SADNESS as a linguocultural concept: from definition to discursive scenarios

In modern linguistics, special attention is focused on the understanding of the triad "language-culture-person," which determines the relevance of scientific research aimed at reconstructing fragments of the linguistic picture of the world of speakers of a particular language or concepts. Researchers are particularly interested in concepts that have a pronounced national marking or linguocultural concepts. The goal of our study is to reconstruct the conceptual and figurative features of the linguocultural concept of SADNESS (TOSKA), as well as to identify the dynamics of the semantic volume of the concept's name based on the analysis of lexicographical sources, the National Corpus of the Russian Language, and works of fiction. In this article, the concept of TOSKA is understood as a culturally marked unit of study, possessing a multilayered meaning and a broad range of linguistic representations. Methodologically, the work is aimed at reconstructing the conceptual core based on explanatory and etymological dictionaries, identifying typical contexts and combinatorial models using the National Corpus of the Russian Language, and describing discursive scenarios of experiencing TOSKA based on texts of literary works, which allows linking linguistic representation with culturally established ways of understanding the analyzed state. In this study, the model of the linguocultural concept of TOSKA, its conceptual and figurative features, as well as their dynamics, are reconstructed for the first time. It has been discovered that TOSKA is associated among Russian speakers with "a crushing emotional state that can lead to physical illness," with "an evaluation, atmosphere, complex of emotions." Analysis of data from the National Corpus of the Russian Language allows us to conclude that TOSKA is often understood as "a prolonged background state that influences a person's behavior and is uncontrollable." In literary texts, the concept of TOSKA is verbalized as "a feeling of emptiness, anxiety, as a negative emotion." At the same time, in some contexts, TOSKA can be understood as a "romantic experience," meaning it can change its tonality from negative to positive, accompanying feelings of love.