The main types of usage of a multifunctional word "literally" in modern Russian

Syui Xiujuan associate professor, Department of Russian Language and Literature, Jilin University of Foreign Languages 130024, China, Changchun, Jingyue Street, 3658 247338326@qq.com Other publications by this author

Tokarchuk Irina Nikolaevna PhD in Philology associate professor, Department of Russian Language and Literature, Far Eastern Federal University 690922, Russia, Vladivostok, Russian Island str., village. Ajax, 10 tockarchuck.ira@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

The object of this study is the lexeme literally. The experience of describing such units available in Russian studies (purely, simply, directly, decisively, exclusively, absolutely, completely, explicitly, etc.) shows that the specificity of this word is largely determined by its derivative character. The initial lexeme in these cases is an adjective (for literally – literal), which can function in short forms, including the neuter gender. Russian Russian dictionaries and empirical base analysis shows that this formation in the modern Russian language acts mainly as an adverb and as an inconsequential unit – particle, while maintaining a semantic connection with the original adjective. All of the above gives grounds to define the approach to literally as a multifunctional word.

We understand polyfunctionality after E. A. Starodumova "as the use of the same unit in different syntactic functions – while maintaining a single semantic invariant" ^{[21, p. 12]}. It is to these that the author refers the unit we are studying, considering its implementations as grammatical homonyms [Ibid., p. 14]. It should be noted that, in particular, the relations between adverbs and genetically related particles, depending on the semantic and functional nature of the latter, can have the character of both grammatical homonymy and lexical proper. For example, in the case of an adverb and a restrictive particle, one can simply talk about grammatical homonymy (and, accordingly, about polyfunctionality), since they inherit a significant part of the semantics of the original adjective simple, whose polysemy, according to E. E. Babayeva, is based on the ideas of standardness, hierarchy, basicity, restrictiveness, naturalness, straightness ^{[2, pp. 833-842]}. In contexts of the same type, Yes, she's just beautiful! a particle loses semantic commonality with both a motivating adjective and an adverb and a particle with a restrictive meaning, acting in this series as a lexical homonym, or – in another qualification – a functional homonym. I. Ya. Sidorenko and E. N. Sidorenko define functional homonyms as "genetically related words obtained in the process of the historical development of the language by transferring words from one part of speech to another, which have lost the basic differential features of the original form and acquired a complex of differential features of the new part of speech, have retained the previous sound appearance /.../, having their own set of differential features" ^{[17, p. 4-5]}. Any grammatical and semantic implementations simply meet the listed requirements for functional homonyms.

This question turns out to be related to the problem of distinguishing "those uses of a particular multifunctional lexeme in which it qualifies as a particle from its other uses" – in the "absence of clear boundaries between particles and adverbs" ^{[8, p. 151]}. So, the qualification of a word simply as a modal adverb is not obvious in contexts like Well, the neat one! Just some kind of German! ^{[11, p. 173]}. Similar discrepancies also occur when qualifying as adverbial or non-adverbial uses of the word literally, one of the reasons for which may be the fact that in particles having "close external and internal connections with other classes of words", "elements of the meanings of adverbs are present to varying degrees" ^{[16, p. 724]}. The need to take into account a number of factors for differentiating the use of a multifunctional word indicates (following E. A. Bryzgunova) Xu Hong: "as part of a sentence, the meaning and grammatical status of multifunctional words are concretized by the interaction of syntax, vocabulary, intonation and semantic connections of this sentence in the context" ^{[22, pp. 156-157]}.

