Proverbial modeling of a reference situation of drunkenness in Russian paremias

The relevance of the study is due to the interest of modern linguistics in the ethnospecificity of the verbal expression of universal life situations in the proverbial funds of different nations and to the insufficient study of proverbial modeling. The aim of this study is to identify the features of the proverbial representation of the situation of wine drinking through anthroponyms, zoonyms, and religionyms in Russian paremias. The material for the study was paremias containing Bacchic vocabulary from the collection “Proverbs of the Russian People” by V.I. Dal collected with continuous sampling method. The object of the study is proverbs and sayings about drunkenness which include anthroponyms, zoonyms, and religionyms. To analyze and interpret the obtained data, the authors used general scientific methods (analysis and synthesis, empirical observation, description, and generalization), linguistic methods (lexical-semantic, conceptual, contextual, and linguistic-cultural analysis), and techniques of modeling and interpreting figurative meaning of proverbs. The novelty lies in determining the specific functions of anthroponyms, zoonyms, and religionyms in modeling the proverbial situation of wine drinking. The analysis revealed that anthroponyms, zoonyms, and religionyms are used to objectify the subject and object, action and state, and the chronotope of the referential situation of wine drinking. Proper names in proverbs about drunkenness reflect the people’s perceptions of the subject, object, and the time of the referential situation. Zoonyms characterize the subject, their qualities, actions, and state and correlate with chronotope. Religionyms represent all the situation components. The externalization of the reference situation of wine drinking through anthroponymic, zoonymic, and religious vocabulary in Russian paremias places both the situation itself and its individual components in a coordinate system with a spiritual vertical and a human horizontal. The prospects for research are seen in studying ethnic specificity of proverbial modeling of other referential situations, including comparative perspective.