The article explores the argumentative nature of political discourse, which, according to the authors, becomes the key to the analysis of the communicative strategy of persuasion. The aim of the research is a comparative analysis of speeches by Russian and Chinese politicians, identifying similarities and differences in the use of rhetorical devices when implementing the persuasion strategy, one of the key strategies of political interaction. The material for the study comprises the speech of experts from the political talk shows "60 Minutes" and "这就是中国" ("This is China"), whose communicative goal can be defined as an attempt to adjust the audience's attitude towards the issue under consideration, influence the addressee's opinion, and garner support for their ideas and beliefs. Communicative devices such as appeals to authority, appeals to values, references to historical experience, reliance on inherently true judgments (proverbs, sayings, aphorisms), and the presentation of statistical data are examined. The research is based on the linguistic methods of contextual and linguopragmatic analysis. A comparative analysis of the communicative devices used to implement the persuasion strategy in the Russian and Chinese media spaces allows for the identification of similarities and differences in the communicative tactics employed by representatives of both states to shape public opinion and control the information flow. Based on the conducted research, it was revealed that in Chinese political discourse, experts typically seek to use logic and facts to substantiate their arguments; talk show participants actively quote the words of prominent politicians and historical figures, and also refer to significant cultural concepts (unity, family). In turn, the speeches of participants in Russian political discourse are often oriented towards emotional impact rather than clear and logical argumentation. In Russian-language political discourse aimed at persuading an audience, one can often encounter individual authorial metaphors, instances of irony, and stylistically colloquial vocabulary. Attention is drawn to the cultural factors influencing the formation of communication styles and oratorical traditions in each country. The research results may be useful for understanding the principles and methods of persuasion in the political rhetoric of different cultures and can contribute to a deeper analysis of the interconnections between language, culture, and political communication. The author declares no conflicts of interests.
The fixed phrase scheme "To li delo + N1!" is examined using the methodology of the grammar of dynamic transformations of language. Its relevance stems from the uniqueness of this fixed phrase scheme, which represents a challenging object of study within the theory of syntactic phraseology, as evidenced by the absence of relevant scholarly works. The aim is to describe this fixed phrase scheme in terms of the theory of phraseologization and the theory of grammaticalization. The fixed phrase scheme under study is examined diachronically and synchronically (in etymological, structural-semantic, paradigmatic, syntagmatic, and functional aspects). Descriptive and transformational methods are employed, along with methods of componential analysis of the propositional sentence structure, syntactic modeling, phraseological, grammatical, and etymological analysis, among others. The empirical material was extracted through continuous sampling from literary works of the 19th-21 st centuries. It has been established that the fixed phrase scheme "To li delo + N1!" was formed on the basis of a syntactic construction with the disjunctive conjunction to li..., to li... over several stages. The compound fixed component to li delo is entirely deactualized. Cases of its structural variation (omission of the lexeme delo) have been identified, as well as the partial actualization of the internal form of the lexeme delo and its transition to the status of an obligatory variable component. The word order of the construction's components is fixed; expandability is rare. However, the fixed phrase scheme can enter into subordinative relationships with other sentences, functioning as the main clause of a complex sentence. The fixed phrase scheme is characterized by the presence of partial idiomaticity of the dictum and complete idiomaticity of the modus. This fixed phrase scheme is agrammatical. This is manifested in the omission of the second part of the disjunctive conjunction to li... to li., as well as the second coordinate part of the sentence; in the violation of lexico-grammatical combinability of the obligatory fixed and variable components. The fixed phrase scheme is non-derivative, confirming the validity of its classification as a phraseological fusion. All source constructions and resulting constructions are described for the first time in the aspect of grammaticalization: a set of features and their degree of grammaticalization are established. The number of prerequisites for grammaticalization in the resulting fixed phrase scheme is approximately twice as high as in the source construction, and the grammaticalization index is three times higher. Based on the fixed phrase scheme "To li delo + N1!", the communiceme To li delo! was formed, which within its class of syntactic phraseological units also belongs to fusions. The tools of the grammar of dynamic transformations of language were applied to communicemes for the first time. It has been established that it possesses an even greater number of prerequisites for grammaticalization and a higher grammaticalization index. Communicemes represent the endpoint in the development of processes of phraseologization and grammaticalization of syntactic constructions. Thanks to the chosen research approach, one of the pathways of phraseologization and grammaticalization of syntactic constructions has been studied. This provides insight into the formation of both individual syntactic constructions and the language system as a whole. The author declares no conflicts of interests.