Types of the word literally used in dictionaries of the Russian language and research literature

The data from dictionaries of the Russian language and research literature show that there is still no single point of view on the word literally, its grammatical and semantic properties: for example, information from explanatory dictionaries (for example, ^{[3, p. 102; 9, p. 57; 12, p. 37; 15, p. 59; 19, p. 807]}) differ significantly from information from specialized dictionaries ^{[17, p. 141; 18, p. 65-71; 24, p. 31]}. Non–significant uses of the word are literally given in explanatory dictionaries of a general linguistic nature, including in the "Active Dictionary of the Russian Language" ^{[1, p. 376]}, usually as adverbs, which is also noted by M. A. Ivanova, who considers literally in a series of particles - means of expressing subjective-modal meanings as part of separate members ^{[7, p. 62]}. The dictionary of the Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language: Structural Words is literally not presented because of its interpretation, obviously, exclusively as a significant unit ^[14]. Russian Russian particle is literally recorded in the "Dictionary of Russian Particles" and in the "Dictionary of Official Words of the Russian language" ^{[24, p. 31; 18, p. 65-71]}. Moreover, a detailed description of this word is contained in the monograph by E. S. Yakovleva "Fragments of the Russian language picture of the world" ^{[27, pp. 261-267]}, where two of its realizations are clearly distinguished – the adverbial and modal. The features of the semantics of the modal literally among other similar means are noted in the works ^{[4, 5, 6, 10, 13, 25]}.

Russian Russian observations on the functioning of the word literally in modern Russian on the basis of the available empirical material with a total volume of 2,100 occurrences from the National Corpus of the Russian language (the main and oral, poetic, newspaper subcorpus of the NKRR), as well as about 200 from other sources (texts from media discourse, works of art, etc.) allow us to assert that this unit it has two main grammatical implementations: significant (qualitative adverb) and non–significant - service (particle), derived from the adjective literal. At the same time, the use of an adjective in the short form of the neuter gender is not excluded.

The short adjective is literally

Dictionaries do not deny the existence of short forms for the adjective literal, but examples are not given. Such forms are recorded in the NKRR, but they are few in number. Our material presents 10 examples of a short adjective of the neuter gender, homonymous to an adverb and a particle, and only 6 of them are among the 2,100 examples of the NCR obtained by the continuous sampling method. Short forms, including the neuter gender, express the meanings characteristic of the adjective in full form:

(1) ‘direct', ‘not figurative', ‘not metaphorical', for example: Everything is literal, no allegories are rolled (Woman + man (forum), 2004) – everything said, written is literal, has a literal meaning, not figurative, not allegorical;

(2) ‘exact’ (‘exactly corresponding to something’): Finally, it became unwell: walking in the vicinity of Mikhailovsky, I suddenly came across a marble slab. What's there: "don't litter, don't smoke, don't....", – no: "I visited again..." The forest was filled with stanzas: isn't everything too literal. And here's the house where he used to be… Plate: "Winter. What should we do in the village..." (N. Bokov. In memory of Basil // "Ark", 1979) – meaning the coincidence of the situation and poetic texts on marble slabs;

(3) ‘real', ‘real', for example: I boldly put each of these words, because it was all literally (F.M. Dostoevsky. The writer's diary, 1876) – cf.: all this (i.e. joy, delight) was literal – real, real, and the words correspond to what was in reality; Time is literally, here I am writing this line, and my life has been extended by these letters, and the life of the reader is now on the same letters reduced (M. Shishkin. Venerin volos (2004) // "Banner", 2005) – time is real.

Despite the possibility of functioning as a short adjective of the neuter gender, the main types of use of the word literally can be considered an adverb and a particle, since the homonymous adjectival form is characterized by single uses, often of an individual author's nature.

The adverb is literally

Adverbial uses literally count 180 uses in the material from the NKRYA. The following features can literally be attributed to the signs of an adverb: it adjoins the predicate, usually expressed by a verb; the nature of "attachment" literally to the verb is verbatim; the function of a sentence member (circumstance); the possibility of entering into a number of homogeneous sentence members; the presence of synonyms and antonyms – "indisputable" adverbs; the possibility of using a literally negative particle is not E. S. Yakovleva also notes the postposition of the adverb literally in relation to the verb; the location of the phrasal stress on the adverb, and not on the verb; the possibility of combining the adverb literally with words that have the meaning of degree, because the sign indicated by the adverb is graded (very, almost, too literally) ^{[27, p. 261]}.

