In 1735, the Academic brigade under G. F. Miller and I. G. Gmelin’s command went on a scientific expedition to Transbaikal. The researchers were to visit the most populated areas and industrial facilities. The route was determined by the density of population in the district and presence of scientifically significant objects of study, human-made or natural. The current article features the road diaries and journals that were left by the future academicians S. P. Krasheninnikov and A. Gorlanov, who were students at that time, and the notes compiled by I. Yakhontov, the translator for the brigade. Some of G. F. Miller’s scientific works, as well as his promemoria are mostly represented by business correspondence stored in the Transbaikalian State Archive. The content of the road diary entries is often very poor: they contain the names of the places they passed, the precise locations of bivouacs, fording sites, distance between verst posts, etc. It is the power of observation and responsibility to the Science Academy that made each individual researcher introduce brief but diverse descriptions of economic, ethnographic, or natural-climatic character. The expedition around the Transbaikal region lasted for almost half a year and resulted in a detailed description of the western, southern and south-eastern areas, while the eastern and northern territories of Transbaikal were not involved due to their inaccessibility and sparse population.

The development of domestic tourism is an important factor for positive dynamics in the economic processes in the Russian Federation and its regions. Studying the history of tourism industry development in different Russian regions is a topical research objective. In the present-day world, the development of tourism in the country is impossible without developing relevant legal mechanisms at the national and regional levels. The difficult transition from economically ineffective state-controlled and socially-oriented Soviet Union tourism to the market-driven tourism industry demanded developing a totally new legal framework. The evolution of the legal regulations of tourism in Russia and in Kemerovo region reflects the main vector in the transformation of Russian regions’ tourism industry. The comparative historical and complex generic analyses of the legislation have made it possible to identify the major stages in the development of tourism industry legal base in Kemerovo Region. The development of the national legislation in the 1990s allowed for the formation of the tourism industry within the economic sphere and the social infrastructure of Russia. The regional specialization in the 2000s demanded for the regional legal base of tourism development. Since 2011, legal and financial support of cluster initiatives in tourism has been an important instrument of state and regional policy in this sphere.

The article examines the role of the social ideal in history according to the evolution of the Perfect Person image. The Ideal is understood as the image of the appropriate that allows one to assess the things in existence and direction of its development. The pursuit of the Ideal, the essential intention of the person required for their incarnation is one of the driving forces of history. Every historical period constructs its own image of a perfect person and strives to get closer to this image. Ideas about the Perfect Man have been shaped throughout the whole human history, which reflects the permanent dissatisfaction that is inherent to human – dissatisfaction with himself and the world around, the lack of implementation of the essence in their existence, intention to gain their own deepest identity. The first Perfect Man was a Beast. In the prehistoric period it was the Outer Beast that had to be conquered, whereas in antiquity it was the Inner Beast. That was when the first identity crisis arose as a result of inadequate self-esteem ("man as the measure of all things"). The Perfect Man of the Middle Ages was God. The Beast now belonged to the inaccessible past, while God was in the unattainable eternal. This was the second identity crisis. In modern times the Perfect Man becomes a Man. The concept of perfection (as a real possibility) within a man becomes domineering. However, depriving a Man of metaphysics leads to the third identity crisis. In modern times the Perfect Man, increasingly, appears to be a Machine as a man devoid of human weaknesses with heightened human qualities. The analogy between human and machine leads to the fourth identity crisis. The New Perfect Man will be a man as a unique result of the development of all human culture, the synthesis of the unique and the universal.

The article considers the most significant aspects of military cooperation between Russia and Japan within the framework of the development of interstate relations in the Post-Soviet period. It features the main factors that influence the content and intensity of contacts between the defense departments. The current study assesses the interaction in the context of the military-political situation in the north of the Asia-Pacific region and the models of the development of the Russian Military Forces and Japan's self-defense forces. The process of cooperation in the field of defense policy has been divided into several chronological stages, but the stability of the region has always remained a priority. It is concluded that further development of military cooperation between Russia and Japan may give positive results in the fight against international terrorism, as well as prevent uncontrolled actions in case a negative scenario unfolds on the Korean peninsula. The interaction of the Russian Federation and Japan in the military sphere and security is becoming one of the drivers of the development of relations between the countries in the near future, along with economic and technological spheres and cultural exchange. The process of military cooperation between the states, in turn, has already become a factor of stability in the northern part of the Asia-Pacific region.

