Aim. The paper deals with conceptualization of practical and theoretical transformation of reality by means of invention and discovery. Methodology. The data analyzed includes texts from the National corpus of the Russian language, dictionary definitions and aphoristic sentences. Results. Conceptualization of invention and discovery focuses on importance of creative attitude to reality, social impact of innovations designed for people well-being, on inevitable mistakes in cognitive and practical transformation of the world and on taking into account misunderstanding of the passive majority of population. Discovery and invention are conceptualized in institutional and personal discourse, the former is predominantly devoted to research and its popular explanation and the latter is manifested in scientific, technical and everyday conversation. Research implications. The research results contribute to the theory of linguistic concepts and the theory of discourse.

Aim. The article presents the study of animated discourse names which gained the status of precedence in the post-Soviet period; to analyze their use and emphasize the development of figurative meanings. Methodology. With the help of contextual analysis, the contexts in which personalities were used in different genres of the post-Soviet period texts were found. Results. Precedent names were classified into monosemantic and polysemantic; formal-grammar indicators showing that the names are precedent were identified. Research implications. The results improved the prospects of lexicographic description of the proper names in the given discourse in the dictionary “Connotative proper names of the post-Soviet period.” The work can present interest to linguists, culture experts and lexicographers.

Aim. The article aims to substantiate the influence of emotional motives of homo sentiens on the ecology of communication. Methodology. The emotive approach to ecology implies the consideration of emotions as a subjective form of existence of the homo sentiens needs, which act as the motivational basis for all his activities. Language is considered the key to emotions, so by the method of emotive analysis of text material, i.e. by identifying the vocabulary of naming, describing and expressing emotions, and lexical units with varying amount of emotive component in their semantics, the study establishes clusters of emotions that serve as the motivational basis for the activities of homo sentiens. Results. In the course of the study, the homo sentiens real emotional motives, showing the rating of objects in his need orientation, are revealed. The conducted emotive analysis allows us to explain the influence of emotions on the ecology of communication. Research implications. The results of the study contribute to clarifying the emotive understanding of ecology.

Aim. To analyze structural-semantic and morphological-syntactic typology of lexical and phraseological units of the youth slang in the modern German language. Methodology. The research used continuous sampling, analysis and comparative method to analyse lexical and phraseological units (more than 300 examples), and define the proportion of phraseological units in the linguistic units of youth slang. Results. The research allows to structure the analyzed material, which can serve as a basis for compiling lexical and phraseological dictionaries of modern German slang. Research implications. The study contributes to the clarification and updating of studies on the youth slang in the modern German language for the purpose of its practical use, as well as the use in lexicographic practice when compiling special dictionaries on the ideographic basis.

The aim. To study the grammatical categories of time and modality expressed by modal verbs in the 16th century English and German languages. Methodology. The methods used in the research include contextual, semantic, comparative and quantitative analyzes. Results. Alongside with the general conclusion about the similarity of the paradigms of English and German modal verbs of the given period, the research reveals a more advanced stage of formation of the German verb paradigm and the tendency to the predominant use of non-epistemic meanings of modal verbs in both languages. Research implications. The article clarifies some general points of the historical grammar of the English and German languages and may be used in exploring other grammatical categories.

Aim. The article is devoted to the study of humour in the framework of economic television programs. Methodology. The article analyses the speeches of economists and politicians in economic programs, as well as at economic events, in order to single out the lexical and stylistic means of achieving a humorous effect (paradox, understatement, allusion, sarcasm, oxymoron). Results. The authors come to the conclusion that economic discourse in popular economic Russian and English-language (British and American) television programmes is characterised by accessibility to a large audience, which is achieved by using well-known terms, metaphors, colloquial and idiomatic expressions. Research implications. The article contains the definition of humour as a linguacultural phenomenon and the description of the functions of humour, realized in economic discourse. It allows to perform a lexico-stylistic analysis of economic discourse and to single out the ways of achieving a humorous effect in economic TV programmes. The material of the article may be used in the special courses on stylistics, theory and practice of translation, and cultural linguistics.

Aim. The study aims at working out a procedure of establishing the linguistic status of aphoristic sayings in Old English texts. Methodology. The article offers a brief review of Old English manuscripts featuring proverbs and aphoristic sayings, some of which are subjected to phraseological analysis. The methods employed to study aphorisms from a phraseological perspective are as follows: description, textual analysis, phraseological identification. Results. Resort to the main procedures of the phraseological identification provides for creating a technique of determining the phraseological status of aphorisms, which may have a number of obligatory and optional phraseological characteristics. Research implications. The study is conducive to the conclusions concerning the phraseological status of aphorisms and aims at a more comprehensive task of describing and systematizing the stock of English idioms at an earlier stage of its existence.

Aim. To define common and specific features in the structure of the lexico-semantic group of verbs of deceptive behavior in French and Russian, as well as to identify semantic and combinative features of some units. Methodology. A large corpus of dictionary entries and language examples has been studied in order to compile an inventory of verbs with the meaning of "deception" in both languages. Using the component analysis and field method, the identified units have been split into subgroups. An in-depth comparative analysis of the semantics and syntagmatic features of verbs related to the core and center of the field has been carried out with component, distributive and contextual methods. Results. Several types of verbs of deception in the studied languages have been identified. The constituents of the field are structured according to the criterion of the presence or absence of additional meanings in their semantics. Similarities and differences have been found in the structure of the studied group, as well as in the semantics and compatibility of the studied lexemes in the compared languages. Research implications. The presented material will contribute to the development of the study of lexicology, semantics and comparative typology.

Aim. The purpose of the article is to determine the influence of the cognitive substrate of Russian speakers’ linguistic thinking on the structure and semantics of their English-language speech. Methodology. In the course of the study methods of observation, psycholinguistic experiment, comparison of authentic and inauthentic English texts, and quantitative methods were used. Results. The study showed that the cognitive substrate of linguistic thinking of Russian speakers predetermines their tendency to transfer the semantic-morphological and syntactic models of their native linguistic culture when generating English-language utterances, which leads to stable differences between inauthentic and authentic English speech. Research implications. The results of the research contribute to the theory of linguistic contacts and are useful for studying inauthentic variants of the English language as subjects of cross-cultural communication in semiotic and cultural aspects.