Lexeme “luchshee” (the best) in modern advertising: linguistic forensic examinations

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the Russian word “luchshee” (the best) as an object of linguistic forensic examinations. The formal interpretation of a number of specific provisions of the Federal Law “On advertising” determines the conflict potential of texts that implement the strategy of advantages of goods or trademarks or commercial offers over others. The Russian word “luchshee” (the best) in the advertising discourse is traditionally considered as a direct indication of the competitive advantages of the product or trademark. The article attempts to prove the thesis that the semantic content of the Russian word “luchshee” (the best) in advertising does not imply a strictly mandatory reference to the product characteristics and competitive advantages of the characterized object. As a material of the study, real expert cases are used, in which the linguist is tasked to give answers to questions about the semantic content of the text, including the Russian word “luchshee” (the best). Functional and semantic characteristics of the lexeme are different (comparative, superlative, substantive). Since the Russian word “luchshee” (the best) reflects the speaker’s subjective attitude, use of superlative does not imply a mandatory comparison of the object with other similar objects. The use of the evaluative word form of the substantive is explained by the tendency of speech expressivisation and hyperbolization, which are an important characteristic of a modern advertising text. It is necessary to take into account the factor of contextual conditionality of the meaning of the Russian word “luchshee” (the best), as well as its syntagmatic environment. The combination of the Russian word “luchshee” (the best) with the word in a figurative sense eliminates the speech strategy of the advantage of one object over the others.