Regional Concepts Verbalization In Transbaikal Territory Media Discourse

Abstract

The article deals with the features of locally marked concepts objectification of the regional level, conventionally called regional concepts, in the media space of the Transbaikal Krai territory. The authors offer their own definition of the concept “regional concept”. The study of locally marked concepts and their verbalization in regional media texts is carried out within the framework of a cognitive language approach. The paper presents concepts that represent the image of Transbaikal in the modern media sphere: “Guran”, “bagulnik” and “Sagaalgan”; they are described by means of conceptual analysis, which involves the study of the verbal representations semantics of these concepts, and contextual analysis, which actualizes the elements of the concepts meaning when creating lexemes-representatives in certain contexts. Identifying the content of the conceptual and figurative components of the concepts “Guran”, “bagulnik” and “Sagaalgan”, the authors determine the typical characteristics of the regional concept, suggesting that they are considered key ones for conducting research of this kind: recognition, territorial consolidation, symbolism and high frequency of use in a positive evaluation context. The conclusion is made about the close semantic relationship and interdependence of regional concepts that form a larger conceptual combination – hyperconcept (“Transbaikal”). It is shown that regional concepts, entering into various associative and semantic relations with actual media dominants, reveal a certain world-modeling potential, i.e. they reflect the specifics of the regional picture of the world in the process of their discursive deployment in the media space.

Keywords: Concept spherehyperconceptmedia discoursemedia spaceregional conceptregional picture of the world

Introduction

The study of regional media discourse is a topical area of modern linguistics, since it is regional media that significantly form picture of the world of a certain territory. The media discourse of the region, representing a set of media activity speech products, and fills with significant meanings, places certain accents and translates the key features of the language picture of the world of its inhabitants (Ilyina & Kablukov, 2020). In the modern media-centric society, the media has unconditionally taken the leading positions (Antropova, 2017).

At the same time, scientific interest in the problems of regionalism is increasing, including in the linguo-cognitive aspect (Boldyrev, 2020): there are considered the problems of representation of ethno-cultural realities, the concept spheres of different ethno-linguistic styles are compared, the influence of extralinguistic factors on the formation of the world picture is evaluated (Danilova & Shevelina, 2017; Egorova, 2019; Ilyina & Kablukov, 2020; Kokanova, 2020; Likhanova, 2019; Orlova, 2010; Popescu, 2017).

In some works on regional linguistics, the term “regionally marked concept” is developed (Likhanova, 2019; Orlova, 2010). At the same time, lexicographic sources are used to describe the material, which serve as the basis for the formation of “regionally marked concepts” (Likhanova, 2019), and media discourse, which acts as a space for modeling the regional picture of the world (Orlova, 2010, 2020). We also note the reference to the problem of functioning of regionally marked nominative units in the works of Dorofeev (2018).

The regional language picture of the world is determined by a combination of many factors: among them there are natural-climatic and geographical features, settlement conditions, cultural traditions of the peoples inhabiting the region, etc. (Egorova, 2019), and is described as a semantic space of a language of a certain region that allows the recording of human experience, storage and transmission of information (Likhanova, 2019). There is a participation pattern of the most important concepts for the region (in one respect or another) in the formation and development of public consciousness, the linguistic and cultural background of the territory and the regional picture of the world as a whole (Orlova, 2010).

The paper introduces the term “regional concept” and suggests a study of ways to verbalize regional concepts in the corresponding regional media space (Transbaikal territory). The article presents an attempt to understand and systematize regional concepts as components of the regional language picture of the world, in particular, the “Transbaikalia” picture of the world. Regional concepts in the modern media discourse are represented by words denoting the iconic concepts of the regional information field, which reflect the specific phenomena of the region's nature (“bagulnik”), the regional material and spiritual “multinational” culture of the inhabitants of the region (“Guran”, ”Sagaalgan”).

Problem Statement

The description of typical characteristics of a “regional concept” will allow us to identify “regionally marked” cognitive structures among a variety of concepts and conceptospheres.

Organization features of the of regional language picture of the world in Transbaikal Krai is largely determined by the prevailing peculiar ethnic situation – the territory was inhabited and is inhabited by different ethnic groups – Evenks, Buryat, Russian, including ethnic and cultural groups of the Cossacks, representing the first Russian settlers in the region, and groups of old believers who moved in time from various regions of Russia (Plyaskina, 2019). The unique ethnic situation contributed to the formation of a certain type of local population that is aware of its regional identity (Likhanova, 2019). Understanding regional identity turns out to be an important axiological feature of regional media discourse (Pushkareva, 2017).

