Lexicography of Russian-Language Neologisms on Social Topics: Description Issues and Research Prospects

This study reports on the results and potential for further research concerning Russian-language neologisms pertaining to the thematic group ‘Society,’ with a focus on their lexicographical characteristics. The relevance of the study is determined by public discussions on the issue of protecting the Russian language from excessive foreign borrowings, which underscores the importance of evaluating active nominative practices that utilize the inherent internal resources of the Russian language. It is noted that the results of the study are presented in a two-volume “Explanatory Dictionary of Russian Neologisms”, which contains over 3,000 linguistic units. The vocabulary is distributed across different volumes based on institutional or non-institutional social semantics, meaning it is differentiated by thematic criteria (with an appropriate system of labels) rather than stylistic ones. It is asserted that the inclusion of new words and phrases in the dictionary, whether of Russian origin or calqued and hybrid forms that contain Russian morphemes, allows for the observation of trends in the formation of Russian neologisms. The author suggests considering new linguistic units not recorded in normative dictionaries as nominations with a “borderline status”. As a prospect for research on Russian social vocabulary, an ideographic description is proposed, as well as the compilation of annual dictionaries organized not by chronological principles but by other criteria such as theme, origin, and so on.

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