Aim. The purpose of this work is to deepen the understanding of media discourse, expand the knowledge about the paremiological possibilities of modern linguistic culture, and describe the communicative abilities of images and language means.
Methodology. The paper considers some paremias, which are visualized as a verbal component and receive specific images in the media space. The paremias are studied using a spectrum of general and particular scientific methods, such as inductive-deductive techniques, observation, systematization, modeling, distributive and component analyzis, descriptive and psycholinguistic methods, and analytical and synthetic forms of working with media discourse and a communicative event in the form of paremiologically oriented demotivators, united by common semantics.
Results. On the example of demotivators freely available on the Internet, the perception of environmental problems by society and the objectification of realities in an ironic and poetic form are illustrated. The active processes taking place in various types of stable constructions are analyzed, and the potential possibilities of modern metaphorical-figurative structures are demonstrated. The leading concepts are identified in accordance with the thematic focus, ecological demotivators with explicitly or implicitly expressed paremiological images are extracted from the information bases of the Internet, the communicative situation that develops in the Internet discourse during the formation of paremiological images is analyzed, and the empirical material is systematized. The conceptual scaling of the Internet discourse is part of a cognitive program aimed at comprehensive knowledge of a communicative event in the regime of linguocultural synchrony.
Research implications. The continuous replenishment of the language with new communicative elements, the active development of media discourse as an environment for the existence of a modern communicative situation, and the permanent emergence of original images of Russian paremiology explain the theoretical and applied relevance of the undertaken research, which complements a series of works of linguoculturological orientation. The value pragmatics of the epoch is fixed in thought codes, proverbs, and unique forms of language functioning, and, therefore, the description of various linguocultural transactions is scientifically significant.

Aim. The purpose of the work is to study the features of the regional linguistic picture of the world, associated with ideas about time and space, on the basis of Voronezh microtoponymy.
Methodology. The material of the study was microtoponyms representing the categories of “space” and “time”, functioning in 28 settlements of the Voronezh region. The main methods used in the study were the descriptive method, the comparative method, the method of component analysis (analysis of actualized semes of microtoponyms), and linguistic and regional commentary.
Results. It is found that the considered microtoponyms quite fully reflect a person’s ideas about space, to a lesser extent – about time. The paper characterizes two levels of microtoponymic units that give an idea of the space. At the first level, the following groups of onyms are distinguished: 1) microtoponyms that characterize a person’s ideas about a space that has a horizontal extent; 2) microtoponyms that characterize a person’s ideas about a space that has a vertical extent; and 3) microtoponyms that characterize a person’s ideas about space, reflecting the radial connections of objects. At the second level, groups of microtoponyms are distinguished, differentiated in accordance with semantic features. The following groups of geographical names reflecting a person’s idea of time are characterized: 1) microtoponyms, which include ordinal numbers; and 2) microtoponyms that include nominations with the semes 'late', 'old', 'new'. The concepts of space are most often expressed with the help of a geographical concretizer in a microtoponym, about time – with the help of a component represented by an ordinal number. All microtoponyms that reflect a person’s idea of time are in a certain “time series” that make up binary or multicomponent oppositions. The characterization of space in the regional linguistic picture of the world (according to the Voronezh microtoponymy) quite clearly reflects the geographical features associated with the specifics of the landscape of the Voronezh region, a feature of which is the presence of a significant number of hills and ravines.
Research implications. The method of analysis of microtoponymic units presented in the paper can be further applied to study of the regional linguistic picture of the world, including using local history data. The empirical material of the study can be useful for compiling a dictionary of microtoponyms of the Voronezh region and for carrying out ethnolinguistic research related to the study of the categories “space” and “time”.

Aim. The purpose of the work is to identify the semantic specificity of the concepts of transitional state and borderline state in their functioning in scientific texts of humanitarian orientation.
Methodology. The paper analyzes the content plan of the term combinations transitional state and borderline state. Methods of definitional, component, contextual, and comparative analysis are used in the study.
Results. Based on the analysis of dictionary interpretations of the lexemes transitional and borderline, as well as the contextual environment of the combinations transitional state and borderline state, we identify the semantic specificity and trends in the use of each of the term combinations in humanitarian texts.
Research implications. The results of the study contribute to the linguistic study of the state as a general scientific category and can be taken into account in research on semantics, stylistics, and terminology.

