Semantic dynamics of the lexeme ‘pensioner’ in Russian linguistic culture

Abstract

Socio-economic changes, reforms of the pension system have transformed the perception of old age by Russian language native speakers. The authors deal with the dynamics of the semantic volume of the lexeme ‘pensioner’, caused by the above-mentioned extra-linguistic factors. The aim of the study is to describe the semantic transformation of the lexeme ‘pensioner’ representing the concepts ‘pensioner’, ‘pension’ and ‘old age’. The material of the research was the data of the National Corpus of the Russian Language for the period from 1995 to 2021, lexicographic sources, data of the associative experiment, which identified the conceptual, value-oriented and image-bearing components of the concepts ‘pensioner’, ‘pension’ and ‘old age’. The method of analysis and generalization of linguistic material from lexicographic sources, associative experiment, and the method of component analysis were used. The analysis of verbal elements reflecting cultural, traditional and value representations of Russian language speakers presented the dynamics of the semantics of the lexeme ‘pensioner’, its semantic transformation, which reflects changes in the Russian linguistic world picture. Semantic merisms identified as a result of contrastive analysis of potential associations allowed to present the semantic volume of the word considering the extra-linguistic data. As a result, the data were obtained, which can be used in lexicographic sources when defining the lexeme ‘pensioner’. Theoretical and practical approaches to modeling of Russian linguistic-cultural concepts are generalized. This reveals cultural and moral dominants of Russian language speakers and sacred meanings of the Russian culture.