Discursive construction of semiotic models of intercultural communication in terms of borderlands studies: a theoretical conceptualization

Abstract

The article deals with the semiotic communication models in terms of an substantial scientific basis of sociological analysis of adolescent’s intercultural interaction at the borderlands area. The structure and features of verbal aspects of communicative interaction are revealed. Some communication models are emphasized taking into account the fact that they provide the greatest epistemological potential to explain the interaction of different types of cultures in modern social and cultural circumstances. The dynamics of the construction of semiotic communication models and their theoretical conceptualization have been investigated, in particular, the models of K. Biuller, R. Yakobson, Y. Lotman, S. Paulsen, U. Eko are revealed. The possibilities and limitations of above mentioned models use within the studies of intercultural communication, in particular the epistemological ability of each one models to explain the practices of intercultural interaction of youth groups at the borderlands, are investigated. It is emphasized that K. Biuller's model has the epistemological potential of explaining the processes of intercultural communication at the microlevel and partly at the, mesolevel of social structure, while R. Yakobson's model best reveals the linguistic aspects of intercultural dialogue and understanding. The conceptual vision of the semiotics of intercultural interaction, presented in Y. Lotman's model, is also of special interest in the context of explaining linguistic aspects, but, in our opinion, it practically does not reveal the sociocultural aspects of intercultural communication. It is emphasized that U. Eko's semiotic model of communication has perhaps the most powerful heuristic potential for analyzing the issues chosen by the author (the studies of intercultural interaction of young people at the borderlands), as it reveals the mechanisms of production and dissemination of untruths in communication processes as a  component of the communication model, reveals the dimensions of the transformation of the content of the message in the process of its translation from sender to receiver. It is concluded that certain elements of all analyzed models can be epistemologically useful tools for analyzing the processes of intercultural communication of young people at the borderlands, however in terms of the epistemological use the most optimal are semiotic model of communication U. Eko and some statements of R. Yakobson's theory.