Verba

From Editor-in-Chief

T. V. Shmeleva — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Dear colleagues, authors and readers!

The theme of this issue is literary works, with a primary focus on poetry. Accordingly, the issue opens with the Poetry section, where each article explores a distinct phenomenon within contemporary and classical poetic texts.

The first article, by renowned scholar and Doctor of Philology Liudmila V. Zubova from the V. V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, investigates the grammatical form of the diminutive – a feature characteristic of Russian colloquial speech. Drawing on an impressive corpus of poetic texts by 70 authors, the scientist demonstrates the diverse and nuanced effects poets achieve through the diminutive. Her encyclopedic approach and subtle analysis make this article a fundamental resource for understanding this linguistic device in modern poetry. Readers will surely enjoy the rich and illustrative examples presented.

Next, Novgorod authors Vladimir I. Zaika, Doctor of Philology and Professor of the Department of Philology at Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University, and Olga M. Kocherova, student at the same department, analyze cutting-edge poetic texts by the rapper known as Pyrokinesis, focusing on his latest 2025 album. Their linguistic study highlights the use of oxymoron and convincingly demonstrates its significance within the rap genre and the texts examined. It is encouraging to see Russian rap poetry gaining scholarly attention in our journal, continuing a conversation initiated by Alina Diveeva from Cherepovets State University, whose PhD dissertation on Russian rap poetics is referenced by the authors.

Alongside contemporary poetry, this issue also turns to classical works. St. Petersburg colleagues Elena V. Sergeeva, Doctor of Philology and Professor of the Russian Language Department at Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, together with Polina N. Spiricheva, master’s student at the same department, explore the uniquely Russian concept of longing (toska) in the poetry of F. Sologub. Their study reveals how this concept functions differently in the poetic system of the “senior symbolist” compared to its role in the broader linguistic worldview. The depth and philosophical rigor of their analysis make this article particularly compelling.

Thus, the poetry section presents three distinct phenomena: the grammatical diminutive, the stylistic figure of oxymoron, and the concept of longing – each offering fresh linguistic insights into diverse poetic texts

The Prose section features an article by Novgorod colleagues, representatives of the already mentioned Department of Philology at Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University – Vladimir I. Zaika, associate professor Galina N. Girzheva and master’s student Gennady O. Kalyanin. Their study examines the technique of the extended metaphor in a story by Yevgeny Zamyatin. The complexity of their analysis stems from the “multi-focus” nature of the extended metaphor and the ornamental qualities of Zamyatin’s prose. The analytical methods they develop promise to be valuable tools for studying other prose genres.

Perhaps the most unexpected section is Literary Text in Developmental Psycholinguistics, curated by Marina B. Eliseeva, head of the Department of Language and Literary Education of Children at Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia. This article investigates how fiction contributes to a child’s linguistic development. While the importance of reading fiction in language acquisition is well recognized, Marina B. Eliseeva’s work uniquely traces the formation of stylistic ideas through diary entries – an unconventional but insightful source for linguistic research.

The issue concludes with a report on the Neology. Neography – 2024 conference, held late last year at the Institute for Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The chronicle, prepared by the conference participants, employees of the Institute – Doctor of Philology Natalia V. Kozlovskaya and Alina S. Pavlova, highlights the conference’s traditional scope and broad geographic participation. The report emphasizes the content of presentations, which covered not only the renewal of Russian vocabulary over the past year but also diverse neological studies, including their relationship to the “Word of the Year” election and related events. This marks the third such report in our journal, establishing a valuable chronicle of neological research and underscoring neology as a recurring theme in our publication.

In summary, this issue brings together university and academic linguists from Veliky Novgorod, St. Petersburg and Moscow, offering a rich and varied exploration of literary texts. The focus on contemporary works, depth of analysis and integration into broader linguistic science reflect the journal’s commitment to advancing scholarship. Notably, two papers by our St. Petersburg colleagues are based on presentations from the annual conference of Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia “Word. Dictionary. Literature”, which took place in November 2024 and was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor Evgenia G. Kovalevskaya.

I would like to sincerely thank all the authors who contributed to this issue, as well as its reviewers: Doctors of Philology Boris Yu. Norman (Minsk), Victoria G. Didkovskaya (Veliky Novgorod), Vadim A. Belov (St. Petersburg) and Tatyana I. Steksova (Novosibirsk).