The current paper features the migratory process on the state lands in the Kuzbass region in the late 1860s – early 1890s. The purpose of the research is to present data on the main problems and features of the resettlement movement in the subregion. The article reviews a significant amount of sources on the matter. An analysis of the statistical and narrative data obtained from the works by A. A.Kauffman, V. N.Sobolev et al allowed the author to make a detailed description of the process in question. No other summary research on Kuzbass history reflects the subject, thus making it possible to use the current results for educational and scientific purposes. The author has allocated and characterized the stages of the migratory process, its dynamics and local features. Up to the middle of the 1880s the settling process was quite active on the territory of the modern Kuzbass, especially in its northwest part, which resulted in dozens of new agricultural settlements populated by farmers from all over the Russian Empire. A new stage of country migrations on the royal lands began in the middle of the 1880s. In 1885 the Ministry of Internal Affairs set up the West Siberian group to deal with the resettlement sites on the local state lands. In 1882 – 1893, 40 new settlements were created on the royal lands of Bogotolsky, Dmitriyevsky, Alchedatsky, Baimsky and Pochitansky areas of the Mariinsky district and the Ishim area of the Tomsk district of the Tomsk province (within the territorial borders of the nowadays Kuzbass), 27 of which were to the southeast from Mariinsk.

The current paper features organization and operation of notaries in Siberia before 1896. The data obtained have revealed that the Statute of Notaries reached Siberia some thirty years after it had been issued in Central Russia in 1866. The article contains information about the development of the history of Notarial Institute in the Yenisei province before and after the Siberian Notary Reform of 1896. It has been concluded that Siberia had regional peculiarities in its management in the pre-revolutionary period of Russian history. In the XVIII century notary functions were performed by clerks, bailiffs and "weeklings", after 1822 – by officials of city councils and police employees (e.g. the city of Turukhansk). The author notes that the rapid social and economic changes in Siberia predetermined the need for the development of the pre-reform notary as an independent legal institution. Archival materials reveal that the first notary began his work in Krasnoyarsk as late as in 1883, and he was not a state servant, the way it was in Central Russia, but was elected by the local municipal authorities; what is more, neither authorities nor society had any influence on his activities. It was concluded that the pre-1896 Siberian notaries had a number of regional features that played their role in the pre-revolutionary period of Russian history.

The current paper is the first to present some of the key activities and operational problems of evacuation hospitals in the city of Krasnoyarsk and the whole hospital system of the Krasnoyarsk territory in the first years of the Great Patriotic war. In addition, the paper touches upon the key aspects of the medical, pedagogical and scientific work of the famous surgeon V. F. Voino-Yasenetsky (St. Luka), who worked in Krasnoyarsk evacuation hospitals in 1941 – 1943. The research goal is to reveal the foundations of the diverse activities of evacuation hospitals for the treatment of wounded patients from the moment of their arrival by the military-sanitary trains in the city, further sorting and hospitalization of the wounded into a specialized or General surgical hospital, as well as stressing the importance of the rescue activity conducted by professor and surgeon V. F. Voyno-Yasenetsky in the system of evacuation hospitals. The results of this study can be used by historians of the war period, including those who are involved in the study of history of medicine during the wartime and V. F. Voyno-Yasenetsky's biographers.

