Linguistic and extralinguistic specificity of Russian and English texts of ethical codes in the diachronic aspect

Mukhortova Irina Igorevna ORCID: 0000-0003-2987-2876 PhD in Philology Teacher of Highest Qualification Category, Boarding School for Girls of Ministry of Defense of Russian Federation 125284, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, Polikarpova str., 21 Irene8181@mail.ru

The relevance of the topic is due to the fact that the modern generation is witnessing transformations in the presentation of information at the verbal and non-verbal levels in the practice of communication and the impact of communicants on each other. This is facilitated by free access to the Internet space, a large selection of websites and applications, and the use of various gadgets, in particular smartphones. Such trends actualize the spread of semiotically complicated polycode systems, make significant adjustments to the genre performance of institutional discourse, the form of presentation of information, as a result of which there is a compression of the presentation of material in the digital environment, the appearance of additional components such as animation, photo, audio, video analogues of which are impossible offline.

The subject of the study is the structural, genre-content and linguistic features of English and Russian-language texts of ethical codes of banks in a diachronic aspect.

Descriptive and comparative methods are used to analyze the specifics of English and Russian-language texts, which, within the framework of a systematic approach, allow for an analytical description of the features of the considered texts of banking discourse.

The scientific novelty of the research is determined by the first attempt to conduct a comparative analysis of the specifics of the texts of ethical codes of banks in a diachronic aspect based on the material of English and Russian languages. The influence of digital content on the specifics of banking discourse texts is described.

Ethical codes are texts related to modern documentary communication, namely the official business style and documentary linguistics or its periphery. The theoretical basis of the research is the works of domestic and foreign authors: E.V. Biryukova, S.V. Brozhenko, T.Y. Makhortova, E.S. Polyakov, D. Kristall, etc. ^{[1, 2, 6, 7, 12]}.

The main part

In recent years, as a result of the aggravation of the global situation, global markets have undergone tectonic changes. The decline in real incomes of the population in many countries has led to a noticeable drop in consumer demand, which has led to significant changes in the texts of banking discourse.

Due to the process of globalization and the development of the Internet communication space, most of the information about the work of banks is digitized and presented on the websites of banks or other specialized sites. The digital format of banking discourse may be characterized by a large compression of information, atemporality, modality of reality and probability, which can be transmitted through the use of the infinitive.

Banking discourse can be represented by creolized texts of ethical codes, bank prospectuses, and information provided on working with online banks directly on banks' websites with hyperlinks and videos.

Most banks have codes of corporate ethics of the bank and business ethics, or ethical codes, which represent the principles and rules of business conduct and ethics of employees.

According to I. A. Sternin and N. F. Panferova, the code of Ethics is a normative document that establishes rules and standards of behavior and employee relationships during the work process [Sternin: http].

English-language and Russian-language codes of corporate ethics have similar and distinctive characteristics.

Institutional banking communication is the use of specific verbal and non-verbal means of interactive activity of communication participants, reflected in the status and role relations of the bank's activities as an institution.

Banking document management has its own specifics, which cannot but be reflected in the language of documents in this area. Banking texts may contain economic and legal terminology. The presence of imperativeness and nominativeness is determined by the principles of the official business style, in particular the use of clerical forms.

Even before the outbreak of the 2020 pandemic, the English and Russian-language codes were linguistically characterized by the atemporality and modality of reality and probability or the meaning of simultaneity through the use of modal verbs with simple infinitive forms or modal words:

Noncompliance with applicable ethics laws and regulations can result in significant legal and regulatory exposure to the firm… ^[10]. / Non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations in the field of ethics can lead to significant legal and regulatory impact on the company...

Employees should make every effort to minimize any risks of VTB's client and business partner ^[9].

Nominative constructions and terms are also characteristic of ethical codes:

…. verbal harassment, such as derogatory comments or slurs … ^[13]. / ... verbal aggression, such as derogatory comments or insults ...

... actions aimed at distorting reporting ... ^[4].

English and Russian-language texts of ethical and corporate codes until 2020 were more often found in Ward and PDF formats, which often contributed to the identity of structural and genre-content characteristics of texts: division into paragraphs, highlighting in a certain font, color, absence or minimal use of illustrative content.

Nevertheless, there were certain differences. In addition to the general sections, the English-language texts of the banking discourse contained descriptions of the norms of behavior and interpersonal relations of bank employees, additional sections excluding possible force majeure:

Discrimination and harassment ^[11]. / Discrimination and aggression.

Diversity & Inclusion [Ibid.]. / Differences and inclusivity.

It should be noted that advertising slogans are relevant for ethical codes in English:

At Bank of America, we give everyone a fair opportunity to be part of our team and to excel, and we base decisions and rewards on facts and results [Ibid.]. / At Bank of America, we provide everyone with the same opportunities to become part of our team and succeed, and our decisions and rewards are based on facts and results.

Russian-language texts are marked by standard and universal elements, sections are unified and structured. The banking document flow in Russian is characterized by a commonality of sections for various subspecies of this type of instructions: on the code of ethics, compliance with ethical principles at work, adherence to ethical business practices, etc. 

