Stylistic labels in dictionaries of the modern Russian language: a comparative analysis

The article analyzes the systems of stylistic labels on the material of the five Russian language dictionaries of the late 20th century and of the early 21st century, which are most actively involved in linguistic expertise. The label systems of the five dictionaries are described and compared in a table. Three groups of labels are identified and characterized: 1) functional-style labels; 2) chronological labels; 3) expressive and emotional evaluation labels. The data presented in the table suggest that the label systems of the five dictionaries are different. None of these dictionaries discloses all functional and stylistic separation of the vocabulary. Some disputed issues related to the label qualification as negative-evaluative ones are also considered in the article. It is suggested that 12 labels mark the negative-evaluative meaning of a word: low colloquial, ironic, mocking, condescending, disapproving, neglecting, disparaging, contemptuous, rude, expletive, vulgar, obscene. The list of these labels is heterogeneous, because it contains both functional-style labels, which characterize the oral form of the modern Russian language, and other labels, which characterize expressive, emotional and evaluative meaning of a word. This confirms the thesis about the absence of common grounds for the stylistic classification of words in stylistics and lexicography. The article compares the stylistic characteristics of the negative-evaluative nouns meaning a person name and of nouns meaning a person group name represented in these dictionaries. The 337 units with negative-evaluative labels from three dictionaries were taken for comparison. While comparing labels, several types of relationships were allocated: 1) a label is presented only in one of the dictionaries; 2) a label matches a second one from another dictionary but it is not presented in a third dictionary; 3) a label is presented in all three dictionaries but it matches only one and differs from another label; 4) all three labels from dictionaries match each other; 5) all three labels from dictionaries do not match each other; 6) all three labels are absent in the dictionaries. This suggests that the stylistic characteristics of a word are different in the three dictionaries. The use of the dictionaries shows their distinctive features, for example, the presence of multi-labels. These features of word stylistic characteristics in the dictionaries not only cause difficulties while comparing them, but also complicate an accurate classification of evaluative words, including in cases of conducting linguistic expertise. In conclusion, the author proposes an approach for the objectification of word stylistic characteristics, which is to compare the data from several lexicographic sources.

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