Podufalova T. Cognitive-semantic and functional peculiarities of gradation in the Russian language

The object is language gradation; the aim is to reveal cognitive, semantic and functional peculiarities of gradation and means of their expression in the modern Russian language; the methods are comparison of scholars’ different viewpoints, selection of information, complete selection, conceptual analysis, comparison of conceptual domains, component analysis and synthesis, discourse analysis, metalanguage description, classification; the novelty – for the first time complex (cognitive-semantic and functional) analysis of gradation has been made; the results – cognitive bases of gradation have been established; mobile and fixed gradual concepts have been distinuished; means expressing gradation at different language levels have been systematised, types of gradation indicators have been defined; discursive gradual features and means of their representation have been established and characterised; intercultural, macrocultural, microcultural graduality indicators have been distinguished; the field is cognitive linguistics, semantics, pragmalinguistics.