The article deals with the interaction between the conceptual spaces of language and culture within the framework of the language – culture – cognition triad. We argue that this interaction is based on a dynamic network of conceptual mappings. We prove that language and culture are connected by conceptual mappings within several dimensions: semiotic, communicative and cognitive. The main emphasis is on the analysis of the conceptual interactions between the mental spaces of two cultures and languages at several levels: at the macro level (the level of conceptual worldviews of two national cultures), at the meso level (the level of individual concepts) and at the micro level (the level of individual conceptual features that form the concept). We focus on the analysis of the micro level and prove the importance of conceptual features that have the highest degree of centrality, stability and high inferential potential in the process of conceptual mapping. Our study also proves that the inferential potentials of conceptual features do not coincide in two cultures and languages. This is reflected in the translation process. When translating features with a low inferential potential, the translator needs more cognitive efforts, since this process requires compensatory translation solutions to create the translation text. The maximum cognitive load on the translator should result in the minimization of the cognitive load on the recipient.

Ways of presenting opinions depend on mental cultures which include i.a. styles of forming judgments on possibility and on probability of events and of states of affairs. Research on a large multilingual corpus of texts in several West-European languages and in Russian shows that the possibility statements are used more than twice as often as the probability statements.
The term ‘possibility’ in Latin and in modern languages denotes a physicalist attitude towards states of affairs. This term was coined much later than the term ‘probability’, originally connected to the human aspects of evaluation. The term ‘probabilis’ itself in Latin was a cognate of ‘probare’, which meant ‘approving’ and/or ‘controlling’ events. Additionally, in modern Romance languages, judgments of doubt and hope, i. e. sentences conveying speaker’s distancing from alien and non-actual opinions, usually contain verbs in a special ‘conjunctive mood’. Creating alternative ‘possible worlds’ as a figure of speech for ‘conjecture’ originated and was extensively used in writings by Leibniz in French, who used this figure in accordance with French grammar. The same ideas formulated in Russian or in German lack the ‘subjunctive’ mood, whereas it is obligatory in French.

The article discusses the modus concept of “graduality”, the author gives her own definition of the concept. To describe the structure of the modus concept “graduality”, it is proposed to use cognitive matrix analysis developed by N.N. Boldyrev. The main provisions of this type of analysis are summarized. The author believes that the structure of the concept of “graduality” consists of a core (knowledge that the feature of an object, state or action can vary, that is, manifest itself to varying degrees) and the matrix itself, which includes such conceptual areas as “comparison”, “feature”, “the degree of feature manifestation”, “norm”, “quantity”, “quality”, “assessment”, “language representation”. It is argued that on the basis of the concept of “graduality”, a category of graduality is formed in the language, which, like other language categories, is developing. The paper for the first time expresses the opinion that the formation and development of the category of graduality in the English language have their own conceptual foundations. An attempt is made to identify the conceptual foundations of the development of the modus category of graduality, which comprise the modus concept “graduality” itself, the conceptual basis of the category and its modus character, as well as specific features of the conceptual structure of the semantics of lexical units-members of the language category under analysis.

The article considers a fragment of the Russian and Spanish semiotic conceptualization of the human body. This fragment is presented by the somatic object “heart”, as there are phraseological somatisms with the name of this object both in Russian and in Spanish. The article provides a semantic description of the Russian word сердце and its Spanish equivalent corazón: ‘an invisible somatic object located in the upper left part of the human body behind the chest. The heart can be heard because it is constantly beating. The main function of the heart is to supply blood to all somatic objects in the human body’. The importance of including physical, structural and functional features of the heart into the semantic representations of these words is demonstrated. Among the physical features of the heart we consider caritivity and redundancy, among the structural ones – the presence of alien objects on / inside the heart (in particular, hair or wool), as the functional ones – the ability of the heart to supply blood to the body and its parts. This feature approach allows to explain some of the uses of the Spanish and Russian words for the heart. The difference in phraseological somatisms of two languages with these words is demonstrated.

Every scientific institution is also a social space. To have worked in different institutions on different continents is both a challenge and a gift. In this personal report, a few experiences and observations are sketched which have been made in China, Russia, the United States, and Germany. The journey begins in Germany, to be exposed to research in ethology and biological rhythms. From there, it goes to the United States, where neuropsychology and neuroanatomy opened a new window. Early on, several doors opened to Russia, and the open doors were used for decades, enjoying interdisciplinary cognitive science. In China, intense cooperation started in the new millennium with the focus on visual attention, temporal processing, and neuroaesthetics. In spite of all the diversity in research topics, in spite of cultural differences, political systems, historical trajectories, there was always one strong belief that never should be given up: Scientists are natural ambassadors.

