scholarly journals Semantic content of indefinite pronouns in the English literary texts

Litera ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 148-155
Author(s):  
Larisa Georgievna Popova ◽  
Lyubov' Mikhailovna Shatilova ◽  
Nadezhda Viktorovna Samarina

The goal of this article lies in analysis of the semantics of indefinite pronouns of the English language, which form the core of the semantic field of uncertainty from the perspective of functional linguistics. The subject of this research is the semantic content of English indefinite pronouns in the literary and publicistic texts. The relevance of this work is defined by the lack of works in both domestic and foreign modern linguistics dedicated to indefinite pronouns of the English language. The scientific novelty consists systematization of indefinite pronouns in form of semantic field and determination of possible varieties of uncertainty through the semantics of this group of pronouns in the English literary texts. It is established that in literary texts, the indefinite pronouns of the core of the semantic field of uncertainty of the English language are used for conveying quite very peculiar; however, the key components are uncertainty and generality in evaluation of the unfolding events. Uncertainty can be explicit or conditional. Generality also correlates with uncertainty, leaving out particularities. The absence of particularities is the main semantic indicator of the use of nuclear indefinite pronouns in the literary texts.

Litera ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 55-65
Author(s):  
Na Van

This article is dedicated to the problem of the choice of name for a text semantic field formed within a literary text. The goal consists in determination of factors that hinder or preclude the naming of a text field. The subject of this research is the text semantic field observed particularly in the novels of F. M. Dostoevsky “The Idiot” and I. S. Turgenev “Home of the Gentry”. The author establishes that the text semantic field is closely connected to the contexts where elements of the field can be equitable, which complicates determination of the core and periphery of a text field, namely its name. In the course of research, the author applied the methods of analysis of scientific literature, interpretation of literary text as an aesthetic system, and method of semantic analysis. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the author is first to discuss the question of difficulties of naming a text field using the materials of the novels “The Idiot”  by F. M. Dostoevsky and “Home of the Gentry” by I. S. Turgenev. The conclusion is made that in majority of cases a text field can be named by the most frequent element therein. At the same time, the name “Idiot” in F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel does not fully reveal the content of a text field. In some instances it is impossible to name a text field (as in the novel “Home of the Gentry” by I. S. Turgenev), since elements of the field deal with the equitable mutual implication.


Litera ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 11-19
Author(s):  
Alina Alekseevna Khavronich

The subject of this research is the method of identification and problem of statistical interpretation of archaic lexis in literary texts of the Early Modern English period, namely in D. Lyndsay’s play “A Satire of the Three Estates”. The article discusses the capacity of attracting the data from diachronic corpus and corpus-based dictionaries for determination of archaic elements in literary works of the XVI century. Leaning on the commentaries of reputable philologists of the Early Modern English period and modern research, the article explores the trends of relevant perception pertaining to introduction of archaisms into the literary text by the authors of that time. An algorithm is proposed for identification of outdated units in literary material, created on Scottish (considering the obsolescent character of this dialect), based on juxtaposition of the approximate frequency indexes of reproduction of the element in the Early Modern English and Scottish sections of Helsinki corpus, as well as data from the corpus-based dictionaries of Middle English and Scottish. For stylistic assessment of archaisms in the play of D. Lyndsay, the author applies the method of linguo-stylistic analysis, in which linguistic element is viewed from the contextual perspective. The scientific novelty is substantiated by the fact that for solution of the problem of analysis of archaisms in the texts of Early Modern English period, the author elaborates an algorithm that allows clarifying if a unit is obsolescent in a specific moment of development of the English language. It is established that the prevalent proportion of words in Lyndsay’s play was not archaic within the framework of Scottish dialect; and only few of the involved units were outdated at the moment of creation of text in the standard Early Modern English. The archaisms determined in the play allows stating the Lyndsay considered archaisms a part of elevated lexis. The practical values of this work is defined by the possibility to apply the proposed algorithm for detecting archaisms in any literary text of the Early Modern English period, as well as conduct stylistic assessment of archaisms from the perspective of the trends of their perception by the authors of the XVI century.


Author(s):  
Vilena Yakovlevna Unarova

The subject of this research is the method of formation of metalanguage skills among the bilingual elementary schoolers by means of the native (ethnic), Russian and English languages. The object of this research is the process of teaching native (ethnic), Russian and foreign languages in elementary school. Particular attention is given to the examination of prerequisites of formation of metalanguage skills, creation of conceptual grounds and methodology of their formation as a linguodidactic strategy of interconnected teaching of three languages in the conditions of contact bilingualism in the Russian regions. The preliminary survey conducted among the elementary school teachers  and teachers of English language demonstrated that they experience certain difficulties in organization of methodical work on implementation of interconnected teaching of languages. For the purpose of development of scientifically substantiated methodology of formation of metalanguage skills and experimental determination of its effectiveness, a comprehensive research was conducted in the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) and Chuvash Republic, which included surveying teachers and parents, recitation of first graders, written tasks for multilingual and bilingual students of elementary school. The scientific novelty consists in identification of peculiarities of the formation of metalanguage skills among bilingual children, as well as main difficulties associated with learning several languages in elementary school. In accordance with ontolinguistic, psycholinguistic and cognitive approaches, the author develops and substantiates a linguodidactic complex on the interconnected formation of metalanguage skills among bilingual students of elementary schools.


