Precedent phenomena as the source of non-usual word-formation in the contemporary Russian mass media

Abstract

The article deals with word-formation in the language of mass media as one of the phenomena in cultural linguistics. Studies basing on the cultural linguistics approach, which stipulates the language study in close conjunction with the culture of its native speakers, serve the theoretical foundation for the research work. Nonce words collected in the Russian mass media texts and formed by non-usual methods basing on the precedent phenomena have served the actual material of the research. Study of innovations interaction with the basic precedent units has indicated the cultural linguistic marking of derivation processes taking place in the language of mass media caused by economic, political, social and cultural situation in the country. Social attitudes and evaluativity of nonce words reflect the specific features of the linguistic world picture in the contemporary Russian social community. The derived words formed on the basis of the precedent phenomena enable to focus the readers’ attention to the urgent public issues, as well as to foreground their cultural knowledge.