The Semantics of the Russian Word Tuda-Syuda: A Corpus-Based Research

The article analyzes the semantics of the Russian deictic adverb tuda-syuda as exemplified in the main sub-corpus of the Russian National Corpus (RNC). According to explanatory dictionaries, the semantic structure of the word includes three clusters of meanings: the first one is locative meanings, the second one is the meanings of manner, the third one is the meanings of tuda-syuda as a predicate. Observations on the language material from the RNC have revealed the meanings of the word under analysis that are not recorded by the dictionaries. So, the locative meaning of the dynamic spectrum can be replaced by the static one when the word tuda-syuda expresses the meaning ‘in different places’; acting as a predicate, tuda-syuda can be close in meaning to tak sebe or function as a euphemism replacing a taboo verb. The range of the meanings of manner expands due to the meanings ‘randomly, without discrimination’, ‘fairly well-to-do’, ‘completely, entirely’. In the body of the analyzed texts the word tuda-syuda reveals a meaning of an approximation marker (a substitute for the entire enumeration or its part), as well as a temporary and a discursive meaning. It is shown that in the case of substantivisation the adverb tuda-syuda reflects the inclusion of elements of somebody else’s speech into the speaker's or acts as a nomination that condenses the meaning of the context. The analysis of the semantics of the word tuda-syuda has revealed typical contexts in which these meanings are realized.