The complexity and vagueness of the semantics of the words vulgar, vulgarity makes us first of all turn to special linguistic literature and explanatory dictionaries.

V. V. Vinogradov, considering the history of the formation of the modern meaning, points out that the word vulgar is Russian, folk and distinguishes the following meanings: "1) old, ancient, ancestral, originally belonging; 2) former, ordinary" (Vinogradov V. V. Istoriya slov. Moscow, 1999, p. 531). He believed that the negative connotation of meaning in the semantics of the word vulgar was formed at the end of the XVII-beginning of the XVIII century.

Meanwhile, explanatory dictionaries record the adjective vulgar only from the middle of the XIX century. The 1847 Dictionary of Church Slavonic and Russian explains the word we are interested in as follows: "Vulgar - 1. Low quality, very ordinary, unimportant. Vulgar painting in pictures drenches the infancy of art. 2. Low, rustic. Vulgar speeches. 3. Old. The former has long been a custom, or in use. And the riders go the vulgar way. 4. Old. Ancient, ancestral, belonging to someone for a long time. And my people are vulgar ,... and those people are half my children. A vulgar fool is the same as a beaten or perfect fool." Modern usage is indicated only by the example given as an illustration of the second meaning: vulgar speech.

The" modern "semantics of the word is fixed by V. I. Dahl, placing the word vulgar in the article duty:" old. Old, old, that is old conducted; old, old, is(spo)equestrian. Now: beaten, well-known, fucked up, out of custom; indecent, revered by the rude, simple, low, mean, square; vulgar, trivial. Vulgar jokes and speeches. These vulgar novels are boring; A vulgar man, a vulgar man, a vulgar woman, a vulgar woman" (Dal V. I. Explanatory Dictionary of the living Great Russian Language, Vol. III. p. 374). V. I. Dal notes both the outdated meaning and the actual one. He was the first to offer an explanation of the meaning of semantically close units as a circle. V. I. Dahl's vulgar is interpreted through vulgar.

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"Dictionary of the Russian Language" in 4 volumes (MAC) edited by A. P. Evgenieva interprets the semantics of the word vulgar, following V. I. Dahl: "1. Low, insignificant in spiritual, moral terms / / Peculiar to a low person in moral terms // Containing in itself something indecent, obscene; 2. Unoriginal, bored, beaten, banal / / Tasteless-rude, vulgar".

We see our task in determining 1) which units converge in the lexicography of the word vulgar; 2) how well native Russian speakers know the meaning of this word.

In the mind of a native Russian speaker, the word vulgar is among the words that are close in meaning: vulgar, trivial, banal, hackneyed, philistine, philistine, flat, greasy. This series is formed by two semantic centers, which were noted by V. I. Dahl: relatively speaking, vulgar "above the belt" - in the terminology of V. I. Dahl "beaten, well-known, nadokuchivshiy, trivial", and "below the belt" - "indecent, revered rude, simple, low, mean, areal".

Analysis of interpretations of the word vulgar, as well as semantically similar words listed in the MAC, shows that in the right part of the dictionary entry, the words vulgar turn out to be hackneyed, banal, and vulgar. The semantics of the adjective vulgar is interpreted by referring to the word vulgar. The very word vulgar, or vulgar, as a tool of interpretation is placed on the right side of the dictionary entry for the adjectives trivial, banal, hackneyed.

This" bipolar " semantics of the word vulgar prevents it from having full synonyms. To the pole "above the belt" tend to be trivial, banal, hackneyed, to the pole "below the belt" - flat, greasy.

Another point that needs attention is the separation of attributive and predicate use of the word vulgar. The expressions vulgar joke or vulgar joke are synonymous with the adjective greasy and are clearly understood as a rude joke or anecdote on a sexual topic. This sentence-vulgarity is much more difficult to semanticize.

First, based on the usage of the expression saying vulgarity and the impossibility of saying vulgarity, as well as the naturalness of looking vulgar, but the doubtfulness of looking vulgar, we will make the assumption that vulgarity a) implies a negative assessment of something from the content side, that b) this word is connected with the sphere of speech. As for vulgarity, in the semantics of this word, one can assume the presence of an observer, since in Russian it is quite natural to say: vulgar coloring, vulgar dress, vulgar manner of speaking, vulgar cosmetics (see Frolova O. E. Vulgar or vulgar // Russian language in scientific illumination. 2003. N 1(5). pp. 106-123).

