Vol. 21 No. 1 (22) (2017)

The aim of the current paper is to study the separate as well as the general characteristic features of diplomatic and political discourses. Traditionally the diplomatic and political discourses were studied as two separate disciplines, with the exception of few researchers who observe the two spheres as inseparable units existing side by side and as a rule completing each other. Our analysis has shown that the diplomatic and political discourses are closely connected: they share general characteristics with the key notion of language, still either of them has obtained specific features.

During the last decade the internet and the development of gaming consoles like Nintendo, Sony PlayStation and Xbox extended the number of worldwide video game players. Games and gaming culture have become a significant part of our everyday life. They are mostly used as entertainment activity. However, they have a significant role in educational and professional fields as well. Video games are both tools and objects of learning, cross-cultural communication and the promotion of values. The main aim of thе paper is to study the video game language from an EFL perspective, attempting to identify some peculiarities of the given type of discourse.

As science grows rapidly, in different languages new terms are created and formed according to certain word formation and grammatical rules. The aim of the current paper is the study of word formation strategies of medical terminology in English and Armenian. The results of the survey reveal that in both languages most medical terms have Greek and Latin origin. Naturally, both languages have enriched their medical terminology by borrowing terms from German, French, in case of English, and Persian, Arabic, Russian, in case of Armenian. Recently many medical terms have paved their way into Armenian either directly from English or via English. Unlike English, where loanwords are mostly used in adapted or partially adapted forms, in Armenian native equivalents are more preferable. The results of the study show that language planning is part of Armenian language policy and government policy, the number of loan translations (calques), loan renditions, loan creations and hybrids are more than the number of loan words in Armenian medical terminology.

The paper discusses “vagueness” as one of the characteristic features of the diplomatic language which successfully meets the demands of its implication. The prudent application of this “tricky” phenomenon is revealed in public speeches and diplomatic documents, such as the UN General Assembly resolutions, UN Security Council Press Releases, etc. The paper also focuses on certain methods of identification and teaching of this linguistic tool.

George Orwell’s novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” (first published in 1949) is a totalitarian dystopia in which the focus is on language as a political medium to conceal the truth from the public, to manipulate and brainwash people, to make them accept all propaganda as unmistakable. Orwell succeeds in demonstrating clearly that the modern use of English, more precisely the abuse and misuse of the English word, is a powerful mind-control tool able to destruct human will and spirit, destroy real beauty and happiness in the society. This is exactly done by the new words of the Newspeak language (created by Orwell) which is the object of a discourse stylistics case study in the present paper based on the qualitative stylistic method of analysis to highlight the linguistic features of Orwell’s new words that evoke literary (and emotional) experiences for the readers, to reveal the stylistic peculiarities of Orwell’s word of fiction, as well as the linguistic and extra-linguistic aspects conditioning the creation and functioning of the mentioned linguistic units.

Japanese borrowings which have recently been adopted into English have as yet been relatively neglected in current research. The present study sets out to shed light on the impact of Japanese on the English lexicon since 1900. The findings presented in this paper are based on a comprehensive lexicographical corpus of 323 twentieth-century Japanese borrowings retrieved from the Oxford English Dictionary Online. The different Japanese words introduced into English in the recent past will be grouped into various domains in order to give an overview of the manifold subject areas influenced by Japanese during the last few decades.

As one of the vital means of regulating interpersonal relations, apology helps to restore and maintain harmonious relations between interlocutors. Apology is often viewed as a hybrid speech act that encompasses various communicative intentions. In the present paper an attempt is made to classify the main apology speech situations, as well as to present some of the structural, functional and communicative-pragmatic peculiarities of these situations.

Phatic communication depends on the recognition of a communicative intention. This statement does not link phatic talk to pragmatic functions, but does reflect the fact that phatic utterances should be interpreted not only linguistically but also pragmatically. Proceeding from the assumption that the main aim of phatic communication is to establish and maintain social relationships between the speaker and the hearer, the paper aims at revealing the pragmatic and communicative functions of phatic talk on the basis of examples being selected from popular films and literature.

Literary and poetic discourses can best be described as means of aesthetic experience, which is primarily expressed in verbal art, distinguishing literary discourse from scientific and philosophical ones. The paper reveals the actualization of figurative expressions in philosophical ideas and in the psychological analysis of characters in “Balthazar” by Lawrence Durrell, which enhances the aesthetic impact of the work.

