Reverse model of ethnic stereotyping "strangers ↔ own"

The paper is devoted to the study of ethnic auto-and heterostereotypes in the language consciousness of North Ossetian speakers about the South Ossetians. The article discusses the basic features of auto- and heterostereotyping on the material of Internet blogs. The described ethnic stereotypes reflect the archetypal “we-images” and “they-images” that serve as reference points for communicative behavior. The purpose of the article is to build a reverse model of ethnic stereotyping “strangers ↔ own”, which describes the representations of Ossetians as a historically divided people about each other. The work was carried out in line with the integrated approach, combining the achievements of linguoculturology, sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics and ethnopsycholinguistics. The specifics of the research topic is due to the application of contextual analysis methods, conceptual and discursive analysis, the method of cognitive interpretation and field modeling, as well as the classification method. The authors proceed from the fact that ethnic heterostereotypes are formed on the basis of differentiating characters that contribute to alienation between ethnic groups and within ethnic groups and subgroups. Ethnic stereotypes tend to distort objective facts. Ethnic values form the foundation of the auto-stereotype, ethnic / sub-ethnic differences trigger the mechanism of heterostereotyping. The basic universal model of ethnic stereotyping “strangers - own” and the universal assessment model “bad - good” serve as opposed cognitive patterns of ethnic image and are re-categorized. The axiology of representatives' images of other cultural communities or intra-ethnic groups verbalized in the national consciousness not only captures their own worldview, but also reflects internal and external sociopolitical processes. This article contributes to interethnic and interethnic communication, conflict resolution and ethnolinguistics.