Aim. The aim of the study is to identify the symbolism of the black color in the poems of Ivan Gogolev and Takamura Kotaro and to reveal the features of the traditional color symbolism of the Yakuts and Japanese.
Methodology. The work relies on systematic, holistic, and functional approaches in the study of a work of art; use is also made of comparative research methods.
Results. It is found that the black color in the culture of the Sakha and the Japanese traditionally carries a different semantic meaning, denoting almost opposite meanings. With all the differences, it can be noted that in these cultural traditions a subtle perception of color symbolism is preserved, which is often expressed in numerous shades and halftones.
Research implications. The results of the study reveal the semantic versatility of the symbolism of the “black” color and identify intercultural differences in relation to phenomena and events in life.

Aim. The purpose of the paper is to analyze syntactic anomalies in the aspect of the theory of syntactic connotative.
Methodology. The main research methods are analysis, synthesis, and interpretation of linguistic facts, as well as methods of structural-semantic and logical-semantic directions. The paper summarizes the views of researchers on the concept of language anomaly. The main functions of intentional deviations from the norms of the construction of linguistic units at the syntax level, which consist in the construction of certain expressive-stylistic and evaluative shades of utterances, are considered. The place of the phenomenon of syntactic anomaly in the system of stylistic resources of the language and in a number of units of expressive syntax is determined. The reasons for syntactic anomalies are as follows: deliberate deviation from existing rules in order to express certain connotations; and violations of norms under the influence of syntactic errors typical for this collective. Syntactic anomaly is justified as one of the forms of the irrational plan of language and communication.
Results. The results of the study are the definition of the concept of “syntactic anomaly”, the differentiation of the main types of this phenomenon, and the identification of connotative meanings of sentences that have signs of deviations from the norms of its structural and semantic plan.
Research implications. The research results allow one to discover new patterns of the development and self-organization of the syntactic system of the modern Russian language and can be used in teaching linguistic disciplines at universities.

Aim. The aim of the research is to model the cognitive mechanisms of constructing the meaning of occasional word combinations in poetic speech. A hypothesis is put forward that when comprehending such a phrase, the recipient constructs its conceptual content, overcoming the problematic situation of semantic underspecification through the transformation of the network of verbal associations within the range of semantic possibilities lexically specified by the poet.
Methodology. The material of the study is the set of lexical combinations used by the poet Arkadii Dragomoshchenko to describe natural phenomena in the book “On the Banks of the Excluded River”. Cognitive modelling is used as the main research method, which is supplemented by such research tools as contextual analysis and structural-semantic analysis of the material. Word combinations containing a figure of speech are analyzed as specific speech units, distinguished by novelty of emergent meaning both in terms of the lexical and aesthetic content.
Results. It is shown that non-conventional phrases used in poetic speech are characterized by a unique internal syntagmatic content. In this paper, the construction of the meaning of such units is described as a case of conceptual integration, which requires a preliminary selection of elements from different conceptual areas and the development of a new conceptual formation (blend). The principle of synesthesia in the perception of surrounding reality is considered as a conceptual meta-trope of A. Dragomoshchenko’s poetry. The research focus is put on the cases when occasional lexico-semantic compositionality activates distant verbal associations, which potentially leads to the discovery of unusual connections between a stimulus (perceived natural phenomenon) and a sensation.
Research implications. The results of the study contribute to the theory of cognitive semantics, describing the relations between the linguistic and conceptual systems of the recipient, who constructs the meaning in a situation of actualized poetic ambiguity.

Aim. The paper identifies the peculiarities of the functioning of mononuclear verbal sentences in a cycle of V. Peskov’s essays “The Land Behind the Ocean”.
Methodology. The use of structural-semantic analysis of mononuclear syntactic constructions makes it possible to determine the mutual influence of the category of syntactic time and modal semantics of sentences.
Results. It is found that mononuclear sentences are characterized by an element of evaluativeness expressed in a constructive-syntactic way, by morphological indicators, and at the lexical level, which emphasizes the special importance of these syntactic units in a publicistic text.
Research implications. The algorithm of the analysis presented in the paper can be used for linguistic description of a publicistic text.

