Nikolaeva N.G. Semantic and Morphemic Modulation in the Old Slavonic Translated Text

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2026.2.6

Nataliya G. Nikolaeva

Doctor of Sciences (Philology), Professor, Head of the Department of Latin Language and Medical Terminology, Kazan State Medical University, Kazan, Russia

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https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4242-9230

Abstract. The article analyzes the processes underlying semantic and word-formation variation in the Old Slavonic translated text, namely semantic and morphemic modulation. Both types of transformations are considered as a phenomenon of translated text based on the material of various translations of John Damascene's Theology. Semantic modulation is shown during the period of the formation of the concept in its volume (the translation by John the Exarch of Bulgaria) and at the stage of clarifying its content (the translation by Princes Kurbsky and Obolensky). The dynamics of this process and its relation to semantic variation (a means) and semantic loan translations (a mechanism) are traced. The author proposed a morphemic modulation hypothesis. Morphemic modulation is shown in relation to the process of parallel formation as an alternative to loan translation. The analysis takes into account the influence of the source text, chronological differences that led to a number of specific objective changes in the language, and the translator's linguistic personality factor. However, the research strategy is not to emphasize objectively existing differences, but to highlight the common features that characterize the specifics of the analyzed phenomena. The conclusion is made about how these phenomena of the text can eventually be implemented in the paradigmatics of language.

Key words: semantic modulation, morphemic modulation, loan translation, Old Church Slavonic translation, John Damascene.

Citation. Nikolaeva N.G. Semantic and Morphemic Modulation in the Old Slavonic Translated Text. Vestnik Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 2. Yazykoznanie [Science Journal of Volgograd State University. Linguistics], 2026, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 69-80. (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.15688/jvolsu2.2026.2.6

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