Dominant «Setting and Scene» component in the linguo-cognitive models of mini-format texts in the English educational discourse

Abstract

Cognitive studies in linguistics have gained a significant role for understanding the interconnection between language and thinking. Cognitive modeling has proved to be an effective means for analyzing different discourse types. The analysis of English educational discourse presents an important field of research due to the status of the English language as a global international means of communication. Material of the study includes mini-format texts from English textbooks of A1–A2 levels «English Unlimited». The aim of the article is to reveal the language means for «Setting and Scene» component representation in the linguo-cognitive models of educational mini-format texts for reading. The method applied is the Hymes model when the author represents a situation with the help of a full set of situation model components. «Setting and Scene» component comprises spatial and temporal background of the situational linguo-cognitive models. The study has revealed that the most frequented language means of «Setting and Scene» component representation are toponyms, nouns with locative meaning, attributive phrases. The study found that toponyms convey extra-linguistic information significant for expressing the international role of the English language. The temporal background of linguo-cognitive models is expressed with temporal adverbs, numerals indicating exact time, and prepositional phrases denoting parts of the day. The analysis of linguistic means leads to the conclusion that the authors of the textbooks focus students’ attention on this constituent due to the importance of spatial and temporal aspects of mini-format text linguo-cognitive models. The results of the study can be applied to further investigation of English educational discourse, can be used in the development of English educational and methodological materials for students of English.

Keywords

• cognitive modeling
• educational discourse
• linguo-cognitive model
• hymes model
• mini-format text
• setting and scene component