Until next time on the electronic pages of our journal!

T. V. Shmeleva

Diminutives in word creation of modern poets

L. V. Zubova — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The paper explores distinctive features of diminutive usage – particularly expressive and unconventional forms – in Russian poetry from the second half of the 20th century through the first quarter of the 21st century drawing on examples from the works of 70 poets, including A. Kondratov, V. Sosnora, G. Sapgir, D. A. Prigov, O. Yuryev, P. Barskova, V. Pavlova, L. Losev, V. Gandelsman, A. Levin, V. Strochkov, etc. It examines the conceptualization of diminutives within the poetics of the literary and artistic group “mit’ki”, the role of diminutives in textual composition, their clustering and frequency in word-formation pairs and nests, which highlights the derivational relationships between traditional and contemporary diminutives and revives forgotten lexical connections. The study also considers the expansion of the lexical scope of diminutives, including potential diminutives and authorial neologisms, as well as their lexical and semantic transformations. Structural features such as reverse word formation, reduplication, and the autonomous use of diminutive affixes are discussed alongside phonetic and graphic means of expressive enhancement – such as word lengthening and shortening, imitation of others’ speech, use of orthographic archaisms, and the addition of diminutive suffixes to Old Slavonic roots. The influence of rhyme on diminutive usage is also highlighted, particularly regarding authorial neologisms and the contextual presentation of word-formation models. The study demonstrates that in poetry from the second half of the 20th century to the present day with its active word creation, the repertoire of diminutives, their functions, style and structure are much more diverse than their everyday linguistic use. This development is largely attributed to the characteristic phonetic and structural repetitions in poetry – including root, word-formation, and syntactic repetitions – that, often driven by rhyme, facilitate the contextual activation of word-formation nests, types, and models. In modern poetry, diminutives frequently serve an aesthetic function, with diminutive neologisms forming a foundation for linguistic play, especially in children’s poetry.

Oxymoron in rap lyrics

O. M. Kocherova, V. I. Zaika — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The paper examines oxymoron, a typical rap figure used by Pyrokinesis in the songs of the album “mea maxima culpa”. Oxymoron is understood as a figure that consists in combining the incompatible, forming a contradictory unity, a fused contrast. The analysis of the material is a semantization of oxymoron – a description of the effect of anomaly based on dictionary definitions, the syntactic status of words and their relationships in the utterance. Thus, the grounds for generating a complex meaning as a holistic mental result of perception are clarified. The contradictory relations that form a fused contrast of a general concept are created by Pyrokinesis between objects, features, states, actions, and the action is the predominant manifestation of the objects of the image (the lyrical hero, another subject, environment, etc.). Along with typical models of constructing an oxymoron (adjective + noun, noun + noun, adverb + verb, etc.), the songs on the album use atypical models, which are called oxymoron-type combinations. The analysis of the material shows not only the diversity, but also the complexity of the implemented models. General concepts that are formed as a result of combining incompatible concepts in an oxymoron contain a contradiction, the formulation of which is problematic. However, the process of semantization of an oxymoron shows how Pyrokinesis, not being constrained by the rules of figurativeness, uses the possibilities of the natural language to express complex thoughts and depict complex relationships.

Artistic and philosophical concept “Toska” in F. Sologub's poetry

E. V. Sergeeva, P. N. Spiricheva — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The paper examines the distinctive embodiment of the concept of “Toska” in the poetry of F. Sologub. Contemporary scholarship maintains a steady interest in the works of the “senior” Russian symbolists, including F. Sologub, whose conceptual framework merits particular attention. This study explores how the concept of “Toska” is verbalized in F. Sologub’s poetry, contrasting it with the universal concept as defined by explanatory, associative, dialectal, and etymological dictionaries. A comprehensive methodology is employed, grounded in the descriptive method and supplemented by more specific techniques. The research defines “Toska” in F. Sologub’s poetic works as a unique artistic and philosophical concept – an aestheticized, verbalized linguo-mental entity that conveys profound philosophical meaning. The poetic text reveals a clear distinction between the linguistic conceptualization of “Toska” and its manifestation within the artistic worldview. Compared to the universal concept, F. Sologub’s artistic and philosophical “Toska” appears in a broader range of contexts and is represented by a greater variety of core and peripheral explicators. The relationship between the core and periphery of this linguo-mental phenomenon is notably fluid. The artistic-philosophical concept forms thematic, associative, and lexical-grammatical fields that are absent from the universal concept. Lexical meanings are transformed, and occasional semes emerge in various contexts. The number of verbalizers increases, enriching the concept with broader associative and figurative layers that reflect aesthetic information, including ancient, Orthodox, and pagan cultural strata. The analysis demonstrates that the artistic and philosophical concept of “Toska” occupies a central place in F. Sologub’s conceptual universe.

