scholarly journals ‘Phantom Letters’ in Various Cultures

Author(s):  
Natalia Yu. Orlova

Cross-Сultural communication cannot exist without interaction, both oral and written. One of the types of written communication is epistolary text. This paper considers one kind of epistolary texts, the so-called ‘dead letter’, i.e. a letter which cannot be delivered to the recipient because this person does not exist. The author introduces the term ‘phantom letter’ since a corresponding term has not been found in the Russian language, besides the existing English term ‘dead letter’ does not fully reveal the phenomenon under discussion. The materials of the article are 14 personal letters and 24 literary texts in the English language belonging to the cultures of Ancient Egypt, the USA, Great Britain and Israel. The methodology of the research is based on the discourse analysis of the personal and fiction discourses. The following types of ‘phantom letters’ have been studied: letters to the dead, letters to the future generations and literary texts which are letters to some famous historical or fictional characters. Special attention is paid to various reasons why people have been writing such epistolary texts: the writer may do it on practical grounds, as a form of trauma counselling and/or resurrecting the loved one or information. As for the literary texts, the author’s aim is to create a humorous effect since all these letters are parodies. Chronotope is also considered, which is especially important in letters to the dead and letters to the future. Discourse formulas typical for some types of phantom letters have been analyzed. The last part of the paper deals with precedent texts, because understanding of fictional dead letters is drawn entirely from the knowledge of precedent. The conclusion states that there are various types of phantom letters in various cultures, they are normally personal and they are written for various reasons, however, they possess common features. Some prospects for further study in this area are also outlined.

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.A. Golovyashkina

There is the task of studying the degree of influence of the famous works of F.M. Dostoevsky on English-language literature and culture in general. Statements are given and the opinion of the great English-speaking literary classics about the works of Dostoevsky and the Russian-language novel is described. The author considers the main critical articles, essays and theses related to the Dostoevsky and his works, written by famous English-speaking novelists and literary critics of that era and the next one. Among them: Matthew Arnold, George Gissing, George Meredith, Oscar Wilde and others. The article describes the interpretation of their opinions about the great Russian writer’s works and on the degree of his influence on the literary trends of his contemporaries. The author gives a comparison between the images of the characters of the Dostoevsky novels and other English-speaking authors, which is sometimes amazing. In addition, the article presents a list of special courses that are currently being studied at universities and colleges in the USA and Great Britain dedicated to Dostoevsky.


Yazykoznaniye ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 82-91
Author(s):  
A.Yu. KHAKHALEVA

The article discusses the main approaches to studying the modern Russian-language PR-discourse that represents a relatively new and actively developing sphere of communication. First of all, the researchers of the Russian-language PR-discourse analyze its lexical composition. In particular, they consider the ways of adapting the English-language PR-terms that play an important role in reflecting new objects of extralinguistic reality. Moreover, the linguistic means of this type of discourse are studied from the perspective of linguistic pragmatics. The works in this area emphasize the importance of such way of speech impact as suggestion and the corresponding pragmatic methods that is determined by the manipulative character of the Russian-language PR-discourse. In the light of this peculiarity, the linguists are also interested in the process of mythologization that consists in distorting the connections between the objects of reality and is aimed at creating the positive image of the subject of PR-communication.


2019 ◽  

The paper, in its first part, outlines the Slovak research into audiovisual translation (AVT) from the 1950s up to the present, paying attention to the most important scholars as well as publications that helped to shape and establish the discipline within Slovak translation studies. It is based on the ongoing bibliographical research and the historical explanation mapping the development of AVT research in Slovakia by I. Tyšš – e.g. his publication Myslenie o audiovizuálnom preklade na Slovensku: 1952 – 2017 (Thinking on Audiovisual Translation in Slovakia: 1952 – 2017, 2018) – as well as on own findings covering the last two years. In more detail, the first part of the paper highlights that it was primarily thanks to a younger generation of translation studies scholars – especially E. Perez (née Janecová), L. Paulínyová (née Kozáková) and J. Želonka – that in 2012 the Slovak research into AVT finally became systematic. The second part of the paper is devoted to the phenomenon of the so-called second-hand translation of originally Russian audiovisual works that may be observed in Slovakia in recent years. The questionable nature of this phenomenon is stressed since the Russian language is not a language of limited diffusion and definitely not remote in relation to the Slovak cultural space. On the example of two documentary films – Под властью мусора (Held Captive by Rubbish, 2013) and Дух в движении (Spirit in Motion, 2015), the author discusses and analyses the problems that occur when translating originally Russian AV works into Slovak through the English language, i.e. the negative shifts resulting from mis-/overinterpretation of the source text, translation by omission, wrong order of dialogues, cultural specifics and incorrect transcription.