The analysis of the factual material showed that, in general, depending on the nature of compatibility (on the meaning of the verb to which it literally adjoins) and the context, five types of the use of adverbs literally can be distinguished, in which:

(1) the text, phrase, speech work is understood, interpreted verbatim, which can be expressed (a) by speech or mental action: Even from today's Lithuanian, Nemiga translates literally as "insomnia" (S. Harevsky. On shaky ground // "Inviolable reserve", 2010); Of course, a service is a service, but besides the letter of the law there is also a spirit. And the assistant chief understood the laws literally (D. Sabitova. Circus in a box, 2007); (b) by a non-verbal action that corresponds to the words: Devoted to the core of his fundamental precepts, he almost literally followed the slogan "The end justifies the means" (E. Parnov. Alexandrian gem, 1990);

(2) the text, the phrase is reproduced exactly, verbatim: When August later literally retold Timati's speech about the Castle to me, I was not at all surprised (A. Piatigorsky. An ancient Man in the City // "October", 2001).  In cases 1 and 2, there is a characteristic compatibility of the adverb with the meaning ‘in exact accordance with the meaning of the words’, ‘literally’;

(3) a non-verbal phenomenon (a fact of reality, an event, an action, etc.) is verbalized, i.e. its essence, character, sequence of actions, etc. is conveyed in words very accurately, the words correspond to the facts: To be honest, I do not share a passion for factography, I do not understand the desire to literally reproduce the actual at all costs the incident. I am for free fantasy in the selected material, of course, after careful study. I'm not afraid to admit – I'm for WRITING. Well, apparently, it's time to move on to the conversation about writing scripts (S. Lungin. Seen in reality, 1989-1996);

(4) a non-verbal phenomenon (fact of reality, event, action, etc.) is reproduced nonverbally, repeats, there is an exact correspondence of one nonverbal action or situation to another nonverbal action or situation:/.../ only the vice presidency under the highly rated Jackson opened the way for Van Buren to the presidency. A similar situation almost literally repeated itself a century and a half later in a bunch of Ronald Reagan – George Bush (talking about Bush Sr.) (Yu. Noses. From "vice" – to the president // "Science and Life", 2007); Judging by the shots included in the plot, "The House with the Lighthouse", if it does not look literally like an ideal clinic from the "Red Bracelets", then at least it will approach the ideal (And. Petrovskaya. The night of the "Red Bracelets" // Novaya Gazeta, 2018.08.2). In 3 and 4 types of use, there is less characteristic compatibility, the meaning of the adverb 'in exact accordance with something (non-verbal, non-verbal)’, ‘exactly’;

(5) the chosen word reflects the fact of reality, because it is used in the literal sense: Why do you always slip away from me – both literally and figuratively, in words? (T. Tronina. Mermaid for intimate meetings, 2004); From the ring on the western wall of the court at noon, a long strip of shadow falls directly on his figure, plunging him, literally and symbolically, into darkness (A. Martin. Are the gods of the ancient Maya cruel? // "Bulletin of the USA", 2003.08.20); I came to the most famous Karelian restaurant in Karelia: I had to spit and choke. And this is not just a turn of speech: he spat and choked, and quite literally, because some dishes could not be eaten (Petrov Internet channel. Journeys. Yandex.Zen. 26.02.2022). This is an uncharacteristic compatibility for the adverb, in the conditions of which the meaning of ‘in reality’, ‘in fact’, ‘for real' is formed. Otherwise, this usage can be qualified as a metalanguage with a pragmatic meaning ‘literally’, ‘not figuratively'. Literally used with a component that has both direct and figurative meaning. The speaker insists on a direct reading of the meanings of verbs as the only interpretation, or along with a figurative meaning. Cf. a prepositive particle literally, which shows the figurative or expressive nature of the meaning of the component being allocated: literally spat and choked – did not like the food in the restaurant at all, but in fact did not spit and choked.

The particle is literally

Non-vernacular uses literally account for about 1,900 of the 2,100 occurrences of the NKRR. The particle has two types of usage, differing in the nature of the component marked by the particle and the pragmatic attitude of the speaker. One of these types of usage has been studied most fully in Russian studies, but mainly in compatibility with a predicative component – a word with a figurative meaning.