The generation of a new idea, developed at the stage of the associative phase of thinking, is carried out through a multi-stage activity of consciousness: the formulation of the problem (hereinafter abbreviated – “P”); insight into the essence of “P” (study, analysis, hypotheses, etc.); isolation from “P” unknown faces; development of an algorithm for finding a way to solve these faces; partial withdrawal from attempts solve “P” by traditional scientific methods; arbitrary transition of “P” with all the accumulated information about it to the subconscious layers of the psyche to search for its solution; search on the subconscious level for the optimal way to solve the “P” and relay the results obtained to consciousness, which has temporarily moved away from its solution; a random figure (form, image, etc.) that suddenly appeared in front of the researcher (at the mental or physical level), not related to the “P” being solved. However, its configuration and individual elements cause associative comparisons with the unresolved “P” and, as it were, prompt the putting forward of new hypotheses about the methods of its solution; maximum activation of the associative impressions that have arisen, their decoding, study, comparison, analysis, identification of connections between them and with “P”; connection of inductive thinking in order to check and streamline the resultingassociative versions of the ways to solve “P”; the process of developing a clear verbal formulation of the results of inductive thinking; sudden insight – finding the best way to solve a problem. This far from complete picture of the mechanism of associative generation of correct insight suggests that insight is not at all a generous “gift” of the information field of the Earth or other mysterious forces of nature. Most likely, it is a concentrated fruit of the researcher’s own reflections on the problem, over the solution of which his convolutions “fought” for a long time, which, having reached an emergent state, were transformed into a ready-made solution recipe. The problem under consideration. In other words, the knowledge accumulated by the researcher at a certain stage moves to a qualitatively different level, which, in turn, gives rise to fundamentally new cognitive abilities in him, due to which sometimes (this already depends on the genes) his “Ego” (from the subconscious mind) starts the process enlightenment, the trigger of which is the problem, on the solution of which he is working.

Historical memory represents the past by some semiotic tools: narratives, symbols, monuments, rituals, etc. The semantic criteria of truevalue assessment are not compatible with such representations. However, collective memory narratives pretend to be based on historical facts and represent the historical reality as it was. We suggest considering historical memory and its representation as a multilevel semantic system. The proposed description method is based on modal semantics, where the meaning of the language expression is considered as a system of domains of interpretation (reference) linked by modal relations. As applied to a historical discourse where the direct correspondence of fact and its description is impossible, it is not the reality itself but its representation that constitutes a domain of reference. It demonstrates that such an approach makes it possible to extrapolate on historical discourse the consideration of the semantic system of language as a mechanism intended for a description of possible states of affairs (Wittgenstein), and to identify, on the one hand, the correlation between such heterogeneous characteristics as modality, causality and textuality, and on the other, between theories describing such aspects of historical narratives. In the frame of the semantics of possible worlds, it is possible to reinterpret Aristotle’s well-known statement on the distinction and correlation between historical and poetic narratives. Yu. Lotman’s ideas about both prospective and retrospective views make it possible to demonstrate the interaction of modal and temporal operators in historical discourse.

The main meaning of the noun is presented in the article in the form of an ontoconcept – a hierarchy of three “age” concepts that are consistently formed in a child during his development. The process of formation of a specific ontoconcept CHAIR is considered in detail. At first (in 2–3 years), the child has the concept of HOLISTIC CHAIR, which represents the chair as an integral object and is used by the child in solving simple practical tasks related to the use of the chair for its intended purpose. Then a junior student develops the concept of SYSTEM CHAIR (a chair as a system of parts) from a holistic concept, which together with it forms a two-level ontoconcept of HOLISTIC CHAIR → SYSTEM CHAIR. Thanks to the system concept, a junior student can now solve more complex, technical tasks (repair a chair, assemble it from parts, etc.). Finally, a senior student forms FUNCTIONAL CHAIR (a system of functions of the referent’s parts) from a system concept, which joins a two-level ontoconcept and turns it into a three-level:

HOLISTIC CHAIR → SYSTEM CHAIR → FUNCTIONAL CHAIR.

Now the senior student can abstract from the appearance of the chair and use only its function: to form new seats by placing a stack of bricks against the wall and under, to see the seats in the bend of the tree trunk, in the step of the stairs, etc. Thus, this and other ontoconcepts serve as the basis for the realization of three relatively independent types of verbal thinking in humans: practical, technical and theoretical.

 

The article analyzes the meanings of the studied processes and phenomena. It is shown that modern sociology is limited mainly to traditional approaches, which are based on the analysis of phenomena – obvious, relatively simply interpreted concepts. It is shown that with all the variety of methodological orientations and methodological techniques, sociological research is mainly aimed at identifying, using and taking into account indicators of the life world, which are expressed through knowledge, opinion, needs, motives, value orientations, interests and other components of public consciousness, as well as such behavioral shares as deeds and actions. A prominent place is occupied by the phenomena of the macro-, meso- and microenvironment. With this approach, these components of the life world appear as phenomena perceived in experience, as objects of sensory contemplation, as a product of empirical knowledge. The conclusion is substantiated that such an approach seriously limits the possibilities of cognition. A transition to the use of the “noumenon” category is required, which makes it possible to reveal the intelligible, latent essence of phenomena and processes, which becomes apparent as a result of study, comprehension and contemplation. In this regard, the essence and content of the noumenon are determined, its ascent from the phenomenon is revealed, as well as its use in the study of social reality – the life world of people, social groups and communities of the modern world.

