Modern forms of a prophecy: From written word to audiovisual Internet product

Abstract

Prophecies contain a unique cultural and linguistic code, which plays an essential role in organizing the linguistic worldview and shapes national consciousness. The article aims to specify the linguistic features of prophecies and identify their modern forms. To achieve this goal, biblical texts were compared with modern prophecies within and outside religion. Due to the phenomenon's complexity, the material selection criteria were flexible. The Canonic Bible was the initial source of the material (4 books of Major Prophets and 12 books of Minor Prophets). The modern prophecies were obtained from 2 collections of written prophecies (157 texts) as well as 10 audio recordings of prophetic sessions (4 hours) and 40 videos (10 hours). We explored prophetic texts and changes in their forms using semiotic modeling. The interdisciplinary nature of the research necessitated the use of the descriptive method, as well as methods of contextual, interpretative, and content analysis to identify the meaning of the linguistic units by highlighting mechanisms of the construction of meaning. The chosen methods helped to identify the meanings of linguistic units, highlighting the mechanisms of constructing meaning, as well as the ethnocultural language code of prophecies. The method of interpretative analysis made it possible to determine the patterns of expression of meaning associated with the system of ideal images and the rules for their transformation into meanings. The results of the study demonstrated a clear simplification of the initial characteristics during the transition of biblical prophecies from written form to an audiovisual Internet product. In addition, the results revealed an obvious displacement of the vector of decoding and interpretation of ethnoculturally-conditioned components. Further research will allow us to build a linguosemiotic model of prophetic discourse to trace ethnocultural and linguistic changes in the form, content, and entire genre of prophecy, which will open up new prospects for the study and interpretation of the phenomenon itself.

Keywords

• religious discourse
• prophetic texts
• reception
• semiotic code
• linguacultural transfer