The paper features the reasons, as well as the fundamental principles that led to the mass phenomenon of single-industry industrial cities – first, during the first (Stalin) wave of industrialization in the USSR, and then, during the second (Khrushchev) wave of Soviet industrialization. The goal is to prove that this type of settlements is a unique phenomenon, because the economic and political system was unique: they emerged within the framework of strictly specific programs for the implementation of industrial, resettlement, town-planning, housing, and migration policies. Moreover, the Soviet urbanization in itself was a very specific phenomenon of completely artificial nature, since there was nothing natural in settlements erected by order around newlybuilt industrial enterprises. The research employs the methods of comparative and critical analysis. The field of application is the Russian history, the history of Soviet urban planning, political science, and municipal government. Conclusions: Soviet mono-profile cities were the brainchild of the socio-political, industrial, economic, and command-administrative system shaped by the Soviet government. In the period of industrialization, they functioned as production and technological centers, as well as administrative and territorial areas, acting as key nuclei of the settlement system, and later in the 1970s, as elements of community systems within agglomerations.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the reasons and the substantive content of the critical discourse on totalitarianism developed in foreign historiography of the 1960s. The analysis is based on the fundamental methodological principles of historical study: systemic approach of historicism and scientific objectivity. The research focuses on the works by famous foreign researchers in the area: H. Arendt, P. Sorokin, K. Friedrich, Z. Brzezinski, R. Мills, A. Ulam. The content of these works makes it possible to highlight the main methodological problems of critical discourse. The author criticizes the totalitarian model for its structural and external uniformity and lack of differentiation of totalitarian regimes. Revisionism in foreign historiography of the 1960s contributed to the study of Soviet society on the basis of sociological methodology by highlighting its high social mobility. The critical approach specifies the differences between communist and fascist systems and the peculiarities of individual communist regimes. However, the representatives of the critical approach failed to create a coherent theory compatible to the one offered by the adherents of totalitarianism. The critical discourse of totalitarianism in the 1960s contributed to the formation of a modernized concept of the phenomenon. The final part of the article contains the main conclusions of the discussion. The content and results of this article can be used in foreign historiography courses.

The article introduces the results of a study dedicated to the most spectacular textile in the royal household in the XVII century Russia – the heyday of Russian pearl works. This is the context for the study of the Moscow Kremlin pearl works kept in those days in the Royal Treasury and the Sacristy. Today these masterpieces are in the collection of the Armory Chamber. The analysis involves ceremonial wraps and various pearl covers. The research refines the series of secular and cult-ritual ceremonial textile of the XVII century, which was adorned with the pearl threading technique. The author identifies a range of such items located in the national museum collections. Much attention is paid to the specifics of ancient Russian pearl work. The emphasis is on one of the most valuable items made in this technique. It is the so-called «Blanket with Kingdoms» from the Royal Stables Treasury; the item was made at the beginning of the second quarter of the XVII century. According to the results of the analysis, the textiles with pearl works can be regarded as a significant material source on the history of the ceremonial culture of the late Russian Middle Ages.

The article deals with the main juridical rituals in the Langobardic society: purification oath, duel, hostility and public donation. The purpose of the study is to determine the meaning of the rituals, their function and place in the proceedings. The article is based on the analysis of law codes compiled by such royal lawmakers as Rothari, Grimoald and Liutprand. Legislative sources of other Germanic tribes such as the Salian Franks, the Alemanni and the Bavarians are used for comparison. Every procedure is characterised in the context of symbolism. The article features the influence of traditional beliefs of Germans and social realia of the Langobards on the sacral procedures formation and principles. It also introduces the problem of the specifics of royal power and its activity in relation to the ordinary law mechanisms and the institutes of control on the compliance to the legal norms. The study reveals the main sacral procedures that existed in Lombard society such as cleansing vow, duel, enmity or blood feud, public donation. According to the results, a conclusion was made about the deep symbolism of the juridical rituals in the Langobardic legislation. Sacral procedures formed under the influence of ordinary legal ideas of the tribe were one of the main mechanisms of control of people’s behaviour in their society. Institutions of state power, with varying success, tried to influence the ordinary legal side of society.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the phenomenon of superstition as a psychological property of the individual. The current research is based on various studies aimed at establishing the reasons that encourage people to appeal to superstitions, and features the main motives for using superstitious and rituals in everyday life. The initial stage of superstition formation has been analyzed. A thorough study on the transformation of superstitiousness at different age stages together with the analysis of its causes involved 300 respondents aged 19 – 60 that were divided into three age groups – the young, the first period maturity and the second period maturity. The author has compared the views on the nature and definition of superstitions, the characteristics of various superstitious ritual activities in different age groups, analyzed the level of expression of average superstition and its individual components in each age group.

The article presents the results of a study of the subjective quality of life in elderly people who have experienced gerontological violence. Methods of research: questionnaire SF‑36 for general state of health assessment; a questionnaire aimed at studying the psychological content of gerontological abuse (Puchkov P. V., 2009). As a result, it was revealed that the majority of respondents who experienced gerontological abuse had a significantly limited ability to perform daily routine associated with physical stress (climbing stairs, lifting things, walking, etc.). They are more vulnerable and more sensitive to behavioral changes associated with emotional states. They often restrict social contacts, the level of communication with family, relatives, friends, neighbors, etc. due to the deterioration of physical and emotional state. Depressive, anxious experience and mental ill-being have a negative impact on emotional sphere. Most of the respondents are experiencing a psychological, economic kind of violence and a disdainful attitude on the part of their relatives. The new scientific data obtained can be used in the development of the gerontological direction in the developmental psychology, as well as in the crisis psychological support for senior citizens.

