Vol 25, No 3 (2025)

The article discusses the features of the reader’s interpretation of poetic texts by I. Annensky and N. Gumilev, the authors of which belong to different types of cognitive styles. The concept of cognitive style arose in psychology, but as a result of the term being transferred into the fi eld of cognitive poetics, it became necessary to describe its parameters in order to use it in the analysis of the poetic text. At the first stage of the study, it was necessary to find linguistic-stylistic analogues of the categories of the cognitive-style approach in psychology (field dependence / field independence, analyticity / syntheticity, intuitiveness / discursiveness, etc.).  These style parameters can be found in the conceptual nodes of the cognitive program generating the text (the image of the author, the image of the addressee, the pragmatic attitude, the method of translation of the author’s model of the world). At the second stage of the study, the task to be solved was to consider the features of the reader’s interpretation of poetic texts, whose authors belong to different types of cognitive styles. The texts of the poets I. Annensky, whose cognitive style is characterized by the parameter of syntheticity, and those by N. Gumilyov, who is characterized by analyticity, were chosen for comparison. The experiment data showed that modern students experience significant difficulties when interpreting synthetic literary texts. Intuitively, at the level of sensations and emotions, readers grasp the general meaning of the poem, but the associative chains of the text are restored in less than ten percent of the works. N. Gumilyov’s poem is a poetic declaration built on a rhetorical principle – based on a figure of contrast. The impact of Gumilyov’s text is the impact of aphoristic poetic thought, to which readers readily respond. The conclusion is drawn on the productivity of applying the term “cognitive style” to both the process of text generation and text perception.

The metaphoric nature of proverbs is one of their characteristic features making them figurative, emotional and memorable. The article deals with the English proverbs based on zoomorphic metaphors that result from the man’s observation of domestic animals. Using the method of continuous sampling we have selected from the English paremiological fund about a thousand English proverbs containing zoomorphic metaphors. Further quantitative analysis has shown a high percentage of metaphoric images of agricultural animals – a horse, a pig, a sheep, etc. and companion animals – a dog and a cat. Zoomorphic metaphors originate from the features of the animals related to their habits, looks, character and type of activity. Thus, the endurance of the horse, the herd instinct of the sheep, the patience of the donkey, the guard instincts of the dog become the objects of metaphorization. Metaphors also reflect the jobs performed by domestic animals for which they are actually bred. Thus, the practical usage of domestic animals leads to creating metaphoric images of the horse as a means of transport, the donkey as a pack animal, the dog as a hunting companion, and the cat as a mouse catcher. Creation of metaphoric images is affected by stereotyping when a metaphor is based on a most vivid image peculiar for this animal. For example, the donkey is associated with stupidity, the pig’s dominant feature is its uncleanliness, zoomorphism “sheep” creates an image of a humble submissive person – these stereotypes are reproduced in the proverbs. Similar metaphoric images exist in the Russian language, therefore, most English proverbs have their Russian equivalents. Zoomorphic metaphors make proverbs more vivid and expressive, and the images they create are more graphic and memorable.

The article examines the issues associated with the difference in the relative frequency of French loanwords in Quebec English in Montreal and other cities of this Canadian province. The existing studies note that the loanwords with fewer occurrences are more widely used outside Montreal, the largest and most bilingual city in Quebec. The study illustrates this phenomenon with regard to the use of French loanwords in X (formerly Twitter) publications for the period from 2014 to 2024. It provides statistics on the use of various French loanwords in Montreal, as well as in the other major cities of the province: Quebec City, Saguenay, Gatineau, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières. The research seeks to explain this counterintuitive observation, as bilingualism is generally thought to facilitate and encourage borrowing. To this end, the paper discusses the nature of bilingualism in Quebec, its historical and cultural origins, as well as the geographical and demographic boundaries for the different levels of bilingualism and the English language proficiency in the province. The study concludes that less frequent French loanwords are relatively more widely used in Quebec outside Montreal because bilinguals there, speaking almost exclusively French in everyday life, tend to have it as their dominant language and therefore rely on French as a mediator when expressing concepts in English.

