Pragmalinguistic features of representing the images of the Cossack and Russian Cossacks in contemporary English-language publications: scientific narrative as a tool of influence

<jats:p>The purpose of the study is to identify the specifics of cognitive-discursive activity and the manifested communicative behavior of foreign authors of publications within the framework of constructing the image of the Russian world through its inherent realities and traditions concerning the Cossacks, and specifically contemporary Russian Cossacks. The article examines the axiological and pragmalinguistic features of representing the image of the Cossack and Russian Cossacks in contemporary English-language academic publications and the public sphere, as well as the key mechanisms and linguistic means used by the author – as a representative of a different linguoculture – to construct the image of contemporary Cossacks in Russia. Furthermore, the study outlines the trajectories and potential of artificially created cognitive distortions within the context of building a narrative on the theme of the Cossacks in modern Russia within the open-access information field. The scientific novelty of the study is determined by the fact that, based on the analysis of empirical material, it describes the axiological and pragmalinguistic specifics of representing the image of Russian Cossacks in the modern world by an author who is both a member of the academic community and a bearer of a different linguoculture. Viewed through the lens of this specificity, the narrative emerges as a tool for influencing the target audience and a means of shaping public opinion in the modern media space. As a result of the study, the conflict-generating potential of metaphorical representation features regarding the image of contemporary Russian Cossacks and associated realities was discovered, alongside the projection of predetermined (distorted) politically marked images through narratives produced by members of the academic community in the modern digital environment.</jats:p>