Aim. We aim to identify V. V. Mayakovsky’s main values by analyzing the syntactic features of his works.

Methodology. Using the method of targeted sampling, we collected and analyzed the language material from Mayakovsky’s poetic texts. The structural-semantic method made it possible to establish how the poet’s value attitude to the described phenomena is reflected in the peculiarities of the syntactic structure of his works.

Results. It is found that bisubstantive sentences are used to express the author’s values. The value attitude is also manifested in the use of characterizing appeals, different types of repetitions, and incentive sentences with optative semantics as an appeal. The most important value for Mayakovsky is love, which manifests itself in different aspects: love for the revolution, love for the country, and love to a woman. A specific feature of the poet’s manifestation of love is its active character.

Research implications. The obtained results complement the theory of the functioning of syntactic units in a poetic text and the information about V. V. Mayakovsky’s idiostyle.

Aim. We aim to identify the functional features of the image of a lantern in the artistic system of V. Mayakovsky.

Methodology. The paper analyzes works devoted to the study of urban reality in painting and poetry of the early twentieth century. New fundamental works on V. Mayakovsky are reviewed. Special attention is paid to the subtext connections of the poet’s lyrics with the philosophy of the frontier era, where the image of a lantern plays an important role. The argumentation of some statements refers to little-known facts of the poet’s biography. The hermeneutics of the poetic text includes an analysis of M. Dobuzhinsky’s, A. Lentulov’s, P. Filonov’s and A. Shevchenko’s paintings. The methodology consists in revealing the essence of the synthesis of arts, when painting, poetry and architecture are united in the external designation of a person’s life path (stairs, lanterns, roofs, and chimneys) and in the transmission of the features of the inner search for the meaning of existence in order to find oneself.

Results. A conclusion is made about different functional significance of the image of a lantern in Italian and Russian painting and poetry of the frontier era. The reasons for a change in the connotation of the image are revealed, which makes it possible to produce a more complete picture of the concept created by Mayakovsky.

Research implications. The results of the research can be used at higher educational institutions in studying the course of the Russian literature of the Silver Age, in conducting a special course on the aesthetics of futurism and in compiling comments on the publication of V. Mayakovsky’s poems.

Aim. We consider the aspects of investigation of one of significant categories of a natural language, i.e., the category of optativity, and identify the opportunities that a multi-aspect approach in order to reveal the essence of this category and its units.

Methodology. The paper examines the main approaches to optativity in domestic and foreign grammatical science, substantiates the multi-aspect organization of the category of optativity, analyzes the properties of optative sentences, and describes and systematizes different-level means that carry the semantics of optative modality. The study relies on the methods of observation, generalization and interpretation of the results, as well as on the conceptual analysis.

Results. The conceptual basis of the category of optativity is determined, and the most promising aspects of investigation of the functioning of the category means are found, including structural-semantic, functional-semantic, cognitive-discursive and others. From the standpoint of a multi-aspect approach, the allocation of the form of the infinitive with the particle ‘would’ (desirable mood) as a central mean is substantiated.

Research implications. The results of the research expand the understanding of the possibilities of and prospects for the study of anthropologically oriented categories of the Russian language, which include the category of optativity.

Aim. We analyze the world-modeling function of a metaphor in a work of fiction. Using the example of the metaphors of the modern author V. N. Polozkova, it is shown how the world of a lyrical hero opens through the prism of his perception of the world. Metaphors are classified according to the method of the formation and perception, including «visual» metaphors, metaphors-personifications, and «mental» metaphors.

Methodology. A corpus of texts related to the genre of lyrical prose miniatures and poems is analyzed. The metaphor analysis methodology is based on the works of N. D. Arutyunova, José Ortega y Gasset, P. Ricoeur, D. Lakoff, M. Johnson and others. Examples of metaphors that perform a world-modeling function are considered. The study relies on the methods of philological text analysis, as well as contextual and intertextual analysis.

Results. The results of the study are the identification of lexical and stylistic means of a metaphor, which help create the implicit information in a poetic text.

Research implications. The research results contribute to the theory of literary analysis.

Aim. By analyzing the functioning and perception of the language game and irony by native speakers in real and virtual communication, we clarify the understanding of these terms and the relationship between the phenomena designated by them.

Methodology. Relying on experimental, research and analytical activities to the study of the speech play and irony in the Russian language and the linguistic consciousness of Russian speakers, we clarify the understanding of the essence and relationship of these phenomena. The main methods are experimental, analytical and empirical.

Results. A refined, consistent and sufficiently universal definition of the speech play is formulated. The correlation of the concepts of speech play and irony in communication and consciousness of Russian speakers is described. The discrepancy between the predominantly positive assessment of the phenomenon of irony and the predominantly negative assessment of the facts of the use of irony in conflict communication is experimentally confirmed.

Research implications. The study supplements and clarifies the understanding of the essence of the speech play and irony in the communicative activity of native speakers.

