Double inference in the processes of comprehension of Russian and English discourse complicated by an idiom

The paper briefly surveys contemporary studies in the field of secondary nomination and idiom comprehension in discourse. The research mainly focuses on the inferential processes which occur at the moment of perceiving a discourse containing an idiom. Although the inference phenomenon has received much attention in recent years, the majority of scientific works on the topic are targeted at the inferential processes in text comprehension while such a challenging area as inference in secondary nomination remains unrevealed. The aim of the present study is to find out if the traces of inferences in the metaphoric meaning of an idiom can interfere in the comprehension of a discourse complicated by an idiom. Thus, the study presents an analysis of idiom comprehension in a narrative discourse that lies in both fields of inference study: inference in secondary nomination and inference in discourse comprehension. For this purpose, the paper gives an outline to the theories which explain some mechanisms of inference action and presents an analysis of some pieces of narrative discourse from the perspectives of the discussed theories. The research is conducted on Russian and English language material. The results of the study point to the double mapping of the inferential processes that is caused, on the one hand, by the inferential traces of secondary nomination and, on the other hand, by the implicit sense of an idiom in discourse. The paper presents a model of conceptual integration in the process of double inference while comprehending a text complicated by an idiom

Extralinguistic Conditions of Language Variability in National Languages

The article is aimed at studying the concept of the existence of socially motivated language variants.  They are explained by sociolinguistic differentiation and specific use of language in different situations of communication. The dialectical connection of the objective world, the society and a language gives the latter a special dynamic character. It is manifested in active language processes at all linguistic levels and in language usual innovations. Sociolinguistic variants do not only show different images of the world, but also reflect the changes of the world depending on the culture, which, in turn, is reflected in the specifics of linguistic phenomena. Language norms, in this case, correlate not only with communicative attitudes, but also with the cultural ones. In the context of linguistic variability, the speakers of codified standard language, who can switch from one sociocultural language to another one, in the official or informal communication can choose and use various sociolinguistic language variants in their everyday life. It explains the novelty of the research, which is closely related to the typological study of the paradigm of national language situations, determined by the presence of various social strata and groups in the United States, Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Russia and other countries. The authors view the language situation as a socially-motivated model of speech behavior of a native speaker in the social language space

Linguistic Manipulation Means in English Political Discourse

The scientific article presents a study of the ways of expressing manipulation in politics, which is performed in English political discourse by means of language. Carefully selected language units, used by politicians in public speaking, in combination with social factors, can be a powerful instrument for managing public opinion, i.e. manipulation. The authors analyze public speeches delivered by English politicians. Manipulation is an integral part of American political discourse, all speech strategies of which are aimed at one purpose: to influence a recipient, persuade him or her to make a decision that will be beneficial for a politician. The article considers the main strategies, tactics and types of manipulation used in the modern political sphere. An analysis of public speeches of English politicians proves the importance of speech manipulative techniques for successful achievement of political goals

Вариантность фразеологизмов, воплощающих концепт «порицание», в национальных лингвокультурах

