Digital platforms for regional economic research: a review and methodology proposal

Relevance. This article addresses the need for a comprehensive approach to the analysis of socio-economic data on territorial units. The existing statistical observation system provides a vast amount of data on the socio-economic development of countries, macro-regions, sub-regions, and municipalities. Despite the wealth of data available, research efforts often remain narrowly focused on specific scientific tasks. In the field of regional economy, many research methods have been developed, but there are almost no approaches to the combined use of these methods. Digital research platforms can solve these problems by providing a mechanism for complex analysis of data.Research objective. This study aims is to examine the essence of platformization in scientific research and to present a detailed overview of the functionality of existing digital research platforms on regional and spatial development to substantiate the methodology of distributed regional research. The authors examine and systematize the features of 40 digital platforms worldwide that are related to regional research, using methods such as comparative analysis, extended case method, and cross-case analysis.Data and methods. The authors examine and systematize the features of 40 digital platforms worldwide that are related to regional research by using methods such as comparative analysis, extended case method, and cross-case analysis.Results. The proposed methodology includes a system of criteria and a typology that includes five main types of platforms for regional research: information and communication platforms, distributed work and data storage platforms, service platforms, computing platforms, and transaction platforms. These types are described and their advantages and disadvantages are highlighted.Conclusions. Digital platforms should become the key form of organizing scientific research in the field of regional economics, as they allow for a comprehensive analysis of socio-economic data and scenario experiments on the "digital twins" of regions. The study proposes a general methodology for conducting distributed regional studies. This methodology provided a foundation for RegScienceGRID platform. Overall, this study highlights the potential of digital research platforms in regional studies and provides a useful methodology for evaluating and utilizing these platforms

Metapragmatics of Administering Justice in Russian and English Judicial Discourse

This paper is intended as a contribution to a body of research on metapragmatics in courtroom settings, particularly in Russian and English judicial discourse, and presents the results of functional analysis of metapragmatic elements. In the article, I claim that meta-utterances are inherent in judicial discourse and perform specific functions that are essential for practising judicial power and discretion in court as well as administering justice. The paper discusses functions of meta-utterances as they are presented in recent scholarship and offers a three-group classification of metapragmatic elements in judicial discourse, according to the types of reality distinguished in (Gibbons 2003). The first group contributes to constructing the primary reality, i.e. the reality of the courtroom; the second group assists in framing the secondary reality, i.e. the reality of the crime or misdemeanor; the third group deals with framing the legal reality. Altogether, these groups of metapragmatic elements construct an organizational frame for the trial. Data for the analysis are drawn from a few trial transcripts of modern Russian and English cases (1998-2008). By using Russian and English data for the analysis, it is demonstrated that the principal functions of judicial meta-utterances are marked by parallelism in Russian and English, while minor differences discovered are related to some other pragmatic categories, e.g. politeness, that are more nationally and culturally specific

The Tourist Booklet as a Genre of Professional Discourse: Interaction with the Customer

This paper discusses touristic communication practices, specifically the tourist booklets as a genre of professional discourse. Using the framework that is informed by discourse analysis, multimodal discourse analysis, genre studies and professional discourse studies, the author views a tourist booklet as a complex multimodal genre and sets the goal to reveal how booklets construct interaction between professional agents and non-professional customers. Using a set of tourist (predominantly English language) booklets collected in 2005-2019 around the world, the author discovers professional agents seeking to strike a balance between their image as experts in tourism and the need to construct rapport with the customers. These goals are achieved through the employment of various strategies, which are implemented through a range of linguistic and visual techniques. The validity of the professional image relies on such discursive mechanisms as providing expert knowledge on the touristic objects and services, explicit indications of expertise, presentations of professional agents as law-abiding and formally recognised businesses, and references to socially important values. The meanings evoked by the linguistic resources are reinforced visually. To mitigate the asymmetry of sta-tuses, rapport with the customers is developed by means of offering biographies and interviews with the company representatives, the demonstration of attention to the customer, the construction of common emotional space, and the conversational style strategy. The customer is also involved in cognitively entertaining or challenging activities. Thus, the study shows that professional-to-layperson communication is a multi-faceted phenomenon, whose complexity is predetermined by the combination of various intentions and multimodal resources that help implement these intentions discursively. © Tatiana V. Dubrovskaya 2021.The study is supported by Russian Science Foundation, Project No. 20-68-46003 ‘The Semantics of Unity and Animosity in Russian Lexis and Phraseology: Language System and Discourse’

Soviet Socio-Cultural Practices from Perspective of Genres in <i>Pioneer</i> Magazine

The article presents some results of the project that is aimed at constructing a mediatised model of the Soviet society in periodicals for children. The data has been drawn from the Pioneer magazine published in the 1970s. This paper focuses on its structure and contents, as well as typical genres that construct the representations of the Soviet society and socio-cultural practices. The degree of ideology is defined that characterises various genres. In terms of methodology, the study draws on constructivism, critical discourse analysis, theory of journalistic genres, theory of speech genres, and semiotic analysis. Genres are interpreted based on their ideological charge, types of socio-cultural practices they represent, and the semiotic resources employed. The findings show that the ideological charge can be graded from being non-existent to dominating the factual information. The ideological component is secondary in genres of popular science and general education, whereas genres that reproduce adults’ institutional socio-political practices demonstrate a high degree of ideological charge, which is conveyed through specific semiotic resources. At the same time, the magazine adapts the representations of Soviet values for adolescents through the use of everyday language and visual images of routine life

