Signed Languages: A Triangular Semiotic Dimension

Since the beginning of signed language research, the linguistic units have been divided into conventional, standard and fixed signs, all of which were considered as the core of the language, and iconic and productive signs, put at the edge of language. In the present paper, we will review different models proposed by signed language researchers over the years to describe the signed lexicon, showing how to overcome the hierarchical division between standard and productive lexicon. Drawing from the semiotic insights of Peirce we proposed to look at signs as a triadic construction built on symbolic, iconic, and indexical features. In our model, the different iconic, symbolic, and indexical features of signs are seen as the three sides of the same triangle, detectable in the single linguistic sign (Capirci, 2018; Puupponen, 2019). The key aspect is that the dominance of the feature will determine the different use of the linguistic unit, as we will show with examples from different discourse types (narratives, conference talks, poems, a theater monolog).

Morpheme Ordering Across Languages Reflects Optimization for Processing Efficiency

The ordering of morphemes in a word displays well-documented regularities across languages. Previous work has explained these in terms of notions such as semantic scope, relevance, and productivity. Here, we test a recently formulated processing theory of the ordering of linguistic units, the efficient tradeoff hypothesis (Hahn et al., 2021). The claim of the theory is that morpheme ordering can partly be explained by the optimization of a tradeoff between memory and surprisal. This claim has received initial empirical support from two languages. In this work, we test this idea more extensively using data from four additional agglutinative languages with significant amounts of morphology, and by considering nouns in addition to verbs. We find that the efficient tradeoff hypothesis predicts ordering in most cases with high accuracy, and accounts for cross-linguistic regularities in noun and verb inflection. Our work adds to a growing body of work suggesting that many ordering properties of language arise from a pressure for efficient language processing.

Implementation of qualia structures provided by relative adjectives and composites in German

The present paper deals with the semantic representation of attributive elements in the nominative group − relative adjectives and composites. The aim of the present study is to analyze the semantic representation of a predominantly noun in an attributive group with reference to Qualia structures, as applied in J. Pustejovsky’s theory of generative lexicon, and their realization through relative adjectives and composites, which are direct explicators of the semantic structure of predominant words (nouns). The study is based on the 150 most frequent relative adjectives identified on the basis of the electronic corpus of the German language. Relative adjectives qualify as Qualia structures and can denote objective constitutive (material and origin), formal (physical parameters, colour, time, place), telic (purpose and function of an object) and agentive (information about the creator, artifact, natural genus and causal chain) properties. The system of relative adjectives demonstrates a wide range of semantic meanings that are expressed in German by other linguistic means, e.g. composites. When describing the possibility of implementing Qualia structures in the noun group, other correlative linguistic units, such as composites, are analyzed. The variation in the use of nouns in composites and relative adjectives formed from them helps to actualize the presence of a feature in a particular situation, to give the nominal groups a terminological character and to make the transition from one qualification group to another.

Evaluating the quality of foreign language training based on test translation of culture specific linguistic units

The article analyses the quality of foreign language training among international relations students, necessary for professional communication in a multicultural environment, with regards to different historical and cultural backgrounds of the contacting languages. The article aims to provide criteria for evaluating the quality by assessing test translation of culture specific linguistic units with focus on linguistic, social and cultural differences of the source and target languages. The study involves such methods as the analysis of theoretical literature, polling, a questionnaire survey as well as the use of quantifiable data for the analysis and classification of the findings. Fifty-seven MGIMO master program students participated in the study. Authentic specialized texts containing 56 culture specific linguistic units including non-equivalent lexicon and realia, served as test materials. The quality of translation was evaluated according to a 100-point grading scale conventionally used in MGIMO- University. The article summarizes the basic skills acquired during foreign language training as described in Russian and foreign theoretical literature, and analyzes methods for evaluating the levels of expertise. The study proposes and empirically tests criteria for assessing the quality of foreign language training among international relations students. The study found that the quality of foreign language training depends on the proficiency in translating culture specific linguistic units (realia and non-equivalent lexicon) from foreign language into Russian, with regard for social and cultural differences of the two languages. The findings indicate the relevance of the given indices and show the necessity to elaborate clear criteria for assessing the quality of professional foreign language training.

