COMBINATORIAL EXTENSIONS OF MEANING AS A MARKER OF A TEXT’S SEMANTIC DOMINANCE

Abstract

The article develops B.A. Larin’s ideas on the aesthetic meaning of words in literary texts. It demonstrates that combinatorial extensions of the lexeme “gaps” shape and realize the semantic core of E. Vodolazkin’s novel “The Last Case of Major Chistov.” The article identifies both conventional and occasional uses of the word “gaps” within the framework of both lexical-semantic and seme variation in the novel’s text. It presents ways in which these usages are actualized, such as inference from context and textual explication of meaning or semantic components. The combinatorial functions of the lexeme “gaps” in the novel are described. Thus, the primary function is the realization of the semantic dominant: the text is based on the idea that a robot lacks a soul, which, in turn, consists mostly of gaps (insignificant, ordinary, and therefore often forgotten events). Accompanying functions include text-forming, aesthetic, intertextual, artistic image-creating, and psychotherapeutic functions. The results of the study can be used in the creation of authors’ dictionaries and in the analysis of dynamic processes in the modern Russian language.