Abstract: In our research, we introduce the working concept of "nominative dissonance," which we understand as a persistent, reproducible inconsistency in how the bride names herself and her groom from text to text, the proximity of two opposing nominations within a single statement, as well as a broader range of phenomena where nomination contradicts the actual position of the subject in the ritual (for example, the persistent self-designation "maiden" while actually distinguishing oneself as a bride from the community of maidens). The subject of the study is nominative dissonance in the wedding laments of Pinezhye, that is, the nominative shift in how the bride names herself and her groom. We analyze how this nominative dissonance functions as a lexical mechanism of the rite of passage, facilitating the change of the bride's social status on psychological, cognitive, and linguistic levels. The methodological basis of the study consists of the performative approach to ritual language in the concept of S. B. Adonyeva, the three-part model of the rite of passage by A. van Gennep, and the typology of wedding laments by B. B. Efimenko. Research methods include contextual analysis (when interpreting connotative meanings in the ritual context) and pragmatic linguistic analysis (when identifying the performative function of the lexicon). The novelty of the study lies in the fact that for the first time, the mechanism of the impact of ritual speech on the identity of the participants in the rite of passage has been systematically described (based on the material of wedding laments from Pinezhye). The analysis conducted allows us to formulate the following conclusions. First, this nominative dissonance is not accidental; it serves as a linguistic marker of the liminal state. Second, nominative dissonance is embedded in the very genre specificity of the lament, rather than being a simple result of the bride's individual improvisation. It is this internally inherent mechanism of changing nominations that plays a key role: it helps the bride to symbolically separate from her previous status and gradually accept the new one. Third, the wedding lament as a genre serves a dual function. On the one hand, it provides the bride with a legitimate channel for expressing emotional pain and fear of the unknown (psychological relief). On the other hand, through fixed nominative dissonances, it exerts cognitive influence on the bride-performer herself, helping her to accept her new status and bid farewell to the old one.

Keywords: nominative dissonance, wedding lamentations of Pinezhye, social status vocabulary, linguo-folkloristics, pragmatics of ritual speech, wedding ceremony, self-designations of the bride, names for the groom, theory of the rite of passage, liminality

Abstract: In modern linguistics, special attention is focused on the understanding of the triad "language-culture-person," which determines the relevance of scientific research aimed at reconstructing fragments of the linguistic picture of the world of speakers of a particular language or concepts. Researchers are particularly interested in concepts that have a pronounced national marking or linguocultural concepts. The goal of our study is to reconstruct the conceptual and figurative features of the linguocultural concept of SADNESS (TOSKA), as well as to identify the dynamics of the semantic volume of the concept's name based on the analysis of lexicographical sources, the National Corpus of the Russian Language, and works of fiction. In this article, the concept of TOSKA is understood as a culturally marked unit of study, possessing a multilayered meaning and a broad range of linguistic representations. Methodologically, the work is aimed at reconstructing the conceptual core based on explanatory and etymological dictionaries, identifying typical contexts and combinatorial models using the National Corpus of the Russian Language, and describing discursive scenarios of experiencing TOSKA based on texts of literary works, which allows linking linguistic representation with culturally established ways of understanding the analyzed state. In this study, the model of the linguocultural concept of TOSKA, its conceptual and figurative features, as well as their dynamics, are reconstructed for the first time. It has been discovered that TOSKA is associated among Russian speakers with "a crushing emotional state that can lead to physical illness," with "an evaluation, atmosphere, complex of emotions." Analysis of data from the National Corpus of the Russian Language allows us to conclude that TOSKA is often understood as "a prolonged background state that influences a person's behavior and is uncontrollable." In literary texts, the concept of TOSKA is verbalized as "a feeling of emptiness, anxiety, as a negative emotion." At the same time, in some contexts, TOSKA can be understood as a "romantic experience," meaning it can change its tonality from negative to positive, accompanying feelings of love.

