Trends in the development of new vocabulary in Russian-language texts 1991-2016

Rychkova Tatiana Aleksandrovna ORCID: 0000-0002-0342-1308 PhD in Philology Associate Professor; Department of Philology, Intercultural Communications and Journalism; Murmansk Arctic University 183038, Russia, Murmansk region, Murmansk, Severny ave., 3, sq. 16 rychkovata@yandex.ru

The identification of trends in the language system and the processes of replenishing languages with new vocabulary are in the focus of attention of domestic and foreign linguists (see reviews in ^{[1, pp.181-184; 2, pp.464-470; 3; 4, pp.99-107; 5, pp.56-59; 6, pp.239-242; 7; 8, pp.115-117, etc.]}), which indicates the relevance and significance of these phenomena in modern science.

As the analysis of scientific papers on this topic has shown, in order to identify lexical innovations in foreign science, scientists are increasingly turning to programs for automatic language processing ^{[9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15]}. However, in the Russian-speaking space, the authors use exclusively traditional methods to track trends in the language: manual search in various sources (for example, in the materials of Russian newspapers ^{[16, pp.73-75]}, modern poetry ^{[17, pp.17-23]}, electronic regulatory and legal databases and databases of news sites ^{[18, p.43-57]}, etc.), reference to lexicographic sources ^{[19, p.137; 20, p.125]} and, less frequently, surveys ^{[21, p.42-55]}. It should be noted that manual search of the material has significant disadvantages, such as narrowness of the sample and subjectivity of the selection, which can affect the objectivity of the results.

In contrast to the above methods of information collection, our work uses the method of automatic selection of lexical innovations in the language. This method was developed within the framework of the project "Automatic detection of lexical changes", implemented at Murmansk Arctic State University. A special program based on the Python programming language has been created for this project to process large text files. With the help of this program, text files from 1700-1916, 1918-1991 and 1992-2016 with a total volume of 250 million word usage received from the National Corpus of the Russian Language were analyzed. All the words in the studied files were counted, their frequency of use was compared in numbers and percentages, which made it possible to see changes in the frequency of word use and with this help identify new and outdated words, as well as track general trends in the use of vocabulary based on large-scale representative material. This is the first time a project of this type is being implemented in Russia.

For the research reflected in this article, a 1992-2016 file consisting of 70,498,699 words was analyzed. From this file, words were selected whose frequency of use increased by 1000% or more compared to the previous period of 1918-1991. Further, all words containing uppercase letters were excluded from the resulting list in order to remove proper names. From the remaining words, those that were used 1000 times or more were selected. This selection made it possible to identify new and most significant and popular lexical units in the life of the country during the period under review. As a result, 134 units were selected with the highest indicator of increased popularity and the highest frequency of use in the period 1992-2016 (see appendix 1).

Some of these words are lexical neologisms, such as "internet", "network" and "forum". Other units existed earlier in the Russian language, but in the post-Soviet period they began to be used much more often. For example, the word "Russian" was also used in Soviet times, but the frequency of its use increased by 2242% after 1991, which indicates the increased importance of this word in post-Soviet rhetoric.

The resulting lexical units were analyzed from the point of view of their partial affiliation. As a result, it was found that among the vocabulary with increased popularity, nouns predominate - 65% of the total number. Adjectives are in second place, with a share of 30%. The remaining parts of speech are represented in smaller numbers: verbs make up 4%, and adverbs make up only 1%. Thus, it can be concluded that the tendency in the Russian language to increase the use of nouns and adjectives, while the frequency of use of other parts of speech remains relatively stable or even decreases.

As the study showed, in cases when it comes to neologisms, the frequency of use can increase dramatically in a whole group of words with the same root. For example, all neologisms of the word–formation nest "investor - investment - investment" demonstrated an increase in the frequency of use by 46536% or more. In contrast, words that are not new and were used during the Soviet period, such as "Russia" or "president", did not show a sharp change in the frequency of use. Nevertheless, new socio-historical realities and the increased need for the use of these terms and their derivatives contributed to the development of their word-formation chain and an increase in the popularity of single-root words such as "Russian", "Russian" and "presidential", whose frequency increased by 1247% or more. Thus, the following trend has emerged: if words are not new, then they are more likely to increase the popularity of using a derived word than a producing one.

The resulting list of 134 words was also analyzed in terms of thematic relevance, as a result of which several thematic groups were formed.

The largest thematic group relates to economics, business and finance. It makes up about a third of the total number of tokens studied.

Within this group, terms related to new types of activities can be distinguished, such as "shareholder", "investment", "investment", "investor", "entrepreneur", "entrepreneurial", "entrepreneurship", "analyst", "employer", "dealer", "expert", "marketing", "logistics", "management" and "management". As can be seen from the list presented, most of these words refer to people or activities related to initiative in business processes and shared responsibility for the success of the enterprise (for example, "entrepreneur", "business", "manager") or for its individual aspects (for example, "shareholder", "dealer"). These terms characterize the personality of the new age: an entrepreneur, an organizer, an initiator and at the same time a person who is able to professionally assess risks and predict the future ("analyst", "expert").