Aim. The paper is devoted to the linguistic analysis of the semantic environment of the lexeme of the eye in the literary text of Nadezhda Aleksandrovna Teffi.
Methodology. A single model of an individual author’s description of the characters’ view is developed, based on a formalized solid sampling of the material. The methods of identifying the features of lexical syntagmatics involved in the system description of the nonverbal component are found to be significant.
Results. The traditional and individual author’s connotations in the description of the characters’ eyes are revealed. The artistic techniques which transform a nonverbal element into an artistic detail are determined.
Research implications. The study of eye contact in N. Teffi’s literary text revealed textual universals and syntagmatic activity of the word. The practical significance of the research is determined by the possibility of applying its materials and conclusions in teaching the Russian language and the stylistics of the text, as well as by the possibility of using the results for the development of text corpora and identifying individual authorial elements of works of art.

Aim. The purpose is to determine the degree of historical authenticity of the image of the protagonist of Leskov’s story «At the End of the Earth», the prototype of which, according to the writer, is Archbishop Nil (N.F. Isakovich), and to analyze the problems of the story and the features of the creative method of the writer from this position.
Methodology. The research relies on historical and biographical methods and the method of comparative analysis; the literary text is compared with sources of personal origin – diaries and travel notes of Archbishop Nil and other Siberian missionaries, his contemporaries.
Results. Historical commentary reveals significant discrepancies in the personality and circumstances of Nil’s ministry with those described in the story; new versions of the names of the prototypes of the main character are put forward; the image of the bishop is defined as collective rather than biographically specific. The expansion of the historical and biographical material confirms the accuracy of Leskov’s reflection of the general problems of Orthodox missionaries and correspondence of the artistic idea of the story to the Orthodox doctrine.
Research implications. The material and conclusions of the study can be used in the further scientific study of spiritual issues in the works of Leskov, the republication of his works, as well as in school and university courses of history of literature.

Aim. The purpose is to study the motif of retribution in the novels “All the King’s Men” by R. P. Warren and “Absalom, Absalom!” by W. Faulkner.
Methodology. The research relies on the comparative method of literary analysis supplemented with the method of motif analysis.
Results. In the novels “All the King’s Men” by R. P. Warren and “Absalom, Absalom!” by W. Faulkner the motif of retribution seems to be vital for understanding the plot of both novels. It is also important that retribution comes to the fathers from their own children. The authors deal with this topic in a different way, but still there are some stunningly common traits.
Research implications. Though the novels by W. Faulkner and R. P. Warren are well known and have been studied for a long time both in Russia and the U.S., there is no specific research dedicated to the motif of retribution in these novels. By examining this motif and comparing it in these texts we can approach some better understanding of the regulations of its realization in Southern literature of the first half of the twentieth century.

Aim. The aim of the study is to establish the modern views on women’s prose as a phenomenon of the literature of the XX–XXI century.
Methodology. Several approaches to the concept of women’s prose are considered. Use is made of descriptive and comparative methods, as well as of a set-theoretic approach.
Results. It is shown that women’s prose is actively developing and has several typical features that manifest themselves not only as idiosyncratic ones: expressiveness, psychologism, attention to off-plot elements, parables, intertextuality, a combination of social and deeply personal, intimate, cruel realism, lyricism, etc.
Research implications. The work is of practical importance for the formation of an idea of the gender type of prose as an evolving direction in modern literature.

Aim. The purpose of the paper is to analyze Howard Fast’s correspondence with Soviet writers and track down the changes of his literary assessments.
Methodology. The historical and literary context has been restored based on archival materials. Documents deposited in the funds of the RGALI and other Moscow archives, Soviet and American press, memoirs and autobiographical sources have been carefully examined. Representative examples from Fast’s correspondence with two Soviet writers, namely P. Pavlenko and B. Izakov, demonstrate how literary and ideological policies differed in the Stalinist era (early 1950s) and the thaw period.
Results. The analysis showed that Fast’s letters to Soviet writers in which he addressed literary issues serve as an illustration of the radical changes in his aesthetic attitudes that took place when he left the US Communist Party.
Research implications. The results contribute to the study of literary contacts between left American writers and the USSR.