The ideological foundation of artificial intelligence as a scientific and applied field is an exact epistemology (EE), which is the study of the interaction of the cognizing subject and the corresponding object of cognition through heuristics and reasoning logics that generate new knowledge and its acceptance. Formal means of exact epistemology – languages of knowledge representation and logic of reasoning – and their practical implementation in computer systems provide constructive imitation and strengthening of some aspects of human intelligent activity. The formalization of cognitive activity is extremely in demand in the humanities, in particular, in the sciences of human and society. From the point of view of exact epistemology, a sociological poll – a traditional form of sociological research – is the interaction of the theoretical intelligence (one of the key concepts of EE) of the researcher and the respondents’ common sense. For a correct description of social reality, the question of the respondents’ rational perception of the elements of the questionnaire and the measure of rationality of individuals and their groups is not the last one. The scientific and constructively implemented apparatus of exact epistemology is the JSM-method of automated research support. The method has logical means for presenting opinions, as well as the formal presentation of a closed sociological poll. The instrumental capabilities of the JSM method provide a reasonable acceptance of new knowledge based on an expanded concept of rationality, including rationality as an argued opinion and argumentation, supported by formalized heuristics and the transformation of unclear ideas into precisely defined concepts.

The article discusses the pragmalinguistic phenomenon ‘subtext’ in today’s political discourse. It seeks to review a number of examples that demonstrate semantic, syntactic and pragmatic aspects of the “linguistics of lies”, or more precisely, accentuate the distinction between conventional and communicative implicatures. The varieties of subtext refer either to euphemization processes and inflated meanings, or to stealth persuasion strategies resting on the use of jargon and bureaucratese. In most analyzed cases of the first cluster, there is an abundance of words with a positive connotation, but with vague subject semantics, which often helps the politician distract the audience from the actual meaning of things. The second cluster of examples highlights the problem of bad style on the part of a person endowed with power. Subtext studies may thus, on the one hand, be of interest to researchers of neo-rhetoric, semantics, and semiotics, and, on the other hand, to instructors and learners of English stylistics.

The article discusses the conceptual structure of the term “мультимодальный” and its English translation equivalent “multimodal” in the conceptual retrospective of its understanding with regard to modern approaches to multimodal communication, as well as intersections with semiotics and cognitive research. The development of new meanings in the structure of the concept is traced using computer methods based on the consideration of distributional semantics of lexemes in high frequency fragments of their functioning. This approach reveals the assimilative connections of words and reflects the linguistic representation of the conceptual sphere. Various semiotic resources in the structure of a multidimensional object can be represented actually or potentially (in the form of a mental representation). The ‘narrativity’ of the visual is revealed in relation to the use of verbal elements in painting. One example is the inclusion of letters and their combinations in the pictorial space of a work of art. The titles of some such works use “speech markers” that can be expanded into a whole situation. The translation of discursive units becomes “intersemiotic”, as it covers a wide range of meanings and senses in the spatial perspective of the art object, due to the individual perception of the viewer. A large amount of information contained in a short word or phrase is thus subjected to interpretation. The article also reveals the intrinsic ties of multimodality studies with psycholinguistics and cognitive discourse analysis.

The article presents provisions that develop the linguistic personality theory, which is actively developed in Russian linguistics. The material, used for research, is two autobiographical works and political speeches of the 44th US President Barack Obama. In this work, within the framework of the cognitive-discursive approach, which made it possible to analyze the key concepts of B. Obama’s linguistic profile, the hierarchies of meanings and values characteristic of the politician’s worldview in different periods of his life were identified. It is proved that the linguistic profile of a politician is characterized not only by the level structure, but also by the dynamics of its conceptual and discursive components. The article traces the change in the concept sphere of B. Obama based on the results of a study of concepts identified in his works over 20 years: 1995 to 2015. Based on the methodology developed by the authors, the key concepts of the politician’s linguistic profile were identified. It is shown that the UNITY concept is central in Barack Obama’s speeches. Along with considering the multidimensionality of the linguistic profile in structural terms, the authors of the article pay attention to the dynamics of the politician’s linguistic profile both in chronological and conceptual terms. It is proved that B. Obama’s linguistic profile is undergoing changes, which consist in the dynamics of linguistic and mental representations. The vision of the multidimensionality of the linguistic personality proposed in the article is an interesting direction of the development of the linguistic personality theory.