Aim. We study a complex of linguistic means of the conceptual category of the inclusiveness of subject-object, temporal and spatial fragments of reality, and present the functioning of deictic signs of inclusiveness in the structure of a sentence, defining the features of their syntagmatics, which allows one to reveal shades of a generalized meaning.

Methodology. The study is realized on the basis of a sample of sentences from literary texts with the main linguistic signs of inclusiveness, i.e., pronouns весь, всегда, везде, всюду (all, always, everywhere). Use is made of a structural-semantic analysis of the collected material, which makes it possible to determine the radii of inclusiveness and its expressive field.

Results. It is found that the category of inclusiveness, which has the most ancient standard quantifier-pronominal signs (all, always, everywhere), clarifies particular meanings due to the syntactic links of these signs in the sentence structure. These meanings are characterized by a subjective-expressive character.

Research implications. The proposed approach to the study of the category of inclusiveness can be used in the analysis of other conceptual linguistic categories.

Aim. We identify a group of dialects to which the dialect of the village of Kunicha (Republic of Moldova) can be attributed.

Methodology. The paper analyzes the dialect material collected in July and August 2021 and in August 2022. Using works on the phonetics of dialects (R. I. Avanesov, K. F. Zakharova, V. G. Orlova, N. A. Meshchersky, V. V. Kolesov, L. L. Kasatkin), phonetic features of the dialect are identified, and a closer group of dialects is determined using comparative analysis.

Results. The relationship of the dialect to the Russian vernacular dialects is demonstrated. In addition, a specific group of dialects is identified, to which the studied linguistic phenomenon can be attributed, i.e. the Southern group, as well as the region from which the ancestors of the inhabitants of the village of Kunicha came to the territory of the modern Republic of Moldova.

Research implications. This Russian dialect can be considered one of the surviving Russian dialects of the Southern dialect, which means that its study can help determine and understand many facts of the history of the Russian language. The results of the study contribute to the study of the dialects of the Southern dialect in general and the Southern group in particular.

Aim. We consider linguistic ways of representing the phytomorphic code in the texts of modern fiction.

Methodology. Use is made of the method of continuous sampling to select examples of phytomorphic metaphors from the texts of modern prose. Using the method of conceptual analysis and the method of metaphorical modeling, cognitive models are identified, for the implementation of which cognitive phytomorphic metaphors are used. Linguistic means representing metaphors are analyzed. Results. The analysis shows that the linguoculturological approach will reveal the features of a certain culture in the field of representation of the phytomorphic code associated with the mentality of its carriers. Archetypal representations of culture carriers are reflected in the universal phytomorphic code. The typical linguistic means of representing the specified code in the space of a literary text include stable expressions and comparative constructions.

Research implications. Research on the phytomorphic cultural code is summarized. The texts of modern authors are chosen as the research material. The research materials can be used in teaching courses on intercultural communication and linguoculturology.

Aim. We identify the role of the means of nomination and predication in the creation of female images and the description of the tragic fate of a woman in N. S. Leskov’s «The Life of a Woman».

Methodology. The paper analyzes the means of nomination and predication, with the help of which N. S. Leskov depicts the tragic fate of a Russian woman in the story «The Life of a Woman»: themes of the story are the marriage against her will, beatings, inability to make decisions, etc. It is noted that the main part of the means of nomination and predication is aimed at describing the feelings of the heroine, her emotions, and her states. This technique allows N. S. Leskov to show that for the heroine of the story, it is not so much the hard fate of the Russian woman that is terrible, but the fact that she painfully perceives her fate, but cannot get rid of the hard fate. Use is made of the methods of observation, description, analysis, and continuous and purposeful sampling.

Results. With the help of linguistic means, the main character Nastya is shown as a woman capable of experiencing strong feelings, and most of the characters in the character zone are opposed to her as insensitive. It is significant that gradually, among the means of characterizing the fate of a woman, words as predicates begin to prevail in their stylistic significance. As the plot develops, N. S. Leskov describes the actions of a young woman rather than her emotions, which requires the reader to guess about her feelings and to understand their depth and significance in the fate of the heroine. The plight of a Russian woman becomes more understandable to the readers thanks to the means of nomination and predication that N. S. Leskov employs. The significance of the resources used to represent the implicit evaluation position of the author is confirmed.

Research implications. The results of the work can be used in the preparation of lectures and practical classes in linguoculturology and the language of fiction in universities, including in China; it can also enrich the idea of the role of nomination and predication in revealing the image of the author and revealing its ideological and aesthetic core.

Aim. We consider the subsystems of apical postalveolar sibilant consonants in Kostroma and Poshekhonye dialects of the early 17^th century and compare them with a situation in modern Northern Russian dialects in the territory under consideration (Kostroma – Soligalich – Poshekhonye – Yaroslavl).

Methodology. An assessment is presented of both Kostroma Registry book of 1619–1634 and Poshekhonye Registry book of 1615–1650 and 1653 and the results of this assessment are compared with the data presented in a Dialectological Atlas of the Russian Language.