The same thematic group includes words related to new types of financial and business activity, such as "retail", "market", "partnership", "holding", "expert", "financing", "financial", "import", "license", "quota", "business", "privatization". These terms reflect the new processes that took place in the country in the 90s, when Russia made the transition from a command type of economy to a market one.

In addition, the names of funds and resources belong to this thematic group. First of all, these are abbreviated designations of monetary units, such as "billion", "dollars", "euros", "currency". The appearance and increased popularity of these tokens indicate new trends in the financial turnover of that time. For example, an increase in inflation made the use of the word "billion" habitual, which led to the development of word-formation chains and the adoption of a short form for speech economy. Along with this, the widespread use of foreign currency has become a new phenomenon compared to the Soviet period, which contributed to the spread of the abbreviated form of the words "dollar" and the growth of the use of "euro", "currency".

Word-formation chains are developing and the frequency of use of words related to budgets, taxes, banks, loans and other types of interaction in the economic field and business is increasing: "budget", "payments", "tax/taxation/taxpayer", "tariff", "banking", "bankruptcy", "credit/lending/lender", "competitive/competitiveness", "competitive", "corporate", "inflation", "debt". A significant proportion of these words characterize the difficult financial situation of the 1990s and early 2000s with its huge inflation, huge taxes compared to Soviet times, and, as a result, forced communication with banks, creditors, and debt problems.

Thus, it can be concluded that the trends in the development of vocabulary 1991-2006 indicate that the field of economics, business and finance was the most significant for Russians in terms of transformations, since it accounts for a third of the total number of identified words. Secondly, the words of the considered thematic group, on the one hand, reflect the acute problem of those years – financial insolvency, and at the same time – the emergence of a group of people with leadership qualities who are able to organize business and manage financial processes.

In second place in terms of prevalence is a group of neologisms reflecting new realities in Russian life. This includes words related to new means of communication and the Internet: "computer", "virtual", "Internet", "mobile", "monitor", "network", "website", "forum", "fax", "user". The names of new professions or occupations can also be attributed to this group: "developer", "speaker", "respondent", "designer" and "design". In addition, the philosophical concept of "universal", a new place of work – "office", new scientific terms – "genome" and, unexpectedly, "tergite" (the dorsal sclerotized part of the segmental ring of arthropods) became new and popular concepts after 1991. For some reason, the last word became very popular in the post-Soviet period and was used 1,360 times.

The observed significant increase in the frequency of use of most words (except "tergit") in this group is quite an expected phenomenon. The concepts and realities they denote really became widespread and took an essential place in the life of Russian society during the period under review. Moreover, it was assumed that this group would be the leader in prevalence, however, as mentioned above, the topics of changes in finance and business turned out to be much more popular, and therefore significant for people at that time.

The third thematic group includes concepts related to the new statehood of the Russian Federation: "federal", "regional", "region", "municipal", "presidential", "Russian", "mayor", "city hall", "Russian". The increase in the use of these words is due to the fact that in 1991 Russia became a new territorial state entity, which necessitated the dissemination of new terms to denote both the whole state and its constituent parts.

It is noteworthy that the use of the words "region" and "regional" has increased especially strongly — by more than 7000%. This probably indicates an increased opposition between the center and the regions in the post-Soviet period. Although the capital and the rest of the Russian Federation are not formally considered antagonists in legislation, the actual situation since the early 1990s has demonstrated significant differences in living standards and opportunities between Moscow and the rest of the country, which was reflected in discussions and texts created during this period.

The next group of the most popular new words is related to the concept of disease and cure. These include the words "virus", "strain", "hepatitis", "infect", "antibodies", "serum". The increased frequency of using these words is due to the emergence of new dangerous diseases and the huge concern of society about this, the desire to discuss and look for solutions and ways to treat these ailments. In addition, an increase in interest in words related to illness and cure may be due to the general idea of society as an unhealthy construct (see works ^{[22; 23, pp.28-32]} on the dominant metaphorical model in the media "Russia is a sick organism").

The fifth thematic group reflects changes in the political life of the country and includes the terms "referendum" and "pre-election". The significant increase in popularity of these words indicates the importance of new opportunities opening up for citizens in the political sphere, such as holding referendums and elections requiring pre-election preparation.

The following group of words reflects the most acute and discussed problems of the 1990s and the beginning of the two thousandth: crime, the war in Chechnya, poverty, and the widening gap between rich and poor. The subgroup "crime" includes the words "law enforcement", "offense", "corruption", "cop", "criminal", "special service", "corruption". These words denote the urgent problems of society, including the acute problem of corruption, the changed attitude towards the police compared to Soviet times, expressed in the reduced-contemptuous name "cop" and, in general, an increase in the level of criminal events and offenses.

