Emphasizing and Neutralizing the Opposition "Friend or Foe" at the Level of Jokes
The article presents an analysis of the nature of translating and semantic encoding the opposition “friend or foe” in the modern Russian language. The material is based on the sample of jokes containing the opposition ‘friend or foe” which were collected on the portal “Anecdotes from Russia” (https://www.anekdot.ru/). The multiple expressions of the “friend or foe” opposition are that it exists at different levels and in the course of its existence is constantly emphasizing and neutralizing itself. The former creates and maintains the opposition, and the latter destroys it. Neutralization is associated with a change in the semantics of the opposition components into its opposite and the transfer of this opposition into the category of other oppositions. It is the ratio of emphasizing and neutralizing processes that makes the opposition important for each language community. The problem of the semantic content of the opposition in the Russian language is manifested in the fact that the processes of opposition neutralization are as powerful as the processes of emphasizing it. This is supported by a plurality of speech facts. The quality of balancing each other opposite trends shows that the opposition at the linguistic level in the Russian language is removed now. The problem of predicting the significance of the opposition stems from the fact that at any moment the opposition can actualize itself for a particular group. The distribution of the opposite processes can be brought under control, which assumes constantly accounting the use of the marked language in large text arrays and stuffing them with units containing the opposite estimating meaning. The materials of the modern Russian language show that the processes of neutralizing the opposition are no less strong than the processes of its emphasizing. The presence of two opposing tendencies that counterbalance each other makes it possible to say that the opposition is removed. At any period of time, the opposition may become updated. The current state of the communication space makes it possible to control the spread of the antagonistic processes. The perception of the opposition as organized by two opposite tendencies enables us to avoid one-sided view on the complex factors which determine the nature of the national groups’ existence.