Semantization of Chinese Vocabulary in Russian-Language Media Texts of Belarus

The article attempts to characterize the ways Chinese words denoting realia are incorporated in Russian-language media texts and the methods used to describe the meanings of these words. The relevance of the research is determined, firstly, by the development of intercultural dialogue as a result of the intensification of international contacts in the global world, secondly, by the increasing importance of international journalism in the implementation of intercultural dialogue between partner countries, and thirdly, by the intensified penetration of Chineseisms into Russian speech mediated by media discourse. The purpose of this article is to identify and describe the main methods of Chinese vocabulary semantization, which are used by Belarusian media journalists when creating Russian-language media texts with different genre, thematic, and stylistic characteristics. The study draws on popular Belarusian websites texts published in the period from 2007 to 2024. The originality of the study lies in the fact that the vocabulary of Chinese origin presented in Russian-language texts of the Belarusian media is seen as a phenomenon of national Chinese culture; at the same time, the peculiarities of its use, including the character of semantization in the texts, are interpreted as professional creativity of Belarusian journalists who have a high level of knowledge of Russian as one of the state languages in Belarus. The author classifies widely used translation and non-translation methods of Chineseisms’ semantization into direct translation, back-translation, translation-interpretation, defining the meaning of a word, using contextual synonyms, using a word or word combination that represents a generic concept, etc. The combination of linguocultural and discourse analysis of specific contexts allows us to see the specifics of different ways of Chineseisms’ semantization in journalistic texts. It is shown that the discursive factors determining the journalist’s choice of a Chinese word semantization are the subject, genre and authorship of the text, also, the word’s belonging to a certain thematic group, and the word’s belonging to a certain part of the text that has its own functional load. An attempt is made to comprehend the method of a Chinese word semantization in the context of professional and creative tasks solved by journalists.

1. Aleksakhin, A.N. Alfavit kitajskogo iazyka putunkhua. Bukva – fonema – zvuk rechi – slog – slovo [Mandarin Chinese alphabet. Letter – phoneme – speech sound – syllable – word]. Moscow: Eastern Book Publishing house, 2010. 184 p.

2. Aleksakhin, A.N. Vzaimodejstvie ieroglificheskogo i zvukobukvennogo standartov slova kitajskogo iazyka putunkhua [Interaction of hieroglyphic and sound-letter standards of a word in Mandarin Chinese] // Vestnik MGIMO-Universiteta [Bulletin of MGIMO University]. 2010. No 1 (10). Р. 128–135. DOI: 10.24833/2071-8160-2010-1-10-128-135.

3. Babina, G.V. Semantizatsiia leksicheskikh edinits kak rezul’tat tekstovoj deiatel’nosti shkol’nikov s nedorazvitiem rechi [Semantisation of lexical units as a result of textual activity of schoolchildren with speech underdevelopment] // Nauka i shkola [Science and School]. 2013. No 5. P. 169–172.

4. Batulina, A.V. Zaimstvovannye slova i inoiazychnye vkrapleniya kak ob”ekt metaiazykovoi refleksii v massovoi literatury [Borrowed words and foreign language inclusions as an object of metalinguistic reflection in mass literature] / A.V. Batulina // Nauchny vestnik Voronezhskogo gosudarstvennogo arhitekturno-stroitel’nogo universiteta. Seriia: Sovremennye lingvisticheskie i metodiko-didakticheskie issledovaniia [Scientific bulletin of the Voronezh State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering. Series: Modern linguistic and methodological-didactic research]. 2017. No 1 (33). P. 136–148.

5. Verisova, A.D., Holmanskikh, YU.S. Leksika kitaiskogo proiskhozhdeniia v russkom iazyke [Vocabulary of Chinese origin in Russian] // Eurasia Science. Moskva: «Aktual’nost’.RF», 2024. P. 225–226.

6. Voytsekhovich, A.A. Syaokan-socializm s kitaiskim litsom [Xiaokan-socialism with a Chinese face] // Mezhdunarodny nauchno-issledovatel’skiy zhurnal [International Research Journal]. 2018. No 1. P. 36–40. DOI: 10.23670/IRJ.2018.67.029.

