The Obvious Improbable? (Methods and Means of Information Condensation in Communication)

Abstract

The relevance of this research is determined by the need to understand the phenomenon of information condensation in modern communication, which is characterized by the tendency towards linguistic economy, hybridization of textual forms, and the increasing role of non-verbal codes. In the context of the information society, the question of how language and culture bearers achieve mutual understanding by objectifying only a portion of relevant information while activating the rest implicitly becomes particularly significant. The author proposes to consider information condensation as one of the key cognitive and nominative strategies, consciously or intuitively chosen by subjects of com munication. The study material comprises texts of various types in Russian and German. The methodology includes a comprehensive linguistic analysis combining traditional and modern techniques for studying multi-level linguistic means, taking into account text-grammatical, semiological, functional, and intentional aspects of textual organization. The study substantiates that information condensation is implemented at micro-, meso-, and macro-levels and is achieved by altering the relationship between objectified and non-objectified but activated and co-activated information. The main factors influenc ing the choice of condensation strategy are the nature of the communicative task, the characteristics of the subjects’ personal and collective identity, the cultural environment specificity, and current social dispositives. It is demonstrated that condensation can act both as an independent strategy and as an auxiliary technique for optimizing other types of strategies. Information condensation is described from two complementary perspectives: as a relatively autonomous cognitive and nominative strategy consciously chosen by the subject and as a technique employed to optimize other types of cognitive, nominative, and communicative strategies. The study enumerates the factors that positively and/or negatively influence the realization of information condensation in communication. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between heterogeneous, heterosubstrate, and heterochronic knowledge about the world and knowledge that is not explicitly objectified but is activated and co-activated by the very means used to convey information about the world. The author concludes that information condensation is an effective mechanism for adapting linguistic means to changing communicative conditions. Its result is the restructuring of the information flow, increased content density with minimal formal expression, and optimization of interaction between communication participants. Information condensation is an integral characteristic of modern cultural and textual knowledge transfer, contributing to communicative effectiveness and to the enrichment of the repertoire of cognitive and nominative strategies available to language users.