Author(s):  
Darina Viktorovna Kocheva

The subject of this research is the approaches existing in the theory and practice of prosecutorial activity towards determination of the concept of “prosecutor's authority” and its constituent definitions, their correlation with the scientific views of legal scholars upon the state-legal category of “authority”. Due to the fact that any science is based on the terminological framework, featuring units that differ in their semantic content, the research of the cognizable basic category that does not have a universal definition, neither in science nor effective legislation, as well as the contradicting legal phenomena of different legal nature (rights and obligations) at its part, substantiates the relevance of this research. The scientific novelty of lies in the author’s argumentation of similar, identical and opposite perspectives on the subject matter existing in the literature, effective legal regulation, personal experience of working in the prosecutor's office, justification of conclusion in the indicated category of “legal obligations”. The author comes to the conclusion there is no need for normative differentiation the rights and responsibilities of the prosecutor within the framework of his “general oversight” authority and optimality of the existing regulation, which authorizes the prosecutor to act at the own discretion (making decisions based on subjective opinion and assessment) in terms of the grounds  and means set by law, with consideration of private and public interests.


Litera ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 89-97
Author(s):  
Tszinyan Ma

This article analyzes the resources of application of computer technologies for the purpose of visualization of the text semantic field “laughter”. The concept of “laughter” holds a special place in the works of F. M. Dostoevsky, as well as in one of the central semantic fields in the text semantic space of the novel “Crime and Punishment”. Examination of the semantic field within the space of a particular literary text allows determining the peculiarities of the authorial thesaurus within the structure of his linguistic identity. The subject of this article is the concept of “laughter” as the core of the corresponding text semantic field; determination of saturation of the text with the words belonging to a certain semantic field. Despite the fact that multiple questions related to the theory of semantic field are well studied, the scholars take interests in studying the linguistic material, denoted in field linguistics, namely development of the techniques for visualization of the semantic  network through creating cloud tags, semantic text markup, synoptic patterns, rendering, etc. The article offers one of the techniques – visualization based on construction of a plot using a specifically developed computer software. The graphic image illustrates the distribution of units of the semantic field “laughter” in the novel, which enables new interpretations of the content of Dostoevsky’s novel.


2020 ◽  
pp. 31-45
Author(s):  
Vladimir Vyacheslavovich Kozlovskii ◽  
Dar'ya Vladimirovna Tkachuk

The subject of this research is analysis of the impact of tastes in music and art upon self-determination of youth. The key problem is to identify the specificity of formation of personal preferences of youth in the process of music consumption in the context of modern cultural industries. The scale and mechanisms of the impact of music as a sociocultural factor of socialization, identification, cultural demarcation and, most importantly, social differentiation and cultural diversity are insufficiently studied. The problem of studying sociocultural capacity of tastes in music and art consists in poor perception for the sociological research on cultural determination of the practices of within and outside the intergenerational semantic (symbolic) distinction and unity within the youth environment. The goal is to search the methods for formation and representation of tastes in culture, and namely, in music and art as the elements comprising semantic and value structure of identity of a young person.  The core of the strategies for creating semantic and value structure in the course of sociocultural socialization of a person are music and art patterns that manifest in Russian youth born between 1987 and 1997 in relation to various musical genres, practices, performers and those with different tastes in music and art. Music alongside tastes in music in the context of self-determination of youth fulfill a function of worldview, behavioral and ideological reference points, an instrument for postulating new values, as well as reconsideration and of the established preferences, attitudes and patterns.