The article considers alexithymia as one of the important factors of mental health. The paper presents materials of empirical research on this phenomenon in personality structure of patients with cardiovascular diseases (64 people) and "apparently healthy" subjects (85 people). The obtained results of factorization of alexithymia indicate that alexithymia as a psychological characteristic is significantly expressed, if considered in the context of mental and psychosomatic health. Alexithymia is a separate factor of personality structure in patients with cardiovascular diseases and is involved in each separate factor, which makes it a prominent part of the psychological characteristics of the "apparently healthy" respondents. The research materials can be used to improve the effectiveness of treatment in the development and testing of clinical and psychological support. Such support should be aimed at teaching patients new ways of constructive interaction with society and raising their awareness of their own emotional pains, which they have to be able to identify and tell from ordinary somatic states.

The current research uses empirical material to define the dominating types of social personnel policy exerted by civil and local government officers. It establishes the interrelations between the personnel policy type and a regulatory, individualtypological or professional-psychological component of reliability of employees. The paper describes personnel risks according to the types of personnel policy of civil / local government officers with various professional and psychological types of personality (leader, performer, communicator, and generator). The research has proved the following hypothesis: a mismatch between the type of social personnel policy in the organization and its assessment by the employees resulting from regulatory, individual-typological or professional-psychological features of reliability is a source of personnel risks that can reduce safety of the organization. It has been established that each type of social personnel policy (inert one, demagogue, pragmatist, and stable one) has specific personnel risks resulting from the regulatory, individual-typological and professionalpsychological components of reliability of the civil officers and local government employees. An assessment of regulatory, individual-typological and professionalpsychological features of a civil / local government officer as components of his or her reliability can be identified with the help of personal and professional diagnostics; it can be used in personnel policy and in performance assessment. Social personnel policy assessment is a factor of increasing personnel safety of the organization in general; it acts as a condition of personnel risk management and concerns the risks caused by individual and psychological features of civil / local government officers.

The current paper features some results of an empirical study of interpersonal relations among members of pedagogical process exhibiting various «crisis profiles». It is shown that those with a variable «crisis profile» reveal differences in the relations according to harmony – disharmony. It has been empirically proven that crisis experience has a significant impact on the components of the socio-psychological distance between various participants of pedagogical process. The research has revealed that crisis experience in interpersonal relations has general and distinctive features in various systems of relations, i.e. "teacher – teacher", "teacher – administration", "teacher – student", "teacher –parents". "Teacher – administration" relations are especially sensitive to the destructive crisis experience. On the contrary, "teacher – children" relations remain harmonious and based on mutual understanding and emotional intimacy. The results can be used in psychological follow-up of pedagogical process aimed at prevention and overcoming of destructive crisis experience in the interpersonal relations among pedagogical process members.

The paper features the problem of the optimal ratio of distance learning and live learning (face to face) in the training of transfessionals. The main issue here is how to prepare creative leaders in the midst of a real live authentic communication of students and teachers. This problem is complicated by the rapid development of distance education. It entails multiple game animations of virtual realities. The research contains a communicative-holistic analysis of the potential of the Meeting with the Unknown. It is the central factor in the actualization of creativity and leadership. Meeting as a transcommunicative event always brings the semantic essence into the interaction. The result is the dissolution of the boundaries of the ego and the decentration. The study points out emergent, attractive, fractal and holodynamic levels of the psychological noodynamics of a meeting in a universal holistic context. As a result, 16 main psychonoethical factors of the meeting are singled out. At the level of psychonoethical attention is drawn to the increasing mobility of experiences of energy tone, information impressions, dynamics of space and time. At the psychodynamic level, the main phases of the meeting are identified as stress-transformation: stress-mobilization, reorientation, transformation, renewal (updating). Thus, the meeting reveals all the most significant psychological factors of personality of a creative leader. This program and matrix of meetings are the current basis of research projects formation aimed at development of personal and network creative leadership.

