Metadata (abstracts and keywords) for the articles in the journal
I. M. Petrova, S. V. Michugina SEMANTIC DIFFUSION OF THE CONCEPTS SURPRISE AND ADMIRATION IN ENGLISH-RUSSIAN LITERARY TRANSLATION // I. YAKOVLEV CHUVASH STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY BULLETIN. 2026. № 1(130). p. 168-177
Author(s):
I. M. Petrova, S. V. Michugina
Index of UDK:
[811.111+811.161.1]’37’255.2
Index of DOI:
10.37972/chgpu.2026.130.1.020
Name of article:
SEMANTIC DIFFUSION OF THE CONCEPTS SURPRISE AND ADMIRATION IN ENGLISH-RUSSIAN LITERARY TRANSLATION
The article provides a contrastive study of the verbalization mechanisms for the emotional concepts of surprise and admiration based on the English-Russian segment of the Russian National Corpus. The research focuses on identifying the semantic diffusion between a cognitive trigger and an evaluative result. The relevance of the study is driven by the need for objectification of linguistic data and the transition from subjective interpretations to hypothesis verification using large-scale corpora to reveal latent nation-specific features of emotional behavior.
The empirical basis of the work comprises data from the RNC, BNC, and COCA corpora. The methodology follows a comprehensive approach, including definitional, contextual, and contrastive analysis of core lexemes (surprise, astonishment, wonder, admiration, delight). The study establishes that the lexeme wonder functions as a specific mediator integrating meanings from both emotional fields. Statistical analysis reveals that in cases of indirect equivalence, the English language tends toward syncretism and objective eventfulness of the stimulus, while the Russian translation tradition demonstrates a trend toward the discretization of the cognitive process and its deep interiorization.
The research findings confirm the hypothesis of functional-semantic diffusion between the fields of surprise and admiration. It is concluded that the identified zones of incomplete interlingual equivalence are determined by different conceptualization vectors: from the objectification of an external stimulus in English to the description of the subject’s emotional immersion in Russian.
The contact details of authors:
Petrova,Inna Mihaylovna – Doctor of Philology, Professor of the Department of English Philology and Linguodidactics, Moscow City University, Moscow, Russia, https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3060-1387, miinna@yandex.ru
Michugina, Svetlana Viktorovna – Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor of the Department of English Philology and Linguodidactics, Moscow City University, Moscow, Russia, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3687-3532, michuginasv@mgpu.ru
