Contextual Time Markers

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study different time representations in language and text. Time is an abstract category strongly connected to human life, it can be considered to be the fourth dimension of reality, used to describe events in three-dimensional space. Time has been studied from different points of view and in different aspects. Perception of time can vary depending on social and cultural environment. That is why it is so important to pay special attention to a variety of time representations when studying a foreign language. In the article we study different time markers represented in language (English and Russian) and contextual time markers we can find in texts for reading comprehension activities at advanced levels when studying Russian as a foreign language. We compare language and contextual time markers using cognitive approach to text units. As an example, we take time markers from the texts published in a popular Russian literary magazine Novy mir, famous for its constant liberal position and great history of dissident movement during Soviet epoch.