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Скорость как культурное и лингвистическое измерение времени
The paper presents an analysis of the phenomenon of time speed conducted at the interface between Culture Studies and Linguistics. Time speed is defined as one of the key components of the contemporary English-speaking culture. The paper highlights its relevance for both social and individual time. It further establishes links between social time, which is presented as a shared format of perceiving social development based on the need for social cooperation, and individual time, also known as self-time and rooted in the functioning of our bodies. The authors argue that constant involvement in various forms of social interaction prevents us from staying within the boundaries of our own temporal experience forcing us to adjust to the common culturally prescribed temporal trends and thus change our perception of time. The most influential of the current trends is constant acceleration of time. The contemporary culture normalizes life in the mode of perpetual acceleration, which is seen in technological development, social change, and tempo of life. The paper looks into the changes in the temporal horizons of people, which are related to the ubiquitous secularization of the society and manifest themselves in the compression of life, which is supposed to enhance efficiency of time use and maximize experiential opportunities. It is pointed out that individual human existence loses continuity and evolves into a series of life projects, each focusing on attaining a certain goal. The paper further identifies the impact of this temporal trend on the formation of a new type of identity known as situational and based on the fragmentation, pluralization, and multiplication of personality. It describes a number of new sociocultural practices which meet the needs of the situational personality (speed-dating, speed-faithing, speed-futuring, speed-networking, etc.). The paper lists lexical units which represent the acceleration of the tempo of life in contemporary English discursive practices (race, sprint, gallop, bolt, hurtle, etc.) and identifies the most relevant trends in their use (the use of satellites and adverbs that intensify the semantics of fast movement; saturation with semantics of uncontrollability). It analyzes a new sociocultural trend which is based on the slowing down of life tempo – slow life. The authors reveal discursive strategies that are used to promote it: cultural and semantic discrediting of speed through its demonization, morbidization, etc., accompanied by cultural and semantic exoneration of slowness through constructing positive associative links (slow is quality-over-quantity, reflective, holistic, time-rich, mindful, etc.) and creating new groups of synonyms on their basis. The authors emphasize that slow life does not imply lack of dynamics and uneventfulness; neither does it necessarily imply dramatic deceleration. Slow life is associated with the so-called Kairological time, which refers to deeply experienced time, full of mindfulness and enjoyment.