Articles

The article provides a detailed examination of the influence of the ethnolinguistic factor on the formation of new administrative units in modern India. It focuses particularly on the analysis of the planning and implementation process of the administrative reform conducted in 1956, which became a key stage in shaping the country’s internal structure based on ethnolinguistic criteria. The study explores the mechanisms through which the ethnolinguistic characteristics of regions were considered in the creation of new states, as well as the views of various political figures such as V. Patel and J. Nehru regarding these issues. Additionally, it addresses contemporary trends and prospects concerning the impact of India’s language policies on current and future administrative processes. The article also analyses the development of the country’s administrative division amid ongoing linguistic diversity and considers the role of government policy in maintaining the balance between national unity and regional identity. Overall, the paper is a study of the historical ethnolinguistic contradictions in India and their influence on the administrative system, emphasizing the importance of acknowledging the linguistic factor for the stability and development of the state.

After the Ottoman conquest of Syria and Palestine, the cities of the Holy Land became part of a strategically important region connecting several parts of the empire, but remained an unchanged meeting place for Christian, Jewish and Muslim civilizations. Traders, emigrants and pilgrims from different countries crossed paths in Syria and Palestine - they witnessed and described in letters and memoirs the changes that took place in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Ottoman era. A network of diverse contacts intertwined Jewish communities due to the dispersion of the Jewish diaspora across Mediterranean countries. Jewish immigrants and visitors to the Holy Land exchanged news and established ties that spread to different parts of the Mediterranean and involved representatives of various groups and institutions of Jewish society. Their notes cover urban life in the Middle East in the 16th century, the evolution of settlements in Palestine, and the formation of the image of the foreigner. Moreover, they reveal a key feature of Jewish socio-cultural life: the existence of a system of well-established bonds between communities as a means of survival. The article analyses contacts between the Holy Land and neighbouring Mediterranean countries by the example of communication between Jewish communities in Syria and Palestine, Italy and North Africa, taking into account the historical realities of the Ottoman era. The geography of connections, the subjects of letters, the place of the Holy Land in the system of communication between the diaspora centers of the Levant, and the participation of emigrants in the socio-cultural life of the Mediterranean in the 16th-early 17th centuries are examined.

This article examines how the Soviet Union was portrayed in materials from the South African Communist Party (SACP) in the age of apartheid, using the magazine “African Communist” as an example. The issue of the USSR’s image in South African communist publications is connected to broader themes, such as how the Soviet Union was perceived in South African socio-political discussions during apartheid and the characteristics of the discourse in the global communist press during the latter half of the 20th century. These issues are particularly relevant given the current active development of Russian-South African relations and the related interest in the history of Soviet-South African relations. Additionally, problems associated with forming the image of another country - and the related discursive practices - are especially relevant in the era of digital media and accelerated information exchange. This work identifies the key features of the USSR’s image as a leading socialist power in the journal’s materials from its founding in 1959 until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. It uses the tools of imagology, an interdisciplinary field that studies the sociocultural dimensions of subjects. Despite changes in South Africa, the USSR, and the world, the main features of the Soviet Union’s image in the journal remained unchanged throughout the studied period. The USSR was largely mythologized in the “African Communist”: it was presented as a role model for developing countries and as the foundation of the global socialist movement. When discussing conflicts between the USSR and other socialist states, the magazine’s authors invariably took the USSR’s side. When mentioning contradictions within the USSR, the authors emphasized the Soviet leadership’s ability to admit mistakes. Such features of the Soviet Union’s image in the magazine can be explained by the USSR’s status as a key ally of the South African Communist Party and the important role its image played as a propaganda tool in shaping a picture of the socialist future of Africa.

The article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of language play in the Chinese segment of Internet communication and communication (wǎngluò yǔyán). In this regard, the purpose of the study is to analyze the main types of graphic, semantic and grammatical transformations, such as playing with tones, using abbreviations, acronyms, numeronyms, emojis, stickers, games with hieroglyphs, mixing writing systems, as well as metaphors, allusions, irony and rethinking familiar semantic relationships. The key functions of the language game are considered: identifying users with groups, enhancing expressivity, creating a humorous effect, saving linguistic resources, circumventing censorship and linguocreative creation of new meanings within the framework of the theory of neology. The influence of Internet slang on modern Chinese is discussed, including interaction with literary norms and penetration into everyday speech The study used three main sources: the Weibo microblogging platform, Douyin video hosting (an analogue of TikTok) and youth forums (Tieba, Douban). The study highlights the relevance of studying the language game for understanding the dynamics of an isolating type of language and culture in the digital age as a whole.

