UN English-language discourse: pecularities and applications in describing the world order
https://doi.org/10.24833/2410-2423-2022-3-32-70-81
Abstract
This research paper is set in the context of growing interest towards globalization and its effects on contemporary English-language discourse. The focus on the United Nations’ discourse can be explained by the pivotal role of this organization in identifying, shaping and spreading global trends. The underlying assumption is that conceptual, cognitive and semantic analyses of the English-language UN discourse enable deeper understanding of the western worldview, which expands into other types of discourse with a broad audience (media, educational, etc). The application of the conceptual metaphor theory has allowed to discover a conceptual-definitional level as well as image and value levels of the employed concepts in order to find out cognitive linguistic tools which construct the world order model and the view of today’s reality. The study has shown that the language behaviour can be described with the dichotomy “uniting – separating”. On the one hand, reality is represented as a “family” field of life (based on the conceptual metaphor THE WORLD IS A FAMILY) with inherent family values and obligations. On the other hand, the world is subject to explicit categorization through the conceptual opposition of FRIEND vs. FOE and the conceptual and metaphorical model of “The fairy tale of the just war”. Mechanisms of linguistic hierarchization of participants’ relations were also revealed with the help of conceptual metaphors RELATIONS AMONG STATES ARE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONS and LEADER STATE IS A NURTURANT PARENT. The results of the study may be useful for further research on contemporary English-language discourse in a cognitive-pragmatic way, with the possibility of using the identified conceptual metaphors to detect speech tactics and strategies, as well as for comparative analysis of the constructed English-language world view with language models represented by other official UN languages: Russian, French, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic.
About the Author
N. M. Britsyna
MGIMO University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Nastasia Britsyna is Lecturer at Department of English No. 3
76, Prospekt Vernadskogo, Moscow, 119454
References
1. Arkhipov, I. Kognitivnye struktury znaniia i sredstva ikh vyrazheniia v iazyke [Cognitive structures of knowledge and methods of their expression in language]. Cognitive Studies of Language, 2008, 3. P. 158–168.
2. Karasik, V. Iazykovoi Krug: Lichnost’, Kontsepty, Diskurs [Language Circle: Personality, Concepts, Discourse]. Volgograd: Peremena, 2002. 476 p.
3. Kovalev, N. Evoliutsiia Kontsepta COLD WAR v Amerikanskom Politicheskom Diskurse (na Materialakh SMI) [Evolution of COLD WAR Concept in American Political Discourse (Based on Media Materials)]. MGIMO University, 2020. 173 p.
4. Novikov, D., & Britsyna, N. Kontsеptualizatsiia sistemy morali v sovremennom angloiazychnom politicheskom diskurse v kontekste fenomena globalizatsii (na materiale vystupleniy v Organizatsii Obyedinennykh Natsiy). [The conceptualization of morality in modern English-language globalization discourse: evidence from the United Nations speeches]. Linguistics & Polyglot Studies, 2020, 3 (23). P. 33–41. DOI: 10.24833/2410-2423-2020-3-23-33-41
5. Slyshkin G. Ot Teksta k Simvolu: Lingvokulturnye Kontsepty Pretsedentnych Tekstov v Soznanii i Diskurse. [From Text to Symbol: Linguistic-Cultural Concepts of Precedent Texts in the Minds and Discourse]. Moscow: Academia, 2000. 128 p.
6. Ches, N. Kontseptual’naia metafora kak sredstvo konstruirovaniia politicheskoi real’nosti v sovremennom mediadiskurse. [Media discourse analysis: how conceptual metaphors construct political reality]. Yazyk, Soznanie, Kommunikatsiia: Sbornik Statei [Language, Cognition, Communication: Collected Works] (V. Krasnych & А. Izotov series eds. in chief). Vol. 57. Moscow: MAKS Press, 2017. P. 271–282.
7. Fact Sheet: President Biden and G7 Leaders Launch Build Back Better World (B3W) Partnership, whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/06/12/fact-sheet-president-biden-and-g7-leaders-launch-build-back-better-world-b3wpartnership/ (accessed 23 June 2022)
8. Fillmore, Ch. Frames and the semantics of understanding. Quaderni di Semantica, 1985, 6 (2). P. 222–254.
9. Ghafele, R. The metaphors of globalization and trade. Аn analysis of the language used in the World Trade Organization. Vienna University, 2004, mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/37736/ (accessed 21 June 2022)
10. Lakoff, G., & Johnson, G. Conceptual metaphor in everyday language. The Journal of Philosophy, 1980, vol. 77, no. 8. P. 453– 486.
11. Lakoff, G. Metaphor and war: the metaphor system used to justify war in the Gulf. Peace Research, 1991, 23. P. 25–32.
12. Lakoff, G. Metaphor, morality, and politics, or, why conservatives have left liberals in the dust. Social Research, 1995, vol. 62, no. 2, wwcd.org/issues/Lakoff.html (accessed 21 June 2022)
13. Merriam Webster, 2022, merriam-webster.com (accessed 23 June 2022)
14. Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, 2022, oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/ (accessed 23 June 2022)
15. Rebirthing the Global Economy to deliver Sustainable Development, un.org/en/coronavirus/building-back-better-requires-transforming-development-model-latin-america-and-caribbean (accessed 22 June 2022)
16. Steering Committee on Partnerships for Small Island Developing States (at the ambassadorial level), media.un.org/en/asset/ k1y/k1yu3lnsgo (accessed 23 June 2022)
17. Strengthening multilateralism “only way” to peaceful world for all: Guterres, news.un.org/en/story/2022/07/1122212 (accessed 22 June 2022)
18. Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, sdgs.un.org/2030agenda (accessed 29 June 2022).
19. United Nations Secretary-General’s Report “Our Common Agenda”, un.org/en/content/common-agenda-report/ (accessed 29 June 2022)
Review
For citations:
Britsyna N.M. UN English-language discourse: pecularities and applications in describing the world order. Linguistics & Polyglot Studies. 2022;8(3):70-81. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24833/2410-2423-2022-3-32-70-81
Views:
531
Email this article 