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<article xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/" article-type="research-article" dtd-version="1.2" xml:lang="en"><front><journal-meta><journal-id journal-id-type="publisher-id">Russian Language Studies</journal-id><journal-title-group><journal-title xml:lang="en">Russian Language Studies</journal-title><trans-title-group xml:lang="ru"><trans-title>Русистика</trans-title></trans-title-group></journal-title-group><issn publication-format="print">2618-8163</issn><issn publication-format="electronic">2618-8171</issn><publisher><publisher-name xml:lang="en">Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba</publisher-name></publisher></journal-meta><article-meta><article-id pub-id-type="publisher-id">50576</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.22363/2618-8163-2026-24-2-226-243</article-id><article-id pub-id-type="edn">QFDTAH</article-id><article-categories><subj-group subj-group-type="toc-heading" xml:lang="en"><subject>Key Issues of Russian Language Research</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="toc-heading" xml:lang="ru"><subject>Актуальные проблемы исследований русского языка</subject></subj-group><subj-group subj-group-type="article-type"><subject>Research Article</subject></subj-group></article-categories><title-group><article-title xml:lang="en">Evolution of political media rhetoric in Russia: a comprehensive linguistic analysis</article-title><trans-title-group xml:lang="ru"><trans-title>Эволюция политической медиариторики в России: комплексный лингвистический анализ</trans-title></trans-title-group></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author"><contrib-id contrib-id-type="orcid">https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1265-5595</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="scopus">58666248600</contrib-id><contrib-id contrib-id-type="spin">9818-1046</contrib-id><name-alternatives><name xml:lang="en"><surname>Akhrenova</surname><given-names>Natalia A.</given-names></name><name xml:lang="ru"><surname>Ахренова</surname><given-names>Наталья Александровна</given-names></name></name-alternatives><bio xml:lang="en"><p>Doctor of Philology, Associate Professor, Head of the Postgraduate Education Department at the Institute of Foreign Languages, Professor at the Department of Theory and Practice of Foreign Languages</p></bio><bio xml:lang="ru"><p>доктор филологических наук, доцент, руководитель отделения постдипломного образования института иностранных языков, профессор кафедры теории и практики иностранных языков</p></bio><email>akhrenova-na@rudn.ru</email><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1"/></contrib></contrib-group><aff-alternatives id="aff1"><aff><institution xml:lang="en">RUDN University</institution></aff><aff><institution xml:lang="ru">Российский университет дружбы народов</institution></aff></aff-alternatives><pub-date date-type="pub" iso-8601-date="2026-06-14" publication-format="electronic"><day>14</day><month>06</month><year>2026</year></pub-date><volume>24</volume><issue>2</issue><issue-title xml:lang="en">VOL 24, NO2 (2026)</issue-title><issue-title xml:lang="ru">ТОМ 24, №2 (2026)</issue-title><fpage>226</fpage><lpage>243</lpage><history><date date-type="received" iso-8601-date="2026-06-11"><day>11</day><month>06</month><year>2026</year></date></history><permissions><copyright-statement xml:lang="en">Copyright ©; 2026, Akhrenova N.A.</copyright-statement><copyright-statement xml:lang="ru">Copyright ©; 2026, Ахренова Н.А.</copyright-statement><copyright-year>2026</copyright-year><copyright-holder xml:lang="en">Akhrenova N.A.</copyright-holder><copyright-holder xml:lang="ru">Ахренова Н.А.</copyright-holder><ali:free_to_read xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/"/><license><ali:license_ref xmlns:ali="http://www.niso.org/schemas/ali/1.