Author(s):  
Tetiana Savchuk

The scientific search for phonosemantic realities, carried out in modern promising areas of linguistic research, contributes to the determination of language cognitive capabilities. In the study of language, linguists actively use new principles, which require integration from different sciences to understand language carrier and diverse aspects of the human thinking process, to extensively analyse a wide range of language functions, and to profoundly explain linguistic phenomena. Phonosemantics is now a certain linguistic branch of psycholinguistics, which has gone through several stages of its formation. In practice, its foundation and principles have become the cornerstone of linguistic reasoned searches for the connection between sound and meaning in a multi-genre discourse. There are two approaches to the study of phonosemantism. Researchers' experiments confirm the existence of primary or elementary phonosemantism, showing the dependence of symbolic meaning on the acoustic-articulatory characteristics of sound. Secondary sound-symbolism arises as a result of the speaker's desire to reveal the correlation between the sonority of a word, develops in accordance with the phonetic laws of a particular language and its meaning. Both points of view need to be analyzed only in conjunction, since secondary, or contextually, phonosymbolism is possible due to the existence of the so-called primary, or elementary phonosymbolism. This phenomenon is due to the ability of the human brain to establish an associative relationship between sound and meaning, between objectivity and polymodality of human perception. Experiments have shown that the subject image is polymodal. The polymodal nature of object perception, in turn, presupposes the emergence of auditory images based on the action of only visual stimuli, and vice versa: visual images are born on the basis of auditory stimuli. The results of this study are well-argued evidence of the constancy of the associative meanings of the phonemes of the modern English language.


Author(s):  
Daria Khokhlova

The object of this research is the plot of D. D. Shostakovich’s ballet “The Limpid Stream”. The subject is the interpretation of this plot in the versions of F. G Lopukhov (1935) and A. O. Ratmansky (2003), as well as peer review on these spectacles. The goal of this work consists in determination of the crucial for the concepts of ballet masters differences of libretto (as a literary foundation of the plot) in the three versions of the ballet, and comparison of perception of the plot in the year of its first staging and at the present. The considered problematic required application of historical approach – attraction of the materials and articles for the period of 1935-1936. The historiographical analysis allowed translating and examining one of the most recent peer reviews on the spectacle – the English-language reviews on the “Limpid Stream” of Ratmansky, presented on the London tour of Bolshoi Theatre in August 2019. The article also utilizes practical experience of author’s work with Ratmansky and participation in the aforementioned tours (performing the role of Zina).The main tool for solution of the set problem became the comparative analysis of the varieties of libretto (authors – Lopukhov and Piotrovsky) of the three versions of ballet “The Limpid Stream”. It is concluded that the first versions of ballet were popular among the public, but aroused negative or ambiguous feedback, which led to the removal of spectacle from the repertoire. The last version is regularly performed in the repertoire of Bolshoi Theatre, including on the tour, being well regarded by the public and sophisticated British critics.


Litera ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 61-74
Author(s):  
Elena Nikolaevna Parfenenko

The subject of this research is the semantics of English and Russian lexemes that represent the conceptual component of the concept of mercy in both languages. The goal of this work consists in determination of similarities and differences of the conceptual attributes of mercy in the English and Russian legal texts of the XVII – XVIII centuries. The concept of mercy was selected due to insufficient examination of its verbalization in the comparative linguistics. In the course of this research, the author applied comparative method, semantic analysis, quantitative method, and method of modeling, Based on the legal texts of Great Britain and Russia of the XVII – XVIII centuries, the author determines the composition of core lexemes and their synonyms, which are capable of resembling the conceptual characteristics of mercy in the compared languages. The scientific novelty consists in the establishment of similarity and difference of the conceptual characteristics of mercy in the Russian and English legal texts of a certain period of time. As a result of the conducted analysis, it was revealed that in the English texts of that time, the notional component of the concept represents the core lexemes and synonyms “grace”, “mercy”, “reprieve”, “forgiveness”, “indulgence” that are the synonyms of core lexemes, while in the Russian texts this is the core lexeme “mercy”, and its synonyms “grace”, “clemency”, “remission” and “forgiveness”. Comparison of composition of the conceptual attributes of mercy in the English and Russian legal texts of the XVII – XVIII centuries illustrated that they had more differences. Thus, the conceptual attributes of mercy in the English text, understanding of forgiveness as an act of mercy, grace, or  manifestation of reprieve from a king or queen; or mercy as an abolition of punishment, benevolence of God, act of leniency and forgiveness for an offence. The conclusion is also made on similarity of the compared languages in perception of mercy as an act of grace from the ruler of the country.


Author(s):  
Elina Rasimovna Nasibullaeva

The subject of this research is the political lexicon in the English language. The article examines the criteria fir determination of political lexicon, provides definitions of this term to various scholars, frames the definition of political lexicon, and highlights its peculiarities in the English language. The author also explores the question on the relationship between political lexicon and political (sociopolitical) terminology; defines the concept of “political term”; describes the main means and methods of enriching political lexicon in the English language. The following methods were applies in the course of study: general scientific method for collection of the existing literature on the topic; systematization and generalization for formulation of fundamental concepts of research; random sampling for selecting the examples; contextual analysis for determining the peculiarities of functionality of phrases within the system of English political lexicon and mass media; as well as translational analysis. The scientific novelty consists in the fact that this article allows establishing the status of political theme within the lexical system of English language, since for the current stage of development of linguistic a promising trend is the determination of morphogenetic linguistic phenomena. The author also describes the main means of enriching the lexicon on the example of research material, which allows reflecting the development trends of political lexicon in the modern English language.


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