Keywords: verbalization, concept, linguistic cultural studies, linguoaxiology, Russian language, semantics, semantic shift, combinability, etymology, language picture of the world

Abstract: The aim of this study is to compare how Chinese and foreign (English-language) scientific discourses in the field of regional image have developed and to identify topics for future research directions. The subject of the research includes the structural and dynamic characteristics of the phenomenon being studied, including publication activity, the level of institutional cooperation, high-frequency keywords and thematic clusters, as well as differences between the two language corpora. The results of the research can be used for planning scientific and educational projects within the framework of state or university policy. The article examines research from 421 scientific publications in CNKI (Electronic platform of information resources China National Knowledge Infrastructure), data on publications in Web of Science and Scopus from 2015 to 2025. During the study, the authors relied on data selection and processing methods, cluster and co-keyword analysis, statistical data analysis, quantitative analysis of publications, and their qualitative interpretation; a comparative analysis was conducted. In addition, maps were constructed, and the density of interaction among authors and research institutions was calculated using CiteSpace. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that this is the first systematic comparative bibliometric analysis of Chinese and English-language publications in the field of regional image over the past ten years. The results show a significant increase in the number of publications since 2020, with research institutions mainly concentrated in journalism schools and multidisciplinary universities, while inter-agency cooperation remains weak. Scientific literature in Chinese focuses on urban image and local issues, whereas English-language literature is based on social networks and demonstrates interdisciplinary integration. Chinese-language publications in this area are linked to the development of media technologies and focus on phenomena related to the strategic level, while English-language studies evolve from basic concepts to classical topics and return to core concepts. Future research should prioritize interdisciplinary cooperation and deeper integration of theory and methodology.

Keywords: regional image, urban spaces, knowledge graphs, bibliometric analysis, comparative research, bibliometric visualization, evolution of research field, (interdisciplinary studies, regional discourse, place branding

Abstract: In this paper, an attempt is made to apply the cross-category comparison (natural vs constructed vs other languages) method, used previously for tropative ("X considers Y to be Z") constructions analysis, to the ways of expression of apparetive – a grammatical function 'X seems to be Y'. Apparetive constructions of 95 languages of different origin are compared according to the apparetivity class (the degree of integrity between the apparetive marker and the characteristic Y) and the ways of negative constructions ('X does not seem to be Y') derivation. The rationale behind comparison of cross-category patterns of the two functions is their semantic proximity ('to consider' vs 'to seem'), typologically frequent interchange, and structural similarity. The present research, as well as previous, was carried out with the cross-sectional method, involving a short query for native speakers and users of languages. The rationale for choosing an unconventional method was the low level of coverage of apparetive, as well as necessity of methodological unity. The results of research from different categories were compared with the Fisher’s exact test. Since apparetive, as well as tropative, is rarely expressed morphologically,and therefore, rarely examined in grammar descriptions, choice of a pattern for a constructed or a supervised language can only be based on the author's own ideas about its correspondence to the aim of the language. Thus, examining such languages and their comparison with natural languages can provide us with additional information on authors' and users' ideas about functional models, which can make us closer to understanding correlation between language ability and ideas about it. The conclusion was made that the cross-category patterns of tropative and apparetive are different: While the correlation exists between the origin of a language and its tropative patterns, the apparetive patterns are almost uniform across categories. This discrepancy is illustrated by highlighting the differences between tropative and apparetive patterns, compared within the category with the same test.

