COLLOQUIAL VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT OF THE TYPICAL EVERYDAY URBAN SITUATIONS AND ITS LEXICOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTION IN “EXPLANATORY DICTIONARY OF RUSSIAN EVERYDAY SPEECH”


2017. № 3 (13), 126-135

V. V. Vinogradov Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Abstract:

The article considers the semantic features of the urban lexicon: its functional-stylistic diversity and the close connection with the typical everyday situations. Such words regularly repeated in everyday common speech (regardless of their functional-stylistic peculiarities) should be included and interpreted in the “Explanatory Dictionary of Russian Everyday Speech”. Once specific words are generally adopted in typical daily interaction, they take on new meaning and interpretation. Traditionally, dictionaries indicate colloquial usage of a words razg. or prost. without providing the larger context and its provenance. The article highlights several examples where commonly used words become charged not only with new meaning but often lead to new word-combinations, i.e. ustupit', razoytis' (situation “Market”), sest' (situation “Public transportation”). We emphasize words where the meaning goes way beyond their original connotation and describe set of activities, i.e. kartoshka meaning ʽsending city workers, usually students, to help with the harvestʼ, or obed meaning ʽtaking a break in factories and officesʼ. However, typical everyday urban situations are a dynamic phenomenon. Changes in the realities of everyday life entail a change or even disappearance of situational words and their meanings.