Units of the lexical-semantic group ‘Information search and receipt’ as personifying metaphors in Russian poetry

Abstract

The article analyzes a fragment of the metaphorical system in the language of Russian poetry from the 19th to 21st centuries. Specifically, the analysis focuses on personifying metaphors related to the semantic class of ‘Language and speech’ and the lexical-semantic group Information search and receipt’. The study aims to determine the functioning of these lexical units in Russian poetry, identify the semantic classes of the objects of personification they are combined with, and establish their role in the organisation of the poetic text and connection with the poet's worldview. The research uses the Poetic Subcorpus of the Russian National Corpus as its material and employs corpus, semantic field, and structural-functional analysis methods. The results show a higher frequency of words with the meaning ‘Information receipt than Information search’ as personifiers, with varying distribution over the comparison of ‘question-answer’ images. The analyzed figurative language introduces dialogism into the text, particularly through question-answer constructions with imperative and address, direct and indirect speech, creating unity and increasing dialogicity. The role of such constructions in organizing the internal dialogue and formulating the poet's worldview attitudes is revealed.