THE SEMANTIC ZONE OF CAUSATIVITY IN RUSSIAN (BASED ON THE RUSSIAN CONSTRUCTICON)

Abstract

The article explores the semantic zone of causativity in contemporary Russian. The aim of the study is to provide a comprehensive description of linguistic means expressing cause-effect relations between animate participants where a causer intentionally influences the will and actions of another person. The material comprises data from the Russian Constructicon, an electronic resource that systematizes stable syntactic patterns of the Russian language. Continuous sampling was used to select 70 patterns out of 108 constructions with causative semantics. The chosen patterns had to meet the criterion of animacy for both the causer and the causee. The methodology is based on C. Fillmore’s principles of Construction Grammar. The study employs constructional analysis, semantic classification and quantitative method. The results show that the selected constructions form a functional-semantic field. Its core consists of the zone of inducement (38 constructions) that includes the following types: inducement to perform an action (16), autocausation (7), covert inducement (7), inducement to suspend (3), inducement to cease (3) and inducement to move (2). The pre-core zone is formed by the microfield of command (10). The near periphery displays request (5). The far periphery includes prohibition (4), threat (4), advice (3), coercion (2), and warning (2). This organization reflects a continuum of causative strategies - from direct to indirect coercion, mitigated influence that considers social norms of politeness and the communicative context. The analysis demonstrates that Russian syntactic constructions consistantly reflect not only the causative relation itself but also pragmatic parameters of social interaction, such as the degree of impact, social distance, politeness standards and communicative intentions.