Zinovieva E.I., Sokolova A.P., Wu Manhua. Semantic Ambiguity of Lexical Units with Characterising Meaning in the Modern Russian Languag
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2026.1.4
Elena I. Zinovieva
Doctor of Sciences (Philology), Professor, Department of Russian as a Foreign Language and Methods of Its Teaching, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
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https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6253-9739
Anastasiya P. Sokolova
Postgraduate Student, Department of Russian as a Foreign Language and Methods of Its Teaching, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Lecturer, Department of Russian Language, Saint Petersburg State Pediatric Medical University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
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https://orсid.org/0000-0003-4996-5930
Manhua Wu
Postgraduate Student, Department of Russian as a Foreign Language and Methods of Its Teaching, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
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https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1085-5537
Abstract. The article deals with the phenomenon of semantic diffuseness on the material of two word associations with characterising semantics: the lexical class of nouns that name a person by virtue of their knowledge, skills and experience, and the lexico-semantic group of adjectives with the general meaning 'unique/exceptional.' The study was conducted in several stages, including continuous sampling and classification of the selected units, identification of nuclear units and the analysis of their semantics, as well as the peculiarities of use in the Russian National Corpus and other Internet sources. Verification of the results obtained was carried out by analysing Internet users' reflexive statements, surveying native speakers, and generalising relevant characteristics of the studied lexical units. Two types of semantic diffuseness have been identified: ambiguity of monosemantic words and ambiguity of polysemantic words. The lexical class of nouns that name a person by virtue of their knowledge, skills, experience features both ambiguity types, while adjectives with the meaning of uniqueness/exclusiveness are characterised by only the second type of ambiguity. Adjectives are noted to demonstrate cognitive-pragmatic syncretism, when one denotate is associated with cognitive and pragmatic signifiers. In the linguistic consciousness of Russian native speakers there is a stereotypical representation in relation to both types of word combinations. The stability of stereotypical representations is supported and strengthened by the typified combinability of the considered units, their prepositional-and-case models and the presence of idiomaticity.
Key words: lexical semantics, semantic ambiguity, semantic diffuseness, semantic syncretism, syncretesemia.
Citation. Zinovieva E.I., Sokolova A.P., Wu Manhua. Semantic Ambiguity of Lexical Units with Characterising Meaning in the Modern Russian Language. Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 2. Yazykoznanie [Science Journal of Volgograd State University. Linguistics], 2026, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 48-64. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2026.1.4
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