The Russian Army of Nicholas І, Seen by the British during the Russian-Turkish War of 1853-1856 (Linguoimagological Aspect)

Abstract

The article analyzes the views of the British soldiers, officers and journalists on their opponents – the Russians during the Russian-Turkish war of 1853-1856 from the perspective of linguoimagology. This science considers the means of image verbalization. For the study the memoirs of the Crimean War witnesses, journalists’ notes, letters of the English soldiers and officers home were selected. The assessment, given to the enemy by the British, is of particular interest. The following aspects are explored: the Russians in battle, cunning behavior of Nicholas I army soldiers, their ammunition. The British writers also drew attention to the color of the officers' uniforms (blue) and highlighted the color of the soldiers (gray), which was different from the red one, used in England. The authors emphasize the unsatisfactory state of the ordinary soldiers’ clothing (low assessment) and the excellent condition of the elite troops (high assessment). In addition, the English writers paid attention to the beards of the Russians, which were not already widespread in Europe at that period of time, but were considered as a sign of holiness in Russia, and were worn both by nobles and people of the lower strata. The authors of the memoirs use the following means of interpreting the linguoimagological aspect: inversion, metaphor, exclamation marks, superlatives, lexical repetitions, stereotypes, details, and even French borrowings. Aesthetic and ethical assessments are used to add expressiveness to the narrative.