Functional and semantic specificity of the elements of the “poverty” microfield in the Russian language

The aim of the study is to identify the semantic features and contextual adaptability of predicates of social status in contemporary Russian language. The article, based on materials from the Russian National Corpus, conducts a comprehensive analysis of the use of basic lexemes within the semantic microfield of “poverty” in texts of various styles and genres: artistic, scientific, and journalistic. The scientific novelty of this research lies in a multi-faceted approach to studying predicates of social status and examining their functional-semantic features, which allows a more comprehensive illumination of the role of these lexemes in the linguistic representation of social changes. As a result of the conducted research, it was established that the lexemes бедность (poverty), бедный (poor), and беднеть (to become poor) are actively used in contemporary Russian language, having significant emotional and socio-cultural meaning. Thus, each of these words is an important means of describing the social and economic aspects of life, reflecting not only changes in society but also the material and psychological aspects of the state of poverty. The study confirms the significance of these lexemes in creating socio-psychological contexts and their influence on the formation of social attitudes and assessments, which testifies to the deep interconnection between language and societal processes.