This article aims to identify the linguistic features of English-language educational discourse in terms of structural, descriptive, semantic, and cognitive-pragmatic analyses. The relevance of the study stems from the need to identify trends in the representation of language components in modern grammar textbooks within the communicative-pragmatic paradigm of educational discourse. The authors focus on the linguosynergetic potential of the English grammar textbook “English Grammar in Use” by Raymond Murphy, manifested in changes of certain discourse markers in all five editions. Employing a multimodal discourse analysis methodology, this research scrutinizes the verbal and visual disparities—encompassing graphic elements, letter capitalization, italics, font, and color—that hold pragmatic value and fulfill various roles, from engagement to information conveyance. The authors also investigate the interference of advertising and educational discourses and the small-format nature of texts in this self-study textbook, whose hypertext structure and internal navigational system serve as a surrogate for teacher guidance, thereby performing a directive function. A diachronic analysis of communicative scenarios within the textbook’s exercises reveals the dynamic utilization of interjections, underscoring their importance in creating an emotive-expressive backdrop that facilitates the acquisition of grammatical phenomena, reflective of their real-world application. Thus, in an attempt to represent the features of natural communication and to avoid the use of linguistic terms, the author of the textbook presents complex grammatical material in the most accessible form for a wide audience. Consequently, the study highlights the textbook’s increasing emphasis on the personality-bound component, complementing the traditionally dominant status-oriented approach in educational discourse.

This paper examines the defining characteristics of contemporary American political discourse, aiming to identify, analyze, and classify these traits in terms of content, structure, and formative features. The analysis draws upon a corpus of speeches by American politicians during the 2016 and 2020 Presidential Elections, as well as journalistic articles, to illustrate the distinctive elements of American political discourse. Understanding a nation’s political discourse necessitates examining the idiosyncrasies of its political culture. Therefore, this study foregrounds the cultural underpinnings of modern American politics, exploring the interrelationships between American political discourse and the nation’s political history and culture. Employing discourse analysis, linguacultural analysis, and comparative analysis, the paper delineates the characteristics of modern American politics, including societal heterogeneity, the imperative of political correctness, a pronounced degree of religiosity, an individualistic political culture, and the dramatized nature of political contention. These cultural traits manifest in four salient features of contemporary American political discourse: a syntactic orientation in speech production, the employment of nicknames and sobriquets, the fluidity of political concepts, and the contentious exchanges between the two predominant parties, which engender linguistic divergences. While some features may be present in other national discourses, the unique combination and intensity in the American context accentuate their presence. This paper contributes to political discourse studies by examining political discourse through a linguacultural lens, thereby enhancing understanding of American society and its worldview. It underscores the pivotal cultural attributes of American politics, correlates them with political discourse, and presents concrete examples from speeches of current American politicians and contemporary media, laying the groundwork for future research into American political discourse from a linguacultural standpoint.

The present study focuses on irony in political communication and ways of expressing it, since in modern political discourse irony is becoming an indispensable characteristic. The ideas are verified on the material of English and American politicians’ speeches. The paper argues that the ironic type of communicative behaviour is realized through an ironic image, a certain temporary role, in compliance with which the speaker builds up his/her remarks. The ironic image functions as an element of the strategy of theatricality, which is typical of political discourse and is aimed at an indirect addressee – the public. Such images rely on the “friend–foe” opposition (also known as: “us vs. them”), which divides the world into those who support “us” and those who oppose “us”. The latter becomes the object of political irony, which is implemented in discourse through various ironic discourse tactics, such as destructiveness, eccentricity, harmonization of communication and others. These tactics are closely connected with the national style of communication and reflect the communicative values of Anglo-Saxon culture: privacy, individualism, common sense, competitiveness, politeness, etc. The hypothesis, stated and verified in the paper, regards ironic images, which in this study are divided into two kinds: those connected with the genre (situational images) and those regulated by the context and the format of speech (emotional images); the latter reflect the mood and feelings at the given moment. The results of the analysis may help to reveal the real politicians’ intentions and preferences and pose challenges for further investigation of political discourse regarding irony and ironic images.

This article explores the deployment of various communicative strategies within prominent medical blogs. The study analyzes 400 texts in Russian and Armenian, sourced from diverse social networks. The selection of these materials is justified by the growing popularization of medical knowledge and the escalating public interest in health, which motivates physicians to undertake active educational initiatives across all accessible information platforms. The objective of this research is to systematically delineate the primary communicative strategies and tactics employed in Russian- and Armenian-language medical blogs authored by doctors from a range of specialties. The significance of this study arises from the incontrovertible popularity of social networks and the progressive mediatization of medical discourse, coupled with a gap in scholarly literature regarding the comparative analysis of Russian and Armenian medical discourses. The findings reveal that medical media discourse on social networks predominantly implements two communicative strategies: informational-educational and manipulative. Each strategy has distinct goals and is manifested through specific communicative tactics. The informational-educational strategy seeks to disseminate medical knowledge through tactics such as providing concise information, referencing authoritative sources, offering guidance, and dispelling medical myths. In contrast, the manipulative strategy aims to market certain products or services, thus actively employing marketing tactics like extolling the virtues of one’s offerings, drawing attention to the blogger’s professional accomplishments and expertise, among others. The study concludes that tactics associated with the manipulative strategy are prevalent in both Russian and Armenian medical blogs, as are tactics related to myth debunking, instructional guidance, and the provision of succinct information within the informational-educational framework.