Secondary Somatic Nominations in Media Texts Covering Economy, Business and Politics Spheres

The article set out to reveal the specific features of secondary somatic nominations in media texts in the spheres of economy, business, and politics. The significance of the problem under study is implied by a need for elucidating the evolution of language consciousness by shedding light on how corporeal lexis in the Russian language is involved in verbalization of reality in the spheres in question. The study demonstrated that secondary somatic nominations evolve due to transformation of the meaning of a linguistic unit, whose primary meaning is associated with various aspects of the human body existence. This transformation of the meaning seems to be a common way of denotating reality in the texts under investigation. We specified the sources of somatic expansion, whose semantic content is most frequently redefined in the thematic fields in question. We also identified the denotation areas (conceptual fields) where corporeal lexis is used in their secondary meanings. Our research demonstrated considerable pragmatic potential of the texts including somatic linguistic units. We established that their evaluative content results from axiological connotations associated with various corporeal concepts in the Russian linguoculture. Their expressiveness is achieved due to imagery created by unusual contextualization of somatic linguistic units. The results of the current study made it possible to establish the ways of transforming the meanings of somatic linguistic units in the investigated spheres in the Russian language. Transformation of the meanings of somatic lexis occurs by using metaphors, metonymy, similes, irony, epithets, oxymoron, gradation, language game, etc.

Linguacognitive and Linguoculturological Features of the Opposition Concept Good and Bad in Different Structural Languages (In English and Uzbek)

Annotation: The relevance of this study is due to its connection with the modern direction of language learning - cognitive linguistics, which makes it possible to identify the specifics of the representation of human knowledge, including evaluative ones, in the semantics of linguistic units. The prospect of the cognitive approach in studying the processes of evaluative conceptualization and evaluative categorization is explained by the fact that it makes it possible to assess the role of a person in the perception and evaluation of the surrounding reality and the formation of evaluative values, taking into account the interaction of cognitive and linguistic factors. Accordingly, the evaluative categories "good" and "bad" in this study are considered from the point of view of the mental processes of evaluative conceptualization and evaluative categorization and their refraction in linguistic meanings. Keywords: concept, language, linguacultural study, linguacultural concept "bad", linguacultural concept "good", linguistic materialization of a concept, linguacultural research.

Pragmatic Function of Linguistic Units

The article is devoted to the theoretical analysis of a number of works of domestic and foreign linguists in which approaches to language learning in a pragmatic aspect are defined. As a result of generalization of various approaches of researchers, the author revealed the main task of pragmatics, which consists in establishing the patterns of the use of linguistic means for the purpose of directed influence on the addressee in the communication process. Within the framework of P. Grice’s theory, implicatures are considered as conversational or communicative, as well as conventional. At the same time, the metaphorical interpretation is analyzed within the framework of the theory of speech acts. The role of euphemistic units involved in the formation of a certain, predetermined by the addressee, evaluative opinion is shown. The article reveals the potential of the study of precedent phenomena in a pragmatic aspect. The key problems of linguopragmatics are analyzed: connotations and additional (background) information as a necessary component of communication.

Locative Prepositions “at, in, on” and Translation to Vietnamese Through Frameworks

Based on the role of the frame of reference under the influence of point-of-view culture in the British and Vietnamese ethnic groups used as a cognitive premise in the translation, the article presents the justification of the contracting process about the reasons, similarities and differences as well as the semantic differences of the locating preposition “at, in, on” in English with the corresponding linguistic units in Vietnamese through specific communication contexts. Research results show that if the reference object (DTQC) in the positioning reference system of the English preposition is assimilated with the speaker in Vietnamese [similar to the reference frame in the reference system] then, the translation semantics of the preposition “at, in, on” will be similar to the expression semantics of the corresponding units in Vietnamese. In contrast, the different structural semantics are manifested because there is no similarity in the frame of reference.

