The article aims to explore how the metaphors representing cognitive processes, common to European philosophical discourse, were reconceptualized in the XVII philosophical discourse. Integrating the methods of cognitive and corpus linguistics we show that Ralf Cudworth complicates the model of representing human cognition by combining two image-schemas of SURFACE and CONTAINER. He challenges the passive model of knowledge acquisition embodied in the metaphor of an imprint on a wax tablet or a sign on paper. The focus shifts from the object to the subject of knowledge: it is not external objects that leave imprints on the passive soul, but the soul itself that possesses innate activity and power to drive its perception and process it within the mind - a kind of storage space. He uses these schemas in similar contexts arguing that the cognitive processes are much more complicated than leaving an imprint on a SURFACE. Finally, we show that the metaphor of looking glass, mirror, crystal globe that he introduces is a way to resolve epistemological contradiction between the world of objects and the world of ideas, between static perception and the inherent dynamics of the cognitive process, between the insoluble dualism of corporeality and disembodied thinking. Through integrating the results from corpus and cognitive analyses we show the place of the introduced term - consciousness - in this model of human cognitive processes. Overall, the integrated analysis allows us to reconstruct the nuances of the deep conceptual structures underlying both the use of metaphors and the development of philosophical discourse.
The article presents an interpretation of an unpublished letter from David Burliuk to the Tambov collector N.A. Nikiforov (1964) through the prism of the concept of entelechism developed by the “father of Russian futurism”. It establishes that the text under study is a unique epistolary document in which poetic, graphic and biographical registers intersect, allowing one to perceive the letter as a synthetic self-portrait of the artist at the end of his life. The language of Burliuk’s epistolary genre, which acts as the general theoretical basis of entelechy, reflects the linguistic features of the author’s handwriting, his worldview and self-image. At the same time, the concept of entelechy serves not only as an object of analysis, but also as a methodological tool that makes it possible to reconstruct the emotional and existential state of the author and demonstrate the heuristic potential of entelechy as a humanitarian method. The authors prove that the text of Burliuk’s letter reflects the features of personal auto-correction and a meaningful reassessment of his own creative path. Replacing the gloomy metaphor of death with the image of the “the delight of wandering” reveals the content of the letter as an act of philosophical reorientation: it contains the power of a gaze directed not towards the past, but towards the internally destined completion of the creative movement towards entelechy as the actualization of life in art.
In line with cognitive-semantic theory, the theory of the epistemological foundations of categorization, the theory of semantic stratification, interpretive semantics, and the theory of precedent, this article examines the semantics of a linguistic sign as a carrier of precedent knowledge about the world. The study investigates the cognitive foundations of derived linguistic signs that are relevant for their secondary categorization. The author substantiates the epistemic (knowledge-based) component of the semantics of linguistic precedent signs as a nuclear one. This semantic component constitutes the interpretative (hermeneutic) potential of linguistic precedent signs. It is motivated by different types of knowledge, all reducible to one categorically significant type - precedent knowledge. Using specific linguistic examples, it is demonstrated that the meaning of grammatical and lexical precedent signs is grounded in precedent meaning as a product of precedent thinking. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the substantiation of the categorically significant epistemic foundations of the precedent sign. This also indicates the theoretical significance of the presented material for the further development of the semantic theory of the epistemological foundations of categorization in language and the general theory of precedent in linguistics. The research methods employed include explanatory description, methods of cognitive and conceptual-taxonomic modeling, precedent-based reasoning, and conceptual-definitional and propositional analysis. The author concludes that the meaning of a precedent sign is not a given, but rather a construct shaped by precedent knowledge.
The article presents a sociolinguistic analysis of the phenomenon of uptalk in contemporary English-language communication. The subject of the study is the prosodic pattern of rising intonation in declarative utterances (uptalk). The aim of the work is to identify the extralinguistic factors determining the use of this intonation model, to analyze its pragmatic functions, and to examine the mechanisms of stigmatization associated with its usage. The research methodology is based on a comprehensive approach combining analysis of theoretical literature (works by R. Lakoff, P. Warren, P. Roach) with an empirical study of video content from the TikTok platform, selected through continuous sampling method. The main results demonstrate that uptalk performs important communicative functions: establishing and maintaining contact with the listener, regulating turn-taking in conversation, softening categorical statements, and creating a cooperative tone of communication. The analysis of TikTok videos reveals that uptalk serves as a tool for building trustful communication and retaining audience attention in digital environments. The findings contribute to the fields of sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and digital communication studies, and can be applied in further research on language changes in new media. The study concludes that uptalk should be regarded not as language degradation, but as a significant linguistic innovation with specific social and pragmatic functions, effectively serving as a conversational tool for dialogue management and rapport building in the digital era.