The aim of this study is to identify the word formation, semantic, and stylistic features of words with complex bases within Russian and German verb nests, centered around the base verbs lyubit’ / lieben (‘to love’). This research unveils the word-forming and semantic potential of these base verbs by analyzing their complex derivatives and comparing the composites derived from lyubit’ and lieben. Empirical data were collected through continuous sampling, and the word formation analysis method was employed to describe the formation processes of the units in question. Epidigmatic analysis was utilized to examine their semantic structures, complemented by quantitative assessments of frequency and distribution. The findings indicate that word composition is the predominant method of forming complex words in both languages’ verb nests, with a notable prevalence of composite nouns that exhibit a subordinate relationship between bases and are monosemantic. The study also reveals that while fusion is a method of producing composites in Russian, in German, it is limited to compound words. Reduplication, as seen in Russian composites like lyubish-ne-lyubish (‘love-not-love’), is absent in German. The study concludes, that the analyzed words are integral to the professional lexicon of psychologists, criminologists, biologists, botanists, and others. Beyond their terminological meanings, these complex lexemes encapsulate cultural concepts that mirror the mentalities of Russian and German speakers. Recognizing these concepts is crucial for effective communication across various fields, particularly in professional contexts.

This study explores the internal structure of relative clauses in Yemsa, an area yet to be examined in existing literature. The research aims to address this gap by answering the following questions: What is the internal structure of the Yemsa relative clause? What kind of relative clause types occur in Yemsa, and what morphological markers are involved in the relativization process? What are the strategies in relative clause formation? What are the relativized noun phrase (NP) positions in Yemsa? Empirical data were collected through the elicitation technique through informant interviews about the structure of relative clauses in Yemsa. A descriptive approach was employed for analysis, independent of any theoretical framework. The findings reveal that headed relative clauses in Yemsa are prenominal, allowing for the relativization of subject, direct object, indirect object, oblique, and possessor NPs. The relativization strategy for the subject, direct or indirect object, is pro in situ. The oblique NP position employs a gap strategy. The relativization of possessor NP has a possessive person suffix in the possessed noun. The indicative verb is relativized in its perfective and imperfective forms. The relative verbs do not have a relativizer. The headless relative clause appears without an overt nominal head. The relativized noun phrase can be a subject, an object, or an oblique noun phrase in the headless relative clause. The role of the noun phrase within the relative clause is recoverable from the agreement suffixes attached to the relative verb. The negative relative clause is formed through the suffixation of a negative morpheme. The negative morpheme neutralizes aspects and person markers. This study contributes syntactic data to the comparative syntactic analysis of Omotic languages, enhancing our understanding of this linguistic group.

In the era of globalization and digitalization, the importance of 21st-century skills—such as communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking—has significantly increased. To prepare students for contemporary challenges, educators must focus on tasks that develop these essential skills and competencies. This article explores the use of debates and ‘discussion brackets’—a novel group discussion format in EFL methodology—to foster 21st-century skills among undergraduates in non-linguistic programs. The authors conducted extensive research on the concept of 21st-century skills and examined how it aligns with the Russian concepts of “competences” and “skills.” The study aims to uncover the potential of discussion brackets in skill development. A review of the literature revealed scant information on the effectiveness of this discussion format, leading to the hypothesis that discussion brackets, alongside debates, could effectively develop key 21st-century competencies. An experiment was carried out with first-year students of the double degree program in Economics and Politics in Asia at the National Research University Higher School of Economics and Kyung Hee University, as part of an EFL course titled “English for Political Studies.” The teacher employed specific criteria to assess students’ engagement in discussion brackets and debates, evaluating their competency development. Subsequent to the activities, students completed a survey with self-reflection questions based on the Likert scale and participated in an oral interview. The results indicate that active participation in both tasks enabled students to enhance their mastery of 21st-century skills. Students reported improved critical thinking and the ability to think creatively. Furthermore, the introduction of discussion brackets sparked immediate interest and engagement among the students.

The article addresses the challenge of acquiring professional economic discourse among students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in economics. This institutional economic discourse is not merely a collection of terminological units but a complex and evolving system that exhibits a broad spectrum of genre, stylistic, and pragmatic relevance. The discourse in the economic field represents the interconnections of knowledge, various language units, and their meanings. In efforts to comprehend and elucidate economic phenomena, its practitioners employ diverse forms through which economic concepts are transformed into knowledge within an educational context. The study aims to identify effective methods for studying English-language economic discourse for students who have chosen economics as their future career. The authors utilize examples of non-codified language units from economic discourse and compared online machine-translated examples with translations produced by learners as empirical material for this research. Translating economic texts from English to Russian, editing texts translated by online translators, summarizing in English, and engaging in follow-up discussions emerged as the most effective strategies for learners to establish themselves as agents of economic discourse. These techniques ensure the comprehensive establishment, maintenance, and advancement of discourse practices. The study employs observation and analysis, logical juxtaposition, and the component analysis method. The authors conclude that the aforementioned methods for acquiring economic discourse should be given priority. This approach significantly enhances the effectiveness of converting acquired knowledge into communicative practices, transforming the discourse of the economic sphere into a dynamic tool for recreating professional expertise, with a high level of involvement from potential discourse agents in the acquisition process.

The article provides an overview of the main reports presented at the round table on neurolinguistic research issues in the field of language education, organized within the framework of the 5th Inter-University Scientific and Practical Conference “Traditions and Innovations in Foreign Language Teaching in Non-Linguistic Universities” (MGIMO University, Moscow, Russia).