The article examines examples of translating proper names from Japanese and several other East Asian languages that use logographic writing systems into Russian, within the framework of translation onomastics as discussed in the works of D. I. Ermolovich. Alongside the issues already identified in existing studies, the article outlines further questions that require consideration in the ongoing development of this field. Particular attention is given to the challenges of transcription and transliteration from different languages, the problem of preserving the internal form of the name, including the visual component of the logographic character, as well as issues of maintaining the identity of the name when translating nominal affixes.

This study investigates the functioning of referential components within noun phrases in Modern Chinese. The analysis focuses on the deployment of these elements in sentence structures to elucidate their referential status-a topic that remains largely underexplored in Russian-language sinological scholarship. Particular attention is given to the referential properties of noun phrases, framed within the context of the extensive theoretical foundation established in Russian linguistics over more than half a century of research on reference. Evidence from Chinese corpus data indicates that linear position plays a decisive role in determining the referential status of noun phrases in this system. In contrast, lexical features alone are insufficient for accurately capturing the referential meanings of noun phrases in context. It is thus essential to delineate the conditions under which a language permits multiple alternative strategies for designating real-world referents. Consequently, the pragmatic factors governing communicative interaction must be taken into account when determining referential choices within noun phrase structure.

The article examines the Qizilbash campaigns (1541, 1547, 1551, 1554) under Shah Tahmasp I (r. 1524-1576), revealing the dynamics of relations between Iran and Eastern Georgia in the first half of the 16th century. The Safavid dynasty (1501-1722) continued the expansionist policy of its predecessors and declared its rights to the South Caucasus. The main support of the Safavids became the nomadic Turkoman tribes - followers of the Sufi order of Sheikh Safi ad-Din (1252-1334), known as Qizilbash (red heads): Shamlu, Rumlu, Ustajlu, Tekelyu, Afshar, Qajar, Zulqadar, Turkeman. The founder of the dynasty, Shah Ismail I (r. 1501-1524), initiated efforts to conquer Eastern Georgia, taking advantage of internal divisions within Georgian kingdoms. Despite their weakened state due to internal conflicts, these kingdoms did not abandon attempts at unification. Maneuvering between the rival Safavids and Ottomans in the region, the Georgian rulers made forced concessions, trying to prevent devastating and bloody invasions from both sides.

The article provides an overview of the achievements of four East African countries in the implementation of science, technology and innovation (STI) programs, and examines the assistance in this process from international intergovernmental organizations: the United Nations, UNCTAD, UNESCO. The relevance of the research topic is due to the potential of the STI sphere in solving the main socio-economic problems faced by East African states. The author has identified and analyzed data on Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda over a wide chronological period: from the colonial period to the present. It is concluded that the development of science and education is the central and most difficult task in planning and technological adaptation for the countries of the East African region. Against the background of rapid economic growth, it is important for States to properly allocate public investments in the field of science and education, use the accumulated positive experience and strengthen the existing infrastructure.

This article is based on existing research and published archives and, by systematizing this information, seeks to reflect as fully as possible China’s and the USSR’s judgment of the situation during the 1938 Soviet-Japanese border con-flict and the range of actions taken on the basis of that judgment. After the Lake Hasan conflict widened, the Chinese government believed that war would break out between Japan and the USSR, so it began to actively ally itself with the USSR both politically and militarily. While holding Wuhan, the Chinese army began planning counter-offensives and attempted to draw the USSR and Japan into a full-scale war. However, the conflict between Japan and the USSR did not escalate into a military clash. At this stage, the USSR also hoped that China would continue to share Japan’s military pressure, and after the Japan-Soviet peace talks, still insisted that the Chi-nese army launch a counteroffensive. After the loss of Wuhan and Guangzhou, the USSR’s vision could not be realized, and as a result, mutual dissatisfaction gradu-ally grew between China and the USSR. In such a situation, the close Sino-Soviet relations formed on the basis of the goal of “joint resistance to Japanese expansion” also began to be adversely affected, and after the conflict at Lake Hasan, these contradictions between the two sides also became one of the factors behind the emergence of disagreements between China and the USSR later on Soviet military aid to China and other issues.

Feng Jicai (b. 1942) is one of the most famous contemporary Chinese writers, he is known also as an artist and calligrapher. This paper examines his novel “The Three-Inch Golden Lotus” (San cun jin lian, 1986), in particular, it looks into literary representation of trauma. The revealed stylistic features allow us to consider the story in the context of its relationship with the oral folk tale.

