This article examines the relationship between soft power, nation branding, and educational and cultural cooperation within the framework of the Swedish Institute’s policy of international cooperation to promote the country’s image abroad and strengthen its reputational capital. The relevance of this topic is due to the significance of the stated agenda, which, as our research has shown, has influenced both the development of cultural cooperation and academic exchanges, and the specific features of the construction of Sweden’s foreign policy image. Through an analysis of Swedish Institute materials (primarily data from reports published in 2022–2034), the authors examine the process of how the organization’s activities are prioritized based on the distribution of financial support and the focus of its cultural and educational projects. To this end, we analyse the role and parameters of building a national brand; consider changes in the content of educational and cultural events and programmes conducted by Sweden in Eastern Europe and the Baltics; trace the dynamics of the processes of cultural exchange between Sweden and the countries of these regions; note the influence of the current political situation on the volume and measures of financial assistance to them; and describe the perception of Sweden in Russia, Eastern Europe and the Baltics. The study is based on the methods of comparative analysis, discourse analysis, and case study techniques. We conclude that in implementing a diverse range of educational and cultural programmes, the Swedish Institute adheres to the principle of regionalism, which allows such projects to be implemented with due account of the interests and needs of both Sweden and partner countries. We also show that when determining the parameters of national branding, the Swedish Institute relies on the approach of Simon Anholt, refining it in a number of areas. According to the findings of the study, the adaptation of relevant programmes for the development of cooperation with partner countries is aimed at integrating specific Swedish values into the cultural matrix of the host cultures. At the same time, the programmes implemented in this area are greatly influenced by the current political situation, thus excluding such an important international partner as Russia. The study confirms the initial thesis about the relatively slow accumulation of Sweden’s reputational capital, including in the process of the Swedish Institute’s work with“promising”(in the current environment) countries, as well as with the countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltics. We further conclude that the Swedish Institute is not only a key actor in the country’s cultural and educational policy, as well as a powerful channel of soft power, but also an instrument for Sweden to position itself as a moral superpower, which can be seen in many areas of its policies that go beyond public diplomacy.

English translation from the Russian text: Dianina S. Y., Zolotukhina Y. I., 7 Ragozin G. S. 2024. Cultural and Representative Policy of Sweden as an Element of Nation Branding. Concept: Philosophy, Religion, Culture. 8(1). P. 91–111. (In Russian). DOI:  https://doi.org/10.24833/2541-8831-2024-1-29-91-111

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 conveying information. 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 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.

English translation from the Russian text: Kopshukova E.V., Panina N.V. 2024. Dynamics of Multimodal Components in English Educational Discourse: The Case of English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy. Professional Discourse & Communication. 6(2). P. 10–34. (In Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.24833/2687-0126-2024-6-2-10-34

This article explores the deployment of various communicative strategies within prominent medical blogs. The study analyses 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: awareness raising and manipulative. Each strategy has distinct goals and is manifested through specific communicative tactics. The awareness raising strategy seeks to disseminate medical knowledge through tactics such as providing concise information, referencing sources of authority, 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 awareness raising framework.

English translation from the Russian text: Petrosyan M. M. 2024. Basic Communicative Strategies and Tactics of Russian and Armenian Medical Media Discourse. Professional Discourse & Communication. 6(2). P. 62–81. (In Russian). DOI: https:// doi.org/10.24833/2687-0126-2024-6-2-62-81

This article is devoted to the study of neologisms that emerged in the French language from 2020 to 2023, as well as of the role of factors that caused the enrichment of everyday French language during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of the study is to establish which lexical units created during the COVID-19 pandemic were included in the dictionaries of Le Robert and Larousse; identify which vocabulary items (in terms of sphere of use) were used to enrich the French language; determine the types of neologisms and the most productive ways of neologism formation during the pandemic; and identify the relationship between types of neologisms and the factors that caused them to appear. In the course of the work, an interdisciplinary approach was used, which allowed us to take into account the relationship between two scientific disciplines: linguistics and personality psychology and included methods of observation, description, interpretation, classification, as well as lexicological and semantic analysis. The analysis of the results showed that everyday French language has been enriched primarily by professional vocabulary, mostly medical terms, then by technical terms, and military terms, as well as by social vocabulary related to the life support services of homo socialis and its behaviour in the new norm. As for the types of neologisms that appeared during the pandemic, lexical and semantic neologisms predominate, while the number of borrowed neologisms is negligible. The most productive ways of forming lexical neologisms during this period were prefixation and contamination. Intralinguistic and extralinguistic factors had a significant impact on the neologization of the French language. The latter is made up, firstly, of objective factors, and then of subjective factors, which we refer to as the emotional states of the individual. The emotions of the pandemic, as a response to economic, cultural and psychological shocks, have contributed to the process of updating the lexical composition of the French language. The interaction of the negative emotions of fear, anger, and disappointment with the intellectual emotions of humour and irony thus spurred the creation of a large number of lexical neologisms, including playful derivatives, while the combination of the negative emotion of fear the positive emotion of interest contributed to the transition of professionalisms into the category of everyday vocabulary, filling the language with semantic neologisms. The emotions of the pandemic, in realizing their three functions (evaluative, motivating, and protective), served as a kind of impulse for enriching the vocabulary of the French language. The lexicological analysis was based on the materials from the Le Robert and Larousse electronic dictionaries, as well as from the websites of such media outlets as Le Monde, Le Figaro, La Croix, Ouest-France, Le Journal du Dimanche, Rue 89, Slate, and Franceinfo.

English translation from the Russian text: Tarasova M.V. 2024. On the impact of extralinguistic and intralinguistic factors on the vocabulary enrichment of the French language during the pandemic. Linguistics & Polyglot Studies. 10(1). P. 98–112. DOI:    https://doi.org/10.24833/2410-2423-2024-1-38-98-112

This article, through archival materials, develops the understudied theme of clergy recruitment and motivation for service in the North American diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. It explains why the recruitment of the clergy for the diocese was a serious problem: the church did not have enough resources to train priests in America, while candidates from Russia were deterred by such factors as the language barrier, the lower social status of Orthodox priests in the United States, the meagre salary compared to in Russia, and the fact that American culture was so alien to them. On the other hand, many of those who expressed the desire to serve in the United States were unsuitable as candidates. Various categories of people are identified in this paper who entered the ministry in the diocese both from Russia and from among local residents. The best clergymen, who made up the cream of the Orthodox clergy in America, turned out to be church people from the Russian Empire, selected by the heads of the North American diocese themselves, especially during their visits to Russia. The motives of the candidates for the remote diocese are analysed on the basis of their applications addressed to the head of the diocese, compared with data from other primary sources, such as analytical conclusions of St. Tikhon (Bellavin), head of the diocese in 1898–1907; messages from the Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev, who collected information about applicants; and the memoirs of Archbishop Plato (Rozhdestvensky), who headed the diocese from 1907 to 1914. The study revealed a great variety of motives: from sincere desire to serve the Church and save people’s souls, to aspirations unrelated to church service, such as the desire to see an interesting and rapidly developing country and to supplement one’s education. In addition, the American periods of the lives of two Russian clergymen, reconstructed from archival materials and summarized in this article, shed light on the realities of the lives of talented young Russian people in America at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. Finally, the life path of the best clergymen of the diocese is outlined in the article.

English translation from the Russian text: Pechatnov V. O., Pechatnov V. V. 2023. Russian Clergy in the United States (Late 19th – Early 20th Centuries): Problems of Recruitment and Motivation. Concept: Philosophy, Religion, Culture. 8(2). P. 50–68. (In Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.24833/2541-8831-2024-2-30-50-68