On the Components of the Conversational Comparative Evaluative Construction <kuda Х do Y>

The article is devoted to the description of the comparative-evaluative construction <kuda Х do Y>, which has stable components kuda do, as well as varying components (slots) X and Y. The meaning of this construction is not deduced from the meanings of its components and can be formulated as follows: 'Х is inferior to Y in certain attributes, that depend on the context and can be manifested both explicitly and implicitly'. The material for the study was 463 contexts, including this construction, from the oral and newspaper sub-corps of the National Corpus of the Russian Language, as well as from the General Internet Corpus of the Russian Language. Contexts represent spoken written speech as well as spoken spontaneous or quasi-spontaneous speech characterized by a certain degree of preparedness. The focus of the article is on characterizing the varying components of the construction, which, depending on the situation, can be expressed in different ways. The comparative-evaluative nature of this construction is demonstrated, and some contextual features that can emphasize this comparison are identified. These include the use of several objects in one position, particles that reinforce the evaluation implying inconsistencies of objects with each other, isolated use of constructions with exclamatory intonation, and cluttering the text with synonymous units with the semantics of comparison.