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0</ali:license_ref></license></permissions><self-uri xlink:href="https://journals.rudn.ru/russian-language-studies/article/view/50576">https://journals.rudn.ru/russian-language-studies/article/view/50576</self-uri><abstract xml:lang="en"><p>The relevance of the study is determined by the need to comprehend the transformation of Russia’s public political language against the backdrop of radical socio-political shifts in the 20th-21st centuries and the digitalization of the media environment. The aim of the study is to identify and linguistically describe the systemic shifts in the political media rhetoric of the USSR and Russia and to determine the specifics of their impact on the structure of the Russian language. The methodological basis integrates critical discourse analysis and linguistic methods. The empirical material includes a sample of texts of political media communication from 1920s to the 2020s (press, leaders’ speeches, TV and digital content). Lexical-semantic, syntactic, metaphorical, intertextual and diachronic corpus analysis (Russian National Corpus) were applied. Diachronic analysis has distinguished three evolutionary phases with systemic impact on the Russian language. The era of the monologue was characterized by a ritualized, clichéd idiolect with complex syntax, nominalization, and semantic inversion of basic concepts. The era of communicative chaos radically transformed the language structure: semantic instability of terms, legitimization of criminal jargon, syntactic reduction, and fragmentation of the collective subject (“we”). The modern era of managed polylogue has established a strategy of “selective complexity”, i.e. the technological variation of linguistic codes from bookish syntax to digital agrammatism and the hybridization of official discourse with Internet slang. The author proves that the evolution of political media rhetoric in Russia is a process of permanent structuring of the grammatical, syntactic and lexical foundations of public speech in the Russian Language. Its specificity lies in the technological modernization of archaic ritual models of communication, where the Russian language acts simultaneously as the object and the key instrument of this transformation.</p></abstract><trans-abstract xml:lang="ru"><p>Необходимость осмысления трансформации публичного политического языка России на фоне радикальных социополитических сдвигов XX-XXI вв. и цифровизации медиасреды обосновывает актуальность исследования, цель которого - выявить и лингвистически описать системные сдвиги в политической медиариторике СССР и России, а также определить специфику их воздействия на строй русского языка. Методологическую основу составляет интеграция критического дискурс-анализа и лингвистических методов. Эмпирический материал включает выборку текстов политической медиакоммуникации с 1920-х по 2020-е гг. (пресса, речи лидеров, ТВ и цифровой контент). Применялись лексико-семантический, синтаксический, метафорический, интертекстуальный и диахронический корпусный анализ (НКРЯ). Диахронический анализ позволил выделить три фазы эволюции, оказавшие системное воздействие на русский язык. Эпоха монолога характеризовалась ритуализированным, клишированным идиолектом со сложным синтаксисом, номинализацией и семантической инверсией базовых концептов. Эпоха коммуникативного хаоса отмечена радикальной трансформацией русского языкового строя: семантической нестабильностью терминов, легитимацией криминального жаргона, синтаксической редукцией и фрагментацией коллективного субъекта («мы»). Современная эпоха управляемого полилога утвердила стратегию «избирательной сложности» - технологичное варьирование лингвистических кодов от книжного синтаксиса до цифрового аграмматизма, а также гибридизацию официального дискурса с интернет-сленгом. Доказано, что эволюция политической медиариторики в России предстает собой процесс перманентного структурирования грамматических, синтаксических и лексических основ публичной речи на русском языке. Специфика национального пути заключается в технологической модернизации архаичных ритуальных моделей коммуникации, где русский язык выступает одновременно объектом и инструментом трансформации.</p></trans-abstract><kwd-group xml:lang="en"><kwd>discourse evolution</kwd><kwd>managed polylogue</kwd><kwd>critical discourse analysis</kwd><kwd>media ecology</kwd><kwd>conceptual metaphor</kwd></kwd-group><kwd-group xml:lang="ru"><kwd>эволюция дискурса</kwd><kwd>управляемый полилог</kwd><kwd>критический дискурс-анализ</kwd><kwd>медиалогия</kwd><kwd>концептуальная метафора</kwd></kwd-group><funding-group/></article-meta><fn-group/></front><body></body><back><ref-list><ref id="B1"><label>1.</label><citation-alternatives><mixed-citation xml:lang="en">Akhrenova, N. A., &amp; Ter-Minasova, S. G. (2025). 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