The first type of particle usage is literally

The features of the modal literally were characterized in the works of E. S. Yakovleva: does not allow any additional modifications, is not graded; does not stand out with a logical accent; does not have an independent syntactic position in the sentence; is always in preposition to the assessment that it intensifies; in conjunction with the predicate acts as a metaphorizing operator; stylistically marked, often expressive; serves various circumstances (mainly quantitative) ^{[27, pp. 267-272]}. L. P. Krysin notes such signs of the particle literally as the inability to make a repeat question, because the particle cannot "be in reme"; negation cannot be in front of the particle ^{[10, p. 104]}. The author sees the reason for the inability to "combine with negation and with words of amplifying semantics" in the fact that the meaning of "amplifying-modal particles of the type literally does not contain an assertive part" – unlike an adverb, "with the assertive (affirmative) part of the lexical meaning" of which the meanings of the negative particle and the words of amplifying semantics interact [Ibid.]. The differences between a homonymous adverb and a particle are that "the meaning of a combination containing such a particle seems to contradict the literal meaning" of the adverb [Ibid., p. 103]. E. S. Yakovleva calls the modal literally an antonym to the adverb, because it is "a kind of text signal to the addressee of speech: "Don't take me literally!"" ^{[27, p. 263]}. V. V. Vinogradov included this literally among the units used in the case when "the speaker does not seem to dare to recognize his words as an adequate reflection of reality or the only possible form of expression of the transmitted thought", and serving as a means of "evaluating the style itself, the way of expression" ^{[5, p. 577]}.

Our material shows that usually the particle protrudes in relation to the marked component in contact and in preposition. Postposition and distant location are possible in colloquial speech, for example:As a result, / well / different ones can ... depending on which system / output the control system / energy system / you never know.. the satellite is stuffed with ... literally electronic equipment (G. Zherebtsov. Space weather . The Academia project (GTRK Culture), 2010); And how / no matter how you plant digger fibroblasts / letter ... literally there will be five to ten cells in a Petri dish and they do not grow further - they feel each other and contact inhibition occurs (V. Skulachev. Nomo Sapiens Liberatus: A man freed from the tyranny of the genome. The Academia Project (GTRK Kultura), 2010).

In the available fact file, typical uses of the literal particle are presented as a metaphorizing operator indicating similarity, similarity, or, more precisely, as an indicator of "displacement along a series of intensity" (with hyperbole or litote) ^{[27, pp. 267-272]}. For example: The last one on our way was Shurik, to whom I literally flew into the arms (V. A. Yarmolinets. Adventure with a green card // "Volga", 2009), as well as (in abbreviations): the shock literally paralyzed her; transport literally flooded the streets; traditions literally cemented the scientific community; knowledge was literally hammered into the young man; the body literally sang with happiness; the boys literally got stuck in the window, etc. The syntactic component of the utterance marked with a particle denotes the "extreme" degree of manifestation of the sign, in connection with which T. V. Shmeleva notes that "literally it tends to evaluative indicators with an implicit component of 'very'" ^{[25, p. 89]}, cf.: The book, of course, sold an implausible, literally Chinese edition (e. Pischikova. Five-storey Russia // "Russian Life", 2008) – i.e. a very large circulation. It is not by chance that the particle is used with components introduced by the union as, in the meaning of which there is the same meaning, for example: After all, the nature of mushrooms is such that they literally "pull" heavy metal salts out of the soil on which they grow (T. Zimina. Champignons against opyat // "Science and Life", 2008) – i.e. very quickly and intensively.

The use of particles with various phraseological combinations has a similar character, for example: In our village, the people took this story very acutely, everyone was literally on their ears ("Not every day there is a chance to save someone's life" // Novaya Gazeta, 2018.10.31); We literally dug the ground with our noses, carefully measuring and fixing the track of the wheels of a wheelbarrow /.../ (E. Topilskaya. Remember death (memento mori), 2005), as well as (in abridgment): /.../ to get acquainted with the same eighth story, which is literally just around the corner; /.../ lessons where everyone sat literally with their mouth open; /.../ literally stepping on the throat of our immense respect for to the minister; /.../ in the case of that concert, you literally caused fire on yourself; /.../ Koloskov literally with a knife to his throat – let's go and go; /.../ I was shaking all night with fear. Literally, the tooth on the tooth did not fall under.