The study compares the concepts of MODESTY: skromnost’ in Russian and 谦 in Chinese within the respective linguistic worldviews, based on a linguistic experiment with native speakers of Russian and Chinese. The object of the study is the lexical representatives of the concepts of skromnost ’ and 谦 identified during the experiment. The study focuses on the linguacultural specificity in the structure of these equivalent concepts in the Russian and Chinese linguistic worldviews. The study is based on the results of a linguistic experiment conducted in 2018 and 2022 among two groups of respondents - native speakers of Russian and Chinese. A total of 120 respondents took part in the experiment: 60 Russians and 60 Chinese. The questionnaire included four tasks aimed at a comprehensive approach: a chain associative experiment aimed at identifying the main composition of cognitive features of the concept; defining a wide nominative field of the concepts skromnost’ 谦 identifying figurative features within the composition of the concepts as well as pos sible stereotypical and prototypical ideas about the bearer of modesty; and verifying the data obtained by identifying the main areas of activity with which native speakers associate manifestations of modesty. The experiment showed that the concepts skromnost’ and while sharing core conceptual features (ideas about a person with a certain set of internal qualities - silence, restraint, shyness - and a typical appearance), have a different structure in the area of figurative and value features. Thus, the Russian concept of skromnost ’ has an ambivalent structure, combining a positive perception of a person with a negative one (simplicity, poverty, lack of originality). The Chinese concept 谦 is built on a stereotypical idea of a person shaped by Confucianism. The formation of different stereotypes of a modest person (the Russian image of a modest girl and the Chinese image of a middle-aged man) and different conceptual metaphors in the structure of the concept (the image of a grey mouse for Russians and hollow bamboo for the Chinese) are associated with differences in the set of nuclear and perinuclear features. In addition, the influence of the Confucian worldview dominant and the fixation of a strictly defined prototypical image of a modest person in Chinese culture lead to a somewhat smaller variety of means of representing the concept, albeit with a significantly larger number of etiquette formulas and proverbs. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.
The article examines the diary entries of Vera Bunina, the wife of the famous writer Ivan Bunin, for March-April and December 1933, which deal with Germany, where Adolf Hitler came to power in January 1933. The author shows that the entries for March-April mainly reflect socio-political discussions at the Villa Belvedere (France, Alpes-Maritimes). Participants in these discussions included Ilya Fondaminsky (a political figure and co-editor of the Paris journal Sovremennye Zapiski), the philosopher Fyodor Stepun, Ivan Bunin, Vera Bunina, and the young writers Galina Kuznetsova and Leonid Zurov. Vera Bunina’s own authorial position (in the form of comments) is almost absent from these entries. In contrast, the diary entries for December 1933, made during Ivan Bunin’s trip to Stockholm to receive the Nobel Prize and back to Paris (accompanied by his secretary, j ournalist Andrei Sedykh [Y akov Tsvibak], Vera Bunina, and Galina Kuznetsova), are purely subjective, as they reflect the personal impressions of these individuals. These entries are mostly everyday sketches, landscapes, and regional studies “from nature”. On their journey, Ivan Bunin and his companions passed through Hanover and Hamburg, stopping in Dresden and Berlin on the way back. Their attitude toward Germany - which they had discussed extensively in the spring - and which they now saw with their own eyes, can be described as generally positive, perhaps because it was determined primarily by their aesthetic sense and nostalgia: they liked German cleanliness, order, appearance, courtesy, punctuality, the winter scenery outside the car window, the restaurant entourage in Hamburg, and the general atmosphere, which reminded them of pre-revolutionary Russia. Based on the diary entries presented in the article, the author concludes that in 1933, Ivan and Vera Bunin and their immediate entourage (with the exception of Ilya Fondaminsky and Fyodor Stepun, who were staunch opponents of National Socialism) did not see German Nazism as a threat to the stability and security of Europe and, consequently, did not anticipate the global military and political cataclysms that were initiated by the Hitler regime. This is largely because the Bunins belonged to that very significant part of the Russian emigration that considered National Socialism a more or less effective alternative to Bolshevism. The author declares no conflicts of interests.
The study compares the concepts of MODESTY: skromnost' in Russian and (sic)i in Chinese within the respective linguistic worldviews, Abased on a linguistic experiment with native speakers of Russian and Chinese. The object of the study is the lexical representatives of the concepts of skromnost' and (sic)identified during the experiment. The study focuses on the linguacultural specificity in the structure of these equivalent concepts in the Russian and Chinese linguistic worldviews. The study is based on the results of a linguistic experiment conducted in 2018 and 2022 among two groups of respondents-native speakers of Russian and Chinese. A total of 120 respondents took part in the experiment: 60 Russians and 60 Chinese. The questionnaire included four tasks aimed at a comprehensive approach: a chain associative experiment aimed at identifying the main composition of cognitive features of the concept; defining a wide nominative field of the concepts skromnost' /(sic); identifying figurative features within the composition of the concepts as well as possible stereotypical and prototypical ideas about the bearer of modesty; and verifying the data obtained by identifying the main areas of activity with which native speakers associate manifestations of modesty. The experiment showed that the concepts skromnost' and (sic), while sharing core conceptual features (ideas about a person with a certain set of internal qualities-silence, restraint, shyness-and a typical appearance), have a different structure in the area of figurative and value features. Thus, the Russian concept of skromnost' has an ambivalent structure, combining a positive perception of a person with a negative one (simplicity, poverty, lack of originality). The Chinese concept (sic)is built on a stereotypical idea of a person shaped by Confucianism. The formation of different stereotypes of a modest person (the Russian image of a modest girl and the Chinese image of a middle-aged man) and different conceptual metaphors in the structure of the concept (the image of a grey mouse for Russians and hollow bamboo for the Chinese) are associated with differences in the set of nuclear and perinuclear features. In addition, the influence of the Confucian worldview dominant and the fixation of a strictly defined prototypical image of a modest person in Chinese culture lead to a somewhat smaller variety of means of representing the concept, albeit with a significantly larger number of etiquette formulas and proverbs.