The current research features the relevance of the psychological portrait as a factor of influence on the Barnum effect. The article contains some definitions of the phenomenon in question, as well as some other relevant concepts. It offers a brief review of the literature on the matter. The subjects of the research were full-time students of the Far East Federal University and the Admiral Nevelskoy Maritime State University, who were offered to relate a trivial personal description to their self-concept. The study was carried out in accordance with the standard procedure used in empirical studies of the Barnum effect. The processing of the obtained data was carried out with the help of the Pearson statistical criterion χ2 . Based on the results of the study, a statistically significant difference in the assessment of the accuracy of the trivial personal description was found. The difference depends on the type of relevance, which clarifies the current understanding of the Barnum effect. The conclusion features some further ways of investigating the Barnum effect and using the obtained data.

The purpose of the study is to detect and describe the psychological characteristics of students and residents of surgical specialties of the medical university. The study involved 22 sixth-year students planning to enter the surgical section and 20 residents of surgical specialization. The 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) by R. Cattell (Form A) was used. The following psychological characteristics prevail among the sixth-year students: anxiety, suspicion, radicalism, dreaminess, dominance, restraint, straightforwardness, cruelty, shyness, low level of self-control, high level of normative behavior. For the residents such characteristics are: anxiety, self-control, dominance, radicalism, suspiciousness, non-conformism, cruelty, practicality, courage. According to the results of statistical calculations, differences in psychological characteristics were revealed among the 6th year students and residents of the first year of training. The residents have a higher level of cruelty, suspicion, practicality and selfcontrol. Self-control among the students is significantly lower and dreaminess is more expressed than among the residents. The materials of this study can be used to improve the process of professional medical education and training of young specialists.

The paper features the results of the study of the body image content characteristics in adolescent girls. The empirical study involved 12–14 year-old girls engaged in figure skating, and those not engaged in sports. The body image analysis was based on questionnaires and projective methods. It has been revealed that the content characteristics of the body image are interrelated with the parameters of self-relationship and self-esteem, regardless of whether the girl is engaged in sports or not. At the same time, athletes mostly appreciate the functional characteristics of the body, i.e. its activity and strength, whereas the girls in the control group assess their appearance. The gap between the real and the ideal body images appears to be higher in athletes. Comparison of the correlation matrices in the two groups shows that, in the group of athletes, the self-relationship parameters are correlated with the body evaluation, the evaluation of its strength, activity and functional characteristics. In the control group, the self-relationship parameters are related both to the functional characteristics of the body and to the appearance evaluation.

In the article, temperament is considered as a psychological and psychophysiological determinant of eating disorders. The results of the relationship between the temperament type and eating behavior in the adult population (150 people) are presented according to gender and age characteristics. Only 12 % of respondents have a rational type of eating behavior. The sample was 33.3 % of respondents with melonchal temperament, 28.7 % – phlegmatic, 20 % sanguine and 18 % choleric, respectively. It is established that women-melancholiacs are more likely to develop an emotiogenic type of eating disorders, and men-melancholiacs are of a restrictive type. Emotiogenic type of eating behavior occurs in representatives of all types of temperament, but in different periods of ontogenesis: sanguine and choleric patients under 29 years old; melancholics at the age of 30 and older; phlegmaticians since 50 years of age, respectively. The external type of eating behavior is most characteristic for choleric persons under the age of 29. The results showed that temperament is indeed a factor in eating disorders and depends on age and gender characteristics.

This article is dedicated to the problem of color perception in the language worldview in describing a person according to the «black and white» color palette in Kazakh, English and Russian; it also examines phraseological units that feature these colors. Color is one of the principles of culture; many cultural phenomena cannot be understood without taking into account the importance of color. In particular, in descriptions of person one can distinguish a number of general associative color fields with similarities and differences. A study of phraseological dictionaries of the Kazakh, English and Russian languages, as well as works of fiction, has revealed that the color designation "ақ-белый-white" and "қара-черный-black" differ in their versatility in describing one’s appearance, character and social status. Subject: color perception in the language worldview of Russian, Kazakh and English speakers. The purpose of the work: to identify common and differential manifestations of white and black in different linguocultures using lexemes "ақ – белый – white" and "қара – черный – black" in phraseological units. Method of investigation: semantic and communicative analysis. In Kazakh, Russian, and English, white and black colors in description of person have a wide scope of application. Their frequency means that these color codes are part of a group of tokens with a high potential for phraseological activity. These colors are actively used both in everyday life and fiction when a person is described with the help of color contrasts. Material of the research: the paper features phraseological units with the elements of color identification "white", "black" and "red" from verbal folklore and Kazakh literature classics, as well as works by Russian and English writers.

