Aim. To reveal both the Alexander Blok’s understanding and perception of global historical processes – from the Old Testament to the New, and from the European “Old World” to the Russian revolutions in Russia, both future and past – and to identify the integrity of the author’s concept of spiritual existence and the changing patterns of earthly life, accompanied by tragedies, ruptures, the loss of God, and new acquisitions of goodness and light.

Methodology. The article examines Blok’s poetry and prose, drawing on works published in the poet’s collected works – fiction, journalistic, and documentary – which are ongoing through the efforts of scholars at the Russian Academy of Sciences: the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) and the Gorky Institute of World Literature. The article focuses on Blok’s interpretations of the historical paths of ancient peoples, informed by his spiritual orientation, and his premonition of the future of Russia and the world. According to that emphasis is placed on the opinions and excerpts from the works of Russian philosophers, particularly religious thinkers, philologists, and poets: V. S. Solovyov, Andrei Bely, N. A. Berdyaev, S. L. Frank, V. V. Polonsky, and others. To illuminate the issue, the results of numerous studies on Blok, his individual conclusions and information contained in the works of Blok scholars: D. E. Maksimov, K. V. Mochulsky, V. P. Yenisherlov, N. Yu. Gryakalova, and others, are drawn upon.

Results. Blok’s poems, epistolary legacy, articles, and diary entries, perceived and interpreted in a certain way, reveal the fundamental thrust of Blok’s understanding of the contrasts and interactions between the “old” and the “new.” They demonstrate how profound and insightful Blok’s perception of the collapse of the Russian state was, and the how creative prospects of a new Russia were, which had raised the banner of internationalism that was related to not the poet’s fascination with “Bolshevism,” but the processes that was mystically predetermined and conditioned by the spiritual potential of the homeland.

Research implications. This article may be useful for understanding the origins of the cultural-historical and literary process; it aims to foster fresh interest in Blok’s work, his understanding and creative interpretation of world and Russian history, methodological issues, and the religious aspects of the humanities.

Aim. To study the composition and functions of phraseological components in Alexander Blok’s essay “The Intelligentsia and the Revolution.”

Methodology. Grab sampling was used to collect and analyze stable units of various types and origins, including the author’s transformed variants, as a linguistic material, in A. Blok’s text “The Intelligentsia and the Revolution”, which are understood as phraseological units in a broad sense of the term. The functioning of these units was studied by using structural-semantic and contextual-stylistic methods. In the process of analysis, the contextual semantics was described using lexicographic sources and interpreted. The study was conducted within the framework of the anthropocentric paradigm which focuses on the author’s linguistic personality.

Results. The significance of phraseological components has been established – they reveal the topic of the article, explain both the author’s attitude towards the collapse of the bourgeois world and his critics towards the intelligentsia during the revolutionary upheaval, and demonstrate Blok’s intention to embrace the revolution. It has been concluded that the idiostyle of “music” in Blok’s text is associated with the use of phraseological components, the content of which indicates the importance of folk evaluation tools, such as stable units, used by the author.

Research implications. This research confirms the importance of studying the means which reflect the features of idiostyle, and the importance of phraseology for explicating the author’s position. The results can be applied to the study of the language and style of Alexander Blok as a publicist, to the creation university courses on stylistics and lexicology, and can be used as illustrative material for deepening understanding of the linguistic personality phenomenon.

Aim. To assess the interpretative abilities of a modern linguistic personality based on associative modeling while studying the Russian poetic discourse.

Methodology. The methodology of this study is based on a linguacultural experiment aimed at studying the linguistic abilities of the younger generation. Additionally, discursive modeling which made it possible to structure associative reactions of respondents to a poetic stimulus – the poem by A. S. Pushkin “To K***” (“I Remember a Wondrous Moment ...”), as well as textual interpretation as a way of studying and describing Russian lyrical discourse were used as the most important methods.

Results. The associative space formed by the perception of a fragment of Russian poetic discourse has been studied. By analyzing the recipients’ responses who tried to verbalize associations evoked by the classic poetic work about love written by the outstanding author of the Golden Age of the Russian literature A. S. Pushkin, the main structural and semantic models were described. They reflect the linguistic capabilities of modern youth in the field of text interpretation at syntactic and lexical-semantic levels, including stylistic pragmatics. Formally, the associative models were words, phrases, series of homogeneous members, sentences and mini-texts, and in terms of content, they were associated mainly with love or school themes.

Research implications. Comprehensive description of Russian poetic discourse from the position of the linguistic development of the younger generation, as well as supplementing the linguacultural teaching with empirical data in the field of associative interpretation and modeling are the main implications of this study.

Aim. To highlight and describe the borrowed vocabulary used by modern domestic amateur anglers.

Methodology. With use of continuous sampling the examples of borrowed vocabulary in the non-professional discourse of fishing enthusiasts were revealed. With the help of contextual and word-formation analysis, the ways of derivation of fishing vocabulary are determined and described.

Results. It is concluded that the fishing vocabulary is actively replenished with foreign language borrowings due to the need for precise definition of new concepts and detailed meanings.

Research implications. The results of the study can be used to analyze foreign language borrowings in other thematic vocabulary groups and to compile glossaries.

Aim. Firstly, to expand the scientific usage field of the category of publicism; secondly, to show vividly expressed publicism of old Russian texts of different genre; thirdly, to demonstrate that the historical basis for Russian publicistics was the old Russian literature.

Methodology. Old Russian book texts of different genre and temporality affiliation are being considered from the point of key characteristics of publicistic style. Methods of stylistic analysis and historical-linguistic interpretation were used.

Results. It had been revealed that the features of the publicistic style are evident in old Russian texts in their genre and thematic diversity – agiographies, dwellings, chronicles (letopises), messages, decrees, letters, business documents. Such publicism of the old Russian literature laid the foundation for infinite creative possibilities and diversity for manifestations of Russian publicism.

