Methodological Directions for the Study of Memes

The chapter proposes an empirically oriented analysis of the memetic production on Instagram. Defined as multimodal cultural artifacts, combining visual and textual material to convey humoristic messages, internet memes proliferate across the web, spawning new popular formats and layouts. However, many scholars still rely on outdated conceptualisations or limited samples for their studies. To anchor investigation on memes to the actual production, the research answers the questions: (1) Which meme formats are currently circulating online? (2) How do popular meme formats convey their message? To this end, a dataset of static images collected on Instagram was examined with qualitative visual and discourse analysis. Findings point at the possibility to adopt a bottom-up approach to recognize and classify memes, exploiting shared features of content and form. Furthermore, this categorization offers insights on the most productive mechanisms of meme production: contextually, results show a tendency towards formats that trigger identification, leveraging on relatable life situations.

Between Proper Name and Appellative: Lexicography of Words with Borderline Status (Exemplified by Neologism Brexit)

The problems of lexicography of new words that appeared in the Russian language in the 21 st century are considered based on the materials of the upcoming thematic Explanatory Dictionary of Unity and Enmity in the Russian Language of 2000–2020. The author of the article is one of the dictionary compilers. It is stated that the difficulties of describing new borrowed lexical units, that are at the stage of usage, are associated with the establishment of their lexical, grammatical and stylistic characteristics. Criteria for their determination are proposed. The principles of choosing the variant of heading word spelling in a dictionary entry are argued. Based on the methods of definitional, linguoculturological and content analysis using textual material extracted from mass media resources, a methodology for compiling a dictionary entry has been developed, which makes it possible to give a detailed description of the lexical, grammatical, stylistic, paradigmatic and pragmatic characteristics of current borrowings. As a result of this technique application, a dictionary entry of Brexit neologism is presented, reflecting the unstable position of this lexeme in the Russian language system, the status of which fluctuates between a proper name and an appellative. The material and methodology for its systematization can be considered when compiling explanatory dictionaries of new words in the Russian language.

Subsystem of exercises and tasks for prospective engineers lexical competence in professionally oriented reading development

The article describes a subsystem of exercises and tasks for the formation of English language lexical competence in professionally oriented active reading for students of the field of knowledge 19 Architecture and construction, specialty 192 Construction and civil engineering. The stages of the formation of English-language lexical competence in professionally oriented active reading are determined and characterized: 1) acquaintance, 2) automation, 3) application. To form this competence, we consider effective the following methods of active reading: Know- Want-Learn (KWL), SQ3R (Survey, Questions, Read, Recall, Review) and examples of exercises and tasks performed at each stage of working with authentic texts. The subsystem of exercises and tasks is described and implemented at the pre-text, text and post-text stages of work. All educational information for the formation of lexical competence in English reading is accompanied by an authentic visualization which we understand as conditionally technical (drawings, figures, photographs, diagrams, charts, graphs, videos, etc.). Authentic visualization of educational information is developed as a supplement to textual material for better understanding and perception information on the specialty and complements it. The organization of the stages of lexical competence formation is taken into account during the developing the exercises and tasks.

Rich variety of DA approaches applied in social media research: A systematic scoping review

Social media is an endless source of texts and images about almost everything. Accordingly, the number of analyses based on this source increases daily. Among the numerous methods social media can be analysed by, our attention focusses on discourse analysis (DA). DA is a complex approach which makes it possible to capture not only the linguistic characteristics of given texts, but also their socially constructive and socially constructed features. Therefore, we carried out a systematic examination of the articles at one of the largest academic databases, EBSCO available in 2019 which used DA in social media research. Our investigation studies not only the geographical distribution of this corpus, but the different self-proclaimed DA approaches. Furthermore, we developed a three-level scale in order to capture the methodological complexity of the collected articles. At one end of the scale there are those research papers where discourse appears only as a label for the textual material gathered, without further indication of any DA theories or methodologies. The other end, however, refers to those research projects which applied DA both in their theoretical and methodological frameworks, providing complex discourse analytical investigations of social media texts. This way we were able to demonstrate the wide array of DA perspectives employed in social media research.

Nationalism as an argument in contemporary Russia. Four perspectives on language in action

This dissertation analyses the uses of the concept of nationalism in Russia from a historical perspective. It is based on four empirical studies examining textual material produced between the years 2000 and 2020. During this time, and after the so-called “conservative turn” in particular, the state leadership in Russia adopted increasingly authoritarian policies vis-à-vis society, and started to portray Russia as being under an external threat. The annexation of Crimea and the onset of the war in Ukraine in 2014 solidified the way in which recent political changes in Russia were characterised as “growing nationalism”. In this temporal context, the study suggests that nationalist discourses are currently shifting, and traces these shifts in scholarly and everyday language. The negative connotations of nationalism in everyday language affect its scholarly use, which is why the aspects of nationalism as an analytical concept, as well as the complex relationship between the concept and the term itself, are expounded in the study. Following the tradition of critical nationalism studies, the dissertation approaches the ‘nation’ as a political claim that results from a constructive process in language. The dissertation draws on the rhetorical tradition of conceptual history in analysing specific concepts, metaphors and narratives within nationalist discourses as a means of framing politics. The way language is used simultaneously defines the boundaries of actual policies. More specifically, the rhetorical choices of politicians map the conditions of belonging to a nation, duly having real implications for people’s lives.

