SELF-REPAIR IN ABORTED UTTERANCES: A MULTIMODAL ANALYSIS OF SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETING

The article presents the results of an empirical research dedicated to the co-occurrence of gestures and self-repairs in simultaneous interpreting. Self-repairs, viewed as a type of disfluencies, are divided into three categories: 1) a disfluency followed by a resolution (“positive” self-repair), 2) a disfluency consisting of repetition of the same lexical unit (“zero” self-repair); 3) an utterance truncated without a restart, which means that such a disfluency is not resolved. The study is based on the assumption that in simultaneous interpreting statistically significant correlation will be observed between various types of self-repair and various types of gestures, such as pragmatic, representational, deictic gestures and adapters. The data was obtained from 18 interpreters who were asked to interpret a popular science lecture from Russian into English. The material was analysed in ELAN and JAMOVI, and quantitative and statistical methods (T-test and ANOVA) were used to check on the hypotheses. The study revealed a strong correlation between self-repairs and gesture usage, which suggests that in moments of disfluency gestures facilitate speech. Concerning the relation between various types of self-repair and functional types of gestures, the hypothesis was not confirmed, although the statistics points to the fact that the simultaneous interpreters tend to use particular types of gestures with certain self-repairs.

PROPER NAME IN SYNCHRONISTIC COINCIDENCES

The article launches a new approach to studying coincident proper names in different cultural conditions - names viewed in a synchronistic perspective, in the Jungian sense. The paper purports to answer a number of questions adding to the theory of language, depth psychology and cognitive science. The main research methods, such as cognitive analysis and reconstruction, allow recovering data on deep cognitive attitudes of a person and possible connections of his/her mental sphere with physical reality. In this regard, the functional and cognitive nature of proper names is analyzed. It is determined by a number of characteristics that form the basis for further research. The paper further elaborates on the conditions and models of synchronistic coincidences of proper nouns (mostly personal names). The identified conditions and models are as follows: a) thematic seriality of personal names; b) their cross-matching; c) their systemic parallel matching; d) their complete coincidence in space and time; e) their promising coincidences in fortune telling; f) coincidence of ideal and real personal names; g) coincidences of personal names “framing” certain historical epochs; h) coincidences of proper names, removing the referential certainty of the named subjects. The data presented in the article made it possible to make some generalizations and to outline research prospects in this area. First of all, researching proper names from the point of view of synchronistic coincidences allows us to have an insight into human cognition and shed light on its deep structure. In addition, such studies have interdisciplinary significance bringing cognitive linguistics and the fundamental sciences closer together. Finally, the analysis of synchronistic coincidences of proper names allows us to reconstruct some deep cognitive attitudes in the human psyche, demonstrating the unity of mental and physical realities. Even more promising in this regard is the unification of cognitive linguistics with other advanced scientific disciplines engaged in this issue.

COGNITIVE FOUNDATIONS OF IMPLEMENTING NOVEL GENRE CHARACTERISTICS (based on the analysis of “Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro)

The article analyses the role of chronotope in implementing genre characteristics of different types of novels within the frame of one novel in a cognitive approach perspective. The authors proceed from the theoretical assumption that the content of any novel represents a multidimensional knowledge of the matrix format comprising various types of conceptual domains as specific cognitive contexts. These contexts refer to the knowledge not only about the plot and the composition of the novel, but also about its genre characteristics and their individual interpretation by the author of the novel. Accordingly, they choose cognitive matrix analysis as the methodological basis of the research. Particular attention is focused on the analysis of general principles and mechanisms of the author's individual interpretation and implementation of the concept of chronotope, suggested by M.M. Bakhtin, within the framework of a specific novel. In relation to the novel under discussion the authors of the article model chronotope in the form of the cognitive matrix SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM and analyze its conceptual structure as it is seen by the author of the novel, as well as his choice of means of its representation in language. The results of the cognitive matrix and linguistic analysis lead to the conclusion that typical genre features of the novel are implemented through characteristics of the basic concepts of the respective conceptual domains and means of their linguistic representation. The article also argues close relationship between all of these characteristics and the dominant role of some of them in relation to the others.