With expressive synonyms in the appropriate contexts, the particle is used as an "intensifier" ^{[27, p. 264]}. See, for example: We all literally worshipped the Priest (L. Charskaya. Notes of the institute) – i.e. very much loved; Frozen vegetables. Literally forever. Alas, the taste of frozen vegetables may not change for the better over the years. But it is still safe to eat them even a decade after their expiration date has ended (13 products that can be eaten after the expiration date // MAXIMonline. Yandex.Zen. 13.09.2021) – i.e. they retain their properties for a very long time and under.

In all these cases, the component marked with a particle expresses the meaning of the feature in its extreme manifestation, and the speaker softens the chosen method of nomination, cf. a more "soft" version with a particle and a more "hard" one without it: he literally yelled at him and he yelled at him; the news literally shocked me and the news shocked me, etc., as in the cases literally sang with happiness and his body sang with happiness and under. The speaker, making an extreme assessment of the described fact, admits that the words chosen for this may seem harsh, categorical, unexpected to the addressee. In our opinion, the particle is literally used like insertion expressions, I am not afraid of this word and dare to say so, functioning, according to the definition of M. V. Lyapon, as a "shock absorber softening the extreme" ^{[13, p. 53]}. But the author considers the word literally in a series of metatextual means that focus on the metaphorical meaning of the word – the highlighted component, at the same time "emphasizing its correspondence to the designated" [Ibid., pp. 46-47]. In such uses as Garusov got richer and richer, and the richer he became, the more greed seized him. He literally starved the workers on heavy mining work, M. V. Lyapon notes, "there is a kind of bifurcation of the assessed: the language form becomes the direct object, and the criterion, losing its own modal significance (reality / unreality), is transformed into the problem of "conformity of form to content"" [Ibid., p. 47].

In typical use with components with a quantity value (about 650 occurrences) literally indicates some distortion of reality in the way it is described by reducing the intensity. The component released by the particle can denote the number of objects, usually estimated as small: /.../ In short, your opinion… Literally in a nutshell ...; I want to redo literally a couple of stanzas – i.e. a little, briefly. Cf. the meaning of ‘a lot': /.../ There is such a world practice. Recently, when we were in China, we saw that literally dozens of such "buffer" innovative enterprises were organized around the Institute of High Energy Physics. And they help, in particular, the institute to solve its tasks (A. Sisakyan, E. Molchanov. "Choose the right growth points" // "Knowledge is power", 2005). In most cases, the particle marks the number of units of measurement of distance (less often – volume) and time: /.../ it is very close, literally half a meter away from it; I pour a little hot water, literally 1 third – very close and quite a bit; /.../ literally ten minutes later; within literally three days; literally in two weeks – very quickly, from the speaker's point of view. The selected component can be expressed by adverbs or adverbial combinations with the meaning of time or distance, including phraseologized ones that indicate the number not explicitly, but implicitly: the mayoral election is literally on the nose – soon; literally outside the apartment door – very close.

These uses are adjoined by combinations of particles with nouns in case forms of dates, vin., gender. case with prepositions (models literally +by +N3 / by+N4 / by +N2), having a degree value, for example: Microscopic information systems, nanobots, which literally collect everything by molecule that to your heart's content (S. Loginov. High technologies // "Science and Life", 2007); These figures are literally calculated to a penny by the Ministry of Finance (V. Tsygankov. The work of officials should be transparent // Nezavisimaya Gazeta, 2003.06.24) – very carefully, taking into account small parts.