An Opuscule on Method, or how Philosophers Mark out Textually their Methodological Stance (a Text Following up a Text)

The present paper is a practical supplement to an earlier theoretical work by the author, published in a preceding issue, on methodological foundations of the European philosophizing in the aspect of sophical synthesis. Building upon understanding of general philosophical methodologies (methodological attitudes) and their ‘epochal’ implementations as presented there, the author makes use of a cross-cutting example, to show ‘zones of responsibility’ and onto-gnoseo-epistemological limits for every mentioned ‘way towards the thing.’ Six marker packages (by the number of methodologies and variants of sophical viz. life-knowledge synthesis) should be of special professional interest as proposed by the author to identify methodological attitudes and ‘edge’ cases ranging from Antiquity to nowadays. Validity of each and all of these packages has been illustrated with proper textual material, i. e. fragments from essays by renowned European philosophers.In § 1, the naturalistic methodological attitude is considered, as focused on the proper vital aspect of sophical synthesis; its characteristic reliance on experience, fact, belief, opinion, and authority, and thereby on the rhetorical aspect of philosophizing, is explained.In § 2, the phenomenological methodological attitude is considered, as focused on the proper knowledge aspect of sophical synthesis; its characteristic reliance on knowledge and sense beyond any non-essential per se factual ways things are given, is explained.In § 3, the transcendental methodological attitude is considered, as focused on the synthesis of knowledge and life by means of knowledge in the aspect of logos of the logos per se; its characteristic reliance on sense being a sense in the making, and on fact as the bearer of a sense, with their integration in a common logical-conceptual thing structure, is explained.In § 4, the dialectic methodological attitude is considered, as focused on the synthesis of knowledge and life by means of knowledge in the aspect of logos of the eidos; its characteristic reliance on intelligent thing as a unit of sense and a product of senseful self-development wherein not only the thing is posited, but the entire otherness as defined by it as well, is explained.In § 5, the mythological methodological attitude is considered, as focused on the synthesis of knowledge and life in the aspect of their integral arrangement as vivid mind; its characteristic reliance on intelligent thing as a real and self-evident in its unicity live being, is explained.In § 6, the hermeneutical (= onomatological and overall symbolic) methodological attitude, as focused on the synthesis of knowledge and life in the aspect of its naming as an intelligent expression of thing for the other; its characteristic reliance on the name and text as a full expression of sense and a full knowledge of fact being revealed in the truth of thing, is explained.

Inventaire préliminaire du lexique arabe vernaculaire/semi-vernaculaire d’Ifrīqiya recueilli dans deux sources bio-hagiographiques : les Manāqib Abī Isḥāq al-Ǧabanyānī et les Manāqib Muḥriz b. Ḫalaf (5e/11e siècle)

This short note presents some lexical data in vernacular/semi-vernacular Arabic collected in the following Ifriqiyan sources: Manāqib Abī Isḥāq al-Jabanyānī and Manāqib Muḥriz b. Khalaf (5th/11th century). The main idea of the study is to remind the linguist and the historian of the real interest there would be in examining the textual material in vernacular/semi-vernacular Arabic from Medieval Tunisia in order to contribute to a better knowledge of the social history of linguistic habits.

Taking the reins: a proposal for managing the previously unmanaged Royal Agricultural Winter Fair Archive

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (The Royal) has been a renowned national event in Toronto’s history since its debut in 1922. The annual fair is held for 10 days each November, and is the largest combined indoor horse show and agricultural fair in the world. As The Royal approaches its centenary year, the timing was perfect to deeply examine the previously-unmanaged collection of over 180,000 photographic objects and ephemera, and nearly seven metres of textual material, that has accumulated over the span of its rich history. Through a thorough review of the collections content and advice for both physical storage of the collection and collections management software options including digital storage, this thesis presents a list of recommendations for creating an accessible archive of this material, a resource that will enable this wonderful collection of important local, provincial, and national history to be preserved and made available to the public.

Taking the reins: a proposal for managing the previously unmanaged Royal Agricultural Winter Fair Archive

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (The Royal) has been a renowned national event in Toronto’s history since its debut in 1922. The annual fair is held for 10 days each November, and is the largest combined indoor horse show and agricultural fair in the world. As The Royal approaches its centenary year, the timing was perfect to deeply examine the previously-unmanaged collection of over 180,000 photographic objects and ephemera, and nearly seven metres of textual material, that has accumulated over the span of its rich history. Through a thorough review of the collections content and advice for both physical storage of the collection and collections management software options including digital storage, this thesis presents a list of recommendations for creating an accessible archive of this material, a resource that will enable this wonderful collection of important local, provincial, and national history to be preserved and made available to the public.

A journey in collections management : the creation of a finding aid for the Black Star Ephemera Collection at the Ryerson Image Centre

This applied project involved the creation of a finding aid for the Black Star Ephemera Collection held at the Ryerson Image Centre (RIC) at Ryerson University in Toronto. This little known and un-catalogued collection was originally part of the Black Star Agency photographic collection founded in New York City in 1935. Black Star is a well known photo agency that has served as a resource for the picture press during the twentieth century, providing photographs of significant events, people, and places. This ephemeral collection is made up of all the textual material originally used by the agency to organize and support the photographic collection. In addition to the finding aid this paper discussed the significance of this collection and its relationship to the history of photojournalism as well as providing a summary of the rational and methodology for the applied project.