Keywords: apparetive, negative apparetive constructions, articulatory constructed languages, graphic constructed languages, microlanguages, arbitrary languages, supervised languages, cross-category typology, naturality-artificiality scale, apparetive integrity level

Abstract: This study examines the genre-and-thematic model of Simon Mawer's fictional world. A contemporary British author and laureate of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, Mawer (1948–2025) creates a distinctive genre hybrid that oscillates between the classical historical novel, historiographic metafiction, and fictionalized biography. The article traces Mawer's literary career, briefly characterizes his major works (Chimera, A Jealous God, Mendel's Dwarf, The Gospel of Judas, The Fall, Swimming to Ithaca, The Glass Room, Ancestry), and outlines his genre strategy, marked by an increasingly prominent documentary dimension. The analysis identifies several thematic constants: the individual-family past versus universal history, self-formation in the context of world history, cultural and national self-identity, and personal and national trauma and memory. The methodology combines traditional comparative-historical, contrastive-comparative, and biographical approaches with intermedial analysis. The scientific novelty lies in the insufficient coverage of Mawer's figure and legacy in Russian literary criticism, despite his being one of the most prominent English writers at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries working with historiosophical themes in novelistic form. Mawer's work exemplifies a genre synthesis characteristic of postmodern poetics. The findings can be used in further research on the history of the novel genre, as well as in university courses on foreign literature and literary theory. The proposed model also offers a productive framework for more detailed analyses of individual novels, allowing them to be situated within the context of Mawer's authorial method, artistic strategy, and worldview. The conclusion argues that Mawer's fictional world possesses a deliberate architectonics and coherent conceptual design. Key features include: biographism; a dual temporal plane; a plot organized around solving a mystery of the personal and/or national past; an intellectual protagonist; a stable spatio-temporal continuum centred on toposes sacred to the protagonist's personal history (the Mediterranean, Italy, and the United Kingdom), all revolving around the events and consequences of World War II; and the myth-motif of an "eternal return home" in search of one's "roots" and one's own self.

Keywords: Simon Mawer, fictional world, genre hybrid, fictional biography, historiographic metafiction, intellectual detective, novel of culture, World War II, memory, family

Abstract: The subject of the study is the pragmatic functions of interrogative constructions in the monological genres of contemporary Russian judicial speech - opening and closing statements of the defense, rebuttals, and final words. The dual nature of the question in institutional judicial communication is examined: on one hand, the question serves as a procedural tool for obtaining information, while on the other hand, in monological genres, it loses its epistemic function and transforms into one of the most subtle means of persuasion. Special attention is given to the rhetorical question as a subtype of indirect speech act with split illocution, which functions as an enthymeme in its radical form: the conclusion itself remains unexpressed and is formulated independently by the addressee. The study investigates the boundary between legitimate persuasion and manipulative influence in the use of interrogative constructions, as well as the practical significance of such differentiation in the context of expanding video recording of court sessions and evaluating the communicative characteristics of speech acts in linguistic expertise. The research relies on a comprehensive linguopragmatic approach. The empirical basis is formed from the texts of judicial speeches by prominent Russian lawyers - G. M. Reznik, N. M. Kipnis, A. Ya. Asnis, N. S. Gasparyan, S. A. Nasonov, E. A. Rubinstein - published in the collections of the Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation in 2024 and 2025. As a result of the analysis, six main pragmatic functions of interrogative constructions in the monological genres of judicial speech have been identified and described: deconstructively-argumentative (exposing the flaws in the opponent's arguments), dialogizing (turning a monologue into a virtualized dialogue), provocative-evaluative (encouraging the addressee to make an independent evaluative judgment), incorporating (engaging the addressee in joint reasoning), persuasive-image (shaping the image of a competent speaker), and ethical-exposing (moral qualification of the opponent's actions). It has been established that the persuasive potential of the rhetorical question is based on the mechanism of split illocution: by mentally constructing an answer, the addressee aligns themselves with the speaker's implicit assertion. A criterion for distinguishing legitimate persuasion from manipulation has been formulated: a question based on credible premises that maintains the autonomy of the addressee's critical assessment is an acceptable tool, while a question with false premises or that imposes an emotional-moral answer falls into unacceptable forms of manipulative influence. The results obtained are relevant in the professional training of lawyers, the practice of judicial rhetoric, and linguistic expertise.

