UN English-Language Discourse: Peculiarities and Applications in Describing the World Order
https://doi.org/10.24833/RJCSC-2023-2-3-4-18
Abstract
This research paper is set in the context of growing interest in globalization and its effects on contemporary English-language discourse. The focus on discourse in the United Nations 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 UN English-language discourse enable a deeper understanding of the western worldview, which expands into other types of discourse with a broad audience (the media, education, etc.). The application of the conceptual metaphor theory allowed us not only to identify a conceptual level of the concepts used, but also to more comprehensively explore the image and value levels of these concepts in order to identify the various cognitive-linguistic tools that are used to construct a model of the world order and assess modern reality. The study showed that language behaviour can be described through the dichotomy of “unification – segmentation.” 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 are also revealed with the help of conceptual metaphors RELATIONS AMONG STATES ARE PARENT–CHILD RELATIONS and THE 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.
Transl.: Britsyna N. M. 2022. UN English-Language Discourse: Pecularities and Applications in Describing the World Order. Linguistics & Polyglot Studies. 8(3). P. 70–81. DOI: https://doi.org/10.24833/2410-2423-2022-3-32-70-81
About the Author
N. Britsyna
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Nastasia Britsyna – a Lecturer in English Language Department No. 3 at MGIMO University
119454, Moscow, Russia, Prospekt Vernadskogo 76.
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For citations:
Britsyna N. UN English-Language Discourse: Peculiarities and Applications in Describing the World Order. The Russian Journal of Cultural Studies and Communication. 2023;2(3):4-18. https://doi.org/10.24833/RJCSC-2023-2-3-4-18
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