The study of word-building synonymy was often observed at the level of separate words. Meanwhile, the analysis of larger units of lexical categories allows to reveal the close relationship between synonymic series and lexical category, to define some general regularity of semantic development of separate words and wordformation types.

The text is the outcome of the functioning of the phenomenological and linguistic cognitive structures of the speaking individual’s presupposition base. Text cohesion, as a rule, heavily relies on frame, stereotype semantics. Among all linguistic cognitive structures in store very often the speaking individual gives preference to lexical inclusion when structuring a text which in fact reflects the predictable, presuppositional structure of the frame, stereotype.

Cultural phenomena are abundantly manifested in different genres of folklore, which include and preserve asynchronous realities of people belonging to a specific culture. Due to its particular types which are rich in resistant formulaic phrases the language becomes more vivid, concise and meaningful. In this paper with the study of examples taken from various genres of Armenian and British folklore an attempt is made to reveal people's perception of such formulaic phrases as “living water” and “boundless sea” in two opposite meanings: the former as life giving while the latter as killing.

The main aim of the paper is to reveal allomorphic and isomorphic features of non-absolute tense forms in Armenian and English. The analysis is performed on dichotomy language-speech: tense forms are studied in a definite context. Such an approach gives an opportunity to outline properties of verbal forms in “lively” speech. Firstly, are defined such concepts as grammatical tense, absolute tense, non-absolute tense and their correlatives in English. Secondly, are distinguished the patterning of non-absolute tense forms and their semantic-functional traits in the languages under study.

The paper studies linguistic and discourse means of expressing intentional and unintentional implicit meaning in the dialogue. It deals with the examination of verbal intention and unintentionally expressed additional meanings. Special attention is paid to the means and ways of conveying unintentional implicitness.

Sociological extrapolation is an important factor conditioning the juxtaposition of reason and imagination in science fiction discourse. The paper discusses the sociological references (sociological theories and postulates, real social relations) and their reflection in the linguistic and extra-linguistic reality of science fiction.

The paper is devoted to the study of structural and semantic peculiarities of the language of diplomacy as a substyle of official documents. It examines diplomatic documents of application for agrément, agrément and credential, through which states regulate the appointment of ambassadors and the establishment of interstate relations. The international rules of drawing up documents and the special set of linguistic units are characteristic of diplomatic correspondence.

The paper deals with the notion of “telescoping”, topical for modern linguistics. Notwithstanding the great amount of studies devoted to the various aspects of the given phenomenon, there is no systematized approach to the problem of defining the status and semantics of telescopic units. The analysis has shown that telescopic units are used in different spheres of modern life. A word composed by means of telescoping combines several meanings, which lead to the economy of verbal means in a compressed “coded” form realizing the communicative approach to the use of the language as a means of cross-cultural communication.

The paper touches upon the special nature of pronouns conditioned by their deictability and its specific pragmasemantic features. Pronouns have their own type of deixis, which results from their cognitive-pragmatic characteristics and consists in the coexistence of the two layers in their meaning: that of “lexical content” as well as “pragmatic content” which helps to complete the proposition expressed.

The paper touches upon the issue of correlation between the structural peculiarities of absolute constructions and their functional loading. The investigation is based upon the division of the considered constructions into homo- and hetero-subject, which are characterized by consecutive and parallel connection with the main clause. This classification, as well as the principles of the functional sentence perspective serve as a basis for the semantic analysis of approximately 100 sentences from different registers.

As is known, Business English is abundant in phraseological units or idioms. Therefore, it is vital for students majoring in business to study them thoroughly to be able to use them in appropriate business settings to achieve their communication goals. The paper touches upon various theories regarding the classification of idioms based on peculiar characteristics typical of each group, namely semаntiс and grаmmаtiсаl inseраrаbility, and offers a range of exercises to develop the skills of using business idioms in English.

The paper discusses some methods of teaching languages based on Corpus Linguistics. The application of Corpus Linguistics or corpora (structured sets of electronically stored samples of ‘real world’ texts) to the language teaching practice aims at bringing the learning process as much to reality as possible, greatly enhancing its efficiency. Using the text-corpus methods/technology is of particular relevance in teaching productive skills (speaking and writing); it is a feasible tool to better organize students’ independent creative work, to instill in them the ability to work with modern information resources, to instruct how to apply the latter effectively in practice.