Keywords: judicial speech, interrogative constructions, rhetorical question, monologic genres, speech impact, argumentation, persuasion, manipulation, judicial rhetoric, indirect speech act

Abstract: The last few decades have been marked by the intensive development of phraseology theory, which is reflected in the development of criteria for the identification of phraseological units (PU), the creation of classifications, in-depth studies of their structural and semantic properties, as well as the refinement of the theoretical foundations of phraseographic description. The object of this study is the phraseological units of the Ukrainian language containing the component вітер – wind (the research card index includes 113 PUs). The subject of research is the peculiarities of the realization of structural and grammatical models of phraseological units in the phraseological picture of the world. The research tasks are: to select PUs with the component вітер – wind from the dictionary of phraseological units of the Ukrainian language; to conduct a structural and grammatical analysis of the selected PUs with the component вітер – wind; to determine the degree of productivity of various models in modern Ukrainian language. The methodology of the research is based on the comprehensive application of methods of continuous sampling, descriptive methods, methods of structural and grammatical analysis to identify PU models, and elements of statistical analysis to determine the productivity of models. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that during the analysis of empirical material and existing classifications, a justification for the division of PUs with the component вітер – wind into two main structural types was presented: phraseological units organized according to the model of a phrase and phraseological units with a sentence structure. The main results of the study include: identifying the main models; determining their frequency and productivity; describing previously unrecorded structural and grammatical varieties of phraseological units with the component вітер – wind; identifying their syntactic functions and peculiarities of functioning in speech, which contributes to the development of the theory of phraseological nomination. It was established that the dominant models are those of PUs that correlate with the structure of simple (15.38%) and compound (10.26%) sentences, and models of phraseological units with a core verbal component (46.16%). Less productive are: the model "noun + preposition + noun in the genitive case" (N+prep+N(x)), phraseological units constructed using coordinating conjunctions, and phraseological units representing constructions with subordinating conjunctions. Area of application of results. The obtained data can be used in lexicographic practice, in teaching courses on phraseology, linguistic culturology, and general linguistics, as well as in the development of special courses and seminars on structural and grammatical analysis of the phraseological fund.

Keywords: phraseology, component, wind, Ukrainian language, analysis, characteristics, model, structural and grammatical characteristics, dominant models, modeling

Abstract: The subject of the research is the prosodic interference that arises in Iranian students when mastering Russian syllabo-tonics. The focus is on persistent errors in meter analysis caused not by a lack of knowledge but by a systemic conflict between the quantitative principle of Persian aruz and the accentual nature of Russian syllabo-tonics. Persian versification is based on the alternation of long and short syllables, while Russian syllabo-tonics relies on the rhythmic alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. This deep-seated conflict generates negative transfer, which is not eliminated by traditional methods. The empirical base consisted of a diagnostic experiment involving 40 students from Tehran University (levels B1 and B2). Seven psycholinguistic barriers were identified and classified: quantitative imitation, fixed stress, aruz analogy, intonational monotony, failure to recognize rhyme, tempo-rhythmic acceleration, and conceptual distance. They account for up to 73% of all interference errors. The methodology is based on an experimental scheme of "pre-test – training – post-test," utilizing an author's model that includes an eight-step analytical algorithm and 14 targeted exercises of four difficulty levels. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the identification and systematic classification of seven psycholinguistic barriers of prosodic interference that arise in Iranian students when mastering the Russian metric system. Based on the obtained data, a methodological model for developing metric competence was created, aimed at the targeted neutralization of each of the identified barriers. The key principle of the model is conscious comparison of the Russian and Persian metric systems, as well as purposeful inhibition of the automatism of the native language that hinders adequate perception and reproduction of the rhythmic structures of Russian poetry. Experimental verification of the model, conducted using the "pre-test – training – post-test" scheme, showed a significant reduction in the proportion of interference errors from 73% to 11% (effectiveness coefficient of 85%).

Keywords: Russian versification, Russian as a Foreign Language, prosodic interference, aruz, syllabo-tonic verse, Iranian students, methodological model, metrical analysis, psycholinguistic barriers, CIMC