Author(s):  
О.Н. Маслова ◽  
О.В. Алексеева

Скорость и качество овладения русским языком иностранными студентами, обучающимися в медицинских вузах России, во многом зависят от того, имеется ли у этих студентов возможность пройти предварительную языковую подготовку на подготовительном факультете. В условиях ее отсутствия студенты получают образование на языке-посреднике, а русский язык становится факультативной дисциплиной, в результате чего погружение в русскую культуру, понимание правил невербальной коммуникации в русскоязычной среде, равно как и просто уверенное владение русским языком становятся уделом избранных лиц. Вместе с тем каждый иностранный студент должен проходить практику в русских медицинских учреждениях. В связи с этим перед преподавателем русского языка как иностранного встает несколько задач, к числу которых относится не только общеязыковая подготовка иностранных обучающихся к прохождению медицинской практики, но и речевая, культурологическая и психологическая. Успешной реализации поставленных задач может способствовать создание и использование на занятиях специального словаря-разговорника, который позволит студентам заблаговременно познакомиться с правилами поведения в больнице, освоить необходимый для практики лексический минимум, ввести в активный речевой оборот ряд фраз, актуальных в повседневном общении медперсонала с больными. В статье раскрывается и объясняется структура словаря, обозначены его задачи и целевая аудитория. The speed and the quality of mastering the Russian language by foreign students studying at medical universities in Russia largely depend on whether these students have the opportunity to take a preliminary year-long Russian language course at the preparatory division. If the students receive education in the English language, the Russian language program is reduced to an optional course, not sufficient to ensure understanding of Russian culture and rules of non-verbal communication in a Russian-speaking environment. However, every foreign student must undergo practical training in Russian medical institutions. In this case the Russian language teacher faces an almost insurmountable task of equipping students with the skills of communicating with Russian patients and colleagues and with sufficient cultural and psychological awareness for adequate verbal and non-verbal behavior in a hospital environment. The successful implementation of these tasks can be facilitated by developing and using a special vocabulary-phrase book at the lessons of the Russian language. This manual will allow students to get acquainted with the rules of behavior in the hospital in advance, master the lexical minimum necessary for practice and introduce a number of phrases that are relevant in everyday communication of medical staff with patients. The article reveals and explains the structure of the manual, identifies its objectives and target audience.


Classics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Pearce

Evidence for death and burial in the Roman age extends across all materials surviving from Antiquity, literary texts, the remnants of memorials to the dead, inscriptions, images, and burials themselves, both the remains of the dead and the objects used in the rituals for burying them. This diversity of source material and the relevance of funerary evidence to so many aspects of ancient life continue to fragment scholarship. The allocation of epitaphs, architecture, images, artifacts, and the remains of the dead to separate disciplines has compounded their decontextualization from funerary ensembles. The subject area has also been divided by different approaches depending on the region and period concerned: the dominant interests in late Roman burials, for example, have been the investigation of Christian conversion or migration into the Roman world. However, some unifying trends can be observed. In recent decades attention has shifted to exploring the mass of burial evidence for what it reveals of Roman society, its social structures, demographic characteristics, and so on. This has been given extra impetus by the results of archaeological fieldwork, creating a sample of well-excavated burials and human skeletal remains which now rivals the numbers of inscribed memorials. The optimism of reading off social structures or demographic characteristics from funerary evidence has been replaced with an emphasis on exploring how groups and individuals negotiated their relationships to their communities through rituals and monuments. This essay presents Roman behavior in relation to death, bereavement, and commemoration, mainly using material evidence in its broadest sense. It is necessarily selective, giving examples of key syntheses and datasets and of developing approaches. In some cases (especially monuments) it gives some greater weighting to English language publications, especially where they provide gateways to non-Anglophone scholarship. After opening sections on general works on death and burial and on the Roman funeral and mourning, the essay discusses in turn monuments, funerary rituals as reconstructed from archaeological evidence, and late Roman burial practice, including its relationship to conversion to Christianity. It concludes with case studies where different forms of evidence, architectural, artistic, artifactual, osteological, etc. combine to produce a richer view of monuments and processes, in specific cultural and social contexts across the empire. Study of human remains from a demographic or paleopathological perspective is outside the scope of this essay, though some bibliographic pointers are given in the first section (Overviews of Death and Burial). Recent work on osteological and biomolecular characteristics of the skeleton is however noted where its integration with the evidence for rituals has significantly enriched the study of identities in death.