Conditional connections in language are fundamental types of connections that express the logic of thinking. In modern science, they play a key role in artificial programming languages. In application to specific languages, these connections vary considerably and are used to express not only formal logical dependencies, but also relationships that go beyond formal logic. The article is devoted to the study of one type of such connections in the constructions wenn/falls/sofern überhaupt in modern German. The aim of the article is to determine the degree of idiomaticity and categorical status of constructions that are being considered in German studies for the first time. The study revealed varying degrees of idiomatization of constructions with synonymous conjunctions. Functioning as non-integrated into the structure of the sentence, parentheses ensure the transition of constructions from the status of subordination to the status of a commentary on the position of the subject of speech.
This study is devoted to the problem of the relationship and interdependence of natural and artistic communication that manifest themselves in participants’ speech behavior in the process of interpersonal communication as well as in the principles of speakers’ motivated choice of certain linguistic units for the implementation of specific (similar) pragmatic tasks in both types of communication. The paper aims to develop the approach to identifying the pragmatic authenticity of artistic communication based on the discourse of feature films. A specially compiled cinematic corpus is used as the source of material. It includes contemporary British drama films, selected according to the criteria that correspond to the purpose of our study. The paper proposes a step-by-step algorithm for studying contact-terminating means (CTM) as indicators of “naturalness” of the characters’ speech behavior. The research conducted resulted in establishing twelve pragmatic types of CTM that were classified into conventional (e.g., parting, thanking) and non-conventional (e.g., stance-taking, approval). One of the important indicators of pragmatic authenticity is the formulaicity of CTM. The presence of formulaic elements in conventional CTM (e.g., See you soon, Keep in touch ) increases the level of “naturalness” of cinematic discourse, while their use in non-conventional CTM (e.g., He’s all right, I’m sorry ) decreases it. The research findings let us formulate PRO- and CONTRA-arguments regarding the pragmatic authenticity of the analyzed film dialogues. The main conclusion is that along with the reproduction of CTM from real-life communication (more than 50% of cases), films apply non-standard means of closing the conversation, determined by the need to implement specific artistic-aesthetic tasks in them.
The paper aims at the analysis and systematization of linguistic means of evaluating the results of three main types of professional activity: intellectual, physical and combined, from the perspective of a cognitive approach. Three relevant conceptual fields have been selected as representing examples of these activities: SCIENCE, SPORTS, and ART. On exploring the material of three languages (Russian, English, and German), the authors conclude that knowledge about a professional activity result has a multidimensional, matrix character as it encompasses various cognitive contexts related to different specific types and spheres of professional activities. Proceeding from this conclusion, they argue the necessity of employing the method of cognitive matrix analysis to study its structure and content that in turn determine the choice of linguistic evaluation means. Modeling of knowledge about professional activity results required the construction of general and specific cognitive matrices as units of multidimensional knowledge about each area of research respectively, which the authors present in the article aligning it with the description of means of their linguistic representation and evaluation. By applying the matrix-based format of knowledge representation, the research uncovers the underlying cognitive mechanisms that govern evaluative conceptualization, thereby contributing a novel perspective to the understanding of how professional activities are linguistically encoded and assessed within specific yet comparable domains.
This article explores the goal of speech utterances at the intersection of metapragmatics and metacognition. It aims to determine the role of the mindfulness mechanism in achieving communicative goals by explicating verbal markers of metacognitive monitoring. At the pre-verbal stage, mindfulness is accompanied by metacognitive monitoring, which evaluates the speaker’s cognitive activity and enhances their flexibility in defining, implementing, and verbalizing situationally relevant utterance goals. Drawing on 20th and 21st-century English fiction, the study employs pragmatic, discourse, definitional, contextual, and cognitive analysis. The research identifies the stages of conscious communicative goal setting and establishes its key criteria: pre-speech mindfulness, strategic choice of verbalization, implicit goal implementation under conscious control, and perlocutionary effects involving reflection and metapragmatic awareness. Additionally, the paper highlights levels of mindfulness (high, medium, low) within the proposed model and delineates the role of cognitive monitoring. These findings contribute to the understanding of speech activity at the goal-setting stage, integrating insights from a cognitive-pragmatic perspective.