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That component of the semantics of the word vulgar, which we conventionally called "above the belt", is associated with false claims of the speaker, in addition, the pragmatics of using this word implies a more hierarchically high position of the speaker in relation to the object.

So, the semantics of the word vulgar consists of several components:" above the belt": false claim, sphere of speech, evaluation of content, repetition of the well-known;" below the belt": rudeness, sexual themes.

The inability to find full synonyms for the word vulgar is due to the fact that the semantics of the adjectives banal, hackneyed, trivial do not contain the seme false claim. The word vulgar has no connection with the sphere of speech and the assessment of content, in addition, there is an observer who cannot be mentioned in relation to vulgar. As for the words philistine and philistine, which are also associated with the concept of vulgarity, they have a social component that is not represented in the adjectives vulgar, banal, hackneyed, trivial.

In order to find out how native Russian speakers understand the meaning of the words vulgar, vulgarity, we conducted a survey of first-year students of the Moscow Institute of Linguistics. The purpose of the survey was to identify: 1) what native speakers put into the meaning of the word vulgar, i.e., what components, in the opinion of native speakers, form this meaning; 2) in the formulation of which components of the meaning of the word vulgar native speakers have difficulties.

25 people were interviewed - 23 girls and two boys aged 17-18 years. The group was homogeneous in terms of national composition, i.e., belonging to a Russian-speaking cultural community, and there was only one Chechen girl, bilingual, who perfectly mastered the everyday Russian language.

The results of the survey showed that in 12 responses there was a connection between the concept of vulgarity and a sexual theme, in seven - students wrote about the connection with indecent things.

Here are some answers:

1) Vulgarity - rudeness, distortion of something in an intimate way. Vulgar - a rude, preoccupied person who talks about intimate things, often inclines to this topic (this often happens in adolescents during puberty);

2) Vulgar - in our world, this is a preoccupied person who thinks only about the intimate parts of the human body;

3) A vulgar person is a person who constantly conducts a conversation on a sexual topic. Turns the usual situation in other directions. Creates awkward situations;

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4) Vulgarity - lack of culture, vulgarity, obscenity of actions, trouble.

We can say that the semantics of the word vulgar "below the belt" is most often understood by native speakers of the Russian language and is most easily formulated. In the first and third answers, students also associated vulgarity with the sphere of speech, in the second-with the sphere of thought: a person who talks about sexual topics, talks about intimate things, a person who thinks only about the intimate parts of the human body.

However, for a conversation on a sexual topic, according to respondents, the way of expressing thoughts, words and expressions that a vulgar person uses is not indifferent. The answers were marked as signs of vulgarity - the use of obscene language (answers 5, 7) and ambiguity in speech, when a vulgar person expresses himself in such a way that everything he says can be interpreted in a "sexual way" (answers 5, 6). Vulgarity was associated with the use of obscenities or obscene expressions in four answers, and with ambiguity - in three.

5) Vulgarity - these are obscene words associated with back thoughts, when a person distorts some word said to him by another person.

A vulgar person is someone who misrepresents the word that was said to him, and he perceived this word in a different, i.e., in the "back sense".

6) Vulgarity - a taunt, sarcastic statement on a sexual topic. Vulgar - thinking a lot on a sexual topic, "preoccupied".

7) Vulgar-this is when a person said something on an indecent topic (sexual). Or when something is said in an obscene form (mate). Maybe this is some form of rudeness, promiscuity.

With the expressed consensus on the components of the semantics of the word vulgarity "below the belt", the students noted another important characteristic. In different forms, eight responses noted that a vulgar person opposes society, seeks to stand out: defiant behavior that generates negative emotions in others; the word vulgar is used in speech to create something non-standard; something that goes beyond decency.