Results. The subsystems of sibilants in North Russian Kostroma and Poshekhonye dialects, as it turned out, developed separately. A Kostroma way with an earlier velarization of short phoneme /š/ realizations led to a divergence in long (complex) sibilants development and to a greater asymmetry of the considered subsystem. Relatively synchronous velarization of both short sibilants in Poshekhonye dialects could contribute to the synchronism and parallelism of the long (complex) sibilants development in the Poshekhonye system.

Research implications. An introduction into scientific circulation of previously unexplored material can be used in teaching historical and linguistic disciplines.

Aim. We consider the Azerbaijani‒Russian literary relations from the point of view of mutual enrichment of literatures in the broad context of the socio-cultural environment in which the activities of individuals and groups of people are carried out in the cultural, scientific and other spheres.

Methodology. The paper relies on the following methods: descriptive, comparative-historical, problem analysis of socio-cultural factors. Use is made of a systematic approach to their consideration.

Results. The paper summarizes information about Azerbaijani‒Russian literary ties, and along with this, new and generally systematized data on sociocultural factors contributing to the interaction of the two literatures are presented. The novelty of the paper lies in the comprehensive coverage of the main socio-cultural factors of Azerbaijani‒Russian literary ties and their role in the interaction of literatures. This work allows integrating the traditional directions of mutual enrichment of literatures, using modern organizational and technological forms and contributes to the search for promising areas of Azerbaijani‒ Russian literary interaction.

Research implications. The theoretical significance of the study is that it expands the idea of Azerbaijani‒Russian literary ties, and generalizes and highlights the main socio-cultural factors affecting literary contacts. The practical significance lies in the fact that socio-cultural factors can be considered as the main directions of the literary special course of Azerbaijani‒Russian literary relations, which significantly enrich the intercultural exchange.

Aim. We study the rational ideological principle, for which the «writer-Leonov» is responsible, and the generalized principle, including intuitive emotional manifestations, the carrier of which is «Leonov-author», in L. M. Leonov’s debut novel «Badgers».

Methodology. A «writer» acting in the coordinate system of the literary field inevitably comes into conflict with the «author» who seeks to «tell a story», without narrow semantic and moral and ethical superstructures. The performed analysis shows that these contradictions in the writer / author relationship are clearly manifested in Leonov’s first major novel. Textual, cultural-historical and hermeneutic methods of research are used.

Results. The result of the work is the disclosure of the key features of the system of relationships between the author and the image of the writer in the work of L. M. Leonov, which is of fundamental importance for understanding his artistic method.

Research implications. The use of the concept of the «literary field» allows us to take a fresh look at the poetics of L. M. Leonov’s narrative and to note the characteristic features of his creative method.

Aim. We describe the migration discourse in fiction on the example of the Russian-language version of F. Backman’s novel The «Second Life of Uwe».

Methodology. Use is made of a textual analysis of the Russian-language version of the novel «The Second Life of Uwe» by the modern Swedish writer F. Backman.

Results. The opposition «one’s own» / «someone else’s», which is the main one for the migration discourse, is analyzed at language and plot levels; its characteristics are revealed. «One’s own» is perceived as «right», «worthy of attention», «rational», «good», etc., while «someone else’s» takes a negative connotation and is considered as «wrong», «erroneous», «inept», «devoid of value», etc.

Research implications. The practical significance of the study of migration discourse on the pages of the Russian-language version of F. Backman’s novel «The Second Life of Uwe» lies in the fact that we have identified the main categories of migration discourse that represent the opposition of «one’s own» / «someone else’s», and have analyzed the text of the novel for the presence of this opposition in the speech of the characters of the work and the plot.

Aim. We show peculiarities of A. N. Tolstoy’s disclosure of the circumstances of the church schism in the 17^th century, their impact on the society and the consequences to which they led; in addition, we present a detailed analysis of several images of Old Believers created by A. N. Tolstoy and pictures of their activities. Tolstoy’s description of the way of life in the sketes of the Old Believers, as well as their moral and spiritual state are commented on Methodology. Use is made of analytical and comparative methods of literary text research to reveal the topic. The images of Old Believers, monastics and the Patriarch are analyzed in detail. Special attention is paid to internal, spiritual problems of the population, moral loss, search for the truth by individual characters, and true spiritual support. Specific methods are clarified, thanks to which A. N. Tolstoy, following D. Merezhkovsky, managed to capture in an original way the main facets of the state of Russia in the era of Peter’s reforms. Particular attention is paid to the artistic detail and its role in revealing the characters’ lifestyles.

Results. The study revealed stylistic features that help Tolstoy in his desire for a realistic depiction of the historical period. The problem of Tolstoy’s understanding of the influence of the church schism on the spiritual and moral, as well as the economic life of the country, is clarified. The images of schismatics, monastics and the Patriarch himself are analyzed and explained.

Research implications. The study confirms that spiritual problems occupy an important place in the work of A. N. Tolstoy. The significance of the work lies in an in-depth and concrete understanding of the plastic embodiment of the declared topic.