 It is typical for a particle to use with pronominal words – adjectives or adverbs expressing the full coverage of any objects, signs (all, each, any, everywhere and under.) or complete negation - with negative pronouns and adverbs (nobody, nothing, nowhere, nowhere and under.). For example: The rarest case: literally everyone says only good things about the regional leader during his eight months in power (One in the field // "Expert", 2009) – And I literally can't find out from anyone (L. V. Nemtsev. Danube Magnolia (2005) // "Volga", 2008); /.../ I start talking about reducing spending on the army, and immediately I hear in response that the army is our main strength, and without it the enemies that surround us literally everywhere will instantly destroy us (One day of a Moscow schoolboy // Novaya Gazeta, 2018.06.01) – Which year are we looking for, just some kind of misfortune. Well, literally nowhere. And these yours were widely replicated, it's not interesting (i.e. Thick. Okkerville River, 1983). The effect of using a particle is similar to the one described above, cf.: all the seats are occupied – literally all the seats are occupied, i.e. there are a lot of occupied seats, so you can say everything.

According to L. P. Krysin, the particle is literally included in a number of lexical means of hyperbolization ^{[10, pp. 102-103]}. This understanding of the semantics of the modal is literally clarified by E. S. Yakovleva, pointing out the possibility of its use not only with exaggeration, but also with understatement as a sign to the addressee not to perceive the speaker's words in the literal sense ^{[26, 27]}.

In M. V. Lyapon's monograph, in particular, when analyzing the fact Shchepkin, in the full maturity of his talent, working on himself literally day and night, went forward every day and brought us all to admiration, a different assessment of the role of the "relativ literally" is given compared to the above: "the speaker warns that the formulation is not it should be perceived in a metaphorical or allegorical sense, and also devoid of hyperbolization" ^{[13, p. 47]}. T. V. Shmeleva, considering various cases of typical compatibility literally (literally in every forest / the best / the other day / in front of / on the move / choked / littered with papers / chorus; collected literally by thread), evaluates the role of the particle as a means of "reservations about exaggeration": literally, it is "an indicator of non-exaggeration" and "a sign of determination, insisting on this assessment" ^{[25, pp. 86-90]}.

The interpretation of a pragmatic nature is close to these points of view literally in the work of E. G. Borisova: "it serves to emphasize a high degree of a sign", which is "built on the correction of a number of possible conclusions" (of the addressee), since "the speaker believes that a very high degree / .../ can be perceived as an exaggeration, therefore clarifies that it is necessary to take literally, i.e. accurately" ^{[4, p. 93]}. Obviously, this understanding of the particle is based on its interpretation in the "Dictionary of Russian Particles" (when combined, I was literally stunned with delight, it costs literally a penny, we'll stop by for just a minute): "the metatext"particle"expresses the adequacy of the name, which can be perceived as unexpected" ^{[24, p. 31]}.

It can be argued that all researchers, following V. V. Vinogradov, are unanimous in understanding the role of literally in modal use as a means of evaluating the mode of expression, or metatext indicator, however, there are discrepancies in the qualification of its function: hyperbolizer, metaphorizing operator, indicator of distortion of the denoted, on the one hand, and indicator of non-exaggeration, adequacy of the name, lack of metaphoricity or allegorical – on the other.

Taking into account the presented interpretations of the unit under consideration, all the cases considered can be summed up under one type of particle use: literally appears with components having different syntactic, morphological and semantic characteristics, but combining on the basis of the value of the extreme degree of manifestation of the feature (both in the direction of exaggeration and in the direction of understatement), which is similar to the designated fact of reality, but is not identical to it; the similarity of the denoted and the denoting gives the speaker grounds to assert that the fact of reality can be assigned the nomination he has chosen as the most accurate way of describing, therefore he is confident in the adequacy of his assessment and wants to convince the addressee of this; at the same time, the speaker understands that the chosen nomination may seem to the addressee too harsh, categorical, therefore, he uses the particle to "soften" his assessment of the fact and the chosen words. The pragmatic attitude of the speaker can be formulated as follows: ‘although my words are not identical, they are very close to what actually takes place, therefore they are the most accurate way of nominating the described fact; in view of the extreme degree of manifestation of the signified feature, the nomination I have chosen may seem too categorical to you, therefore I warn you: do not take my words literally'. Literally shows that it is literally not literal (it is not literal), i.e. the speaker, using this literally, as if apologizing for using a "strong" means of nomination, for intensification, for the extreme of evaluation, but at the same time insists on it.

