The topical word fake in the public space of the current time

Abstract

The article explores functioning of the word fake in the public sphere of the current time
based on the corpus of statements recorded by the Integrum database (Integrum.ru) from January
2020 to June 2022, as well as extracts from the programs of information broadcasts at central
Russian channels from February 23 to July 10, 2022. The objective of the linguistic and linguoaxiological analysis proper is to identify signs that make it possible to interpret the аnglicism
fake as a topical word. The unprecedented information war unleashed by the West against Russia
stimulated the flow of fakes and at the same time an increase in the frequency of the use of this
lexeme in the texts of the journalistic and offi cial business styles of Russian speech. The authors
consistently describe formation of denotative lexical meaning and its diff erential signs and
interprete the parallels of fake — forgery/staged production; define the place of this borrowing in the lexical system of the Russian language, taking into account
the emotional and psychological influence of fakes on the state of
public consciousness; reveal the forms of linguistic and axiological
resistance. Mass linguocreative contributes to the weakening of
emotional and psychological tension caused by a large number of
fakes. The object of creative operations are proverbs and sayings
of the Russian people. The main way of their transformation is
lexical replacement. In modern Russian, the word formation nest
with a fake vertex has been formed, which is supplemented by
derived units of all signifi cant parts of speech. The neoplasms have
a conventional nature, they are formed according to productive
word formation models. Composite words are actively used in
speech. The authors argue that the active implementation of the
topical word fake in speech in the function of the contractiologeme
is accompanied by the defense of the truth, the constant of the
Russian mentality. 

Keywords:

topical word, contractiologeme, word formation nest, culture constant, mass linguocreative, ; information war, fake