The study presents a conceptual analysis of the phraseological variation that arose as a result of reflecting the mental activity of people and the world language picture. It is vividly expressed in the phraseology of the language, which determines the state of the language and the conditions for its variability, which depend on the worldview and the cultural values of the speakers of national languages. The cognitive-linguistic study of phraseological corpus allows studying the variability of the French verbal phraseological units which represents the concept of blame as the component of the ethnic worldview. The concept of blame is a certain type of phraseological concept. It consists of verbal phraseological units of the French language. The verbal phraseological units which are the representatives of the given concept are included in the category of concept scenarios, as they objectify the semes of action, motion, and process. The aim of the study is via the example of the French verbal phraseological units-representatives of the concept of blame to demonstrate the ability of lexical and grammatical variation within a single language system, while maintaining the identity of their phraseological variants, and to prove the dynamics of the units at lexical and phraseological levels in synchronous level. This proves the novelty of the research, which results in the possibility of the existence of various phraseological features of the studied concept. They are a unified image, the same source of origin, a general denotative meaning, a partial or a complete coincidence of the structural meanings of the verbal lexical units when their grammatical structure does not coincide and vice versa. The variants of verbal phraseological units representatives of the concept of blame are being revealed. They are structured-grammatical, lexical-stylistic, lexical, and quantitative variants.    El estudio presenta un análisis conceptual de la variación fraseológica que surgió como resultado de reflejar la actividad mental de las personas y la imagen del lenguaje mundial. Se expresa vívidamente en la fraseología del idioma, que determina el estado del idioma y las condiciones para su variabilidad, que dependen de la cosmovisión y los valores culturales de los hablantes de los idiomas nacionales. El estudio cognitivo-lingüístico del corpus fraseológico permite estudiar la variabilidad de las unidades fraseológicas verbales francesas que representan el concepto de culpa como el componente de la cosmovisión étnica. El concepto de culpa es un cierto tipo de concepto fraseológico. Consiste en unidades fraseológicas verbales de la lengua francesa. Las unidades de fraseología verbal que son los representantes del concepto dado se incluyen en la categoría de escenarios conceptuales, ya que objetivan los semes de acción, movimiento y proceso. El objetivo del estudio es a través del ejemplo de las unidades fraseológicas verbales francesas-representantes del concepto de culpa para demostrar la capacidad de variación léxica y gramatical dentro de un sistema de lenguaje único, mientras se mantiene la identidad de sus variantes fraseológicas, y para demostrar la dinámica de las unidades a nivel léxico y fraseológico en nivel sincrónico. Esto demuestra la novedad de la investigación, que da como resultado la posibilidad de la existencia de varias características fraseológicas del concepto estudiado. Son una imagen unificada, la misma fuente de origen, un significado denotativo general, una coincidencia parcial o completa de los significados estructurales de las unidades léxicas verbales cuando su estructura gramatical no coincide y viceversa. Se están revelando las variantes de las unidades de fraseología verbal representativas del concepto de culpa. Son variantes estructuradas-gramaticales, léxico-estilísticas, léxicas y cuantitativas.В статье проводится концептуальный анализ фразеологической вариантности, возникшей как результат отражения ментальной деятельности людей и языковой картины мира. Ярко и экспрессивно она репрезентирована во фразеологическом языковом фонде, который определяет и состояние языка, и условия его варьирования в зависимости от мировосприятия и культурных ценностей носителей национальных языков. Когнитивно-лингвистическое исследование фразеологических корпусов позволяет изучить вариантность французских глагольных фразеологизмов-репрезентантов концепта «порицание» как одной из составляющей этнической картины мира. Вербализуемый глагольными фразеологизмами французского языка концепт «порицание» рассматривается как особый тип фразеологических концептов. Глагольные фразеологизмы-репрезентанты рассматриваемого концепта вписываются в разряд концептов-сценариев, так как предполагают объективирование сем действия, движения, процесса. Цель предпринятого аналитического изучения заключается в том, чтобы на примере французских глагольных фразеологизмов-репрезентантов концепта «порицание» показать их способность к лексико-грамматическому варьированию в пределах одной системы при сохранении тождества фразеологических вариантов, подтвердить проявление динамики единиц лексического и фразеологического уровней в синхронии. Сказанное определяет новизну исследования, которая вытекает из возможности существования разных вариантных фразеологических признаков изучаемого концепта: единый образ, один и тот же источник происхождения, общее денотативное значение, частичное или полное совпадение категориальных значений глагольных лексических единиц при несовпадении их грамматической структуры и наоборот. Выявлены типы вариантов глагольных фразеологизмов-репрезентантов концепта «порицание»: структурно-грамматические, лексико-стилистические, лексические и квантитативные варианты. Предназначается для широкого круга исследователей, интересующихся проблемами фразеологии, когнитивной семантики, лингвокультурологии

Value orientations of students as the basis of the motivation to pursue higher education

The paper presents an attempt to explore value orientations of students of technical university on the terminal and instrumental levels aiming to determine their motivation to receive higher technical education. The results of the study can be used in the process of education

Information-cybernetic approach to computer learning of a foreign language

The present paper proves the important role of information and cybernetic approach in computer learning in the example of author’s program for testing knowledge and skills of learners. The authors believe that “Test Your English” as an effective and universal way of improving the methodology of teaching a foreign language at school and University

Value orientations of students as the basis of the motivation to pursue higher education

The paper presents an attempt to explore value orientations of students of technical university on the terminal and instrumental levels aiming to determine their motivation to receive higher technical education. The results of the study can be used in the process of education

Information-cybernetic approach to computer learning of a foreign language

The present paper proves the important role of information and cybernetic approach in computer learning in the example of author’s program for testing knowledge and skills of learners. The authors believe that “Test Your English” as an effective and universal way of improving the methodology of teaching a foreign language at school and University

Peculiarities of News and Analytical English-Language Media Texts About Russia

The article is devoted to the consideration of peculiarities of the English-language news and analytic media texts about Russia, which contribute to the formation of a certain attitude towards this country. It is noted that the scope of media texts in English prevails in the global information space, which cannot but affect the viewpoint of the “average” English speaking reader. The notion of ideological modality, which is often present in media texts about Russia, is considered. The media text compositional peculiarities and linguistic means are described in connection with the impact function implementation and the certain attitude towards Russia formation