Al-hanin ila-l-awtan (“longing for the native places”) is a group of motives in classical Arabic literature which emerged in the pre-Islamic era and gained popularity in the I/VIII-II/IX cc., whereby the expansion of the caliphate, the concentration of literary activity at courts, and a number of other reasons made poets leave their homelands. They expressed their homesickness in different literary forms, including poetic improvisations, prose sayings, and separate motifs in polythematic works. The II/IX century marked the appearance of the first al-hanin ila-l-awtan anthologies, the earliest of which is attributed to al-Jahiz. This collection, of a relatively moderate volume, contains examples of al-hanin ila-l-awtan poetry and prose of various periods. It was frequently quoted later on. Nevertheless, the anthology has been little studied; although mentioned in a number of review articles, it has not yet been subject to a separate research. This article considers the issues related to the source attribution, structure, and content, as well as its role in the literary tradition.

The article discusses the issue of referring to people with disabilities in the contemporary Japanese language. There has been little research on the problems of labelling vulnerable population groups, in particular, concerning about people with disabilities in the Japanese language in the national and Western scientific literature. However, since Japan’s state policy is aimed at the adaptation and inclusion of people with disabilities in public life, the language policy of Japan in this field could be useful for other countries. The main data for the study was taken from the BCCWJ (Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese) corpus of National Institute of Japanese Language and Linguistics and the official websites of the organisations dealing with the problems of people with disabilities. The author examines language models of nomination formation, analyses different interpretations and uses of the most frequently used word «sho:gaisha». The author concludes that there is a certain influence of political correctness in the contemporary Japanese language. However, the model of nomination in which disability acts as a marker of the identity is prevailing.

The article contains an analysis of phonetic features of modern Korean language, the peculiarities of similar sounds’ pronunciation and its differences from Russian analogues. A significant part of the article is devoted to the research of the specifics of the Korean language’s grammatical structure with a focus on: the principle of constructing simple and complex sentences; differences in using dative and locative cases, verbs of movement’s direction, constructions of impossibility to perform an action for subjective and objective reasons, the principle of using three variants of subordinate clauses of purpose; constructing an indirect question and subordinate additional clauses, using “Korean” and “Chinese” numerals and the system of big data. The article also presents an analysis of a special orientation of politeness’ category, which has several levels and is expressed in verb endings, suffixes and polite equivalents for a number of nouns.

The article is dedicated to the sinologist Yakov Yakovlevich Brandt (Brandt, J.J.; 1869–1946), who lived in Beijing. The orientalist graduated from the Saratov gymnasium and the oriental department of St. Petersburg University (1892). Having entered the service in the Ministry of the Imperial Household in 1894, he then worked in the Ministry of Finance. In 1901, he was appointed head of the Beijing department of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER). Having developed his own methodology, Brandt spent many years teaching the Russian language to the Chinese and Chinese for the Russians. He was the first to develop the program of teaching diplomatic Chinese, having published several manuals (“Diplomatic Conversations” and “Collection of treatises between Russia and China.” Being the oldest professor at the Chinese Institute of Russian Language and Literature, he published works on Chinese studies in Russian, Chinese and English, and repeatedly advised students from the Oriental Institute in Vladivostok and St. Petersburg. He also taught at the North China Union Language School. Communication with foreign orientalists helped him publish several works in English. The Sinologist was also involved in political and social activities. The article also provides brief notes about Russian orientalists in Beijing. While preparing it, the author used the memoirs of the sinologist’s contemporaries (I.G. Baranov, I.I. Serebrennikov and A.N. Speshnev), materials from foreign collections (Archive and Library of the Hoover Institution — HILA; Russian collection of the University of Hawaii, Honolulu; Museum of Russian Culture in San Francisco — MRK) including private ones (M. Drozdov, Shanghai, NN, Beijing).

Travelling is an indispensable source of information about foreign countries. Both today and in the 17th century, journeys abroad immerse travelers in local cultural and linguistic environments, providing numerous opportunities to gain new knowledge, especially when it comes to Constantinople, a city with a rich history. In the early 17th century, Pietro Della Valle (1586–1652), an Italian nobleman, musician, diplomat, and traveler, visited Constantinople during his journey through the Ottoman Empire, Persia, and India (1614–1626). He documented his experiences and observations in letters to his Neapolitan friend, Mario Scipano, a professor of medicine. What drew the young Italian’s attention in Constantinople? Whom could one meet there? How did ambassadors spend their leisure time? What languages could travelers learn, why were Turkish Jews teaching them, and why did Europeans eagerly acquire Eastern manuscripts?