8) Vulgarity - a negative quality of a person, in which he looks at least strange, not like everyone else, but this does not mean that he is Individual, on the contrary, his appearance causes disapproval of others. Also, a person can behave vulgarly, i.e. without observing the basic rules of behavior, indecently.

Associations: a person who is indecently dressed and goes beyond normal behavior. Such a person thinks only about sex.

9) Vulgar person-ridiculing the intimate aspects of society, rude, primitive. About a person, it can be said that he

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vulgar, when his behavior goes beyond the bounds of decency, he violates the boundaries of what is allowed by society, touching on some intimate, purely personal aspects of the lives of others, discussing what is usually not talked about.

10) Vulgarity - a very simple thought, a light thought; a dirty thought.

Vulgar - a person who thinks too simply, expresses negative thoughts on any occasion; a person who thinks and talks about personal, intimate matters in a perverse way.

In the 8th answer, the respondent speaks about the desire to stand out, but denies the vulgar person originality. This, in our opinion, is one of the most successful judgments, the author of which tried to express the essence of a false claim. In answer 9, going beyond the bounds of decency is treated in a "sexual way". In the 10th response, the respondent, under the phrase too simple a thought, apparently tries to express the fact that vulgarity in his understanding is associated with banality and hackneyed.

The spread of interpretations of the semantics of the word vulgar "above the belt" demonstrates the obvious difficulties that students encountered when trying to formulate this component. In one response, an interpretation was proposed that indicates a lack of understanding of the "above the belt" component: "A vulgar person is a person who expresses what he thinks without paying attention to others."

Only a Chechen girl told the interviewer, the author of this article, about the difficulties in answering the suggested questions. Here's her response: 11) Vulgarity - on the part of a person - is rude and ugly. Vulgarity is unacceptable. I do not know, I rarely met with vulgarity.

As associations, respondents cited phrases in which the adjective vulgar is combined with the noun person - 9 answers. In addition, vulgar was associated with the following words: anecdote-3, word/words - 3 responses, joke-2, expression-1, humor-1. Thus, students noted the presence of a connection with the sphere of speech in the meaning of the word vulgar. On the other hand, students in associations associated vulgarity with the sphere of thinking, giving the following answers: vulgar thought-5, idea-1, fiction-1.

In their associations, students associated the definition of vulgar with the assessment of the content of speech works, works of art, as well as their creators: the author (1), film (3), song (3), story (1), program (1), article (1) were called vulgar. Mass media were also evaluated: newspaper (1), magazine (1).

Now let's analyze the vocabulary that students used in their answers. Words placed on the right side of the naive text-

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The research that was suggested by respondents can be grouped as follows. The first group, which, in our opinion, is related to the semantics of "below the belt", includes: obscene, indecent, obscene, loose, dirty," preoccupied " (in the sense of thinking only about sex), rude. The second group, related to the topic "above the belt", consisted of the following words: ordinary, narrow outlook, illiterate, hackneyed, banal, unworthy, too material, uncultured, vulgar, ignorant, ill-mannered. Finally, in the third group, intermediate, in our opinion, you can put the words: ugly, terrible, unpleasant, defiant, arrogance, rudeness. The first three adjectives are related to the evaluation of the concept of vulgarity.

Let's sum up the results. In our opinion, in their answers, the students demonstrated an understanding of the bipolar semantics of the words vulgarity, vulgar. However, this is not to say that they were able to formulate their understanding of the components of "below" and "above the belt" with equal ease. Vulgarity, which could be described as a component of "below the belt", students associated with the sexual sphere, rudeness in speech and behavior, ambiguity of expressions, obscene language. In formulating their understanding of the component meaning of the word vulgarity "above the belt", they encountered obvious difficulties. These difficulties were caused, in our opinion, by the fact that the false claim, which is the basis of this component, is that the vulgar person behaves and speaks like the majority, while the claim is made up of the additional significance that the vulgar person attaches to everything that he says and does. In the phrases given as associations, the students clearly attributed vulgarity to the sphere of speech, verbal works. This allows us to recognize that it is possible to talk about the perception of the semantics of the word we are interested in by young people on an intuitive level.

Thus, the survey showed that the dictionary interpretation does not contradict the image of the word present in the mind of a native speaker.

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