Phraseographic potential of the Big Universal Dictionary of the Russian Language

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study of the phraseological parameter of the Big Universal Dictionary of the Russian Language (V.V. Morkovkin, G.F. Bogacheva, N.M. Lutskaya, 2016) in paper format. Phraseological units (henceforth PUs) as the content of the phraseological zone marked in the structure of the dictionary entry by a rhombus (◊) served as the basis for the study. The aim is to reveal features of the headword representativeness as a key structural-semantic component of the phraseological zone and determine the research potential of the phraseological array of the Dictionary. A wide projection of phraseography is one of the characteristics of the Dictionary’s universality. The phraseological zones of the Dictionary are represented as PUs with different degrees of idiomaticity, as well as nominative and communicative units with the capacity for reproducibility in an unchanged composition. This approach is justified by the expansion of the phraseological base in modern lexicographic projects. The structural-semantic multiplicity of the headword as a component of a PU determines the universality of the phraseological zone’s content representativeness. The use of “multipath” references to a variety of dictionary entries, how many components a PU has, determines the vector projection to a wider range of types of figurative nominations. At the same time, the phraseological definition is presented only in the structure of a single dictionary entry where the headword acts as a key structural-semantic component of a PU. In phraseological zones as part of a peculiar linguistic corpus of the Russian language, a set of PUs has many aspects. Optional lexical and variant components of PUs are indicated. Words a PU usually collocates with are given. There are notes indicating the expressive-stylistic and evaluative functions of a PU; grammatical notes describing some morphological properties of the lexical components of a PU. An interpretation/meaning of a PU, or a reference to the headword in which the content of the PU is considered, is given. If there is a semantic identity, synonyms are provided. The phraseological zone may contain examples of a PU’s uses in speech and commentaries of a cognitive nature. The phraseographic objectification of the receptivity of the lexicalsemantic variant of the headword is strongly represented by compound terms and names that objectify human discursive activity. Phraseological zones in the structure of entries in which homonymic units act as headwords can become one of the potential vectors of studying phraseology. A single presentation of a phraseological definition in the dictionary shows a typical situation/situations of using PUs and is a potential linguistic material for studies in the cognitivediscursive direction.