Authors’ names:
- Li Yang – Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, China
- Jing Jinghua, Nataliya V. Makshantseva – Linguistics University of Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Abstract:
The article examines semantic and stylistic changes in the usage of Russian verbs denoting the state of Internet content or users’ actions on the Internet. The study employs methods of structural-semantic description of the lexicon, comparative analysis, functional-stylistic analysis, and contextual analysis. The research material consists of contexts extracted from Russian-language Internet content. Particular attention is paid to the models of spatial conceptual metaphorization underlying the formation of semantic neologisms, as well as to the stylistic properties of these neologisms. The analysis demonstrates that the most widespread metaphors conceptualize the Internet as a three-dimensional space (as reflected in the verbs vylozhit’ ‘to upload’ and zagruzit’ ‘to upload / load’) or as a container filled with liquid (as reflected in the verbs zalit’ ‘to upload’ [literally ‘to pour’] and skachat’ ‘to download’). Individual Internet entities, such as websites and platforms, may likewise be metaphorically conceptualized as two-dimensional, flat surfaces. Consequently, intransitive verbs used in reference to them are governed by the preposition na (‘on’) rather than v (‘in’), thereby creating a contextually lowered connotation. On the basis of a representative sample of examples, the study identifies regular patterns in the stylistic transformation of the verbs under investigation through the use of the suffix -nu-, including derivatives formed from borrowed English stems. The study concludes that Russian verbs denoting the state of Internet content or users’ actions on the Internet that are formed through semantic derivation exhibit a pronounced metaphorical character and conceptualize online activity in terms of movement through three-dimensional or planar space, movement within a liquid medium, and related image schemas. The findings may be applied in the compilation of neological dictionaries of Russian, including learner-oriented dictionaries, as well as in the teaching of Russian as a foreign language
| Section | LANGUAGE AND CULTURE |
| DOI: | 10.47388/2072-3490/lunn2026-74-2-76-90 |
| Downloads | 6 |
| Key words | verbs with semantics of actions on the Internet; semantic derivation; semantic neologism; conceptual metaphor; semantic-stylistic transformation; connotative-evaluative transformation; Russian language of the Internet. |