Linguistics of information-psychological war in the making: methodological heterogeneity and first results

The paper focuses on theoretical and methodological aspects of the development of one of the latest trends in Russian discourse studies – linguistics of information-psychological war. The analysis involves publications, retrieved from Russian electronic library (“Elibrary”) under a thematic subject heading "Linguistics" and "Mass communication", all of which being dedicated to the problems of information confrontation. The main objective is to specify how linguistics of information-psychological war has been developing since 2017, when the research trend was initially proposed by a group of Siberian scholars. Minor task is to determine, what ideas constitute a common around for Russian scholars, that try to unravel the linguistic mechanisms, underlying the complex phenomenon of information-psychological war. Analytical-descriptive approach, including methods of observation, generalization, and interpretation, is employed. It is argued that linguistics of information-psychological war has acquired discursive dimension. It features methodological heterogeneity, recurrence of themes, terminological variability, use of related concepts. It is proved that information-psychological war is treated as a construct, textualized in media discourse. The major theoretical and methodological problem is outlined, which relates to the absence of relevant criteria that could be adequate to identify texts as means of information-psychological war. The results can be used to extend the scope of linguistics of information-psychological war and to increase its capacity for working out the linguistic bases of counteraction to threats in media sphere.

Chiasm in stylism of scientific and media

The article presents a study of the stylistic figure of chiasm in media and scientific speech. The generalized views of researchers on this element of style, mainly poetic speech. An understanding of chiasm is formulated, which emphasizes the need to take into account the identity of the lexical composition of the parts of the chiastic construction, which significantly narrows the range of facts related to chiasm, and the main semantic effect of this figure is the mirroriness of the connected parts. Cases of using chiastic constructions in the heading position (VIRTUAL REALITY AND REAL VIRTUALITY) and in the media text (Yevgeny Yevtushenko was the most Russian poet from Westerners and the most western of Russian poets) are considered. It is shown that the stylistic effect in the first case is intriguing, in the second - an expressive assessment. Cases of using chiasm in the media text are analyzed from the standpoint of semantic syntax; it has been revealed that elements of propositions — actants, predicates, and the position as a whole — are involved in chiasm. Attention is drawn to the fact that chiastic constructions, formally representing a complex sentence, are not polypositive structures, because in them one proposition is fixed in two reflections (We need to kill free time, or it will kill us). The importance of describing chiasm among the expressive means of media stylistics and the style of scientific speech is emphasized.

Textbook on rhetoric: an attempt of authors reflection

The article is devoted to the textbook on rhetoric published at Altai State University. Two key points determined the main subject of consideration they are orientation toward the graduate students of philology and their preparation for professional activities in a multi-ethnic environment. The need for a book is justified by the features of the socio-communicative situation in the countries of Greater Altai. The authors' attention is focused on issues of general and professional rhetorical, theoretical and practical training of graduate students of philology, their mastery of communicative and rhetorical competencies as well as the development of research skills. It is shown that the content of the textbook, reading-book and case-studies contributes to theformation of the academic and educational competencies of graduate students in the field of rhetoric, the development of independent work skills and also improvement of verbal (rhetorical) practice; that the formation of knowledge in the field of Kazakh national rhetoric requires an understanding of the priority over the speecheloquence, the concept of speech relevance, or conscious “speaking”. Orientation of graduate philologists to the work in a multi-ethnic environment reveals the importance of interculturalal communication, understanding the specifics of interpersonal relations between the speaker and the listener. In the field of higher education didactics, the research prospects are due to the improvement of the rhetorical culture of the teacher’s personality and his role as a person providing successful group communication.

Mother’s speech axiology: Russian and French mothers’ speech portraits (the review of the book: Kolmogorova A.V., Varlamova O.N. Zhenshchina v semeynoy kommunikatsii: rechevoy portret materi (na materiale russkogo i frantsuzskogo yazykov): monografiya. Krasnoyarsk, Siberian federal university, 2019. 208 p.

The paper considers the monograph published by the linguists of the School of Philology and Language Communication of Siberian Federal University. The reviewed monograph researches the speech of a woman playing the socially relevant role of a mother from the points of view of language identity theory, theory of communication, ontolinguistics, and ethnopsycholinguistics. Analyzing French and Russian mothers’ speeches in the ontolinguistics aspect, the authors of the reviewed monograph present the ontilinguistic communicative situation in a new perspective. That is, they do not reveal the characteristics of the developing language ability of a child, but they analyze the speech portraying characteristics of a mother developing this ability in her child. The reviewed monograph gives the prototypical invariant of mother’s speech behavior as well as the variants of it, appearing in French and Russian mothers’ speeches. The review aims at the revealing the axiological principles of representing in the monograph reviewed mother’s social roles and her speech behavior in her communication with the child.

Language and human ecology: from cartesian linguistics to ecolinguistics

Segregating language, man, and world, Cartesian linguistics comes short of explaining the function of language as a biological adaptation. To challenge the entrenched perspectives on language as a code for information transfer, we must learn to speak differently, realizing that the ability to think is not an innate feature of the human brain. As interactional activity in the second-order consensual domain, language provides a biological foundation for abstract thought as an adaptive mechanism for ‘simulating’ possible interactions of the organism with the environment. The use of writing marks the next step in the development of this adaptive mechanism, when humans continue their ecological niche construction by creating ‘a world on paper’, saturating their niche with affordances provided by linguistic interactions in the experiential domains of speech and writing. Linguistic interactions in these domains become an ecological factor that both affects and sustains the development of individuals and society as living systems. This, it is argued, should be the subject matter of ecolinguistics as the new paradigm in linguistic explorations.