This study examines the linguistic and poetic construction of the toponym the River Kayala in the medieval Slavic epic “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”. Its primary objective is to demonstrate how this key image functions as a sophisticated artistic metaphor. The analysis employs an interdisciplinary methodology, integrating textual linguistics and literary analysis to investigate the interplay between the phrase’s grammatical structure, its etymological connection to the verb kayati (to repent), and its contextual semantics. The research establishes that the metaphor is systematically built through a triad of linguistic mechanisms: the structural irregularity of the phrase itself, its potent etymological linkage, and its strategic placement in locative contexts that chart a symbolic progression from military catastrophe towards spiritual purification and potential renewal. Consequently, the study posits that grammatical form and contextual deployment act as primary, complementary tools for metaphorization within the poem’s unique poetics. These findings contribute to Slavic literary studies and linguistic poetics, providing an analytical model for deciphering complex symbolic topoi in medieval texts. The study concludes that the River Kayala transcends a mere geographical reference, evolving into a dynamic, multi-layered metaphor for a spiritual journey, thereby highlighting the instrumental role of grammar in artistic meaning-making.
The article is devoted to the phenomenon of semantic development of qualitative adjectives in the languages of professional communication. The author focuses on terms and professionalisms which include the components “clean”, “blind”, “soft”. In the course of the analysis, the author establishes specific features of professional objects (objects, processes, relationships), which are conceptualized using adjectival components in terms and professionalisms. The language material allows us to group the features of special objects expressed with the help of adjectives, and on this basis to speak about expanding their semantics. The adjective “pure” serves to update the true knowledge about the object, i.e. its full compliance with professionally significant characteristics. The adjective “blind” in the special nomination actualizes one of the three features of the object: “lack of visual control”, “incompleteness of information”, “closed nature of an object”. The adjective “soft” has the most extensive network of features in professional languages, among which the features “short-lived” and “implicitly expressed” are relatively new.
The article purpose is analyzing metaphors with a pragmatic vector of dehumanization used in the genre of Telegram messages. The material for the study is metaphorical contexts in messages of popular Telegram channels in Ukraine in 2022-2023. The study is carried out in line with the cognitive-discursive approach based on the provisions of the theory of conceptual metaphor and the theory of metaphorical modeling. The analysis revealed that the dehumanization of the image of Russia is carried out through metaphorical nominations that go back to such source domains as “Animals”, “Religion”, “Substance” and “Mechanism”, which are assigned destructive meanings in the mass consciousness. Metaphorical projections involve various mechanisms of dehumanization, ranging from attributing a bestial essence to the target concept and demonization to reducing the ontology of the phenomena being comprehended to the status of inanimate matter. This allows for the formation of an ambivalent image of Russia. On the one hand, Russia is conceptualized as a terrible threat not only for Ukraine, but also for the entire world, which emphasizes the need for Western countries to unite their forces to combat this threat. On the other hand, Russia is portrayed as an insignificant and failed state whose citizens do not deserve a place among “civilized” people. The pragmatic meaning of the mechanisms of dehumanization is aimed at leveling moral responsibility since murdering people is not ethically equivalent to killing aggressive animals or destroying mechanisms.
The object of the article is modal words, particles and interjections, and the subject matter is their ethnocultural specificity and their role in the manifestation of communicative ethnostyle. The main methods employed in the analysis are lingvopragmatic, comparative, inferential and contextual-situational methods of analysis. As the analysis revealed, the specificity of these function words consists in the fact that they constitute the modus of the sentence and express a wide range of modal and emotive meanings which serve as distinct markers of communicative ethnostyle. Thus, the historical tradition to clearly express the difference between knowledge and opinion, as well as the tradition of not mixing ideas and emotions find manifestation in the epistemic commitment, characteristic of the English communicative style which finds representation in the wide variety and frequent use of modal words in English. The high degree of emotionality, characteristic of the Russian national character, the tendency towards the reduction of communicative distance between speakers, on the one hand, and the high degree of assertiveness, on the other, find manifestation in the great variety of particles which express a wide range of modal and emotive meanings. The cross-linguistic asymmetry presents a challenge both for translation and cross-cultural communication. The knowledge of the semantics and pragmatic potential of these parts of speech, the ability to infer their covert meanings and to reconstruct the cognitive scripts which determine their use are an important marker of the authenticity of our speech in a foreign language, and their correct use plays an important role in cross-cultural communication.
