Phonological writing systems can use different modes in the arrangement of phonological information: linear or emblematic. The latter presupposes a two-dimensional composition of graphic elements which convey information of different levels: basic phonological units or their secondary features. Abugida is one of the most perfect modes of writing, using a two-dimensional principle of organization in its graphemes. Indian scripts imply forms of abugida, based on aksharas - orthographic syllables - as main graphemes, with their vocalization marked by sub-graphemes. Their complex forms reveal hierarchical structures representing phonological structures. Thus, “the akshara’s grammar” may be described, with its paradigms of shapes and meanings, their organization in space, their modes of conjunction. The functional characteristics of diacritic types and ligatures can be specified. The graphic shapes of the akshara can be represented as forming a “grammar” comparable to morphological structures. The graphic complexity of writing can then be estimated in typological perspective. This paper is an attempt to describe such a grammar.

Indian writing systems reveal a great variety of graphic forms, proceeding from the unique source which is Brahmi script. These graphic forms render structural oppositions developed in phonographic writing systems which stem from Brahmi. This paper aims to highlight the changes scripts underwent to satisfy demands of language structure. The comparison raises the issue of the complexity of writing systems. Keywords: writing system; grapheme; typology; Brahmi; abugida; alphasyllabary; akshara; diacritic; graphon; vowel differentiation

Purpose. The article aims to demonstrate the validity of the functional typology of signs proposed by the author in the semiotic approach to the analysis of advertising slogans. Advertising texts perform their functions in the communicative situation of interaction between the advertiser and the client. Results. The analysis shows language mechanisms of involvement of the addressee in the creation of an advertising image, ways of influence on the addressee, ways of presentation of goods or service. Thus the main functions of the sign – identification, regulation and modeling – are realized. Conclusion. The analysis of advertising serves as an illustration of the proposed functional classification of the sign; it highlights specific language mechanisms of interaction and influence on the addressee.

The paper aims to enlighten the image of Italy through Russian and the image of Russia through Italian in the mutual lexical input of languages. Language contacts affect borrowing words from a language-donor by a recipient language; the choice of loan words can tell something about the donor to the recipient. The analysis was based on the data of dictionaries and on the experimental inquiry. As dictionaries show, loan words pertain mostly to the passive lexicon of a recipient language, though in different proportions in Russian and in Italian. The results of experiment reveal active lexical items which create the respective stereotype images; they can focus on the spheres of nowadays interest and can serve as labels for tourist business.

This paper addresses the use of emblems in the representation of language units in writing systems. The emblematic principle works in the early stages of writing as a transition to morphosyllabic writing; the Aztec manuscripts show the most typical examples of this. Phono-emblems function as subtitles or inscriptions to the pictorial compositions of common content. Language structure should be noted as one of the factors constraining the development of the Aztec script. It may be the polysynthesism of the structure of the Nahuatl language, which allows long series of syllables within an incorporative complex. Emblems are restricted to a certain number of positions, so they may not have been able to maintain the strict order of a morpheme row, as needed for predicative phrase; only name phrases with more transparent/predictable structure could be written phonetically. In modern writing, the emblematic principle is used along with the linearity principle: while the latter unrolls the text in the consequent order, the former represents hierarchic information as an integral graphic composition.