videos were most effective in increasing pro-environmental charitable donations in an incentivized choice task, and self-reported feelings of happiness, hope, and inspiration. The findings show that scientific information about the climate and climate-fiction have an important place in the climate communications toolkit and can offer distinct pathways to enhance support for policy and behavioral change. Communicators seeking to inspire individual pro-environmental actions can consider telling cli-fi stories in video, which may be more compelling. And communicators seeking to enhance public support for societal changes, via climate policies, may benefit from disseminating scientific information about climate change.

The omnipresent character and possible worlds theory

Fictional texts might present storyworlds that include both human characters and omnipresent characters. When they share the same ontological plane the specific dynamic occurs between them. Furthermore omnipresent characters may be able to transgress a singular plane, in consequence making the whole storyworld appear more complex, but also seem less coherent. This essay focuses on the case of Judge Holden, the antagonist of Cormac McCarthy’s novel Blood Meridian, in order to dissect the role of an omnipresent character within the fictional world. The introduction contextualizes the figure of an omnipresent character, by explicating its nature on the background of other texts and their characters. Applying the possible worlds theory adapted by literary theorist Marie-Laure Ryan serves as the adequate means of analysis. Her take on possible worlds theory enables to make a clear distinctions between ontological planes that an omnipresent character occupies and define what it means for the reader.

Using colloquial language in prose fiction texts: An exploratory study

Prose fiction texts have an aesthetic function, which seeks to create a sense of aesthetic appreciation through means of language style amongst other devices. Bearing this in mind, it is the author’s belief that using colloquial language in a prose fiction text may negatively impact language style of the text and acquisition of the foreign language. Motivated by this conviction, this study addresses two main questions. First, how does use of colloquial language impact language style of a prose fiction text? Second, how does use of colloquial language impact language acquisition in relation to foreign and second English learners? For data gathering purposes, the author of this paper created and distributed a questionnaire comprising ten items. Including three groups: English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students; EFL university instructors; and adult readers, the questionnaire was addressed to a total of one hundred and sixty-six subjects in Dubai. Moreover, the researcher conducted a semi-structured interview involving six subjects. According to the statistical results, most of the respondents and interviewees believed that including colloquial language in prose fiction texts would negatively impact language style of the text and acquisition of the foreign language.

Artificial intelligence and humans: basic models of relationships in science fiction

Many of the problems raised by artificial intelligence (AI) researchers between 2000 and 2020 have, in one way or another, already been addressed in science fiction before. Analysis of science fiction texts allows us to identify the following models of relationships between humans and AI. The first model can be called exclusively friendly AI (R. Heinlein, “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”). Such AI is a friend, an assistant to a person in all his affairs – including those directed against other people. The second model can be characterized as “friendly AI with built-in ethical restrictions” (A. Azimov, “I, Robot”). The third model is a neutral AI, weakly interested in human affairs, located “above good and evil” (S. Lem, “Golem XIV”). The fourth model is AI, which has its own goals that diverge from the goals of humanity and is therefore potentially hostile (A. Clark, “2001: A Space Odyssey”). The fifth model is an AI openly hostile to humanity (“Terminator”).

Cultural framing of giftedness in recent US fictional texts.

A perennial topic of research on giftedness has been individuals' perceptions of and attitudes towards giftedness, the gifted, and gifted education. Although giftedness is a culturally constructed concept, most examination of the term's meanings and implications has used reactive measures (i.e., surveys) to tap respondents' giftedness-related perceptions and attitudes within the context of formal education. To provide a better understanding of the cultural meanings associated with giftedness-the term's cultural framing-we investigated the depiction of giftedness within a professional cultural product removed from education, namely, a large corpus of US fictional texts. We examined patterns of word usage in the vicinity of the term gift*, when used in the dictionary senses related to giftedness, in a large corpus of US fictional texts of recent decades, consisting of 485,179 text samples and 1,002,889,754 word tokens. Via inductive methods of quantitative text analysis, we explored themes occurring in the vicinity of gift*; and with an existing lookup dictionary, we assessed deductively the overall emotional valance of the writing near gift*. Our investigation revealed ways in which the literary exploration of giftedness coheres with and distinguishes itself from the outlooks on giftedness noted for survey-based research in education settings. In fictional texts, giftedness evinces special associations with humanities domains and beauty and, on balance, correlates positively with emotionally positive words.

