LINGUOCULTURAL CONCEPT OF “BRIBERY” IN JURIDICAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

The article explores bribery as one of the significant concepts of the Russian linguoculture on the material of the texts of juridical discourse. The article reconstructs the “formula of the bribe” resembling the script of a business deal - the sequence of situations of giving a bribe to an official (the obligatory parties of the deal: an active participator (briber) - a person interested in the action; a passive participator (bribe receiver) - a person with certain powers; an optional participator, an intermediary). The article determines the semantic features of bribery as malfeasance. In a quite significant number of semantic features, the conceptual structure of the bribe is reflected primarily in lexicographical sources of encyclopedic nature. The definitional semantics of the bribe can be found in the texts of juridical discourse. Within the boundaries of the generic semantic area of bribery, the bribe as subornation of an official opposes the gift in terms of mercenary motivation and direct intent. Money and securities, valuable things and gains and services of material nature provided free of charge and not subject to payment can function as an object of the bribe as an unlawful material gain. Today, actions of non - material nature cannot be considered objects of a bribe, but the need to include non - material services in the list of bribe objects is being discussed in the press and by the legal expert community. The main difference of the semantic composition of bribery in juridical discourse from its all other discursive manifestations consists in the presence of specific features associated with qualification of the crime: determination of the degree of its public danger and severity of guilt of its subject.