Objective social conditions, cultural and historical traditions of the region influence the emergence and functioning of locally and/or regionally marked concepts. The mass media space of the region, becoming a field of discursive deployment of such concepts, participates in the formation of a regional picture of the world.

The paper examines the regional concepts “Guran”, “bagulnik” and “Sagaalgan”, which are characterized by special significance for Transbaikalia. The texts of regional media were selected as language material: newspapers “Vechorka“, “Chitinskoe Obozreniye”, “Extra”; TV company “Altes”, state television and radio company holding “Chita”, TV channel “ZAB.TV”, online media “Chita.ru” and “ZAB.RU”, for the period from January 1 to December 31, 2019. The choice of concepts is due to the fact that their language representations are more frequent and reflect the regional specifics of the media discourse. They are offered and perceived as “linguistic and cultural markers” of the Transaikal territory in the text.

Research Questions

The range of the research issues includes the following: the regional concept, which, in our opinion, is a concept that has increased semantic, cultural, historical and symbolic significance for the residents of a particular region; the participation of the most important concepts for the region in the formation and development of the regional language picture of the world; verbalization of regional concepts, which provides its representations in language and speech (print version texts, audio-visual texts and Internet media of the Transbaikal territory); discursive deployment of regional concepts in the media space; interrelation and interdependence of regional concepts that form a larger conceptual combination – hyperconcept; regional language picture of the world as a reflection and refraction of the national language picture of the world in the Transbaikal media space.

Purpose of the Study

The aim of the research is to identify, describe, analyze and systematize ways and means of verbalization of regional concepts in the media discourse of the Transbaikal territory, as well as systematize and structure regional concepts as components of the regional language picture of the world. To achieve this goal, a number of tasks have been defined, including defining the term “regional concept”; identifying the leading regional concepts of the Transbaikal media discourse; describing, analyzing and systematizing the verbal representatives of the identified basic concepts; identification of the system relations of the studied regional concepts and their role in the formation of the regional language picture of the world modeled by local media.

Research Methods

There were used the following research methods: a method of conceptual analysis, which is the identification and description of verbalization language means of regional concepts; a method of contextual analysis, which involves the separation of concepts semantic elements in the study of their language representatives in a specific context; a comparative method, which allows us to consider several concepts and compare the degree of frequency of their language representations in the Transbaikal media discourse.

Findings

It should be noted that the term “regional concept” is not generally accepted, but a number of researchers describe the similar concepts. Thus, in the work of Likhanova (2019) “regionally marked concepts of Transbaikalia “are considered in the lexicographic description. “The concept is easily recognizable, it is a symbol of material or spiritual regional ethno-linguistic culture” (p. 132). Orlova when studying the media sphere in Tomsk analyzes “concepts of the regional level” in terms of their “world-modeling potential” (Orlova, 2010, p. 33). Biktimirova (2019) explores regional lexical markers of linguistic identity of the Transbaikalians on the material of business writing of the XVII-XVIII centuries.

This paper suggests the use of the term “regional concept” in the study of local variants of the language picture of the world. This approach seems to be methodically appropriate, since it provide the opportunities to study the regional variability of the language picture of the world in different territories of the unified linguistic and cultural space of Russia. “Regional concept” refers to a concept that has increased semantic, cultural, historical and symbolic significance for the residents of a particular region.

The media space of the Transbaikal region is saturated with contexts that represent a number of concepts that have signs of regional significance:

• Guran – the “Guran” lexeme has three meanings: 1. wild (steppe) goat. 2. Transbaikalian Cossack (outdated). 3. Representative of the local Russian population, native person of Tranbaikalian Krai (Ignatovich & Plyaskina, 2019); the most frequent meaning realized in the texts of local media is “native person of Tranbaikal Krai”;

• “ledum”, “forest rosemary” or “bagulnik, bagul” (a perennial plant with distinctive flowering – in Transbaikal it is perceived as one of its most important symbols, which identifies regional identity);

• “Sagaalgan” (a presence in the media of this concept and its importance are determined by the peculiarities of the ethnic situation in Transbaikalia associated with residence in the territory of the Buryats, close contacts, and the influence of their traditions; borrowed from the Buryat language, the lexeme “Sagaalgan” is called the “feast of the White month” – “Buryat New Year”).

