The research team's main objective was to develop and demonstrate that a process of meaning creation is a result of the juxtaposition of linguistic and extralinguistic factors in the process of communication and social interaction.
This required clarifying several theoretical stands and considering specific forms of textualization and narrativization of meaning in synchrony and diachrony. The key issues of meaning formation in narrative and performative practices were considered. We have described the factors and parameters that determine the meaningfulness of actions and the
mechanisms based on which they are interpreted. These mechanisms can be seen as manifestations of modally differing types of textualization, contextualization, and interpretation.
We have identified interdependencies between performative and narrative characteristics of utterance and discourse. Consideration of meaning as a medium between cognition and communication, and at the same time as a dynamic operation of juxtaposing the communicative and cognitive characteristics of a sign made it possible to connect different domains of generation and functioning of meaning (language, culture, cognition, social institutions).
We have considered issues related to the modes of linguistic manifestation of social meanings. The semantics of linguistic structures is formed as a dynamic context-dependent derivative of linguistic, social, cognitive, and referential characteristics.
A dynamic approach developed on such axiomatics allows us to identify an "ability" of an utterance to generate new meanings in the process of its generation and functioning. Semantic interpretation is not limited to operations on lexemes and sentences but is also based on frames and models of social behavior and interaction.
The semantic competence of the speaker is described as a faculty to operate with: a) the basic meaning of the word; b) rules for changing meanings depending on the intra-textual or extralinguistic context, as well as c) the ability to understand - to determine the meaning that a given the word has in a particular context. The suggested dynamic approach to the description of semantic compatibility processes allows reflecting the "ability" of an utterance to generate new meanings and multiple interpretations. With such a description, the text acts as a whole, including its multidimensional heterogeneous semantic structure, a set of languages of generation and interpretation, and contextually determined communicative characteristics.
Language entities are defined concerning their function in organizing the text and its possible interpretations. The concept of iconic (non-discrete) semiotics was developed and used to describe the text's semantics - as an integral complex sign isomorphic to its signified: a set of possible worlds with different ontological status in modal respect. It is shown that the concept of inter-world accessibility with the semantics of a text is based on the relation of family
resemblance.
A new approach to discourse and its differentiation from the text was proposed. The typology of discourses is determined by conditions, making it possible to set up correlations between language (system) - text, text - context, language - communicative practices are possible, and so on.
Clarification of the linguistic aspects of meaning formation made it possible to single out the primary levels (components) of
the semantic structure of social experience (the form of a sign, objective and functional social meaning, evaluative attitudes
and experience), their relationship and dynamics in the process of meaning creation and comprehension. The proposed
models of "deep semiotics" and "stereometric semantics" made it possible to expand the space of contextual dimensions of
semantic analysis, to propose solutions to the problem of multiple references of a sign and text, and, taking into account the
value-normative model of narrative meaning formation, opened the prospect of the development of social hermeneutics of texts.
Considering contextualization required a special analysis: what exactly is the concept of context as a meaning-forming factor. Logical and factor models were built, methodological validation was developed for further studying the process of reconstructing the meaning and determining the weights of various components of the dispositifs that make up the social
context of the communicative situation.
As a special multi-vector direction, we have elaborated researches of the meaning creation as a correlation of communicative, structural, and semantic characteristics in the process of social interaction. This is an especially salient characteristic of political discourse. We define the concepts of "language of politics" and "language in political function" and draw distinctions between them. We demonstrate language in a political function acts in the different forms of "speech-as-an action." Institutionalization of the addressee, the addressee, and the communication itself occurs. The manifestation of the political function of a language can be described as multiple occurrences and imposition in various sequences of the triad "
(belief => impact) => action."
The prototypical semiotic characteristics of political discourse (multiple references, implicit modality, the dominance of pragmatic factors over semantic ones, combination of prescriptive and descriptive features) were identified; it may be accompanied by deliberate abuse.
These provisions were verified by constructing primary models of the situation of perception and constructing a text and reconstructing its meaning under conditions of cognitive uncertainty. To quantify the factors of constructing and reconstructing meaning, a design and toolkit for a massive online survey were developed to identify ways of classifying texts, recognizing their meanings, and explicating the role and weight of various factors of perception in this process.
The multidimensional and multifactorial meaning creation model was tested in the study of various communicative situations, such as analysis of performative practices, practices of transforming narratives into performatives in socio-cultural and political processes of decision-making their implementation. We have analyzed transformations of the production and comprehension of the social and political discourses and new performative practices determined by modern technologies. As part of the work on automating the procedures for analyzing performative practices, a method of thesaurus lexicography has been proposed; this allows one to describe various models, in particular, complicated cases of merging of the ways of manifesting cyberbullying, misogyny, and hate speech.
As a substantial factor in the formation and preservation of meaning, we have considered various aspects of narration. The value-normative model of meaning-generating narratives and the systematization of their levels made it possible to propose a model of the system of explanatory narration and, second, to clarify the relationship between the main levels of historical memory. An analysis of the concepts of the Russian philosophy of history and narration methods in Russian philosophy was presented.
We have considered the main features of modern political and social communication (primarily in the communication "power - society"), which have arisen due to new technologies and their influence on public discourse. Some pragmalinguistic mechanisms of speech influence in public discourse have been described. The types, models, and mechanisms of meaning formation and creation of imaginary realities were identified, and the problems of describing/constructing an ontology of deterritorialized social processes ("imaginary worlds," "social imaginary," and constructed identities), as well as the practice of virtual performance in the construction of identities were explicated.
We introduce the projective philosophical vocabulary as a model for constructing imaginary worlds. It implements the possibilities of meaning formation, simultaneously combining the divergence of points of view, approaches, and opinions, but simultaneously using a common terminological and conceptual resource. In the example of Kaliningrad and Gdansk, the specificity, problems, and possibilities of positioning the culture of large cities are revealed; it is understood as a system of generation, selection, storage, transmission, reproduction, and development of social experience created through branding narration.
We have attempted to correlate the text's cognitive and logical-semantic characteristics; it required the use of tools from methodologically different areas (semantics of possible worlds, mental spaces, conceptual integration). The results of constructing mental spaces and conceptual integration were continued in the study of fictional loci. The processes of self presentation in the construction of virtual identities were considered. Studies were carried out to identify the relationship between the axiological categories of truth and fake in the digital information space. The semantic and pragmatic characteristics of fakes and fake news were clarified, and possibly legal and informational prevention methods were discussed. A review of approaches to the concept of "humanitarian cyber threat" was made.
An important direction has become the analysis of semantic-forming mechanisms in the projection of network identities in modern digital space. Network identity was defined as a set of text and visual components of a person's network image. A person sets up his/her interaction on the Internet and constructs his/her position in the Internet society. General theoretical positions were tested on historical material. This made it possible to reveal the nature of the formation of Russian socio-political discourse and its transformations, especially in a crisis. A conceptual analysis of semiotic tools for constructing national and political identities in the Russian Empire's Russian-language political communicative space in the
2nd half of the 19th century was given.
The concepts of "people and compatriots," their semantic potential, heterogeneity, and transformation were considered.
We present the results of the project in three published and three monographs prepared for publication in six thematic issues of scientific journals organized jointly with partners, as well as in various books.
One hundred nineteen articles were published in Russian and international peer-reviewed magazines (27 of them are indexed in the WoS - Scopus databases).
At international and national conferences and seminars, 118 (25 + 47 + 46) reports were presented. In leading Russian research centers, we organize presentations of the project.
In order to present the publications and results of the project were created:
a separate webpage on the IKBFU official website
The project materials were also posted on the author's sites in scientific networks (Academia.edu and ResearchGate).