The influence of Hesychast philosophy on the monks’ speech practice (the case of the epistolary texts of the Russian Orthodox monasticism of the 20th century)

This article deals with issues related to the interaction of language and religion, such as the influence of Hesychasm philosophy on the speech of Russian Orthodox monks, which shows itself primarily at the ideological level. Referring to the epistolary texts of Russian Orthodox monks-writers of the XX century, the author shows the features of the fundamental ideas of the religious and philosophical doctrine of Hesychasts represented in the language. It is stated that the main representatives of the Hesychast ideas in the epistolary texts of Russian Orthodox monasticism of the XX century are overwords units and words nominating these ideas, as well as derivatives of nominees. It is noted that representatives of the ideas of salvation, theosis, transfiguration, silence, seclusion, etc. belong to the Orthodox vocabulary corpus of spiritual and moral content. The author refers to the use of words and verwords units from the subject area of Hesychasm and specific etiquette speech formulas of greetings and farewells to the distinctive linguistic features of the epistolary texts of Orthodox monks-writers. The question of the influence of prayer making on monastic speech, which forms its distinctive character, is discussed separately: the monk's speech is unique in its prayerfulness and richness with prayers lexis (which reflects a deep mental immersion in prayer texts of different eras).

The pragmatics of metaphor and metonymy in a media text

This article deals with metaphor and metonymy as language tools that function in a media text. Metaphors and metonymy violate the Grice’s maxims and serve a disinformation strategy. The metonymy in a media text is expressed mainly with the help of names (-onyms) and performs two functions. The pragmatic function is to shape the reader's perception. The instrumental function is to form the subjective image. The metonymic models (part – the whole, concrete – abstract, dominant – secondary) indirectly refer to an object, which allows the author to create a negative image without the risk of incriminating lies or disinformation. A metaphor in a disinforming media text helps to form a pejorative assessment of an object. The main functions of a metaphor in a media text are manipulative (metaphors form and fossilize stereotypes) and emotional-evaluative (metaphors appeal to emotions). The nature and game metaphors are frequently used in a media text. The nature metaphor is effectivebecause of its simplicity. The game metaphor forms the image of an adversary/enemy. Metaphors and metonymy in a media text make it either informationally redundant or eager, ambiguous and emotional. Metaphors and metonymy violate the Cooperative Principle and contribute to the manipulation of the readers’ perception and consciousness stimulating verbal aggression in readers’ comments on media texts

Cultural code and cognitive functions of Turkish Cyrillic

Using the example of the Kyrgyz language the article aims to prove that the graphic that has been established and has been operating for a sufficiently long time in this ethnic group as a way of storing information, performing cognitive functions, becomes an integral part of the mental state of a person and the cultural code of a nation. This issue is considered in the historical and cultural aspect, reflecting the stages of reforming the graphics of the Kyrgyz language and the replacement of one writing system with another. Previous writing systems (Arabic and Latin), that used to operate for a relatively short period of time, remained alien to the way of life and the linguistic picture of the world that prevailed among the Kyrgyz in the post-revolutionary period. In the 20s, the Kyrgyz made a dizzying leap from the Middle Ages to the Eurasian reality represented by the Russian world. The values of world civilization, new concepts and terms entered the life of the Kyrgyz through the Russian language and its graphics, which was adopted in 1940. For the modern Kyrgyz, the leanings and concepts of the surrounding reality were established in Cyrillic characters, which continue to be a form of linguistic existence of a person, and the Cyrillic itself has become the cultural code of the Kyrgyz nation for 80 years of its use. Under these conditions, the transition to the Latin alphabet after the example of other countries of Central Asia can have disastrous consequences for Kyrgyzstan.

Words as protective masks for emotions

In the aspect of linguoecology reinterpreted is interaction of emotions and words previously studied by emotiology. Examined are the types of such interaction that implement a protective function of words that serve as masks for emotions. The essence of the metaphor "emotional masks" is revealed. The author justified the emotive approach to linguoecology, the understanding of the concepts of ecology, ecology of emotions, emotive linguoecology, the ecology of the use of words as protective masks for emotions. It is also argued why the method of emotional analysis is a subtle and reliable tool in working with emotional masks. The examples of texts demonstrating the manifestation of emotional masks are given with emphasizing the methodological importance of emotiology for inguistic ecology. The author gives the examples of lexical emotives acting as protective masks for certain emotions that are experienced but not expressed. It is specified from which of the verbally expressed emotions emotional masks can be formed. The motivation of appealing to emotional masks in communication are explained. It is clarified the reactive nature of emotions, and that area of linguoecological responsibility of communicants in emotional situations begins at the level of expression and, in particular, through using lexical emotives. It is assumed that the main function of the mask is not to pretend, but to protect. Keywords and phrases: emotions and words; expression of emotions; lexical emotives; masks; emotive linguoecology; linguoecology of emotional communication