The presence of certain concepts in the regional media space allowed us to identify a number of their representation features othat characterize these concepts as regionally marked:

• Being historically significant, the regional concept is preserved in the memory of people of advanced age or associated with another, early time: We went, pickd spikelets, mangyr (blue chives), saranks (martagon lily), bagul when in flower – from the memories of war children (Igumnova, 2019); It is not necessary to turn all this into a drunkenness, although in the old days some drank milk vodka on a holiday - about the traditions of Sagaalgan (Vereshchagina, 2019); the upholding of the tradition is noted: Both in the old days and now, on the occasion of the holiday, solemn services were organized in datsans – khurals (Vereshchagina, 2019).

• The regional concept is characterized by “ceremonial functionality”, when “a person and everything that surrounds him (buildings, utensils, landscape elements) acquires the status of iconic objects” (Likhanova, 2019, p. 133). So, bagulnik is part of the rites: They laid hadak and bagulnik at the monument and lit a zuula – a Buddhist lamp (Zabelina, 2019); And then a woman in folk costume passed a broom from bagulnik over the guests' backs to drive away evil spirits (Zabelina, 2019). Most clearly this property is revealed in the representation of the concept “Sagaalgan” (the holiday of the White month, as ritual action, is composed of many independent rites, bearing the sacred meaning): On the eve Sagaalgan it is important to get rid of all negative (Zabelina, 2019); On the Eve of the White month people clean their houses, change the clothes, get rid of old things, which means they are telling “good bye” to the past. For this holiday, cattle are slaughtered in advance, they cook meat, buuz, bortsoki, dairy products are prepared for the future (Vereshchagina, 2019); The Buryat New Year begins before sunrise, so the whole family gets up early, approximately around 4 am. First, we light a lamp on the altar, and by this we let the goddess of Lhama Sahyunsan know that we are awake and give her an offering – white food (Vereshchagina, 2019); At the appointed hour, people gather in the main square to dance an incendiary dance – eohor, sing songs (Ogurtsov, 2019).

• In the language consciousness, the regional concept is a symbol of childhood, homeland, ancestral roots, ancestral relationships: I first brought my son here to show him where his dad started walking, where his dad learnt to say the first words, where his dad picked the bagulnik, where his dad ran for tarbagan marmots (Ogurtsov, 2019); continuation of the family: Now I’ve married a local girl, we have three children, the gurans, shall we say (Sidorenko, 2019).

• The regional concept is recognized as a symbol of the territory, its special significance for the region is emphasized both in casual usage: It was decided to dilute coniferous trees with a bright symbol of Transbaikalia (about bagulnik) (Sidorenko, 2019), and at the level of state power (formalized decisions): Given the unifying origin of this holiday and its sacred significance for fellow countrymen, since 2016, the first day of the White month in Transbaikalia has been legally established as a non-working holiday (Zabelina, 2019).

• Often the regional concept is contextually reinforced toponymically, which is perceived naturally, indivisibly: She is a chitinka, “Transbaikalian Guran woman” (Igumnova, 2019); In spring the Transbaikalian bagulnik blooms on his grave (Igumnova, 2019).

• In the minds of native speakers, the regional concept is characterized by a purely positive, causes pride of the inhabitants of the territory (region), who do not question the uniqueness of the concept and its exclusively positive modality: Endless meadows, blooming bagulnik, transparent water surface of Transbaikalian rivers and lakes, forests decorated with summer dresses... (Igumnova, 2019); White month – is a bright holiday that comes to our homes with the first rays of the sun. It is at this time that hope, joy, and goodness must meet with the purest and most open thoughts (Igumnova, 2019).

• The regional concept has a significant onymic potential, being present in names that have a pronounced local meaning. So, “Guran / ka / enok/ich” is the name of a satirical club: For many years, he created and led literary, artistic and satirical clubs “Blue bird”, “Guran” ... (Igumnova, 2019); jeep club: The main part of participants of the competition-extreme sports fans are from the Krasnokamensk jeep club “Guran” (Pashchenko, 2019); local team: “The Gurans” is local KVN team (Pashchenko, 2019); Internet portal: “Guranka.ru” is the only media in Transbaikalia that focuses exclusively on women (Pashchenko, 2019); festival: The state theater of national cultures “Zabaykalskie Uzory” completed the XI international festival of children and youth creativity “Guranenok” (Pashchenko, 2019); city children's center: Young students of the center “Guranenok” presented an impressive theatrical sketch based on ancient legends (Zabelina, 2019); restaurants and cafes: The new restaurant “Guranich” invites you to corporate new year holidays (Pashchenko, 2019), etc.

