Journal archive

Abstract: In 2023, Russian linguists celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Soviet linguist Dmitry Nikolaevich Ushakov. In connection with this glorious anniversary, one cannot fail to recall the beloved brainchild of the hero of the day – the four-volume “Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language”, published in 1935–1940 under his editorship, which was compiled with his active participation and immediately deserved the honorary name “Ushakov’s Dictionary” in the philological community. Almost 90 years that have passed since the publication of the first volume have undoubtedly called forth adjustments to the lexical corpus of the Russian language itself, and to the ideas of lexicographers about the principles of its description. This article makes a pilot attempt to trace the concrete implementation of the trends that determine the modification of the semantics of lexemes of the literary language without touching on the dynamics of quantitative change in the Russian lexicon (appearance of new words, disappearance of obsolete ones, etc.). The author limits her study to the words beginning with the letter A, comparing the lexemes reflected in this fragment with the data of the Large Explanatory Dictionary (2000) and the Active Dictionary of the Russian language (2014). In some cases, data from the Large Modern Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian language (online, 2012) are also involved, that allow tracing intermediate stages of the semantic development of certain lexemes. A comparative analysis of the material of these dictionaries has shown that there are two factors that have undoubtedly influenced semantic shifts and the emergence of new meanings: these include a change in the nominated realities and a change in the image of these realities in the linguistic consciousness of the native speakers. In addition, the study has come across spontaneous semantic shifts, the reasons for which are difficult to explain within the framework of the currently available material. In this regard, the question arises about changing the approach to the formulation of definitions, which has also undergone obvious modifications in some cases. It seems productive to continue this work, relying on the data of the dictionary as a whole.

About the author(s) :

Maria E. Ruth

Ural Federal University named after the first President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin

(Ekaterinburg, Russia)

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6253-5711

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 21.11.2023; date of publication: 30.12.2023

References:

Apresyan, Yu. D. (2014). Ob aktivnom slovare russkogo yazyka [About the Active Vocabulary of the Russian Language]. In Apresyan, Yu. D. (Ed.). Aktivnyi slovar’ russkogo yazyka. Vol. 1: Moscow, Yazyki slavyanskoi kul’tury, pp. 5–36.

Apresyan, Yu. D. (Ed.). (2014). Aktivnyi slovar’ russkogo yazyka [Active Vocabulary of the Russian Language]. Vol. 1. Moscow, Yazyki slavyanskoi ku’tury. 408 p.

Ermakova, О. P. (1996). Semanticheskie protsessy v leksike [Semantic Processes in Lexicon]. In Russkii yazyk kontsa XX stoletiya (1985–1996). Moscow, Yazyki russkoi kul’tury, pp. 32–66.

Kakorina, Е. V. (1996). Transformatsiya leksicheskoi semantiki i sochetaemosti (na materiale yazyka gazet) [Transformation of Semantics and Correlation (Based on the Language of Newspapers)]. In Russkii yazyk kontsa XX stoletiya (1985–1996). Moscow, Yazyki russkoi kultury, pp. 67–89.

Krysin, L. P. (2015). Dmitrii Nikolaevich Ushakov i Ushakovskii Slovar [Dmitry Nikolaevich Ushakov and Ushakov’s Dic- tionary]. In Krysin, L. P. Stat’i o russkom yazyke i russkikh yazykovedakh. Moscow, Nauka, pp. 507–517.

Kupina, N. A. (1995). Totalitarnyi yazyk: Slovar’ i rechevye reaktsii [Totalitarian Language: Vocabulary and Speech Reactions]. Ekaterinburg, Perm, Ural University Publishing House, ZUUNTS. 144 p.

Kuznetsov, S. A. (Ed.). (2000). Bol’shoi tolkovyi slovar’ russkogo yazyka [Great Dictionary of Russian Lan- guage]. Saint Petersburg, Norint, 1536 p. (=BTS)

Nikitin, O. V. (2003). “Chistyi serdtsem chelovek” (K 130-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya D. N. Ushakova) [The Person with an Open Heart (to the 130th Anniversary of the Birth of D. N. Ushakov)]. In Russkii yazyk za rubezhom. No. 3, pp. 79–81.

Nikitin, O. V. (2004). Zabytye stranitsy russkoi leksikografii 1920-kh gg. (predystoriya “Ushakovskogo slovarya”) [Forgotten Pages of Russian Lexicography of the 1920s. (Prehistory of the “Ushakovsky Dictionary”)]. In Russkii yazyk v nauchnom osveshchenii. No. 1 (7), pp. 195-228.

Nikitin, O. V. (2016). Ushakovskaya epopeya : neizvestnye stranitsy znamenitogo slovarya [Ushakov Epic: Unknown Pages of the Famous Dictionary]. In Russkaya rech’. No. 3, pp. 51-62.

Nikitin, O. V. (2018). Iz istorii otechestvennogo yazykoznaniya XX veka : K 145-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya D. N. Ushakova [From the History of Russian Linguistics of the XX Century: to the 145th Anniversary of the Birth of D. N. Ushakov]. In Uchenye zapiski Petrozavodskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. No. 1 (170), pp. 88–95.

Ozhegov, S. I. (2001). Slovar’ revolyutsionnoi ehpokhi. Istoriko-kul’turnyi spravochnik (Predvaritel’nye na- broski) [Dictionary of the Revolutionary Epoch (Preliminary Ideas)]. In Slovar’ i kul’tura russkoi rechi. K 150-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya S. I. Ozhegova. Moscow, Indrik, pp. 410–412.

Panov, М. V. (1995). Dmitrii Nikolaevich Ushakov. Zhizn’ i tvorchestvo [Dmitry Nikolaevich Ushakov. Life and Studies]. In Ushakov D. N. Russkii yazyk: uchebnoe posobie. Moscow, Prosveshchenie, pp. 8–40.

Ushakov, D. N. (Ed.). (1935). Tolkovyi slovar’ russkogo yazyka [Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Lan- guage]. Vol. 1. Moscow, OGIZ. 1562 p.

Zemskaya, E. A. (Ed.). (1996). Russkii yazyk kontsa XX stoletiya (1985–1996) [The Russian Language of the Late 20th Century (1985-1996)]. Moscow, Yazyki russkoi kul’tury. 480 p.