7. Golev, N.D. Russkaia leksika v prostranstve obydennogo metaiazykovogo soznaniia: novye formy narodnkyh slovarei, lingvisticheskikh olimpiad i konkursov [Russian lexicon in the space of everyday meta-linguistic consciousness: new forms of folk dictionaries, linguistic Olympiads and competitions] // Rusistika i sovremennost’ [Rusistics and Modernity]: a collection of scientific articles of the XIX International Scientific Conference. In 2 vol., vol. 2, Astana: ENU named after L.N. Gumilev, 2016. P. 59–63.

8. Golev, N.D. Slovar’ obydennykh tolkovaniy russkikh slov: kontseptsiia, proekt, opyty realizatsii [Dictionary of everyday interpretations of Russian words: concept, project, experiments of realization] // Obydennoe metaiazykovoe soznanie: ontologicheskie i gnoseologicheskie aspekty [Customary meta-linguistic consciousness: ontological and gnoseological aspects]. In 3 vol., vol. 3. Kemerovo; Barnaul: Publishing house Alt. state university, 2010. P. 205–264.

9. Darbaeva, Zh.К. Semantizatsiia kitaikskih zaimstvovaniy v russkom iazyke (na materiale russkoiazychnoi pressy Severnogo Kazakhstana) [Semantisation of Chinese loanwords in the Russian language (on the material of the Russian-language press of Northern Kazakhstan)] // Aktual’nye problemy razvitiya KNR v processe ee regionalizatsii i globalizatsii [Actual problems of the PRC development in the process of its regionalisation and globalization]: materials of the XII International scientific-practical conference, Chita: Transbaikal State University, 2020. P. 56–61.

10. Dubkova, O.V. Kitaizmy v russkoiazychnykh perevodakh: teoriia i praktika postredaktirovaniia [Sinicisms in Russian translations: theory and practice of post-editing] // Yazyk. Kul’tura. Kommunikastsiia [Language. Culture. Communication]. 2023. No 24. P. 106–115.

11. Zabiyako, A. A, Senina, E.V. Obraz vospriiatiya Kitaya i kitaitsev v russkoi dorevoliutsionnoi literature i publitsistike ХХ veka [Image of perception of China and the Chinese in Russian pre-revolutionary literature and journalism of the twentieth century] // Sotsial’nye i gumanitarnye nauki na Dal’nem Vostoke [Social and Humanities in the Far East]. 2018. No 4. P. 212–219. DOI: 10.31079/1992-2868-2018-15-4-212-219.

12. Ilyasova, S.V., Bolotova, A.Y. Rol’ kitaizmov-neologizmov v sovremennom russkom iazyke (na materiale mediatekstov) [The role of Chineseisms-neologisms in the modern Russian language (on the material of media texts)] // Nauchnaia mysl’ Kavkaza [Scientific Thought of the Caucasus]. 2022. No 4 (112). P. 153–159. DOI: 10.18522/2072-0181-2022-112-153-159.

13. Ying, S., Shaklein, V.M. Kitaiskoe slovo-realiia v russkoiazychnykh publitsisticheskikh tekstakh [Chinese word-reality in Russian-language publicistic texts] // Mir nauki, kul’tury, obrazovaniia [World of Science, Culture, Education]. 2018. No 1 (68). P. 435–437.

14. Aleksakhin, A.N., Terol, G., Dudchenko, G.B., et al.// Senina, E. V. (ed.) Kitaiskiy iazyk: aktual’nye voprosy iazykoznaniia, perevodovedeniia i lingvodidaktiki [Chinese language: topical issues of linguistics, translation studies and linguodidactics]: collection of articles of the scientific conference. Moscow: MGIMO-University, 2019.

15. Kobozeva, I.M. Dve ipostasi soderzhaniia rechi: znachenie i smysl [Two aspects of speech content: meaning and meaning] // Arutiunova, N. D. [ed.]. Yazyk o iazyke [Language about language]. Moscow: YAzyki russkoj kul’tury, 2000. P. 304–359.

16. Kuznetsova, T.YU. Metaiazykovaia deiatel’nost’ riadovogo nositelia iazyka: tipy strategij tolkovaniia uzkospetsial’nykh i obshcheupotrebitel’nykh slov [Metalinguistic activity of an ordinary native speaker: types of strategies for interpreting highly specialized and commonly used words] // Nauchny dialog [Scientific dialogue]. 2013. No 5(17). P. 94–105.

17. Loginova, E.V. K voprosu o razgranichenii tipov semanticheskoi informatsii [To the question of differentiation of types of semantic information] // Sibirskiy filologicheskiy zhurnal [Siberian Philological Journal]. 2012. No 3. P. 159–166.