• The regional concept is present in local artistic creativity, including that of Amateur authors, and there is an active interaction of lexemes representing the concept with possessive (or functionally similar) pronouns “my”, “our”, indicating belonging (community). Examples of such creativity, reflecting ideas about the regional identity of the authors, are widely represented in the Transbaikal media space:

And bagul, purple-tender,

On the mountains blooms,

Here we have a horned Guran,

In the morning, roars (Zmitruk, 2019).

The metaphorical way of representation inherent in all concepts, based on an attempt to verbalize the emotion associated with the concept, is focused on a specific territory. This is how the “bagul krai (region)” appears: To visit the bagul krai and to give it a piece of your warmth (Zmitruk, 2019); “Guran krai (region)”:

Life has always been very difficult for us,

Convicts were exiled here

It is still sparsely populated,

Guran krai is given by fate (Zmitruk, 2019).

It should be noted that both “bagul krai (region) ” and “Guran krai (region)” – in the context of author's (and reader's) awareness means “Zabaykalsky region”, “Zabaykalie (Transbaikalia)”. Thus, the image of the Transbaikal territory is formed through the representation of regional concepts in local media. The words of the regional Russian language picture of the world make up the verbalization of the complex image of Transbaikalia.

An important feature of the representation of regional concepts in the media discourse is their interpenetration, their coexistence in the text space, reflecting the presence of texts of different genre and style, and their Association in a “hyperconcept”, which is revealed on the basis of close associative and differential connections between related components (Kostrubina, 2010). In relation to the concepts “Guran”, “bagulnik” and “Sagaalgan”, such a hyperconcept is, of course, “Transbaikalia”, which brings the study of individual regional concepts to the level of describing a single regional picture of the world.

Conclusion

The conducted research allows us to conclude that concepts with increased semantic, cultural, historical and symbolic significance exist in the language consciousness of residents of a certain territory. For their nomination, the term “regional concept” is methodologically convenient, which allows to satisfy the interest of researchers in the study of the “world-modeling potential” of such phenomena characterized by local marking.

The verbalization of regional concepts is carried out primarily through various word forms (derived words) and contextual use of dictionary definitions; however, the key way to verbalize a concept is the lexeme that serves as its name, supplemented by regular (due to stable combinations) and irregular (metaphorical) combinability.

Characteristic features of “regional concepts” can be considered their recognition, territorial consolidation, symbolism and high frequency of use in a positive evaluation context. Research of texts of regional mass media broadcasting the language consciousness of the region shows that such concepts are preserved in the memory of older people; they are part of the rituals adopted in the specified territory; their representatives are actively used in various highly popular names, as well as in folk art.

Regional concepts, being involved into a variety of associative and semantic relations with current media dominants, reflect the specifics of the regional picture of the world in the process of their discursive deployment.

The intersection of the considered concepts associative fields is noted, which allows us to speak about the existence of a hyperconcept that unites cognitive formations of this kind. The relationship and systematic existence of the regional concepts “Guran”, “bagulnik” and “Sagaalgan” includes them in the list of leading components in the modeling of the regional Transbaikal picture of the world both in the regional media discourse and in the texts of the national media.

This approach may be fundamental to “fragmented” study of regional language picture of the world on the principle “from the specific to the general”, “low to high”, where isolated phenomena of language design more mass to consciousness of the bearers of the word forms carry complex information about the measured phenomenon, about the interpretation of this information the public consciousness and its relation to the phenomenon. Finding a close semantic relationship and interdependence, such concepts form larger conceptual combinations – hyperconcepts, while they become part of a particular cognitive layer of the hyperconcept.

In the context of this work, the regional concepts “Guran”, “bagulnik” and “Sagaalgan” are recognized as a part of the hyperconcept “Transbaikalia”, for the systematic study of which further research is needed to identify, describe and systematize concepts that meet the characteristics of “regional”.

Thus, the regional language picture of the world, interpreted in modern scientific knowledge as a reflection of the national language picture of the world, can be considered in the aspect of original locality, consisting only of its inherent mental formations – regional concepts.

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