Kultura wysoka na służbie, czyli o mitologizmach we współczesnych stylach i odmianach polszczyzny

High Culture on Duty or Mythology-Based Expressions in Contemporary Styles and Varieties of Polish The purpose of this article is to outline the stylistic and varietal extent of mythology-based expressions (of Graeco-Roman provenance), which include mythologically motivated linguistic units with varying formal (single words and polywords) and semantic (primary and secondary meanings) status. Due to their conventional origin, these units primarily belong to the literary variety of Polish. Additionally, they form the basis of numerous academic terms. To a much lesser degree, they also serve as fodder for other speech genres, styles and varieties of Polish that are conditioned by present-day cultural, civilizational and communicative changes, realized, for instance, in the language of journalists, internet users, public figures, manufacturers or owners of commercial and service facilities. The expressions in question are used in texts that differ stylistically, where they perform not only denotative-connotative but also axiological and expressive functions. Kultura wysoka na służbie, czyli o mitologizmach we współczesnych stylach i odmianach polszczyzny Celem niniejszego opracowania jest próba pokazania stylistycznego i odmianowego zasięgu mitologizmów (o grecko-rzymskiej proweniencji), do których można zaliczyć motywowane mitologicznie jednostki języka o różnym statusie formalnym (jedno- i wielowyrazowe) i semantycznym (o znaczeniu prymarnym i wtórnym). Jednostki te ze względu na swe konwencjonalne źródło przynależą przede wszystkim do książkowej odmiany polszczyzny. Dodatkowo, stały się one także podstawą wielu terminów naukowych. W nieznacznym stopniu zasilają też inne, warunkowane współczesnymi zmianami kulturowo-cywilizacyjnymi i komunikacyjnymi gatunki mowy, style i odmiany polszczyzny, realizujące się choćby w języku dziennikarzy, czynnych internautów, osób publicznych, producentów czy właścicieli obiektów usługowo-handlowych. Mitologizmy używane są zatem w tekstach o różnej stylistyce. Pełnią w nich funkcje nie tylko denotacyjno-konotacyjne, lecz także m.in. aksjologiczne i ekspresywne.

Biblical Lexical Items vs Biblical Phraseological Units: Specifying the Notions (Based on English and German Texts)

This article discusses the problem of delimiting the notions of biblical lexical item and biblical phraseological unit within the framework of studying the formation and development of biblical phraseology as a separate branch of general phraseology. The author believes that biblical phraseology should to be considered as an independent research area due to the progressive development of the study of phraseology in general, as well as the growing interest among scholars in phraseology of biblical origin and pertinent research materials that have accumulated over the past two decades. To begin with, the paper specifies the status of the biblical phraseological unit as a phraseological unit. Further, the definitions of the above-mentioned notions are analysed and a typology of biblical lexical items and phraseological units of biblical origin is developed based on a review of scholarly works dealing with various aspects of biblical lexical items and biblical phraseological units. Examples of the use of biblical lexical items and biblical phraseological units in English and German texts are provided as illustrations. The research methods applied here include analysis and synthesis, generalization and hypotheticoinductive method; comparative, contextual, and classification methods, as well as analysis of definitions, phraseological identification, and phraseological analysis. The author concludes that biblical lexical item is a broader notion, which includes biblical phraseological units. Biblical lexical items are numerous and diverse in terms of composition and can be presented in the form of multi-level linguistic units (from a word to a sentence), while biblical phraseological units are structured as fixed expressions, from a phrase to a sentence. Thus, a biblical phraseological unit is defined as a fixed reproducible linguistic unit in the form of a phrase or a sentence, having integrity of nomination and integrity of meaning that is etymologically related to the Bible. It is emphasized that the specificity of phraseological units of biblical origin is manifested at the formal, content and functional levels.