The compliance of Genet's ritual theater with the aesthetic views is mainly expressed in the plays “The Blacks” and “The Screens”. The rituals of Jean Genet's plays, which include elements of ancient theater thoroughly designed and modified in a modern style, are dramatic means of transforming the performance into illusion, as well as the characters into symbols and creating an aesthetic theatrical world; at the same time they present the social, psychological and moral aspects of the characters, solve self-awareness and moral-philosophical problems.

The characteristic features of Genet’s dramaturgy – ritual game, the combination of the real and the unreal, which corresponds to Genet’s pursuit of presenting illusion as reality, make an indivisible whole in the plays “The Balcony” and “The Screens”, written almost at the same time. These plays reject the idea of making reforms through revolutions. According to Genet the revolution must take place in people’s consciousness through enlightenment. The playwright’s further dialogue is devoted to the philosophical cognition of the good and the evil.

Ch. Bukowski was a prominent figure in the history of the 20th century American literature. He viewed life and reality from a new angle and sought to change the artistic perception of the reality. His central characters were social marginal. Ch. Bukowski had his own philosophy of life and depicted reality with photographic accuracy. He is considered to be the founder of “underground’’ literature.

The purpose of the present paper is to examine the main themes, conflicts, collisions and peculiarities of several prose works of the distinguished Spanish writer, philosopher and the famous figure of the “Generation of '98” Miguel de Unamuno. Particular attention is paid to the author’s approach to the problems of the relationship between the individual, society and the family.

The paper deals with the study of Tolkien’s works, which are unique pieces of fantasy genre and creative art. Tolkien’s works are flavoured with imagination and aesthetic elements which serve as a multilayer subject of analysis in the present paper, thus transferring the reader an extraordinary literary intention of morality, divinity and love. Through the light of hermeneutic analysis the symbolic images are revealed which underline Tolkien’s imaginative style and language, and the quintessential intention – to create an English mythological novel.

The paper is devoted to the story of “Wandering Jew” with Isahakyan’s literary elaboration. The first version written in 1907 is entitled as “Ahasverus”, the second version is “Wandering Jew” (1911) and the third one written in 1927 is entitled as “Shidhar”. It has been shown that each of the three versions including the title are prone to creative and thematic changes and are related to Isahakyan’s endeavor towards realization of global and national generalizations, influenced by Germanic literature of the ancient period and the folklore. The character of Wandering Jew has been shown in the folklore, Renaissance, in the new period of European literature and in Isahakyan’s works where there is a combination of various features typical of the character.

The present paper is devoted to the development of American drama including the period from 17 to 20 centuries. It examines historical, political and cultural realities which provide the development the American drama as well as its genesis.

The present paper is an attempt to tackle the basic issues in Henry Miller’s novel ‘Tropic of Capricorn’. The writer challenges the existing moral values and standards. The destroying power of consciousness turns life into a scheme of survival and industrialization alienates people. The characters of the novel are victims of the surrounding reality, and their inner rebellion is an evidence of their defeat.

The paper reveals the new principles of construing the modern world in the era of automatic and mechanical innovations, which drastically change the world of human values and morals. Human individuality undergoes irreversible changes which inevitably lead to personal and humanitarian crisis. Huxley introduced the new cultural term “fordism” to exemplify the shift in human nature to the dystopian ideal of mankind which eventually turns into a excruciating morbid loss of spirituality.

The present paper is an attempt to reveal and present the characters in Stevenson’s novella “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” in comparison with E.Bern’s transactional analysis uniting notary Utterson, who is introduced as an individual character, and Jekyll and Hyde couple into a single tandem. Each of these characters appears to be the integral part of one and the same personality.
Stevenson’s novella is considered to be the result of the writer’s imagination, inspiration and insight and has become a widely recognized example of disintegration, disassociation, split personality and of a social characteristic on the whole as well as of a psychological disorder of a victim of personality split. The author gives such a true picture of the essence of happenings and feelings that N.Mc-Williams considers “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” a piece of writing on disassociated personality disorder suitable even for those having no expertise in the field.
In its turn new psychological studies carried out by E. Fromm, E. Bern, St. Grof and others present theories and methods of analysis of psychology and behavior of an individual and they often serve as new landmarks in literary text analysis and interpretation.