Vol. 12 No. 2 (16) (2016)

The present article aims at studying the phenomenon of artistic concept by providing a detailed analysis of linguistic choices and patterns in the text with a systematic consideration of the mental processes and representations that are involved in the process of interpretation. The tools provided by the recent developments in cognitive approach are applied to enlarge the scope of studies in artistic concepts in general and also to highlight the major features that make the artistic concept distinct from the general cultural concepts. The practical study is based on alienation – one of the key concepts exploited in the contemporary literature.

English scientific discourse can be characterized as a key area of the economy principle realization in the form of text compression. The latter carries out a major text-organizing function due to its potential to form implicit meanings and presuppositions thereby minimizing the use of linguistic units while enhancing the informativity of the text. Thus, the given paper is an attempt to provide a general overview of the role of compression in the production of scientific discourse by examining its concrete manifestations at the syntactic and semantic-cognitive levels in the light of some key pragmatic parameters of communication.

The article covers the problem of profanity and deprecating humor in English anecdotes. Aggressive humor often occurs in the form of sarcasm or teasing and often includes compulsive displays of humor with little regard for others. It deals with the issue of using swearwords in comic discourse. Swearing is a behavior more frequently engaged in by males than by females. Various generalizations about women and men involve some false assumptions as they negate the aspirations, diverse identities and personalities of individual males and females. On the largest scale women are the brunt of more jokes than men.

The present paper aims at discussing certain metaphors which name diseases resembling specialty-specific signs manifested in different occupations. An attempt is made towards showcasing the cognitive value that metaphor entails when used in a clinical setting to verbalize different diseases. Stedman’s Medical Dictionary – currently the most content-rich medical dictionary – has served a major reference point for the analysis of specialty-specific metaphors in Medicine.

The article is an attempt to shed light on one of the most interesting issues on the crossroads of psycholinguistics, pragmatics and cognitive linguistics – framebased semantics and frame-based presuppositions as text coherence means. The findings of the article allow of the following statement: the text is implicitly bound via complex mental structures – frames – by virtue of their hierarchic, presuppositional structure. The appearance of a frame in the context implicitly introduces pieces of information – presuppositions – from its information slots. The presuppositions structured in the slots of the frame create predictable associations of words and word-combinations on the surface structure of the text, thus securing its coherence.

Toni Morrison’s fifth novel, Beloved, represents a postmodern traumatic story the characters of which deal with black history and the scars it has left on the African American community. As Rafael Perez-Torres claims, “the story of slavery invoked by Beloved is built on the absence of power, the absence of selfdetermination, the absence of homeland, the absence of a language” (Perez-Torres 1993:131). Throughout the story T. Morrison gives a voice to a ghost to speak up, but she takes away the voice of the ghost’s mother who does not have the power to tell her story about her infanticide and so, has a troubled relationship with language. Later, Beloved’s sister, Denver, who becomes dumb and deaf after learning the story about her mother’s infanticide, gets back her senses when she goes to the community to ask for help to nurture her suffering mother. Although T. Morrison treats different themes, the following paper is an attempt to study the importance of language in Beloved, through comparing the Maternity symbolic order in Morrison to the Paternity symbolic order in Jacque Lacan’s The Psychoses (1955-1956).

The study of language through sign systems that represent “by-products” or substitutes of language as a means of communication is a direction in linguistics that adds to the knowledge about the productivity and language-generating potential of natural languages. Nonverbal language which boasts a plethora of wordless cues through which people communicate, includes postures, gestures, stances, and movements, all of which can be analyzed and explained through the use of the instruments of a semiotic methodology. For instance, the study of signs through the rituals, conventions and overall nonverbal interactions in the diaculture of modern Japanese martial arts, reveals interesting characteristics of the sign language used particularly in Kenjutsu and Aikido. The mentioned martial arts make wide use of nonverbal cues that are characterized by features of indexicality, iconicity and symbolicity, and echo concrete social norms and conventions. Those social conventions are materialized and translated into the setting of trainings through philosophical concepts and ideas.

This article discusses the modal verbs of obligation and their function in quotations and political discourse. The usage of modal verbs in speeches strengthens the impact on people, because they emphasize what people should, must, ought to and have to do. A political speech can enhance a politician’s ratings or even secure a place in the history books.

