Sebe and vpolne sebe: semantics, pragmatics, functions

Linguists are particularly interested in observing lexical units, reflecting the picture of the world of a modern person. It allows to visually study fashionable words and expressions as indicators of the linguistic taste of the era. The relevance of the research is due to the need to study the trends in using colloquial lexical units as markers of cognitive and social development of personality at the present stage. The aim is to characterize the functions and pragmasemantic meanings of the particle sebe (to oneself) and the set expression vpolne sebe (quite) in modern Russian linguistic culture. The material was taken from the explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language and examples from the National Corpus of the Russian Language. The author used the methods of continuous sampling, contextual and interpretive analysis, elements of quantitative analysis, and semantic analysis of dictionary definitions. It was found that quite often the freedom and independence of actions of the statement protagonist, conveyed by this particle, his autonomy and sovereignty receive negative assessment of the subject of speech: they are considered as indifference to others, disregard for ethical norms and norms of social life and they are condemned, and this assessment is emphasized by the presence in the statement of the particle sebe (oneself). It was determined that the increase in the activity of the particle sebe (oneself) in modern speech is associated with changes in the modal type of the Russian personality. The semantic core, which focuses the basic meanings of the set expression vpolne sebe (quite), is concentrated in the lexeme vpolne (quite), while pragmatic meanings remain in the particle sebe (oneself). The author revealed that the main communicative purpose of the expression vpolne sebe (quite) is the function of taking off the responsibility for the statement's content, singling out the object of speech and identifying the speaker with the social group which is elite in his perception. Being a fashionable expression, the phrase is nowadays actively used in Runet, penetrates into public speech, reaches the peak of its popularity and then may give way to new indicators of linguistic fashion.