The article deals with a number of issues related to the morphology of the Russian verb. The research was performed according to the "objective grammar" of the Russian language in the framework of the Functional-Communicative Grammar (M.V. Vsevolodova's School). The aim of the study is to correlate the morphemic composition of the Russian verb and the meaning of "perfective aspect" vs. ‘imperfective aspect" forms of the verb, to distinguish the actual correlation of the aspects and the phenomenon of the methods of verbal action (the so-called characterized verbs). The author proceeds from the premise that a clear understanding of the aspect will improve the method of cross-lingual matching as well as make Russian classes more effective for non-Slavic speakers. The factors of linguistic relativity, their content and means of expression, predetermine a need for a comparative analysis of the lexical-grammatical category of the verbal form embracing the methods of verbal action as a means of expressing the category of verbal aspect and the possibilities of expressing similar meanings in Chinese. The functional-communicative approach allows for a linguodidactic description, relevant for the entire language system (objective grammar); a comparative approach will remove many of the linguistic barriers of a foreign student whose mother tongue is an analytic language.

The current paper features the principles of artistic integrity in the books by Y. Morits published in the 2000s («Лицо», «Таким образом», «По закону – при- вет почтальону», «Рассказы о чудесном», «Сквозеро», «Ванечка» etc.). These works reveal such powerful semantic pairs as word and graphics, child and adult, temporal and eternal etc. They go back to the archetypal, mythological binary oppositions that are the results of cognition and methods of orientation and harmonization. In Moritz’s oeuvre these paired combinations display the author’s individual poetic vision of the world. The recurring motives of duplicity (duality) are connected with these binaries. The ratio of the components of these combinations is subdued to the universal principle for Morits’s oeuvre, i.e. the principle of anamorphosis (alternation, overflowing, reflection). This principle is embodied on different levels in her books and her ouevre in general. The complication of the principles of artistic integrity in Morits’s works created in the recent decade involves the deepening and widening of the contextual relations between these books, as well as with her previous works and with Russian and world literature and history in general.

The current article features the phenomenon of ekphrasis in the novel "Point Counter Point" by Aldous Huxley. The ekphrastic text consists of two conspicuous parts, the central and the peripheral ones. Various aspects of ekphrasis are subjected to analysis. The aesthetic component of the ekphrastic text reveals itself in the description of the picture painted by the main hero as a genuine work of art with great aesthetic value. The semiotic component manifests itself in the phenomenon of semiotic transference: the iconic signs of painting are translated into the verbal signs of a work of literature. The ekphrastic text, the signifier, points at the signified, i.e. the painting, described in the novel. The archetypal component reveals itself in the specific features of the description of the painting, as represented both in an ekphrastic dialogue and a monologue. These invariable features refer the reader to the archetypal scheme of such a description, elaborated in the ancient Greek classic literature. The linguistic component reveals itself in the perceptive vocabulary of the ekphrastic description that encourages the reader-beholder to marvel at the image and evokes a sense of beauty. The hermeneutic aspect reveals itself not only in the interpretation of the painting but also in the interpretation of the meaning of art itself, which is timeless and opposite to the mundane. The article also considers the following functions of ekphrasis: an aesthetically-appreciative, a semiotic, an archetypal, an emotionally-expressive, a character-drawing, and a hermeneutic function.

