SEMANTICS OF LIMINALITY IN THE MEMOIRS OF RUSSIAN INTELLECTUALS OF THE LATE XIX CENTURY – EARLY XX CENTURY

Abstract

The article highlights the semantics of liminality as a part of the linguistic picture of the world. The aim of the study is to identify meanings and linguistic features of the description of the main types of liminal characters in the memoirs of Russian intellectuals of the late XIX – early XX centuries. With the reliance on the studies of Russian folklore, the types of liminal characters with the signs of the living and the dead from the research material are described. Characteristic methods of describing liminal characters, their emotive evaluation and semantic differences are noted. The hypothesis about the connection of linguistic features of the description of liminal characters with the events in Russia of the late XIX – early XX centuries is put forward. The results of the work can be used for discussion in special courses on cognitive science and the language of Silver Age literature.