On Phenomenon “Language Unit Functioning” in Conception of s.p. Lopushanskaya

The article states that the notion "language unit functioning" is central to the linguistic conception of the famous Russian scientist Professor Sofia Petrovna Lopushanskaya. This term is characterized by the authors from three perspectives. It correlates with the notion "text": the functioning of language units is considered as their use in the context of an utterance equal to a sentence; as their selection and organization aimed at pursuing certain goals in an integrated text, in particular, forwarding the semantic dominant of the text and providing the text-forming function of the language unit; as a reflection by means of language units of a person's worldview, peculiarities of thinking, the degree of the subject's involvement (the author and/or other people) in the events described, their manifestation of linguistic personality. The implementation of the "language unit functioning" phenomenon in the conception under consideration is illustrated by the research results reflected in the publications of Professor Lopushanskaya. The formulated by the professor system-and-functional principle, which involves an analysis of the entire variety of internal and external connections of language units in their interaction, lies at the core of the integrated approach to language studies, which Sophia Petrovna Lopushanskaya considered utterly distinguishing among modern linguistic approaches and which can be called the leading one in her scientific theory.

linguistic personality · Russian linguistics · Text · text-forming function · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · Linguistic research and analysis · Linguistics and Language Studies