Precedent toponym as a political symbol

The toponym 'Red Square' embodies 16 distinct semantic meanings, serving as both a political symbol and a cultural marker in Russian discourse. This study reveals its layered significance—ranging from denotative to connotative and associative—highlighting how its interpretation varies between native and non-native speakers of Russian. Using continuous sampling from the Russian National Corpus, fiction, oral speech, and internet resources, researchers applied semantic analysis to identify its core meanings (semes). The findings underscore Red Square's role as a precedent toponym, deeply rooted in Russian cultural competence, while also functioning as a global symbol of state power for foreign language learners. This research bridges linguistic analysis with political symbolism, offering insights into how place names evolve in meaning across cultures.

Bugaeva, I. V. (2018). Precedent toponym as a political symbol. RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics, 9(1), 124–135. https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-2299-2018-9-1-124-135