A significant part of the vocabulary is devoted to another topical topic of the 1990s - the war in Chechnya, which began in December 1994. The war became a key event that determined not only the political, but also the cultural atmosphere of the country. The words "Chechen", "Chechen" and "militant" have become widely used in connection with the armed conflict, which has led to significant human and social losses. These events have led to an intensification of discussions about terrorism and ethnic conflicts. Therefore, the same group of words about the war can include words related to terrorism, the war in Iraq and common ethnic problems: "terrorism", "terrorist attack", "ethnic", "Iraqi" and "Islamic". The words "terrorism" and "terrorist attack" have become associated with the actions of Chechen militants and other terrorist acts that took place in Russia and abroad.

The next group of words reflects the polar sides of well-being and disadvantage in the 1990s. On the one hand, in the post-Soviet period, many people find themselves on the verge of survival, and on the other hand, oligarchs appear who have the opportunity to use previously inaccessible luxury goods. The problem of poverty and the widening gap between the poor and the rich was reflected, on the one hand, in words such as "homeless" and "survival", and on the other — in terms of "oligarch", "businessman", "jeep", "foreign car", "elite status", "prestigious" and "the image." The terms "jeep" and "foreign car" were associated with luxury and status, reflecting the desire of a part of society for material well-being and prestige. At this time, active advertising of Western cars began, which contributed to the introduction of such words into everyday use. The concepts of "elite status", "prestigious" and "image" have also become important in the context of the new social reality, where material values have begun to play a significant role in public relations.

The next group of words includes topics of an entertaining nature. So, in comparison with the Soviet period, the use of the words "TV series", "show" and "sex" is greatly increasing. The spread of the first two words is explained by the fact that the period of perestroika led to a change in social values and interests and the spread of elements of Western culture. Western series and shows became available through cable television and video rentals, which helped popularize these terms. The increase in the use of the word "sex" compared to Soviet times is due to several reasons. Firstly, the period of perestroika and the subsequent transition to a market economy contributed to the openness of society and a change in social norms. The glasnost policy proclaimed by Mikhail Gorbachev led to a discussion of previously taboo topics, including sexuality. This created the conditions for a more free discussion of issues related to sex, which was reflected in the language. Secondly, from the late 1980s and early 1990s, elements of Western culture began to arrive in Russia, including films, books and magazines that actively discussed sexual relations. This contributed to the introduction of the term "sex" into everyday speech and increased interest in the topic of sexuality. Thirdly, in the 1990s, the active commercialization of the media and entertainment industry began. Magazines and television began to offer content related to sexuality, which made the topic more accessible and attractive to a wide audience. It also contributed to the emergence of new formats of programs dedicated to sex issues. Finally, in the context of economic reforms and social instability, many people began to rethink their values and priorities. Sexuality began to be seen as a form of self-expression and personal freedom, which also contributed to its popularization.

The last group of words reflects the general trends in the country and attempts to solve the accumulated problems. This category includes almost all the few verbs from our list: "integrate", "plan", "predict", "engage", as well as verbal nouns and some adjectives such as "change", "reform", "modernization", "innovative", "optimization", "identification", "integration" and "long-term". We can also include the words "insurance", "insurance" and "stability" here. These tokens reflect the need of society to change and improve the current situation, as well as attempts to predict and develop an action plan to get out of the current situation. However, it should be noted that most of the words in this group have vague and indefinite content, which indicates the lack of a clear and precise plan of action to overcome the crisis. Moreover, as the past years have shown, the terms "reformation", "modernization" and "optimization" often denoted actions leading to a deterioration in living standards ^{[24, pp.58-65]}. For example, the media called the reduction in the number of hospitals and schools optimization, which is why the specified word began to acquire a negative connotation.

Thus, the study showed that in the vocabulary with sharply increased popularity in 1991-2016, there is a predominance of nouns and adjectives, which indicates a tendency to increase their use. At the same time, the frequency of using other parts of speech remains stable or decreases. The study also revealed that neologisms can significantly increase their frequency of use, especially in the context of new socio-historical realities. It is important to note that established words are more likely to increase the popularity of their derived forms than the root words themselves. This indicates the dynamic development of the language and its adaptation to the changing conditions of society. Although it was assumed that most of the words would be in the group denoting new realities, such as "the Internet", in practice the group related to economics and finance prevailed. This indicates that these topics were more important and significant for Russians during the period under review. Within this group, terms related to new types of activities and financial activity are highlighted, reflecting Russia's transition to a market economy in the 1990s. These words characterize the personality of the new age, such as an entrepreneur and an analyst, as well as new processes in financial turnover, including the use of abbreviated designations of monetary units. In addition, there is an increase in the frequency of words related to budgets, taxes and banking, which highlights the difficult financial situation of that time. It is important to note that there are significantly more words with pejorative coloring reflecting financial problems, wars and diseases than words with neutral or reclamation coloring. This indicates that the negative aspects of life in the post-Soviet period left a noticeable mark on the language. Thus, the study demonstrates a close relationship between linguistic changes and socio-economic transformations in post-Soviet Russia.

Appendix 1