О тематической функции частицы аан ‘то есть, именно’ в тувинском языке

The special cases of the functioning of the particle aan ‘that is, exactly’, which is very frequent and actively used in the oral speech of Tuvan native speakers, are considered. The research material was examples of dialogic speech from the texts of fiction. Our observations on Tuvan colloquial speech were also involved in the study. The use of aan is due to the presence of presuppositions: the speaker uses a particle, referring to information that the addressee also owns to some extent. This particle is a means of expressing a topic that resumes in conversation. The structure of such statements is characterized by the presence of demonstrative pronouns, pronominal words or adverbs that directly or indirectly indicate the subject of conversation, serve to reintroduce them into the context, to remind them if, in the context of the narrative, attention to these subjects was temporarily lost

EXPRESSIVE GRAPHICS AS A COMPONENT OF THE LANGUAGE GAME IN LEWIS CARROLL’S LITERARY FAIRY TALE ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND

The fairy tale “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll is one of the most popular children’s literary works, which has not lost its relevance for almost 160 years. During this time, the phantasmagoric story was never taken out of print, and was translated into 174 languages. The main aim of the article is the analysis of graphical stylistic devices in Lewis Carroll’s fairy tale “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”, which is a real cultural phenomenon. Linguistic and extra-linguistic devices create the world of the tale.The methodology includes literature review related to the topic; methods of analysis, classification and comparative analysis. It includes the methods of literature analysis of the stylistic role of the word game. As the word game, especially the creation of neologisms, the use of graphic means of highlighting become the ways of designing an original text and an unreal-real world. The analysis of transformations of the artistic language as a means of overcoming the framework of the game space and its inherent closedness extend beyond the analysis of only a visual framework of the text but becomes the study of the main idea if it could be found in this extraordinary piece of literature. The vast majority of studies devoted to the works of L. Carroll touch upon the problems of the play of words in his works and aspects of the translation experience. The study of any fiction text inevitably involves the study of the features of its graphic design. It is well-known that graphics is a means of securing information; in a fiction text, where any unit is potentially expressive, graphic means carry a pragmatic load, and therefore are one of the ways to influence the addressee of written speech. An extraordinary way of use of graphics draws the reader’s attention to the form of writing. Thus, the form becomes significant and, interacting with the meaning of the graphically selected lexical unit, makes it semantically more complicated. The main graphic means of expression include paragraph organization, punctuation marks, numbering, typefaces, combination of fonts of different languages, color selection, underlining, deliberate division into syllables, creation of figurative elements (most often in poetic works of art), etc. “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” is a complex and unique fantasy story but usually accepted and interpreted as a fairy tale. This is a kind of allusion to the author’s modern world. The artistic world lives according to its own laws. Many characters and episodes of the book, funny lines and situations are not random, but deeply motivated: they are fully based on the play of words, on the revival of metaphors, on the literal interpretation of components, phraseological combinations and puns. The author’s text of the fairy tale can be defined as a game and two main principles of its formation can be identified, namely: the creation of unusual language material and its non-standard (non-linear) organization of the text. Among the indicated graphic means of expression, L. Carroll’s work is primarily characterized by font selection (capital letters and italics), deliberate division of words into syllables, and the creation of figurative verse. It is concluded that the general peculiarity of L. Carroll’s fairy tale is the extremely high artistic value of the work, which is manifested in the wealth of stylistic means and techniques and is ambiguously perceived by readers due to the structure of the text itself. The writer’s attitude to the interaction between the text and the reader is important. The latter’s perception of the text will be qualitatively different depending on whether the reader understands the playful nature of the work or perceives it as an ordinary text. The elements of the game are the characters, the narrative style of the work, and the language tools used by the author at different levels

Means of syntactic compression in a fiction text

Means of syntactic compression in a fiction text

Дж.Р.Р. Толкин и К.С. Льюис в поисках критерия художественности

The article examines the aesthetic aspect of the artistic pursuits of famous English philologists and writers of the 20th century, Clive Staples Lewis and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, based on their literary-critical works, essays, and fictional texts. In particular, the article traces the search for a criterion of artistry in the works of these authors. The relevance of this study is determined by the belief that the criterion of artistry in a literary text is a fundamental category of literary studies, allowing for the necessary distinction between texts that belong to literature as such and pseudo-literature. This criterion ultimately defines the subject of literary studies as a science, since the science of literature does not study just any written text containing fiction, but rather artistic texts. The purpose of this article is to understand what J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis — colleagues and friends who inspired each other and formed the literary fellowship of the Inklings — meant by artistry and what criteria of artistry they were able to develop.

