This article aims to analyse the theoretical foundations of systematizing students’ punctuation skills and updating methodological conditions for optimizing this process. An analytical review of the data of modern linguistics, psycholinguistics, didactics and methodology was conducted, as well as the author’s extensive practical experience was generalized. While studying theoretical sources and practical experience, the necessity of implementing active cognitive activity in training, based on selection and control mechanisms, was recognized. The systematization of students’ punctuation skills is achieved by stimulating students’ intensive cognitive activity using problem-based learning methods under the dominance of the inductive method, which is implemented in the techniques of conversation, language visibility, differentiation, comparison, sentence composition and table analysis. Conclusions are drawn about the importance of systematizing knowledge and skills for the development of students’ cognitive abilities.

The article describes types of assignments used in teaching the infinitive in lessons on syntax in grades 8–9. The proposed assignments help students recognize the unity of different levels of the language system. A functional approach to the study of Russian grammar is manifested in the organization of lessons devoted to principal and subordinate parts of a sentence, one-member sentences, homogeneous parts, introductory phrases, compound sentences, syndetic and asyndetic complex sentences. The proposed assignments tested during secondary school lessons included sentence analysis for language phenomenon identification, in some cases involving a grouping of sentences; transformation of syntactic constructions; writing compositions with a grammatical setting; linguostylistic analysis of a poem. The article presents an approach to forming the linguistic competence of students and the development of their speech skills.

The aim of the study was to justify the choice of such a writing assignment as a written reproduction (Rus: izlozhenie) as a synthesizing and developing form of educational activity in grades 5–11. To this end, the educational potential of reproducing an unfamiliar literary text was revealed, and a methodological system of developing written reproductions was created in correlation with the material being taught during the lessons of Russian language and Russian literature. When creating a system of written reproduction assignments, an analysis of studies reflecting the leading trends in the methodology of Russian language teaching (i.e. the convergence of lessons of the Russian language and Russian literature, meta-subjects modeling and interpreting activities, linguocultural and conceptual analyses), as well as the results of pedagogical practice, was carried out. The presented system with a complex of assignments gradually increasing in complexity develops both the logical and sensory-emotional sphere of students’ thinking, facilitates the formation of a creative linguistic personality and reading skills, as well as takes into account the requirements for graduates during the State final certification, contributing to a more successful result.

The article explores the multi-layered nature of the short story «Gambrinus» by A. I. Kuprin, which is represented by the profane and sacred spheres in their relationship. To this end, the author considers biblical symbols as a deep coding device and an important mechanism of cultural memory. The methods of comparative and associative analysis are used. The article draws parallels between biblical images and the main character of the story. In her conclusions, the author relies on the ideosphere of A. I. Kuprin, primarily on his religious and prosaic experience.

The article considers the poem by S. A. Yesenin «You have been used by someone else ...», which was included in the «Hooligans’s Love» cycle. In an attempt to determine the place of autumn motives in the poet’s love lyrics, the author of the article seeks to characterize the place of this poem in the poet’s work in the early 20th century. The author carries out a linguostylistic analysis of the text using the methods of comparative and associative analysis. The article shows the transformation of love lyrics in Yesenin’s work, the relationship of the poem with the «Tavern Moscow» cycle and his subsequent works. The author focuses on the linguistic means of realizing the inner self of the lyrical hero and his connection with the image of his beloved and the world around him. The article draws a conclusion about the significance of the poem «You have been used by someone else ...» in Yesenin’s creative work; it is shown that the poet perceives the autumn of life as a turning point associated with gaining clarity in understanding of the world, the advent of calm, but sad wisdom.

The article discusses the functioning of phraseological units in the language of M. A. Sholokhov’s prose and their role in creating a linguistic picture of the world. The research objectives were to describe various types of phraseological units, to show the methods of introducing them into the literary text and to identify approaches used by the writer to create new phraseological units. To this end, the methods of structural-semantic, component and comparative analysis were used, along with statistical description and contextual analysis. It is concluded that phraseological units, being figuratively emotionally expressive signs of the language, reveal the figurative and artistic world of the writer. The idiostyle of M. A. Sholokhov is largely determined by the widespread use of dialect phraseology and the creation of phraseologisms – structural and semantic modifications of linguistic units and the writer’s idioms.

The article discusses the features of diminutives in modern Russian speech. The focus is on the use of expressive diminutives, mainly nouns. The main areas of the use of derivatives with suffixes of subjective assessment in Russian speech at the turn of the 21th century are distinguished: unceremonious treatment, communication with children, the gastronomic sphere and consumer service situations. The evaluative ambivalence of expressive diminutives and an increase in the number of contexts involving these derivative words to express irony are stated. A number of trends in the use of expressive diminutives in modern Russian speech are revealed: the use of derivative words, in which the affix semantics contradict the meaning of the stem, and the distribution of status category words and adverbs with diminutive suffixes. The role of diminutives in the Russian language picture of the world and its dynamics associated with changes in the nature of the use of the derivatives in question are emphasized.