A. F. Pisemsky’s drama А bitter fate was used as the material for research. This play, as well as all his literary activity, his “Sketches of peasant life” have signifi cantly enriched the Russian literaturе, revealed new aspects in depicting the Russian peasant. The aim of the article is to study onyms in this play. The аnаlysis of the play from the chosen perspective аllows to get а deeper insight into the sources аnd аrtistic functions of “Lives of Saints” in A. F. Pisemsky’s poetics. All creative onyms by Pisemsky can be presented as an integral structure. The survey of the onyms allоw tо reveal three aspеcts of subtext in the general pattern of the drama: religious-mоralistic, histоrical, аnd compаrison with the representatvies of the аnimal world. A detailed analysis is conducted of the parallels between the “Lives of Saints” and the fates of Pisemsky’s peasant characters, their surnames and proverbs; of the negative characters and negative fi gures in Russian history; of the negative characters and animals or birds of prey. The author proves that the factor of names’ and surnames’ opposition is one of the most important author’s ideas infl uencing the meaning of the literary text. The opposition of peasants’ Christian names and nobles’ surnames symbolizes the contrast of the Christian and atheistic ideas. Studying the psychological meaning of the onyms within the boundaries of the tones mentioned facilitates a deeper understanding of the tragedy of the play’s main characters against the background of the Russian peasant life. The issue of the historic theories of M. P. Pogodin infl uencing Pisemsky’s ideas of the plays A bitter fate and Miloslavskiys and Naryshkins, is considered separately in the article.

The article deals with the first Russian translation of Federico Garcia Lorca’s play Yerma written in 1933. This translation was made by A. L. Kagarlitsky (prose) and F. V. Kelin (poetry) and printed in the collection “Selected” in 1944. In the play Yerma Garcia Lorca realizes the idea of creating a new national Spanish theatre and the desire to return tragedy to the Spanish stage. To solve these problems, the author turns to the poetics of the folk song art of cante jondo and the traditions of classical European theatre. Due to this, the poetics of the drama Yerma is characterized by a special lyricism, the action is focused on the inner world of the heroine. The main motifs of the play are: life and death, the motif of the fertility of the world as opposed to the sterility of the main character who is denied the natural right of motherhood. The inability to give a new life becomes the reason of her emotional stress and leads to tragedy. The aim of this paper is to identify peculiarities of the play’s poetics in its first Russian translation. Historical and literary method, methods of structural and motif analysis, as well as the comparative analysis method were used to achieve this aim. The article gives examples of comparative analysis of the original and the translation of the drama’s key scenes and reveals the peculiarities of perception and reconstruction of its poetics in Russian. Examples of the translators’ adherence to the original’s poetics and some deviations from the author’s intention are noted. The author of the article concludes that the translation is close to the original, the translators convey the general meaning, preserving the lyrical mood and the atmosphere of the play. However, the motifs associated with the pagan principle and the song foundation of cante jondo are not fully reflected in the translation, and the image of the protagonist seems to be more sublime and romantic.

This paper investigates the position of the poet Vsevolod Nekrasov in the nonconformist literature of the second half of the 20th century. Many researchers legitimately and consistently class Nekrasov with the conceptualists: like other conceptualists, Nekrasov actively used the patterns of the Soviet language in his work. However, the analysis of Nekrasov’s poetry from the standpoint of literary pragmatics allows to identify the specific features of his poetics. Unlike most conceptualists, Nekrasov pays great attention to the perlocutionary effect of an artistic act, since from the poet’s point of view it is the reader’s reaction that determines the viability of artwork. Thus, a dialogue is built between the author and the reader, which for Nekrasov is the key to a new art system that exists beyond the limits of party dictation. In addition, a pursuit of dialogue was an important principle for Nekrasov not only on the external, but also on the internal level, that is, at the level of handling the word in a piece of art, which also shows the difference between the conceptualists’ and Nekrasov’s oeuvre. If conceptualists seek to undermine authoritative discourses, Nekrasov implements a different performative gesture, which consists in trying to potentially remove ideological con notations from every word. Nekrasov seeks not only to distance the artistic word, but also to restore its potential creative power. An analysis of this performative gesture reveals several intersections with the ideas of libertarian environmental philosophers, whose main idea was to build a new relationship with nature based on the principles of interdependence and diversity. Based on this similarity, it is proposed to defi ne the pragmatics of Nekrasov’s poetry as the pragmatics of ecology.

