“Russian Language Extension” in Media Discourse and Principles of Linguoecology

Solzhenitsyn's formulation used in the title of the archaic lexis dictionary (Dictionary of the Russian Language Extension) contained the idea: “Archaisms very often do not deserve "premature death" and should be used in order to protect the Russian language from the harmful average standard”. Solzhenitsyn's idea is believed not to be developed and followed. Meanwhile, the analysis of modern media shows that the best texts invariably include units not from central common lexis. Nowadays archaization and dearchaization of lexis are natural and active language processes. A characteristic feature of the Russian language development at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries is fairly considered to be the archaization of lexis that is objectively "chronologically stable". The article is devoted to the analysis of functions of archaic lexis in the media discourse from the point of view of modern linguistic ecology ideas. Archaisms are necessary for the modern language to nuance the thought, they are necessary as an opportunity to create a pathos media text, as a tropeic means with the widest range. Based on the modern media text the authors used communicative and pragmatic analysis study the role of archaic lexis in the creation of figurativeness and expressiveness.