Extended metaphors in Zamyatin's “Yola”

G. N. Girzheva, V. I. Zaika, G. O. Kalyanin — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The paper explores the process of verbalizing one’s own intuitive responses while interpreting metaphors, aiming to clarify how readers imagine the referents within the artistic world of Yevgeny Zamyatin’s story “Yola.” The study’s relevance lies in addressing a gap in existing research: while Zamyatin’s prose has been widely analyzed, the pictorial effects and structural complexity of his extended metaphors remain underexplored. The analysis draws on 11 textual fragments from “Yola” that contain extended metaphors. The findings support and illustrate Zamyatin’s own concept of the “sprouting image.” Specifically, the examination of the extended metaphors sun and wall reveals that their multifocal nature is manifested not only in local deployments – where metaphorical elements are developed within discrete narrative situations – but also in global deployments, where repeated variations of a central image (such as sun or wall) recur throughout the narrative. This global deployment, characterized by the discrete arrangement and repetition of metaphorical elements before or after key episodes, creates a second level of metaphorical development. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that even local metaphorical deployments (such as the dream economy) can coalesce into a cohesive referent that is referenced throughout the story. The inherent discreteness of these deployments significantly complicates the metaphor’s referent – the main subject –and demands greater interpretive effort from the reader in constructing meaning. The results of this research contribute to the study of Yevgeny Zamyatin’s prose and offer valuable insights for those learning the techniques of linguistic analysis of fiction.

Mastering stylistic component of language competence by Russian-speaking children

M. В. Eliseeva — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

When do children begin to discern differences between stylistically colored words such as “old-fashioned,” “abusive,” or “more understandable”? From which sources do they acquire this knowledge? The development of a child’s mastery of the stylistic nuances of the Russian language typically unfolds in three distinct stages. By approximately two and a half years of age, children start to imitate stylistically marked vocabulary; however, at this stage, they do not yet recognize stylistic distinctions. Stylistically colored and neutral words are perceived and used interchangeably, effectively as complete synonyms. By the age of five, children begin to develop an awareness of stylistic coloring, as evidenced by their growing interest in vocabulary with contrasting stylistic connotations, such as rude versus affectionate terms. Older preschoolers demonstrate a relatively easy ability to identify obsolete or archaic vocabulary. The choice of words by children is influenced not only by the communicative goal of conveying information but also by the situational context in which verbal interaction occurs. By the ages of eight to nine, children begin to understand the existence of different spheres of word usage. Consequently, they may cease to use certain words learned primarily from books in their everyday spoken language, relegating these words to passive vocabulary. The primary source from which children acquire stylistic competence in their native language is the language of fiction. Additionally, scientific-cognitive and scientific-artistic contexts contribute to the development of stylistic awareness. These sources encompass not only literature but also cinema, animation, theater, and museum experiences. Exposure to these varied inputs facilitates the acquisition of stylistically colored vocabulary, including both literary and colloquial “literary” registers.

International scientific and practical conference “Neology. Neography – 2024”

N. V. Kozlovskaya, A. S. Pavlova — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The authors present an overview of the International scientific and practical conference “Neology. Neography – 2024”, which was held on December 1–2, 2024 at the Institute for Linguistic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. The conference was devoted to the analysis of neological processes in modern Russian and other languages, as well as to the discussion of current problems and trends in the field of neology and neography. The event was attended by about 60 researchers from different cities of Russia and foreign countries, which contributed to an active exchange of experience and scientific discussion.