UDC

81’373(045)

DOI

10.17238/issn2227-6564.2019.4.82

Authors

Elena E. Kottsova
Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov; ul. Smol’nyy Buyan 7, Arkhangelsk, 163002, Russian Federation; e-mail: e.kotzova@yandex.ru

Abstract

The socio-political and economic changes in Russia at the turn of the 21st century led to the penetration of a large number of agnonyms (incomprehensible and obscure words) into Russian vocabulary. In modern periodicals, the zone of agnonymy primarily consists of loan words (highly specialized terms, exoticisms and barbarisms), neologisms (including occasional words), as well as of certain substandard vocabulary (jargon and vernacular). The paper studies agnonyms and linguistic reflexives, containing linguistic, encyclopaedic and evaluative information about agnonyms found in modern periodicals. The purpose of the article is to identify and describe the lexical groups of agnonyms (which are commented on with the help of linguistic reflexives) as well as the functional and structural features of such reflexives in the texts of modern periodicals of the 2010s. The following methods of linguistic analysis were used in the paper: continuous sampling, component, thematic, structural, and functional analysis. The results showed that conceptual reflexives usually explain the concept denoted by the agnonym and may contain encyclopaedic data, often in the form of reference. Communicative reflexives demonstrate not only the author’s attitude to the word, but also background knowledge about the phenomenon, as well as the author’s motivation for choosing words bearing new meanings and occasionalisms. The analysis of the structural features of reflexives showed a wide range of their linguistic expression, from definitions of different types to textual fragments, as well as the blurring of boundaries in a text, making it possible to identify mixed types of reflexives. The extension of the “explicated” agnonymy zone makes it possible for the general reader to adequately understand agnonymy, easing the communicative tension, as well as demonstrates the peculiarities of the current linguistic situation and reflects the socio-political changes in the society.

Keywords

agnonym, zone of communicative tension, linguistic reflection, conceptual reflexives, communicative reflexives

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