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Katalkina N.A., Bogdanova N.V., Pankrateva G.I. [Democratization of the academic discourse language (based on texts of mass open online courses in German)] World of Science. Series: Sociology, Philology, Cultural Studies, 2023, Vol. 14, No. 1. Available at: https://sfk-mn.ru/PDF/22FLSK123.pdf (in Russian).

Democratization of the academic discourse language (based on texts of mass open online courses in German)

Katalkina Natalia Anatolʹevna
Peter the Great Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
E-mail: nat-vassiljeva@yandex.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4150-6596
RSCI: https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?id=725855
SCOPUS: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.url?authorId=57216944173

Bogdanova Nadezhda Viktorovna
Peter the Great Saint Petersburg Polytechnic University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
E-mail: nvbogdanova.imop@mail.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8604-7306
RSCI: https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?id=763991
SCOPUS: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.url?authorId=57216945453

Pankrateva Galina Ivanovna
Emperor Alexander I Saint Petersburg State Transport University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, Saint Petersburg, Russia
E-mail: bigalina@yandex.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2252-1440
RSCI: https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?id=626329
SCOPUS: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.url?authorId=57214110721

Abstract. The study deals with democratization of the academic discourse language as one of the most accessible ways to democratize the education system and society as a whole. The specifics of the academic discourse language democratization have not been carried out previously, thus, the purpose of the study is to test the hypothesis of the academic discourse language democratization as a marked element of the text structure. The authors aim to clarify the concept of language democratization, identify its markers in the academic discourse texts, as well as to compare the ways of the academic discourse language democratization with its examples in other types of discourse. The authors analyzed the Russian and foreign linguists’ articles on language democratization, as well as texts of mass open online courses (MOOC) in German, published on the Virtuelle Hochschule platform. During the study, methods of analysis of scientific literature, linguistic description and interpretation, as well as the method of discursive analysis were used.

As a result of the study, it was found that both in Russian and foreign linguistics, the term “language democratization” is understood as changing its norms towards simplification in order to ensure the availability of texts of various functional styles to the widest possible segments of the population.

However, the authors show the difference of the concept in Russian linguistic tradition, with its negative connotation, with foreign researchers who consider it as a positive phenomenon.

Markers of democratization in MOOC texts at the lexical level are the use of gender-neutral lexemes, colloquial words and expressions, Anglicisms without translation into German, as well as the omission of social titles. At the grammatical level, the democratization of the language can be seen in the use of interjections and elliptic constructions, in determining the addressee and recipient with one pronoun, in the replacement of imperative constructions with modal verbs or infinitive clause, simple interrogative sentences, the use of single grammatical structure.

The authors conclude that the means of academic discourse language democratization differ significantly from the markers of language democratization in other types of discourse.

Keywords: democratization of language; change of language norms; academic discourse; mass open online course; lexical markers; grammatical markers; German language

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