SECONDARY PHENOMENA IN THE LINGUISTIC WORLDVIEW (COGNITIVE PERSPECTIVE)

The article opens with a brief overview of approaches to the study of secondary phenomena in the linguistic worldview. In particular, the author indicates the main reasons for secondary meaning formation including linguistic economy based on minimum of efforts aspiration and the associative and creative nature of human thinking. The author argues that in the framework of cognitive linguistics secondary meanings result from interpretation and the accompanying conceptual derivation and metarepresentation as processes of cognition. Such processes reflect a new understanding of the previously acquired knowledge, generating secondary conceptual structures, and choosing best ways of their anchoring in language considering cognitive dominants of linguistic consciousness as certain templates for construing reality through language. In the context of the above processes, the author examines secondary phenomena of the linguistic worldview analysing the examples of lexical and grammatical units of the English language. The discussion is focused on the outcomes of word formation in lexis, secondary interjections, secondary predicative structures, composite sentences.

ON THE TAXONOMY OF COURTROOM NARRATIVES

The study is based on the assumption about the narrative nature of courtroom discourse and aims at analyzing the structure and varieties of courtroom narrative. Courtroom narrative is defined as a way of organizing courtroom discourse whose propositional content is a story with crime event elements included in this story in their chronological sequence that correlate with reality and the speaker’s experience. Four classification criteria for courtroom narrative practices are proposed: 1) the degree of completeness; 2) the ways of description; 3) the type of determinants; 4) the way of reality representation. By the degree of completeness, there are complete and truncated narratives; by the way of description - neutral and evaluative; by the type of determinant - phenomenological and professional; by the way of representing reality - narrative construction and narrative reflection. The article concludes that the study of courtroom narrative is a promising research field, since there are avenues for researchers such as the status of interpretive schemes in the narrative, narrative structures in different legal cultures, the ratio of narrative and recontextualization.

INTERDISCOURSE SWITCHING IN DRAMA TEXT. GAZE PATTERNS AND COMPREHENSION CHECK RESULTS

The study explores the cognitive process of interdiscourse switching which occurs in reading drama plays with the author’s discourse fragments incorporated (Areas of Interest). The oculographic experiment reveals the gaze patterns and the discourse interpretation patterns, more and less typical of the process. The experiment is preceded by the parametric and annotation analysis of interdiscourse switching construal. Interestingly, there exist several construal parameter groups contingent with eye movement load redistribution, among them are Participant construal, Event construal, and Perspective construal. The results sufficed to show that construal effects also affect mentioning Areas of Interest in the subjects’ responses, the most significant influence is displayed by Participant Agentivity and Complexity parameters as well as by Event Type parameters.

CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR IN COGNITIVE-SEMIOTIC INTERPRETATION

The article presents an attempt to view the phenomenon of conceptual metaphor in the cognitive-semiotic aspect. The object of the study is the conceptual metaphor, the subject matter is its cognitive-semantic essence and the forms of its representation. The main thesis that forms the theoretical basis of the article is that the conceptual metaphor understood as the ability of our consciousness to think of one, more abstract entity in terms of another, more concrete, entity, presents a mental phenomenon that may have not only verbal, but other forms of its representation. The main objective of the article is to carry out the analysis of visual, artefact and ontological metaphors in the cognitive-semiotic aspect and the ways of their representation in the text. The main methods of analysis conditioned by the theoretical aspect chosen for analysis are introspection, or metacognition aimed at reconstructing the work of consciousness in the process of metaphorical thinking, and the inferential method aimed at reconstructing implicit metaphorical meanings. The analysis of visual (artistic), artifact and ontological metaphors reveals that they are characterized by the same qualities as verbal metaphors: dynamism, contextual variability and existence of two their varieties: trite metaphors which reflect ordinary thinking and original ones which are the product of artistic thinking. When ontological and artefact metaphors are presented in the text, their metaphorical meanings can be presented both explicitly and implicitly and, in the latter case, their metaphorical meanings must be inferred by the reader or the linguist. The participation of nonverbal codes in the expression of metaphorical meanings does not diminish the significance of the verbal code which is another proof of the leading role of language in conceptualization and interpretation of the world. The analysis undertaken enables to confirm the main thesis as well as to reveal the explanatory potential of the cognitive-semiotic approach to the study of metaphor and, most probably, other language phenomena.

CONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE PUBLIC AND POLITICAL ROLE OF MEMES IN MEDIA DISCOURSE

The article is aimed at identifying and analyzing the main frames for conceptualizing the socio-political role of memes and the models of their linguistic representation in the newspaper articles (16 articles, mainly 2019-2020, in English) on the relevant topic. In other words, this is an attempt from a scientific standpoint to represent how modern media, which are becoming the source and means of the viral spread of Internet memes, meta-represent an element of their own communication processes. Methodologically, the study is based on examining media texts about Internet memes in the broad context of socio-political transformations emerging from the active development of forums, social networks, instant messengers, and other tools. It proceeds from analyzing the thematic grid in each article, identifying the key, repetitive lexical elements, including metaphors, associated with interpreting memes popularity and their functions, as well as taking into account some iconic components of these multimodal texts. Then I review the entire article mini-corpus to identify repetitive patterns of meme representation and study their evaluative component. These models that can be viewed as coordination patterns are further compared with the way Internet memes are considered in academic studies. As a result, it is shown that although in modern journalism the conceptualization of memes in many respects correlates with what the experts of technologically mediated communication say, the article’s appraisal of the importance for various aspects meme usage is different. Journalists are less concerned with the precise definition of the phenomenon, meme classification in terms of structural types or according to component relations in them. They do recognize that going viral is an important feature for memes, but journalists, as opposed to scholars, are less interested in what makes these information products popular and widely shared, often taking it for granted. At the same time, journalists (compared to ordinary users) nowadays are less inclined to view memes just as an entertainment. However, it should be borne in mind that changes in the functionality of memes, apparently, occur unevenly around the world and in a number of countries are less noticeable for objective reasons, and journalists may be well aware of the differences between the English-language socio-political discourse, especially in the United States, and the European one “lagging behind”. The more indicative is the desire to anticipate the inevitable future transformations and take into account the experience of the countries that are more “advanced” in terms of using memes for public and political purposes. Thus, the focus of attention in newspapers is shifted towards two frames, both of which are viewed as reflecting situations that are potentially problematic for society. One is associated with the ideas of domestic alt-right radicalism and international “information terrorism”. The second frame is also based on the concept of the world plunging into information wars which are aggravated by economic problems, social tensions, and uncertainty about future. Against this background, memes are seen as coping method, a way to let off steam and get emotional relief from tension.

ABOUT PROJECTIONS OFTHE MENTAL STRUCTURE INTO LANGUAGE AND SPEECH (on the example ofthe concept-proposition)

The author examines, using the example of a concept-proposition, multiple manifestations of the connection between a mental unit and units of a language system, argues that the principle of structuring knowledge, characteristic of a proposition, is found in the semantic structure of a sentence, a word-formation nest, in the logic of lexical metonymy, in the logic of transferring definitions, as well as in the ability of a noun to represent knowledge of a propositional nature in speech, concludes that there is a deep commonality of mental and linguistic activity. The semantic structure of the sentence and the structure of the syntactic proposition are isomorphic to the structure of the mental proposition. The vectors of the transfer of the definition from one term of the sentence to another, as well as to the designation of the entire situation, often have propositional logic and are closed by the framework of one sentence. Propositional logic is observed in many word-building nests, especially consistent with the structure of nests organized by a polyactant verb. Among the verbal derivatives in the nest, the percentage of lexemes that name the components of the corresponding situation is significant, in some cases - all the main components of the situation. At the lexico-semantic level, the projection of a proposition on the phenomenon of metonymy is described. Among the models of transference, a variety is highlighted, called propositional metonymy. It includes transfers of the name, the vectors of which (shift of the focus of attention) reflect the structure of the proposition. Another manifestation of the connection between a proposition and linguistic units, considered in the article, is the facts of using a single noun in speech of any lexical and grammatical semantics to represent all situations of any structural complexity. The realized perspective of the research (from the mental unit to linguistic units and processes that reveal with it a certain isomorphism in the logic of categorization and conceptualization of knowledge) allows us to reveal an important line of interaction between the mental and linguistic levels.

GENDER AS A DOMINANT DRIVING THE ENACTION AND (RE)FRAMING OF THE PERSPECTIVE IN LITERARY TRANSLATION

The paper explores cognitive mechanics of «doing» gender in literary translation and aims at providing a cognitive account of gender as both a function of the translator’s self and the translator’s practical concern, i.e. a meaning-making feature of the literary structure which is to be somehow relayed in the translator’s text. Having initially defined the notions «cognitive dominant» and «perspective», constitutive of the research framework, the author reflects on the instrumental role of gender, integrating biological, cognitive, sociocultural and discourse dimensions of the translator’s activity, as a meta-dominant of the translator’s cognition and discourse, which shapes 1) the translator’s phenomenological perspective, from which the text world is mentally construed and 2) strategic (re)framing of the narrative perspective in the translator’s text. A number of English-Russian translations are discussed to illustrate inherent dynamicity, fluidity, multiplicity, performativity and pervasiveness of gender as a dominant driving translation. Certain cognitive and aesthetic modes of doing and (re)framing gender in translation are distinguished as well. Overall, the research findings evince the urgent need for the translators to adopt and implement a gender-sensitive translation strategy, which is likely to considerably enhance the literary value of their translations.