Vol. 24 No. 1 (28) (2020)

The paper touches upon the idea that blending in Modern English might be (and in fact is) a productive means of word-formation, hence a limitless source of neologisms, due to their flexibility, and semantic and pragmatic valency. This type of language is an unavoidable consequence of the fast technological advances, political, economic and social changes that are documented in English as an international language of technology, negotiations, cultural issues, etc.

The paper is devoted to the etymological analysis of the names of chess pieces in Armenian and European languages with the help of the comparative method of analysis. The names of chess pieces have overcome a long way over the course of time starting from Oriental culture, then appearing in the Muslim world, afterwards making route to Europe. It is of great importance to look back to the etymology of the names of chess pieces in order to understand the morals of the game and to find out why those pieces appeared on the board.

The present paper is an attempt to analyze “A Modest Proposal” by J. Swift in the light of the Pretense Theory of Irony suggested by H. P. Grice. In his pamphlet Swift uses irony and satire to raise alarming problems concerning the low class people in Ireland in the 18th century and the indifference of British political system. The paper is aimed at analyzing what kind of means and techniques the author applies in reaching his goal. The Pretense Theory of Irony perfectly describes why Swift turns to the use of irony to raise some neglected problems of the time.

Social media has got to the point where it shapes our life and makes a great impact on it. This impact can be both positive and negative. The latter is especially noticeable when there is aggression in online communication. Offensive language serves many purposes in everyday discourse. The paper analyses the language of aggression in social media; it also reveals the effects of aggressive language on society. The results of the study show that speech aggression manifests itself in different ways։ vulgar language, such as curse words, taboos, colloquialisms, nicknaming, etc.

The present paper is a reflection on some of the conceptual discussions about graffiti and its broad applicability studied within the scope of linguistics in the recent years. The paper contains detailed information concerning the question what graffiti is and goes over the main linguistic features, their usage and functions as texts, as well as tries to reveal the contemporary tendencies of the development of graffiti along with the growing social, political or personal issues citizens experience every day. Along with the different achievements in the sphere of linguistics, graffiti should be considered as a model of communication. The paper aims to put the knowledge to use and to highlight the importance of studying graffiti texts from this new angle.

The present paper is an attempt to highlight some of the linguistic means of expressing verbal aggression in political communication. The object of investigation is the study of verbal aggression from pragmatic perspectives mainly focusing on the instances of verbal aggression in English-speaking politicians’ speeches aimed at revealing linguistic units used to verbally attack the opponent. The main task is to find a rapport between those language means and effects they produce as well as to analyze the level of their intensity based on the contexts they are unfolding in.

The present paper discusses the role of linguistics in marketing while communicating the brand story framed as a marketing content. Since the very primary origination of marketing, linguistics has taken a hand-in-hand approach with marketing leading to pre-defined gains of its strategic objectives. The paper attempts to display branding in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers’ mind, to showcase the heavy reliance of branding on language with its implicitly strategic influence on the customer’s perception, memory, attitudes and behaviour. In today’s global markets, in which companies seek to reach geographically and culturally distant groups of consumers, brand-naming processes require even greater attention than in the past.

The paper presents a cross-linguistic study of vague quantities expressed by non-numerical approximate quantifiers (non-NumAppQ) in English and Armenian. The research is carried out on two levels: semantic and structural. An attempt is made to reveal the similarities and differences of the constructions with approximators in both languages, with differences more observable on the structural level. Both the English and the Armenian languages exhibit various forms of expressing approximation with non-numerical quantifiers.
The structural study reveals that out of five basic patterns outlined in the research three patterns show almost direct equivalence and two patterns have no counterparts in the Armenian language.

The effectiveness of speech is mostly conditioned by the nature of linguostylistic devices used in it. The study of modern English media discourse enables us to categorize them in five main groups, which are based on devices’ phonetic, graphical, syntactic, allegoric features, as well as features based on wordplay. Phonetic features are particularly significant in the context of speech impact, as they make the advertising message more efficient. By means of creating a specific rhythmical image, they guarantee ads’ impressive sounding form and their fixation in mind. This in its turn increases the effectiveness of advertisements.

The paper expands on some peculiarities of English advertising media discourse, more specifically, it describes all those linguistic and extra-linguistic features which make advertisements more effective. The efficiency of speech impact is closely connected with individual consciousness and the main features of speech perception. Attraction of potential consumers’ attention as well as association of the product with some features are the primary and secondary basis of ads’ impact. The paper also expands on slogan’s features which have their role in memorization of ads’ message and formation of certain associations. The research has revealed that slogans’ emotional content and structure make it more unique and impressive.

The present paper examines the most popular views and approaches in Spanish linguistics regarding the definition and the classification of the phraseological unit, as well as the issue of the the scope of phraseology. A concise study of the problem allows us to conclude that in contemporary phraseological studies there are still no common views on the problem from the conceptual and terminological perspectives. It is also evident that from the linguocognitive viewpoint phraseological units are interpreted in a new way in phraseology.

The purpose of this paper is to present the semantic and pragmatic features of speech acts expressing flattery. Flattery is a means of expressing encouragement. It is considered false positive evaluation. It presupposes the influence of the listener’s thoughts and feelings and their actions through the speech acts expressing flattery. The intention of the flatterer is to reach his goal by disguising his plans and trying to please the listener and gain his approval with his verbal and non-verbal behaviour, pleasing the addressee and seeking to satisfy his glory. It is mainly expressed by phatic compliments and self-humiliating expressions. Depending on the circumstances the flatterer utters these expressions on the assumption that the hearer will recognize the intended effect. Thus, flattery can be expressed through different perlocutionary acts such as compliments, congratulations, as well as speech acts of admiration and approval, and its implementation is conditioned by the different status and role characteristics of the participants. The present paper is an attempt to outline the semantic and social peculiarities of these speech acts.

The paper studies the semantic features of ironic, sarcastic and contemptuous phrases in Armenian and English. Having distinct communicative nature, such phrases have emotional overtones and shades of meaning, which often lead to significant translation difficulties. The paper suggests some methods and principles of translation of the phraseological units under study, emphasizes the role of the context in this process, as well as reveals distortions and misinterpretations resulting from the lack of knowledge of the equivalent unit. 

The present paper is devoted to the study of active word-formation patterns used in Modern English to create taboo words. The aim of the paper is to show which patterns are commonly used in forming new taboo words. According to the research taboo words are formed after all possible word formation patterns. The study of 138 taboo units shows that almost half of them are simple (root) words, the rest are various analytical, synthetic forms and abbreviations, compounds or derivational words. Moreover, most of the compound taboo words are of analytical type and only few of them are abbreviations. One can conclude that taboo words, being an active and viable units of vocabulary, have historically developed along with other layers of the English word-stock.

The paper aims at analyzing the short stories by John Updike, a famous American prose writer of the second half of the 20th century. The writer is primarily known for his novels, however, the series of short stories constitute a significant part of his creative legacy, as they reflect the features of the author’s art world and his narration techniques. The paper, in particular, studies a series of short stories “Too Far to Go” illustrating the thematic, ideological, and compositional features. The research is also an attempt to unveil the artistic uniqueness of J. Updike’s prose.

The aim of the paper is to present the theme of blood ties and betrayal in Khaled Hosseini's novel “The Kite Runner” and to reveal a number of nuances typical for human relations in this context, which are important not only for understanding and interpreting fiction but also from the point of anthropology in general. Revealing the emotional experiences of the main character Amir and the realization of his guilt, the paper focuses on the motives of the call of the blood, nostalgia and living in a dream space.