The article considers word-building neologisms as a reflection of the current epidemic situation in the world. The material for the analysis was mass media texts. The sociocultural aspect of the language of the media led to the emergence of a large number of new nominations. The author makes an attempt to single out the common ways of word formation (prefixation, suffixation) and notes the expansion of affixoids. With the help of neologisms, journalists express a negative attitude towards the epidemic situation in the world, exert a psychological influence on the reader, ironically comprehend the surrounding reality, bring media communication closer to speaking, and designate high-tech phenomena. The author describes such occasional methods of word formation as contamination, tmesis, interword overlapping and substitutional derivation. The study reveals that occasional derivative means allow journalists to achieve a comic effect, attract the attention of the addressee; violating the principle of the integrity of the word, as well as to express negative expression. Structural-semantic and derivational types of analysis of innovations are carried out. It is concluded that extralinguistic factors have a great impact on the language.

The article is devoted to the concept of a rule as a tool of scientific and orthological description. A rule is a conventional kind of scientific interpretation in any writing system, such as the description of morphological types in morphology or syntactic models in syntax. In this regard, rules must comply with the requirements for tools of scientific and orthological description. A rule as a tool for scientific description should be internally consistent and not contradict other rules, clearly define the described range of phenomena, cover all cases, clearly distinguish between the scope of the rule and the scope of the dictionary, be terminologically correct. As an orthological tool, a rule should not only correspond to the modern norm, but also determine the vector for future codifications. As a modern orthological tool, a rule should be accompanied by a commentary. The purpose of this commentary is to show the reader the scientific and methodological validity of both a general approach to describing the problems of different sections of the spelling, and each specific rule, to present a range of different interpretations of a particular spelling and justify the proposed one. The proposed description is based on the authors’ theoretical views on writing as a self-developing system and on the role of codifiers as a subjective factor in the development of this system. The conclusions are based on studies of historical changes in each spelling rule and writing in general, as well as modern fluctuations observed in spelling practice and directions for their elimination. This article reveals the authors’ approach to creating a commented set of rules for Russian spelling – a complete, consistent, scientific description of writing in the common form of rules that meets modern standards.

The article discusses the sociocultural aspects of the parents choosing a personal name for their child in foreign cultural environment. In order to find out the motivation for choosing a name by parents in 2017–2019, a pilot sociolinguistic experiment was conducted in monoor multilingual families inFinland. The research methods were chosen: the method of sociolinguistic questionnaire, focused interviews, the method of verification, the case study method. The total number of children’s names which were analyzed is 57. Main types of motivation in naming in mono-and polylingual families are historical/cultural, linguistic (phonological/phonetic, associative/semantic) and religious/mystical reasons.

The article is dedicated to the outstanding Russian lexicographer Sergey Ivanovich Ozhegov, the creator of the famous one-volume normative «Dictionary of the Russian Language». The article reflects the life of the scholar; describes his personality; presents his work with the team of D. N. Ushakov on the preparation of the «Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language»; considers the main ideas of the scholar, which formed the basis of the «Small Explanatory Dictionary»; characterizes his practical activity in solving the problems of norm codification of the Russian literary language.

The article is dedicated to theLeningradperiod of S. I. Ozhegov’s activity (1926–1936), which is insufficiently described in biographical works devoted to the scholar. The period of his post-graduate studies and work at theInstituteofLanguagesand Literature of the West and the East is briefly described. Based on archival materials, interesting facts are presented about the graduate studies of S. I. Ozhegov: the study of Russian participles in the context of the history of the Russian literary language, the development of the question of the first South Slavic influence on the literary language, the work in a research group on compiling Russian dialectology bibliography, and the participation in the compilation of a card index on the article and bibliographic material of the “Russian Philological Bulletin” journal, a joint work with B. A. Larin on the study of vernacular and the city language, etc. The article discusses little known lexicographic projects, on which S. I. Ozhegov worked in 1920–1930s: the vocabulary for “Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboedov (edited by L. V. Shcherba) and “Draft Dictionary of the Revolutionary Era”. Particular attention is paid to the academic explanatory «Dictionary of the Russian language», edited by N. S. Derzhavin, in which S. I. Ozhegov was the compiler of the issue “D – Dayatelny” (1937). The vocabulary, semantic development of words, illustrative material, etc., of this dictionary are briefly reviewed. Work on this issue was an important stage in the formation of S. I. Ozhegov’s lexicographic experience and presents particular interest, since it was carried out in parallel with the work on the first volume of the “Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language” edited by D. N. Ushakov.

The article considers the main stages of the scientific activity of academician O. N. Trubachev and analyses the most important works from his vast toponymic heritage. The methods used by the scholar to reconstruct the oldest layers of toponymic vocabulary from different regions and establish reliable etymologies are described. The significance of O. N. Trubachev’s works for the development of the theory and practice of modern toponymy and the popularization of toponymic knowledge is shown. The peculiarities of the author’s presentation style are noted.