Introduction

Abstract

Language exists in and through speech and knows no other form of existence. Speech is arguably wider and more diverse than language and fulfils one of the most fundamental needs of man — to communicate. Communicative intentions are fulfilled through the two main forms of speech — written and oral — where language, surely, is one of the key instruments for self-expression, but definitely not the only one, since the realization of the speaker’s intention to communicate is not reduced to the sum total of the nominative meanings of the words constituting speech (Akhmanova, 1969a; Smirnitsky, 1954; Vinogradov, 1959). Given the potential of words for expressing multiple shades and senses within individual or spanning several sentences in the course of speech, a speaker intuitively limits the scope of their usage in an effort to avoid the vagueness and ambiguity caused by the potential of language to express additional connotations, which is enhanced by various extralinguistic means — cultural and semantic associations, facial gestures, the tone of voice and psychological stereotypes.