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2025 Vol. 16 №1

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Belov V.A. Belova V.M.

Сognitive mechanisms of semantic adaptation of borrowings in Russian

DOI
10.5922/2225-5346-2025-1-3
Pages
39-58
lexical meaning lexical change borrowing semantic adaptation categoriza­tion synonymy semantic relations

Abstract

This paper investigates the semantic adaptation of new borrowings in Russian, addressing a gap in research on this topic. The relevance of the study stems from the ambiguous and often negative public perception of the increasing number of borrowings in the Russian language. The study aims to classify these borrowings and identify the under­lying causes of the borrowing process. The central hypothesis is that the semantic adaptation of borrowings is determined by the types of cognitive categorization employed. Two types of categorization are described: logical categorization and non-logical categorization. Logical categorization involves the rational structuring of phenomena within a native speaker’s worldview, while non-logical categorization reflects an emotional-evaluative perception of reality, expressing various emotions through borrowings. The research draws on several sources, including the National Corpus of the Russian Language, media publications, Rus­sian dictionaries, statistical data from the Yandex search engine, and the results of a psycho­linguistic experiment involving 106 native speakers. In the experiment, participants were tasked with interpreting stimulus words, providing insights into how borrowings are unders­tood and categorized. The study's primary outcome is a typology of borrowings, differentiated by the organization of their semantic relationships. The typology includes borrowings that denote new phenomena in reality, borrowings used as substitutes for synonymous native phrases, and borrowing-doublets. Logical categorization establishes hierarchical semantic connections for borrowings, while non-logical categorization conveys emotional and eva­luative attitudes. The findings indicate that logical categorization is predominant for most bor­rowings, whereas non-logical categorization applies to a smaller subset. In some cases, these types of categorization can co-occur. The study concludes that cognitive categorization plays a crucial role in the semantic adaptation of borrowings, offering new insights into their integration into the Russian language.

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