The aim of the work identifing the linguistic representation of cultural identity in the Russian magazine “Pravila Zhizni”. In the process of analyzing the texts of the publication, six key components of the representation of cultural identity were identified, which are regularly present in issues: Homeland, family, past, language codes, one’s own/ someone else’s, cultural heritage. These components are isolated from the analysis of a specific set of texts and are structured according to the frequency of their mention and semantic role. The analysis units are selected fragments of interviews, collections of quotations and headlines in which the characteristics of cultural and national identity are represented thematically and using linguistic means. Special attention was paid to the analysis of such linguistic means as stable constructions, metaphors, vocabulary with national and cultural markings and stylistically colored elements through which cultural meanings are actualized in texts. As a result of the analysis, a systematic representation of cultural identity is recorded, based on the interaction of themes, linguistic formulas and communicative strategies. The publication's discourse focuses on the idea of continuity, the value of family traditions, respect for the national past, and understanding cultural dynamics through personal stories and emotional reflection.
The article analyses media text influence-effecting potential and the way it facilitates media text main function implementation (influence on the addressee) from the perspective of a cognitive approach. This approach focuses on the study of cognitive and language structures in their correlation that can give a deeper insight into media text conceptual structure. The authors argue that this conceptual structure comprises not only the information the author of a media text is conveying but also his \ her individual interpretation of facts and events described in the text. Within this framework the authors term a media text interpretative constituent as media interpretant and state that it determines media text influence-effecting potential in general. This interpretant presumably implies author’s dissembled intention to impose certain perspective of perception and conceptualisation of facts and events on the addressee. To explore the structure and identify the media interpretant main components, the authors propose a special method of interpretative-matrix analysis that derives from a general conceptual-interpretative method and shares some cognitive-matrix analysis techniques. This method makes it possible to construe and describe a system of cognitive contexts as knowledge domains regarding to which facts and events receive a media text author’s interpretation. Furthermore, it helps to trace the cognitive basis of a media text influence-effecting potential development.
The research addresses the problem of exploring communicative practices of information comprehension and transfer in the multimodal behavior of Russian language learners. To proceed, the study appeals to multimodal discourse construal theories which view discourse in its perception (in gaze behavior) and generation (in speech and gesture behavior). Discourse construal requires both verbal and non-verbal performance, which necessitates the research on the distribution of speech, gaze and gestures to be further integrated into the teaching process. To comply with the problem, this study reports the results of the multimodal experiment where two participant groups with language proficiency levels B1/B2 and C1/C2, first read and then reported the contents of descriptive discourse fragments. The study aims to identify the characteristics of gaze perception of the fragments of descriptive discourse as well as speech and gesture patterns in the participants’ accounts mediated by language proficiency level. We hypothesize that the multimodal behavior of readers and speakers is determined by the local discourse structure regarding its communicative, narrative, rhetorical relations and the relations describing speech disfluencies; additionally, the level of language proficiency affects the relations distribution and their further multimodal realization. The research data are 40 records of gaze behavior registered while reading and 40 records of speech and gesture behavior in the spoken accounts of participants rendering the obtained information to an interested listener. At the stage of discourse perception, we observed the differences in total fixation time and number of saccades in the areas of interest concomitant with the rhetorical relation of Joint; these metrics were higher in the C1/C2 learners’ group. At the stage of discourse generation, we revealed significant differences in all types of relations in the speech of two groups, with the highest differences found in the distribution of communicative relations Agreement and Metadiscursive, narrative relation Setting, rhetorical relations Interpretation and Joint, speech disfluencies relations Correction and Repetition. The gesture distribution showed specificity within two groups which ranked higher with the relations Repetition and Hesitation. The results evidence of a growing necessity to form the communicative practices of learners as mediated by local discourse structure, as well as reveal the ontology of these relations in the multimodal discourse of foreign language learners.
The present paper using the material of the English language considers the features of communicative mitigation in television medical discourse. The aim of the study is to identify the types and means of mitigation in the speech genre of medical advice with the analysis being performed on 15 episodes of Access Health TV show. The following methods are applied to fulfill the aim: critical analysis of theoretical works, pragmalinguistic analysis, descriptive and interpretative methods, content analysis and quantitative method, corpus analysis with the help of AntConc program. The results show that mitigation plays a significant role in the television medical discourse with 72 mitigative units being found in 20 texts under analysis. The article introduces the examples representing propositional and deictic types of mitigation. The authors come to the conclusion that mitigation contributes to a more effective interaction by helping doctor sound less imperative and build atmosphere of comfort and trust. The results of the study may be applied in both theoretical and practical fields. As for the latter, they might be useful for doctors and TV journalists whose goal is to communicate with the audience effectively.