18. Mamontov, A.S., Boguslavskaya, V.V., Ratnikova, A.G. Ustoichivye natsional’nye slovesnye obrazy v aspekte natsional’no orientirovannoi lingvostranovedcheskoi uchebnoi leksikografii [Sustainable national word images in the aspect of nationally oriented linguo-country study lexicography] // Vekrhnevolzhskiy filologicheskiy vestnik [Verkhnevolzhsky philological bulletin]. 2023. No 3 (34). P. 100–107. DOI: 10.20323/2499_9679_2023_3_34_100.

19. Molibozhenko, R.A. Opredeleniia i ob’iasneniia v sovremennom publitsisticheskom tekste: redaktorskiy aspekt [Definitions and explanations in the modern journalistic text: editorial aspect] // Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta [Vestnik of Moscow University]. Series 10: Journalism, 2011. No 2. P. 54–60.

20. Ni, C. Gastronomicheskie kitaizmy v sovremennom russkom iazyke [Gastronomic Chineseisms in modern Russian language] // Sovremennaia nauka: aktual’nye problemy teorii i praktiki [Modern science: current problems of theory and practice]. Series: Humanities. 2023. No 1-1. P. 170–174. DOI: 10.37882/2223-2982.2023.1.30.

21. Plotnikova, A.M. Semantizatsiia slova v sovremennykh tolkovykh slovariakh i slovariakh kontseptov: novye tendentsii [Semantization of words in modern explanatory dictionaries and dictionaries of concepts: new trends] // Filologicheskij klass [Philological class]. 2013. No 3 (33). P. 47–50.

22. Rostova, A.N. Metatekst kak forma eksplikatsii metaiazykovogo soznaniia (na materiale russkih govorov Sibiri) [Metatext as a form of explication of metalinguistic consciousness (based on the material of Russian dialects of Siberia)]. Tomsk: Publishing house Tom. University. 2000. 194 p.

23. Rostova, A.N. Obydennoe metaiazykovoe soznanie: status i aspekty izucheniia [Ordinary semantisation of words] // Golev, N. D. (ed.). Obydennoe metayazykovoe soznanie i naivnaya lingvistika [Ordinary meta-linguistic consciousness: ontological and gnoseological aspects]. In 3 parts. P. 1. Kemerovo- Barnaul: Publishing house Alt. University, 2009. P. 45–53.

24. Czyatun, V. Istoriia i sovremennoe sostoianie kitaiskikh zaimstvovaniy v russkom iazyke: leksika, frazeologiia, onomastika [History and current state of Chinese borrowings in the Russian language: vocabulary, phraseology, onomastics]. Volgograd, 2023. 278 p.

25. Cheremisina, T.I. Kitaiskie zaimstvovaniia v sovremennom angliiskom iazyke kak element kul’turno-iazykovykh kontaktov [Chinese borrowings in modern English as an element of cultural and linguistic contacts] // Vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo lingvisticheskogo universiteta. Gumanitarnye nauki [Bulletin of Moscow State Linguistic University. Humanities]. 2019. Vol. 6 (822). P. 91–107.

26. Zhu, Shengmin. Russkoiazychnaia publitsistika Belarusi o Kitae i belorussko-kitajskikh otnosheniiakh v kontekste dialoga kul’tur [Russian-language journalism in Belarus about China and Belarusian-Chinese relations in the context of the dialogue of cultures] // Vesnіk Grodzenskaga dzyarzhaўnaga ўnіversіteta іmya YAnkі Kupaly [Vesnik Grodzenskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta imeni Yanki Kupala]. Ser. 3, Philology. Pedagogy. Psychology. 2024. Vol. 14. No 2. P. 22–29.

27. Shmelev, D.N. Problemy semanticheskogo analiza leksiki: na materiale russkogo iazyka [Problems of semantic analysis of vocabulary: based on the material of the Russian language]. Moscow: Nauka, 1973. 280 р.

28. Yang, C. Kitaizmy v sovremennykh rossijskikh SMI: semantika, grammatika, pragmatika [Chineseisms in modern Russian media: semantics, grammar, pragmatics] // Praktiki i interpretatsii: zhurnal filologicheskikh, obrazovatel’nykh i kul’turnykh issledovanij [Practices and interpretations: Journal of philological, educational and cultural studies]. 2017. No 1. P. 222–231.