Linguopragmatics of the Concept «derecho/right» in Spanish- and Russian- language discourse space

Abstract

The article analyses the linguopragmatic aspects of the concept DERECHO/PRAVO (‘right’), a fundamental one for society and the state, in Spanish- and Russian-language legal, media and everyday discourses. The research aimed to study the semantic characteristics of this concept when used by professional communicators in legal discourse, as well as to establish its semantic variation and pragmatic potential when used outside of the professional discursive environment, primarily in media and everyday discourses, where this concept has become widespread due to the particular social significance of the semantic and value component within the concept’s semantic core. The relevance of the article consists in viewing the universal concept DERECHO/PRAVO, which has a special cultural importance, as a component of various discursive practices, allowing us to carry out a comprehensive comparative analysis of changes in its linguopragmatic characteristics as a result of terminologization and determinologization. The novelty of the research lies in studying the variation of the concept’s semantic features in three discursive spaces and in taking into account the linguistic specifics of its use in Russian- and Spanish-language sources. The paper is based on the cross-discursive approach, which includes a comparative analysis of the use of the lexeme derecho/pravo in two dimensions: inside its own discursive space and outside of it (in media and everyday discourses), and in the Russian- and Spanish-language discursive space. It was established that in legal discourse, this lexeme is used as a term and a basic concept, while outside of professional discourse, it manifests the properties of the concept DERECHO/PRAVO from the standpoint of the linguocultural and linguocognitive approaches.