ИНТЕРТЕКСТУАЛЬНОСТЬ КАК СПОСОБ ПЕРЕДАЧИ ДОМИНАНТНЫХ СМЫСЛОВ В АКАДЕМИЧЕСКОМ РОМАНЕ ДЭВИДА ЛОДЖА ‘THE BRITISH MUSEUM IS FALLING DOWN’

The article is related to the study of intertextuality as a means of generating and expressing meanings in fiction text. The intertextual analysis of David Lodge’s campus novel ‘The British Museum is Falling Down’ proved that an intertext can act not only as a means of creating language game, parody, pastiche, irony and comedy, but also, due to its double reference, as a means of generating and expressing new meanings, including the novel’s dominant meanings.

The content and structure of training future educators for the formation of communicative competence in children of preschool age

The article substantiates the essence, peculiarities of the structure and content of the training of future educators for the formation of communicative competence in preschool children. The solution to this problem is facilitated by the educational component «Technologies for the development of children’s speech and familiarization with literature», which includes the following content modules: «Innovative technologies in preschool education», «Technological approach to the development of speech of children of early and preschool age», «Game and interactive technologies in speech and literary activities», «Technological approach in familiarizing preschool children with fiction» and «Technology of reflective approach to interaction with fiction text». The educational component is aimed at forming students’ general and professional competencies. The article presents the results of a mini-survey of students based on the results of studying each module; a diagnostic section of the formation of students' communicative competence was conducted, which necessitated the development of criteria, levels and their indicators. Interactive technologies for working with students are highlighted; creation of the necessary conditions for the formation of communicative competence; effective use of modern forms of educational interaction with all participants in the educational process

Vereinfachte Formen des DACH-Deutschen im DaF-Unterricht

The paper presents regulated varieties of German in their national (DACH) variants. These include, above all, Leichte Sprache, Einfache Sprache, Klarsprache, Plain Language or bürgernahe Sprache. The individual language varieties are developed for diverse target groups and a common denominator that connects the addressees is their ability, which is limited for various reasons, to perceive and understand the standard form of the German language. The target group of the restricted language varieties can also include GFL learners for whom the German language in its standard variants poses a linguistic challenge in the initial phase of learning. At the same time, there is often a considerable need, especially among adult language learners, to read, listen to and understand factual, practical or fictional texts. The paper gives examples from teaching practice of how the need for less barrier-free communication can be met through a targeted, learner-oriented use of the simplified language variant in GFL lessons.

A Corpus-Based Study of Metaphor of Modalization in English Academic Writing

Metaphor of modality in the Hallidayan linguistic framework is manifested through a transition from implicit modal expressions to explicit modal expressions, encompassing metaphor of modalization and metaphor of modulation. This article conducts a corpus-based investigation to examine the prevalence of metaphors of modalization in English academic writing. The study, which relies on data from the British National Corpus (BNC), reveals that modal expressions are more frequently used in less technical texts (i.e., in spoken texts rather than in written texts with regard to mode, in fiction texts rather than in academic texts with regard to genre, and in hard science texts rather than in soft science texts with regard to discipline). Furthermore, explicit subjective and explicit objective modal expressions exhibit opposite distribution patterns across modes, genres, and academic disciplines. Based on this general distribution pattern, this study then examines three distinct groups of PhD dissertations. It becomes evident that Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writers employ significantly fewer subjective projecting clauses compared to proficient native English writers in their academic writing. This difference arises from the rigorous training Chinese EFL learners receive, emphasizing the avoidance of authorial identity in academic writing. This study hereby concludes that while English academic writing may be becoming less formal, author involvement should not be encouraged in relatively more technical academic texts.