Obligation expressed by modal verbs can be strong and weak. Must is chiefly used to express strong obligation. Should, ought to and had better can be used to express weak obligation. The study of modal verbs of obligation in quotations reveals some peculiarities in terms of gender differences.

The article aims at disclosing the concept God in J. Fowles philosophical essay “The Aristos” as well as defining linguistic means of its actualization. The key concept or concepts of a narrative, storing the main idea of the text actually reveal the author’s individual world perception, highlighting those aspects of the concept that the author sees or would like the reader to focus his/her attention on. Proceeding from this point the investigation of a narrative disclosing its key concepts via conceptual metaphor opens great perspectives for understanding the author's unique world perception, sometimes, contradicting the universal understanding of the concept.

The present article is devoted to the study of modern approaches to dictation writing activities, namely to dictogloss approach, the purport of which is, first and foremost, to build a solid foundation of the English language proficiency and enhance integrated language skills in context. As different from traditional dictation writing activities, that aim at helping language learners become accustomed to processing and differentiating between different sounds of the target language, identifying words and phrases and recording them as accurately as possible, the dictogloss method of dictation writing tries to boost listening for detailed understanding, i.e. focusing on the grammatical constructions used in the texts, guessing the words and phrases suitable to the context, constructing meaning from the recorded texts and interpreting the gist of the dictated stories. Our study shows that the effectiveness of dictation writing activities in EFL classroom increases and the dictogloss procedure becomes more enjoyable and challenging in case of the intensive use of authentic materials, i.e. when the texts are not dictated directly by the teachers themselves, but are told by native speakers recorded on CDs.

Project based learning (PBL) is a student-centered teaching method that involves a dynamic classroom approach in which students gain knowledge and skills to explore and respond to an authentic and engaging problem or challenge. PBL focuses on different real-world subject matters that can sustain the interest of students, require student collaboration and autonomy, and at the same time, accommodate a purposeful and explicit focus on form and other aspects of language.

The present article focuses on the teacher’s role in project based learning as well as the importance of authenticity in designing a project.

Culture and art have always been indispensable parts of language teaching. Cultural texts and various cultural topics have been included in language books and textbooks. However, textbook developers and English teachers give priority to teaching the culture of the target language rather than that of native learners.

In the current paper we would like to state that it is beneficial to teach English through local culture materials as they increase the cognitive, communicative and social understanding of the learners.

Having based on our teaching experience, we can claim that specific topics like Armenian music, dances, customs and traditions, Armenian artists and their art works, the cities and architecture, filming and theatre, holidays and festivals and other culture-related topics are of great interest to Armenian learners of English. These topics are, to some extent, familiar to them, so they enhance the learners’ English communicative skills. Moreover, the learners obtain a full comprehension of Armenian culture and develop certain skills to present it to others.

Peculiarities of British parliamentary discourse are largely conditioned by context models of its participants, which influence the style and linguistic forms of their speeches. As context models are culturally predetermined, linguistic means used in parliamentary discourse have also certain linguocultural peculiarities. Centuries-old traditions of British parliamentary system find their reflection in the language and form an essential part of British parliamentary discourse. The adherence to these communicative norms, including different rituals, ceremonies and traditions peculiar to British political life and British political discourse, has a special symbolic meaning and is aimed at maintaining stability of the political system, respect for the state power and its authority.

The present paper goes along the lines of Semiotics, a branch of linguistics. It studies the system of signs which takes the form of words, images, sounds, gestures and objects. Through the usage of signs we represent the linguocultural aspect of our knowledge, ethnic traditions and folklore.

The interest we take in the paper is the study of signs and symbols in Armenian culture. Culture, including miniature paining, singing, dancing, architecture and cuisine, may involve any sphere of Armenian identity. Signs and symbols that constitute language and culture are constructed through verbal and non-verbal interactions and are arbitrary.

The purpose of our analysis is to specify what why, whom questions in a specific context of situation, as well as in a large context of culture, such as social community, media and communication.

The present article seeks to establish the cognitive value and the communicative message of genocide related terms with the account of the extra-linguistic factors. Terms like slaughter, massacre, ethnic cleansing, physical annihilation, killings, deportations are used to present and discuss both pro-Turkish attitudes of and neutral or pro-Armenian standpoints of great humanists and friends of Armenians. Still another intent of ours is to show that the terms genocide and democide which realize a specifically highlighted cognitive function, are the most appropriate ones to best define the disastrous events of 1915 on the territory of West (Turkish) Armenia.