The article purpose is to substantiating an additional criterion for systematizing trigger statements in the form of a category of non-intentionality and to outlining the prospects for researching triggers in a dialogical approach to communication and cognition. The author has identified a group of non-intentional triggers as spontaneous statements with public resonance and unifying potential. The article designates the status of non-intentionality of speech triggers with an emphasis on hybrid forms of communication. In such statements, the intention of influence is absent, and the performative force of the statement changes under the influence of external factors. The definition of non-intentional trigger statements is presented, the mechanisms of their formation in the form of recontextualization are described. The study complements the existing classifications of trigger statements and the methodology for their identification. In speech act expression trigger statements represent both single acts and implicit argumentation of a point of view. The analysis showed that non-intentional trigger statements appeal to trigger topoi in society and form the concept of new ethics in which imperatives in society are formed through the reflection of cognitive agents of communication. The findings of the study have practical significance in the form of developing tools for monitoring public opinion. The theoretical significance consists in new data on the technique of communicative modeling in the form of an agentive structure.
This paper examines the interpretive potential of conceptual metaphors across different languages. It focuses on the mechanisms that lead to metaphorical projections, reflecting the cultural and linguistic characteristics of English, Uzbek and Spanish. The work is connected to a cognitive analysis of conceptual metaphors, enabling a comparative study across these languages. The study aims to identify the cognitive mechanisms behind the formation of metaphorical projections and to determine the commonalities and unique features of conceptual metaphors influenced by national and cultural factors. The methodology involves cognitive analysis and a comparative examination of metaphorical transfers in different languages. Techniques of conceptual analysis are employed to establish how native speakers of each language metaphorically conceptualise reality. The study uncovers both similarities and differences in the formation of conceptual metaphors in English, Uzbek and Spanish, along with their relationships to cultural factors. It has been determined that these conceptual metaphors not only reflect linguistic features but also illustrate how speakers from different cultures perceive the world. The findings can be applied in the fields of cognitive linguistics, intercultural communication, translation studies and foreign language education, with consideration for the national and cultural aspects of metaphorical thinking. In conclusion, metaphor serves not only as a stylistic device but also as a vital mechanism for conceptualising reality, shedding light on the worldview of native speakers.
The article aims to analyze the main metaphors used to describe the process of thinking - their variation and evolution in philosophical discourse from antient and medieval philosophy to early Modern English one. Numerous metaphors analyzed are shown to fall into two classes of image-schemas: SURFACE and CONTAINER. They were previously supposed to be in a sharp opposition to each other being manifestations of different periods. The work considers them as a dynamic system of understanding the relationship between the subject and the object of thinking through cognitive linguistic methodology (cognitive metaphor and image-schema theory). The major finding is that the whole variety of metaphors used by different philosophers fundamentally relies on either of two schemas - SURFACE or CONTAINER. However, the relationship between these schemas is more complicated and particular metaphors are used in similar contexts. In this case there is a different profiling of certain parts of the image-schemas in dynamics and a gradual complication of the idea of cognitive processes as represented in philosophical discourse.
This article examines the distortion of cognitive processes in media discourse through conceptual projection mechanisms that facilitate manipulative impact. The study focuses on climate change discourse in English-language media to analyze how manipulators strategically distort conceptual projections to induce predictable cognitive errors in recipients. The research employs conceptual analysis, frame analysis, conceptual metaphor theory, and discourse analysis methods. Material includes articles from major outlets (Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Guardian) and broadcasts from Fox News, CNN, and BBC, representing both conservative and liberal climate positions. Results reveal three key cognitive mechanisms enabling manipulative projection: framing (selective highlighting of reality aspects), scripting (exploitation of culturally-conditioned scenarios), and emotionalization (embedding affective states into projections). These mechanisms generate specific cognitive biases including confirmation bias, attribution errors, availability heuristic, and emotional prejudice. The study develops an enhanced polydomain integrative mega-model of media manipulation, incorporating opposing manipulative discourses and introducing a “gray zone” of half-truths. Applications include developing counter-strategies against climate discourse manipulation and facilitate understanding cognitive vulnerabilities in mass communication. The research demonstrates how conceptual deviations in interdomain projections systematically undermine critical thinking, leading audiences to accept manipulative messages as authentic information.