Author(s):  
N. Basko

The article discusses the changes in communication that have occurred in the Russian speech etiquette, on the example of etiquette forms of greeting. Speech etiquette is the most important element of a communicative act. Compliance with the rules of speech etiquette largely ensures success in solving communicative problems. Based on the analysis of lexicographical sources and materials of modern Russian mass media, a shift in the use of greeting forms is noted. It is expressed in the transfer of old forms of greeting to a passive stock and the emergence and active use of new forms of greeting The author concludes that the dynamics of changes in speech forms of greeting reflects the general trends in the development of the Russian language at the present stage, such as a) the active neologization; b) the influence of the English language; c) the impact of computer technology on the language.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-170
Author(s):  
Szilárd Tibor Tóth

The scientific views of the famous Estonian linguist, public figure and politician, legendary professor of the University of Tallinn, Mati Hint (1937-2019), cover a wide range of Estonian philology, from phonetics to linguistic politics and the research of linguistic landscape. The number of his scientific works is well over 300. Mati Hint was characterized by a constant opposition to the mainstream. He popularized the South Estonian Tartu literary language, which had become extinct at the beginning of the 20th century, by publishing several scientific articles on this subject. Hint provided an innovative description of the phonological system, morphophonology and the grade alternation of the Estonian language. According to his concept, in the Estonian language, three longitudes of phonemes cannot be distinguished. Three longitudes can have a syllable. Thus, Estonian is not an unique language that differs from all other languages of the world, but on the contrary, it fits perfectly into all languages of the world. In many works he explains the problems of contacts between the Estonian and the Russian languages. Hint indicates the consequences of bilingualism, which may result in semilingualism, and in extreme cases in a language shift. A large language can be pidginized and creolized. According to the current period, professor Hint attributed to the English language similar roles in relation to Estonian, which he attributed to the Russian language during Perestroika.


Author(s):  
Elina Novikova ◽  
◽  
Anna Naumova ◽  

The article considers the specific character of modern translation discourse, trends and opportunities of realization in the era of changes and global challenges. The relevance of the article is determined by the need to establish common and distinctive forms of expression and formats of translation discourse. The representative sources of three communicatively active discursive practices constitute the empirical base of the paper: scientific / translation studies translation discourse; professional / industry translation discourse; didactic translation discourse. The textual material of the discourse under consideration is analyzed in order to identify thematic dominants of three subtypes under consideration. The similarities and differences of the topics discussed by the translation community within the framework of the selected discursive practices are determined. Sources of translation discourse in Russian and German linguistic cultures were also involved in the analysis to identify common and distinctive features. The analysis revealed the tendency of the Russian-language translation discourse to be a more profound scientific search and substantiation of translation problems, and, on the contrary, the tendency of the German- and English-language discourses to discuss applied issues. The analyzed subtypes of translation discourse reveal certain unifying features: current challenges reaction rapidity, new phenomena and trends in society. However, these subtypes have translation tools of their own, traditions and formats that shape thematic dominants of each direction of the discourse. Thus, the paper revealed the dynamic nature of the discourse, on the one hand, and its sustainable development, on the other.


Author(s):  
D.I. Imamgayazova ◽  

The article examines the structure of the “malware” frame based on the texts of the Russian and English-language media. In order to identify the relationship between the deep and external levels of the frame, an analysis of lexical and derivational meanings and propositional schemes is carried out, through which stereotyped knowledge about the nature and action of malicious programs is actualized. The research results demonstrate that in English-language media the malware frame is comparable in structure to the “disease” frame: slots “symptoms”, “methods of infection”, “affected organs/systems”, etc. are filled with specific lexical units, neologisms are actively used to refer to conventional knowledge. At the same time, in the Russian-language media, the main lexical and derivational meanings are grouped around the “computer virus” subframe, borrowing and calquing are widely used, which leads to a confusion of concepts in the concept sphere of “malware”.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 75-80
Author(s):  
VIOLETTA GRIGORYAN

Joining Russian culture through literary texts is very important in the process of learning Russian as a foreign language (RFL). It may promote to intelligence of mode of thinking, attached to a new sphere concept, which can effectively help students to be acculturated in the process of creating a second language person at lessons of Russian language in higher school. In the present article we attempt to examine the sphere concept of the Russian language in the system of literary text study.


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