The current article features the phenomenon of ekphrasis, i.e. a verbal representation of a work of fine arts in fiction, as presented in Guy de Maupassant’s short story "Un portrait". Aesthetic aspects of ekphrasis alongside the linguistic means of its expression are subjected to analysis. The leitmotif of the short story is the thematic motive of an enigmatic, inexplicable mystery that is unraveled at the end of the story. The firstperson narration begins with the description of a gentleman whose indescribable charm fascinates everyone he meets. Being invited to his house, the narrator notices a portrait of an extremely charming lady that happens to be the host’s mother, who died very young. That is how the mystery of the irresistible and captivating charm of the gentleman is solved. The portrait turns out to be a doppelganger of the host, and thus the archetypal ekphrastic motif of an image coming to life is realized. Both the main character of the story as a human being in the flesh and the image in the picture as a still, non-living work of art, manifest themselves as equally significant aesthetic objects, united by one common inherent quality, i.e. the magic and charm of beauty. The beauty does not ensue from the well-bred manners of the son or from a spell-binding expression of the mother’s eyes; the beauty lies in their capability of being absolutely natural, in harmony with their own selves. Aesthetic aspects of the ekphrastic description find their expression in a variety of linguistic means (epithets, metaphor, personification, simile, syntactic parallelism, etc.). Particular significance belongs to a big number of lexical units pertaining to visual perception, which is a specific feature of the archetypal scheme of ekphrasis. Equally important are the words and phrases characterizing the vitality of the image portrayed.

When describing grammar phenomena, many course-books comprise rules of thumb and turn students’ attention to the construction methods of grammar forms. However, in practice these rules can be abstract, not giving precise or full explanation to the language units. In some cases explanations don’t correspond to the examples from the authentic sources. The subject of this research is the problem of the effective teaching English grammar to the students of non-linguistic universities. The purpose of the article is to describe methods of teaching English grammar from the standpoint of meaning of the grammar phenomenon and taking into consideration its contextual use. The current research is based on the ideas and concepts of the communicative approach to language teaching, conscious-raising approach and the method of the contextual use of language material. The paper features a number of advantages of the reason-based approach over the presentation of the rule. The approach enables students to notice and compare different contextual use cases of the language units. Therefore, it lays foundation for internalization of the new linguistic material and its further use in real communication. The results of the research can be of interest to both foreign language teachers and to the researchers dealing with English grammar learning. The conclusion is that the approach in question gives a more precise description of the meaning or use of grammatical constructions. It allows one to understand native speakers’ logic and intentions, which significantly facilitates intercultural communication.

The article deals with the results of research of sociolinguistic factors’ effect on English phrasal accentuation in the reading authentic English material by Mexican subjects. It features a survey data analysis of the characteristics of the Mexican testees with different levels of English language proficiency. The survey has supplied information about their age at the beginning period of English learning process and its conditions, intensity of its usage at present and subjects’ attitude to the necessity of English phonetics acquisition. The current paper introduces some results of phonetic experiment aimed at revealing Mexican subjects’ ability to intone English speech, namely to choose nucleus in the English utterance. Mexican students’ linguistic competence is proved to be the crucial factor responsible for the correctness in identifying nucleus location. The results presented can be used to contribute to the effectiveness of the English and Spanish as a foreign language teaching as well as for improvement of survey construction in sociolinguistic studies.

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of social net status, which is considered as a subgenre of Internet communication and is a verbal presentation of the owner’s electronic profile. The paper features an analysis of status texts in Russian and Korean social networks and gives a profound description of their textual specifics. It is noted that status texts have a high communicative potential, they are small-format texts, can be creolized, occupy a strong position in the information field of an electronic page. The analysis of functional features of profiles has revealed that the status is intended to shape a certain view of the user’s electronic page the way advertising slogans create the brand image. The goal of the research is to show that the status is a universal element of social networks, and the Internet today is not just an open multicultural space, but a virtual system that subordinates its users to its laws. The study of social net statuses makes it possible to describe the peculiarities of modern web-communication in its dynamics. The paper features the complete range of current studies on the phenomenon in question.

The article deals with the phenomenon of gaps in legal terminology of the English language from the point of view of its Russian translation. The author analyzes the approaches to understanding lexical gaps. Examples of terminological gaps have been selected from English-English explanatory dictionaries. The selected terminological units have no equivalents in legal terminology of the Russian language. The study reveals the role of the commentary in rendering the meaning of terminological gaps. While considering the factors determining the existence of gaps, the author pays attention to both linguistic and extra-linguistic factors. The research revealed a number of lexical gaps among the terms of international law. English-Russian termninological dictionaries in some cases contain the explanations of notional gaps. The use of transliteration is a signal of notional gap. The conclusion is made about the connection between the perception of gaps and the structures of one’s mother tongue. The social and historical character of the gaps under study has been proved to be well-grounded. The author emphasizes the importance of detailed definitions for adequate rendering of the gaps.