Peculiarities of Semantic and Word-Formation Development of the Lexical Unit пилот

Abstract

The article describes the mechanism of the developing of a new meaning of the lexeme пилот in the Russian language. It is proved that the new lexico-semantic variant "experimental, trial" initially arises in the semantic structure of the word pilot in English. Its transition into Russian, however, is not a process of mechanical calquing, but an active process of adaptation of the lexeme in the recipient language. Morphological peculiarities of Russian language determine the introduction of the new meaning in three different forms: the noun пилот, the adjectival phrase пилотный проект and the analytical structure пилот-проект. The neosemantism пилот forms the derivatives пилотировать and пилотаж with the meaning "to manage pilot projects". The adjective пилотный is actively used as an attribute with nouns denoting subjects of testing. The development of semantics introduces into the meaning of the adjective the seme of ʽinnovativenessʼ, which is absent in the donor language.