Strategies of Positive Representation of Russian-Italian Relations in Russian Foreign Policy Discourse (based on the Russian Foreign Ministry Website)

The paper focuses on discursive construction of international relations in foreign policy discourse. The author uses the data retrieved from the Russian Foreign Ministry website to define the strategies of positive representation of Russian-Italian relations and reveal linguistic resources employed for the purpose. The strategies include the following: strategy of positive evaluation, strategy of legitimizing the partnering actor’s negative characteristics, strategy of positive forecast, strategy of involvement, strategy of demonstrating similarity of problems or views, strategy of indicating the legitimacy of relations and activities, and strategy of positive emotionalisation. The author demonstrates that strategies that represent a partnering actor are actualised in different genres of foreign policy discourse, which assists in constructing a consistent picture of Russian-Italian relations. The author claims that numerous strategies of positive representation are a convincing proof that foreign policy practices demand not only strategies that perform a conflictual function. Strategies that are aimed at harmonizing relations, constructing partnerships and grouping political actors are also in demand in international relations

The tourist booklet as a genre of professional discourse: Interaction with the customer

This paper discusses touristic communication practices, specifically the tourist booklets as a genre of professional discourse. Using the framework that is informed by discourse analysis, multimodal discourse analysis, genre studies and professional discourse studies, the author views a tourist booklet as a complex multimodal genre and sets the goal to reveal how booklets construct interaction between professional agents and non-professional customers. Using a set of tourist (predominantly English language) booklets collected in 2005-2019 around the world, the author discovers professional agents seeking to strike a balance between their image as experts in tourism and the need to construct rapport with the customers. These goals are achieved through the employment of various strategies, which are implemented through a range of linguistic and visual techniques. The validity of the professional image relies on such discursive mechanisms as providing expert knowledge on the touristic objects and services, explicit indications of expertise, presentations of professional agents as law-abiding and formally recognised businesses, and references to socially important values. The meanings evoked by the linguistic resources are reinforced visually. To mitigate the asymmetry of statuses, rapport with the customers is developed by means of offering biographies and interviews with the company representatives, the demonstration of attention to the customer, the construction of common emotional space, and the conversational style strategy. The customer is also involved in cognitively entertaining or challenging activities. Thus, the study shows that professional-to-layperson communication is a multi-faceted phenomenon, whose complexity is predetermined by the combination of various intentions and multimodal resources that help implement these intentions discursively

Paradigms in Modern Russian and Foreign Linguistics: Nature, Dynamics, and Philosophical Grounds

The author discusses the category of paradigm introduced by Thomas Kuhn, systematizes and summarizes the principal claims advanced by home and foreign scholars, reveals the most common trends in understanding paradigms in modern humanities, specifically in linguistics. It is demonstrated that the category of paradigm remains popular, but it has undergone some transformations. Considering the review, it can be assumed that the strict understanding of paradigms as incompatible model problems and solutions to them is being replaced by more flexible statements about a greater or lesser importance of a given paradigm over a specific period. Scholars admit the possibility to return to old research problems and tackle them at a higher level, focus on building a universal paradigm that would incorporate various directions of studies and views of language. The author characterizes paradigm arguments in Western research methodology as constructed on the basis of different philosophical approaches to knowledge (admitting or rejecting the possibility to learn the objective truth). It is shown that the methodological compromise has resulted in ‘compatibility principle’, mixed-method research, and a combination of qualitative and quantitative research in humanities, including linguistics

Axiology of Bikers’ Group Identity (based on the Internet Communication)

The paper presents the results of discourse analysis of bikers’ communication. The authors aim to reveal key axiological values in biker subculture, as well as discovering linguistic features in discourse of this social group and characterizing its members’ identity. The study takes a close look at how values are actualized through their linguistic forms in discourse. The research is innovative in that it attempts to employ discourse analysis in order to explore youth subcultures, specifically biker subculture. The paper offers a literature review focusing on biker subculture and covering some aspects of youth discourse in general. The authors provide a theoretical background for using the category of topos to reveal values in biker subculture. The findings include a list of principal topoi that provide a frame for the construction of bikers’ collective social identity. The authors argue that the social category ‘biker’ is constructed through the topoi of ‘bike’, ‘pleasure’, ‘danger’ and ‘brotherhood’. The conclusion is drawn that the biker is discursively constructed as a person who loves life, respects and appreciates peers, treats riding a bike with all responsibility, but who at the same time takes а risk to get excitement. Linguistic resources used in bikers’ communications are various and embrace lexical units of evaluation, references to feelings and emotions, metaphors, a vast number of jargonisms and elements of folklore

State Language, Language Situation and Language Policy in Legislation: Representations in the Russian Federal Law “On the State Language of the Russian Federation

The article addresses the issue of language situation and language policy through the analysis of legislation. Taking a social constructionist approach to law, the authors claim that a legal text can be explored for the purpose of discovering typical representations and linguistic resources that conceptualise languages, language situation and language policy. The paper offers a concise overview of domestic and foreign scholarship in the field as well as offering definitions for the basic categories used in the research. The analysis of the Russian Federal Law “On the State Language of the Russian Federation” shows that the Russian language is constructed as a state language, which has a few aspects. It is represented as an instrument of national unity, an instrument of maintaining culture, and an instrument of international impact. In terms of semantic roles, the Russian language is represented not only as an agent and instrument, but also as a patient, the object of negative and positive impact. The contexts mentioning the Russian language and other languages and idioms construct the relations between the languages as mutually reinforcing (thus, constructing the semantics of unity) or mutually excluding (thus, constructing the semantics of opposition)