«РЕАЛИСТАМ, КАК И МЕДВЕДЯМ, У ПОЛЮСОВ СПОДРУЧНЕЕ»: К ВОПРОСУ ИДЕНТИФИКАЦИИ РУССКИХ ПИСАТЕЛЕЙ (Два взгляда на проблему)

The article deals with the identification of “Russian realist writers as bears” in Western European criticism, and examines the reception of this identification by Russian writers in fiction and documentary texts: from rejection to comprehension and outplaying stereotypical European images. The principle uniting Russian realists and bears was the polarity - geographical outskirts, as well as the extreme nakedness of the artistic technique of the realists and the extremely daring behavior of Russian bears, bordering on belligerence.

Особенности сочетаемости местоимения что-то с постпозитивными прилагательными в текстах разных стилей

The article considers some syntagmatic properties of the Russian indefinite pronoun chto-to [something]. The aim of the work is to identify the features of combining chto-to with full postpositive adjectives in texts of different styles. The problem is solved on the basis of corpus data. These involve materials from various stylistically marked corpora (subcorpora of academic, official, fiction, theological texts in the main corpus of the Russian National Corpus; a subcorpus of the national media in the media corpus of the Russian National Corpus; poetry and spoken corpora of the Russian National Corpus; subcorpora of Internet news, LiveJournal, VKontakte and the Magazine Hall of the General Internet-Corpus of Russian). The methodology of the work includes the method of extracting collocations (statistically stable phrases) from the corpus and the method of the accuracy of the syntagmatic connection between the components of collocations. The study found that the combination “chto-to + a full adjective” is statistically stable. The calculation of the strength of the syntagmatic connection between its components in different stylistically marked corpora shows that there is a significant variation between the corpora. The method of the automatic extraction of collocations reveals 19 adjectives that have the highest indexes of the strength of the syntagmatic connection with chto-to. The strength of the syntagmatic connection with each of these adjectives is studied in different stylistically marked corpora. In each of the 19 cases, an intercorporal variation is detected. The obtained statistical data are interpreted linguistically. The fact that the strength of the connection between the components of the combination “chto-to + a full adjective” varies depending on the genre-style register is explained by the varying degree of accuracy and objectivity of texts of different registers. Combinations like “chto-to + a full adjective” mark inaccuracy and subjectivity, and therefore they are the least stable in texts of styles that are characterized by accuracy and objectivity (official-business, educational-scientific texts), and the most stable in texts of inaccurate and subjective styles (blog texts, colloquial speech, prose fiction texts). The variation in the strength of the syntagmatic connection of the pronoun chto-to with a specific adjective in texts of different styles is often determined by the semantics of this adjective. The semantics of an adjective may prevent its connection with the pronoun chto-to in texts of a certain style, and may contribute to such a connection: for example, the semantics of the adjective noven’kiy [(diminutive) new] prevents its connection with the pronoun chto-to in theological texts, but contributes to its connection with the pronoun chto-to in newspaper texts.

Exploring human and societal dynamics in dystopian fiction texts

Exploring human and societal dynamics in dystopian fiction texts

ГЕОПОЭТИКА ПРОСТРАНСТВА: ВЕНЕЦИЯ В АНГЛОЯЗЫЧНОЙ ЭССЕИСТИКЕ И. БРОДСКОГО

The article provides research into geopoetic image of Venice represented in the essay “Watermark” by I. Brodsky. Research approach includes methods of conceptual, narrative, stylistic analyses as well as fictional text interpretation method. The study is based on the analysis of narrative-conceptual models, that contain urban objects as one of their components. Within this approach, the following models were singled out: “city perceived by senses”, “city and season”, “city as retrospection”, and “city as water”. Each of the models is distinguished by a certain set of spatial objects and their characteristic features. Symbolic interpretation of these objects receives considerable attention in the paper as well. The study shows that the largest number of city objects is perceived by senses, mostly eyesight/eye. This concept is characterized by nominative density, text recurrence, wide scope of symbolic interpretations. The largest number of objects associated with Venice are represented within the model “city as retrospection” connected with walks, meetings, memories, and life situations. Water may be defined as the essay