The second type of particle usage is literally

Following the authors of the Dictionary of Official Words of the Russian Language, we note the use of the particle literally in contexts with citations – with words like the following, as follows, in such expressions, as well as with verbs in the direct meaning ^{[18, pp. 69-71]}. Cases of the particle being combined with verbs in the figurative meaning, but with "erased" metaphoricity (the news literally surprised me/ shocked/ shocked me) [Ibid., p.69] we refer to the first type of use of a literal intensifier, since a pragmatic effect similar to the one described above is created here.

In the typical use of the type literally the following, literally in such words and under. the meaning of the particle is connected with the speaker's desire to convince the addressee that the words he is now pronouncing correspond to those that were uttered earlier (by someone else or by the speaker himself), i.e. in their exact quoting, although the words themselves or their content may seem strange, unexpected and under., for example: He answered literally the following: "Of course, a Soviet person would not have done this" (G. V. Andreevsky. The daily life of Moscow in the Stalin era, 2008); To this Nikanor Ivanovich, laughing a terrible laugh, answered literally like this: – I am Nikanor, of course, Nikanor! But what kind of chairman am I? (M. Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita); Sukhomlinov, on the proposal of the Sovereign to express his opinion, answered literally in these words: – I agree with the opinion of the Chairman of the Council and ask permission to send telegrams to Generals Ivanov and Skalon that mobilization should not be carried out (V. N. Kokovtsev. From my past, 1933).

A similar pragmatic effect is created in cases not related to speech activity, when a particle acts with a component with a direct meaning. According to the speaker, the addressee may find the fact itself strange, cf.: At first no one took the situation seriously, and then the locals were not joking – the families literally began to run out of food supplies (the Internet channel "Max Kolgin". Yandex.Zen. 1.10.2021.); Boris Shcherbakov complained recently that the performances were canceled, and he is literally digging potatoes in the country to feed himself (Yandex.Zen. 18.12.2020). The particle in these cases is synonymous with the expression in the literal sense of the word. Such a meaning is close to the meaning of an adverb literally (‘literally’, ‘not figuratively’, ‘in accordance with the direct meaning of words’), but for a particle it is not a qualitative characterizing meaning of a non-procedural sign of action, but a pragmatic meaning. Cf. without a particle and with a particle: he said the following and he said literally the following; he dug potatoes in the country and he literally dug potatoes in the country and under. The component allocated by the particle does not denote the extreme degree of manifestation of the feature and does not have the meaning of similarity, similarity; usually it is a word with a direct meaning that is identical to the fact indicated. However, the fact itself can be perceived as strange, unusual, not meeting expectations, causing confusion and confusion. Therefore, the particle, as in the first type of use, acts as a metalanguage indicator – a "softening" means, but the speaker seems to apologize for using the word in the direct meaning, for "literalization". Literally shows that literally literally (i.e. is literal). Literally, the second type of use gives a different attitude: ‘what is described is strange or surprising, so you may not believe me, but it was as I say – literally (literally) meaning of the word; take my words literally.’

Thus, the role of a particle literally in both cases is to create a pragmatic attitude, but the content of this attitude is different.

Conclusions

The lexeme literally in modern Russian appears in three grammatical implementations: a short adjective in the form of a singular of the neuter gender, an adverb, a particle. These implementations differ on the basis of syntactic properties and functions – in the presence of a common semantic base (an invariant semantic component ‘exact correspondence to words / the meaning of words’), which determines the multifunctional nature of the unit under consideration. The main types of use of a multifunctional word are literally an adverb and a particle, since the use of a short adjective of the neuter gender has a single and mostly individual authorial character.

The connection between a particle in the first type of use and an adverb is literally based on an intraverbial antonymy, since in its non–significant implementation it literally acts as an antonym to an adverb - in accordance with the existing trend in the functioning of a number of particles of adverbial origin (simply, directly, purely, etc.). The formation of the particle's meaning ‘in the literal (direct) the meaning of the word ' in the relevant contexts, in its pragmatic essence, antonymous to the first type of "particular" use, is due to the existing semantic base – the meaning of the adverb literally.

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