Substandard Form as a Cultural Code: From Newspaper Discourse to Fiction Text

Abstract

This article describes a complex approach to the study of substandard forms as a special ethnocultural code of the Russian language on the material of newspaper and fiction (poetic) authored discourse. Substandard vocabulary enriches the communication system and facilitates the development of the linguistic and cultural space. The lexical units under study are not static; they pass over from one set into another, functioning not only as elements of imagery but also as a means of coding historical and everyday social events. The dynamic nature of these language forms has influenced the choice of practical research material: newspaper and authored (fiction) discourse. This thesis determines the urgency of this study. Linguo-culturological analysis of the lexicographic inventory of newspaper and fiction texts makes it possible to identify conceptual projections and semiotic diffusion, contributing to doubled expressiveness, aesthetic choice, and axiological marking of substandard vocabulary. The aim of the study is to establish the relationship between the form and contextual realization of the lexical units in question, which constitute a special cultural code that ensures semantic stability and molds the general linguistic and a specific authored worldview. The research results corroborate the hypothesis about the dynamic nature of substandard vocabulary via register switching, indicating the culturally determined mechanisms of linguistic evolution.

Keywords

• vocabulary
• linguocultural dynamics
• cultural code
• fiction discourse
• newspaper discourse