The modern era of globalization and digitalization has led to significant changes in the fi eld of mass communications, where media integration is becoming a key factor in creating effective communication processes. The rapid development of digital technologies and the expansion of communication channels have a significant impact on the transformation of classical interaction models, requiring media organizations, public and private structures to adapt to the new media environment. Media integration is the process of combining various media channels, platforms and tools into a single communication system, which ensures deeper and more flexible interaction with the audience. The article examines the features of the formation of the term “media integration model” as a new concept reflecting the processes of unification and interpenetration of various media formats and platforms. The term “media integration model” has become relevant in the context of the rapid development of digital technologies, globalization and transformation of the media space, which requires the creation of universal approaches to the integration of media content. The formation of the term is based on the analysis of existing approaches to media integration, the study of international experience and trends in the use of media platforms in government, business and educational structures. The article emphasizes that the “media integration model” involves not only the unification of media channels, but also taking into account axiological, cultural and linguistic factors, ensuring interaction with the audience at the intercultural level. Particular attention is paid to the creation of a universal integration platform “MediaHub” as an example of the practical implementation of the concept under study, capable of adapting to the specific features of various social, economic and cultural conditions. It also explores the possibility of applying a similar model in the Russian context to improve the media sector and increase its competitiveness. This paper thus contributes to the establishment of the conceptual tool of information integration and the development of strategies necessary for the effective communication in the modern information environment.

The life path of Olga Borisovna Sirotinina, an outstanding contemporary Russian linguist, was determined, according to her own words, by literature and several generations of her closest people. It is symbolic and not accidental: almost all members of the family, in one way or another, were connected with Saratov University throughout its 115-year history. The significance of the personalities of the Sirotinins dynasty is demonstrated, as well as the remarkable harmony in their worldview and attitudes toward life values. Olga Borisovna’s grandfather, Nikolai Nikolaevich (Senior), the secretary of the Saratov City Duma, played a very active role in the opening of the Imperial Saratov University in 1909. The name of Andrei Nikolaevich, a renowned philologist, writer, and associate professor of Saratov University, is included in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. Olga Borisovna’s father, Boris Mikhailovich Brin, from 1918 combined his studies at the medical faculty of Saratov University with work in anti-typhus vaccination units. A future Doctor of Medical Sciences, he was awarded the medal “For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945”. Her mother, Olga Nikolaevna, a member of the Academic Council of the Ministry of Health of the USSR, taught at the biological faculty of the university after defending her doctoral dissertation. Her uncle, Nikolai Nikolaevich Sirotinin (Junior), a favorite student of A.A. Bogomolets, became an academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR. The spiritual affinity of all family members and strong connection with the university – these enduring and unchanging values – are reflected in the biographies of her aunts and her daughter, Tatyana Nikolaevna Sirotinina.

The review is dedicated to the book by V. S. Krivonos, a well-known literary scholar, researcher of N. V. Gogol’s work and the Russian literature of the 19th-21st centuries, Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor of Samara State Social and Pedagogical University. The monograph, which has an unusual title for academic literary criticism, reveals different aspects of the scholar’s interests: it contains academic articles, research on the history of philological science, and closes with an unexpected section “On the Borders of Philology and Literature”, where the author acts as a witty mystifier and stylizer. The book has a tense internal plot, the three main sections of the monograph are united by recurrent motifs that are revealed in different ways in historical, literary and biographical contexts. The first section of the book, in line with classical literary criticism, is dedicated to the analysis of prose of the 19th-20th centuries, from Bestuzhev-Marlinsky to Sasha Sokolov. The defining and unifying feature of the majority of the articles here is the clearly verified interrelation of the historical and theoretical approaches to text analysis. The articles included in the section, on the one hand, demonstrate the unique specific features of this or that author’s oeuvre, on the other hand, they show the organic unity of the writers’ works, which the researcher looks at largely through Gogol’s “optics”. The second section contains valuable research and biographical materials about the greatest philologists who influenced the author: A. P. Skaftymov, B. F. Egorov, Yu. N. Chumakov. The study of the “text of fate”, the understanding of the role of chance and the problem of choice in the biographies of outstanding Russian literary scholars unite this section with the first, where these topics are analyzed on the material of literary texts. In the third section, the author enters into a lively dialogue with the heroes of his research, presenting to the reader possible continuations of the plots of classical and modern literature.