Based on the information provided, it can be concluded that at the very beginning of the XXI century, texts are more typical and unified and practically devoid of digital content. A large variability of structural, genre-content and language specifics is characteristic of English-language texts of banking discourse.

The 20s of the XXI century are marked by the active digitalization of society, therefore, in the context of the global transition to the communicative space of the Internet, various spheres of society, including banking, which is vital from a social and economic point of view, seem relevant from the standpoint of sociolinguistic and pragmalinguistic approaches to the study of banking discourse.

As they develop, banking codes of ethics are transformed into creolized texts that not only define the range of responsibilities, norms of behavior and responsibilities of the bank and its employees in general, regardless of their position, but also carry out speech effects through rationalistic strategies (E.V. Nagornaya, E. Peli) aimed at demonstrating their advertised product. Thus, the author's communicative intention has an explicit advertising character. This is one of the most important features of the code of ethics, since an obligatory structural element of this type of banking texts is a preface containing the introduction, mission and values of the bank, thereby positioning its financial institution in a certain way. In this regard, bank texts of this type are designed to inform and attract attention with information that has a greater impact on the rational sphere of the consumer:

We know that we need to be flexible, responsive and accountable for our actions ^[14]. / We know that we need to be flexible, responsive and responsible for our actions.

Acting for the benefit of society is an integral part of our corporate culture ^[5].

English-language codes of ethics try to "advertise" their brand and thereby attract the attention of new customers. In this regard, parallelism is often used and sentences are simple:

We do the right thing.

We power potential.

We stay a step ahead.

We draw strength from diversity.

We put people first ^[14]. / We are doing the right thing.

We have a powerful potential.

We are one step ahead.

We draw strength from diversity.

We put people first.

Russian-speaking banks use similar technology when declaring their values:

We are willing to help each other, working for a common result.

We help our colleagues grow and develop.

We are open, respect our colleagues and trust each other ^[5].

An important genre feature of ethical codes is the inseparability of the speech of the author and the addressee in the texts of this genre. This phenomenon can be explained by the orientation of banks to the customer's desire, regardless of the declared principles of activity. The bank's codes of corporate ethics in both languages have a well-organized structure, formal and meaningful signs of text division. It is characterized by the use of sentences expressing the potentiality of an action, its abstraction from a specific time frame, possibility, assumption and generality:

JPMorgan Chase is committed to ensuring employees act with honesty and integrity, treat customers fairly, and exercise sound judgment ^[10]. / JPMorgan Chase is committed to ensuring that employees act honestly and incorruptibly, treat customers fairly and practice sound judgment.

The Bank creates the most favorable conditions for its shareholders to participate in the General Meeting ^[3].

Leading banks present not only creolized texts of ethical codes, but interactive versions on banks' websites, using hyperlinks and rich digital content.

English-speaking banks, due to the high level of digitalization of this area, offer contacts in the form of: phone numbers, links, hyperlinks and a QR code.

Slogans or certain words with the necessary connotation affecting the potential client are often used for the target audience:

Life’s better when we’re connected ^[14]. — Life is better when we are together.

Russian-speaking banks have achieved a high level of digitalization of content. For example, Sberbank provides an interactive version of its code of ethics and is the flagship among Russian banks.  The bank's website provides checklists of self-checking questions after reviewing each section of the corporate code:

...Does the decision or action (inaction) comply with the legislation, the Code, and other internal documents of the Bank?

Is this decision or action (inaction) logical and justified from the point of view of the Bank's interests?... ^[5].

Sections of the codes of Russian-speaking banks have expanded, including discrimination, psychological pressure, and aggression:

We consider discrimination based on age, gender, gender, nationality, race, political and religious views, health characteristics, socio-economic status and other characteristics unrelated to a person's professional qualities and performance of official duties to be unacceptable [Ibid.].

Thus, the Russian-language texts of the ethical codes of banks in the 20s of the XXI century reached a high level of interactivity, digitalization and globalization of content.

Conclusion

As a result of the conducted research, it was revealed that the revolutionary and evolutionary changes taking place in the XXI century contribute to the development of the information environment, changing not only the structure and composition of documentary texts, but also the linguistic and extralinguistic means that create them. The texts of the ethical codes of the leading English-speaking and Russian-speaking banks have their own linguistic and linguistic-cultural features, among others.

Based on the analysis performed, it can be argued that banking texts in both languages are characterized by a large spread of semiotically complicated polycode systems and the presence of creolized texts with a high content of slogans and hyperlinks. Creolized texts are regulated by the written literary standard of the language, include highly used thematic vocabulary, legal and economic terms. The structural and genre-content features of the analyzed texts vary depending on the specific bank and the linguistic and cultural aspect, however, they are characterized by a commonality of key sections and priority information about the bank.

Despite the fact that not all Russian-language banking texts have digital content, some of them surpass their English counterparts in terms of digitalization and structural, genre-content and linguistic diversity.