Research implications. The results clarify current scientific views on the establishment and development of the Russian publicism tradition, on the development of publicistic style in the Russian literary language; they can be used in didactic-methodological and actual teaching practice.

Aim. Diachronic study of the semantic structure of the lexeme ‘rassuzhdenije’ by means of context analysis of its usage in Old Russian writings of the 11th–16th centuries.

Methodology. The research is based on contextual approach to the study of word semantics, the principal methods being discourse analysis, componential analysis and corpus-based study.

Results. The comparative analysis of the semantic structures of the lexeme ‘rassuzhdenije’ and its Greek cognate revealed the discrepancy in their seme composition caused by the peculiarities of reception of Byzantine culture in Old Rus’. The macrocontexts significant for the semantic development of the studied lexeme as well as the factors influencing semantic changes in its structure were identified.

Research implications. The results of the study can extend the notion of prospective discourse development of a polysemantic word based on its semantic structure.

Aim. In the study specifics of the formation and representation of an axiological portrait are analyzed in V. Ya. Wolf’s book called “Silver Ball”.

Methodology. In the texts of V. Ya. Wolf, the theater critic, the implementation of the author’s assessment devoted to the actors’ performances are analyzed from the linguistic point of view. Based on the lexical-semantic, structural-semantic, and functional-semantic analysis, the means of expression that characterize the author’s linguistic personality are identified.

Results. The corpus of contexts representing the axiological portrait of V. Ya. Wolf has been composed. The key means of expression used by a theater critic as an actor which conveyed the originality of the author’s picture of the world were identified.

Research implications. As a result of studies, the language units which convey the semantic values of the author’s picture of the world have been updated. Studying both V. Ya. Wulf’s biography and his background knowledge makes it possible to describe his axiological portrait and extralinguistic factors which influenced its formation. The practical implication of the study is that its materials and conclusions can be used in the next studies to help describing the Russian linguistic picture of the world, teaching linguoculturology, and compiling an author’s dictionary.

Aim. In the study such linguistic representations of the Russian idea in N. Berdyaev’s book, named the same as the analyzed phenomena, are examined, which determine contextual semantic-cognitive and pragmatic features of the meaning of this ideologeme in the text.

Methodology. Both the semantic and cognitive analysis of the Russian idea and the semantic interpretation of its contextual meanings are revealed by using comprehensive methodology, including a descriptive and analytical methods to study components included in the compound name, and methods of contextual and conceptual analysis.

Results. The linguistic means of representing the Russian idea in Berdyaev’s work have been revealed. They are the following means: phrasal aspect characteristics of this ideologeme, precedent anthroponyms and precedent texts, terminological units that are conceptual dominants of the linguistic construct of the Russian idea, names of spiritual values that determine the specifics of national mentality.

Research implications. The obtained results can be applied in studying the theory of text, the linguistic picture of the world, and the linguistic personality of the author.

Aim. To describe the ideas of patriotism reflected in the linguistic consciousness of young people, based on the results of a free associative experiment conducted among students at technical universities.

Methodology. The free associative experiment conducted among students of technical Omsk (295 people) and Donetsk (55 people) universities was the key method of this study.

Results. The main responses are rodina (homeland), (lubov) love, Russia, zashita (protection), gordost (pride). Among Donetsk residents, the verb form “zashishat” (“protect”) prevails over the nominal form “zashita” (“protection”). 234 associates were found on the periphery, most of them are positive. These associates can be divided into the following semantic groups: 1) emotional perception of patriotism, 2) people, including those associated with belonging to various social groups, professions and positions, 3) symbols of the country, which denote belonging to the country and culture, 4) images of nature, and 5) geographical objects. The concept has many verbs, which includes an activity component (lubit (to love), berech (to cherish), uvazhat (to respect), etc.).

Research implications. Revealed structure of the concept expands the idea of the conceptual picture of the world and clarifies it.

Aim. To explain the composition of Lermontov’s poems in the first collection (1840), which differs from the 1842 edition edited by A. A. Kraevsky and from the latest scientific edition published in 2014.

Methodology. The object is the corpus of Lermontov’s poems published in 1840. Through a comparative analysis of the main scientific publications of Lermontov’s works, catalogues of handwritten material and preserved autographs, the history of the formation of the corpus Lermontov’s poems published in 1840 is reconstructed, the composition of the primary sources is clarified, and disputed dates are explained. Descriptive and source analysis, bibliographic commentary, and the textual method are used.

Results. The comparative analysis of the poetry corpus in created in 1840 based on Lermontov’s main scientific publications revealed the need to revise printed texts, considering preserved autographs and editorial corrections. This problem can be solved by referring to three groups of sources – Lermontov’s manuscripts, since a few works of this year remained without a preserved autograph, magazine publications of the 1840s, and the composition of the poet’s first lifetime collection of poems. Guided by the presence of a dated autograph, thematic generality, biographical information based on well-known facts and testimonies of contemporaries, it has been concluded that inclusion of the poems (“How often, surrounded by a motley crowd ...”, “On secular chains ...”, “To the portrait”, “To the album by the author "Kyrdyukova"”, “In the midst of heavenly bodies...”, “Both boring and sad...”, “Why”, “Gratitude”, “From Goethe”, “Airship”, “Journalist, Reader and Writer”, “Neighbor”, “Captured Knight”, “Wandering over the Abyss of Hell...”, “Clouds”, “Valerik”, “There are the Speeches – the Meaning...”, “The Will”) is definitely necessary.

Research implications. Both the refinement of the text’s corpus published in 1840 and the clarification of the publication principles of Lermontov’s poems have been revealed.