The present paper deals with W. von Humboldt’s views on problems of literary translation. These views were closely connected with his linguistic theory. Special attention is paid to the problem of W. von Humboldt`s relation to the so-called “untranslatability theory”. According to the authors, his qualification as an adept of the said theory is one-sided. W. von Humboldt as many of his contemporaries (e.g., the representatives of German Romanticism) expressed different, sometimes opposite, views on the possibility of translation, which reflected the dialectical contradictions peculiar to this period.

The article presents the concept of infographics and the main stages of formation and development of this phenomenon. The author analyzes the views of Russian and foreign scientist who have studied this phenomenon, and notes that the infographics studies tend to become more and more focused on the linguistic aspect. The author attempts to categorize infographics from the point of view of their purposes and the linguistic component of each type. The proposed infographics classification allows to carry out a detailed analysis of infographics linguistic component and define the characteristics of each type at different language levels.

The article presents analysis of the interpretation of theme and rheme - crucial terms for functional analysis - by representatives of the two most prominent scientific approaches to the functional perspective - Prague linguistic circle functionalists and M.A.K. Halliday’s systemic-functional school. Comprehensive comparison and analysis of these approaches is still lacking, though overlapping and often conflicting terminology of these two schools call for it. Even the basic terms - theme and rheme - still need certain clarification. Comparison of the two schools’ view on these terms as (based on the analysis of works by W. Mathesius, J. Firbas, M.A.K. Halliday, P.H. Fries) showed that the systemic-functional approach to the theme-rheme devision seriously diverges from the principles of the Prague linguist circle. The divergence is made less apparent by M.A.K. Halliday’s usage of the traditional terms theme and rheme, though filling them with new content.

In the article some important facts concerning Jerome K. Jerome creative writing are analyzed, linguistic and extralinguistic factors that contributed to forming his idiostyle are considered. Various stylistic devices characteristic of Jerome’s style used both in intrusted and author’s narrative are explored and systematized. As the analysis proves substantive metaphors, metaphoric and personifying epithets, similes, repetitions, antithesis are widely used in the writer’s language.

The article discusses the formation of the word "surgery" as a terminological unit of highly specialized medical vocabulary. Historical and diachronic analysis showed the development of the word "surgery" from its first fixation in the Russian dictionary and up to now. Diachronic cut allowed studying the derivational potential of the word "surgery". Its introduction in the modern medical vocabulary was demonstrated. The moment of including the word "surgery" into the terminological lexicon was defined.

The report deals with idioms featuring the constituent tooth / teeth. The figurative meaning of those idioms may involve cognition and knowledge (Russian ни в зуб ногой), emotions (English gnash one’s teeth, grind one’s teeth, Russian иметь зуб на кого-л., Serbian and Croatian imati zub na nekoga ‘to be angry with someone because of something they have done’), and speech (English to lie through one’s teeth, Irish labhairt gan fiacail a chuir ann ‘crude speech’ [lit.: speech with no teeth to look for]). The analysis of idiom modifications, metaphors and their possible blends is based on Slavic (Russian, Serbian, Croatian, Germanic (English, German, Yiddish, Afrikaans), and Celtic (Irish) languages.

The article is concerned with techniques of alternative graphic coding in English prose texts for children. Deviation from canonical orthography in printed text (fiction) can be regarded as an expressive multifunctional graphic device capable of expanding or specifying the meaning, building imagery or stressing dynamism of the situation described. Language units differing from the mainstream code illustrate the way graphic forms become conditioned by their semantic content. Such language units are regarded as iconically motivated signs, the quality of iconicity here allowing them to convey complex ideas in visualized and laconic form.

The article deals with the nomination of new winter sports in the German language. The author proceeds from the key approaches of the modern nomination theory and examines the ways and models of sports naming which are based on derivational as well as conceptual peculiarities of the German sports language. The paper also highlights some new concepts developing nowadays in the domain and presented in the names of winter sports and sporting disciplines.

The article presents semantic analysis of French verbal derivatives formed from the names of brands. The crucial role in the determination of their values belongs to the denotation of the brand name. The author proves the relevance of dynamic approach in the framework of the onomasiological studies of these neologisms. On the basis of analysis of derivational patterns with motivating words indicating the means of operation, the derivational meaning is determined and characteristics of the verbal derivatives formed from the names of the brands are described.

The present article is concerned with creating news headlines in the French quality press. The author suggests a classification of headlines based on their dominant function, thus dividing them into informative and contact-making types. The paper provides an analysis of headlines belonging to each type along with their respective lead paragraphs, making it possible to distinguish two basic strategies of summarizing (compression), each possessing a different degree of freedom of reformulation. When writing a headline, the choice of strategy depends upon the target audience and the journalist’s intentions.

The article is devoted to the analysis of functioning and translating of pseudo realia as means of expressing the concept “supernatural” in Ch. Dickens’s novel “A Christmas Carol in prose” and its translations into the Russian language. Three translations of Ch. Dickens’s novel into Russian are analyzed: a modern translation by T. Ozerskaya (1959) and two pre-revolutionary versions - by Baroness S. Wrangell (1909) and N. Pusheshnikov (1912). They are compared with the original text; also there is a semantic classification of pseudo realia. In addition, the article presents the main principles of translating pseudo realia into Russian, used by the three translators.