Abstract: In the light of deliberate attention of modern linguistic science and a range of social disciplines to the problem of personality and language, the unresolved question of the nature of language game in the texts of different stylistic orientation remains relevant and polemical. Comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon at hand requires the study of linguistic material that would reflect the specific nature of language game, which represents the organic synthesis of genre-stylistic affiliation and creative uniqueness of linguistic personality. Therefore, the examination of language game in the authorial publicistic writing, namely publications of V. V. Nabokov draws particular interest. The subject of this research is the various manifestations of language play on the lexical-semantic level, which implies occasional alignment of semantic plans, change of the usual meaning of the linguistic unit. It is established that the publicistic heritage of V. V. Nabokov is notable for the artistry that is atypical for such genres; it can be traced in the choice of lexical means, their subsequent interaction and transformation. The usual linguistic units acquire the new plane of content, which largely determines the functional-pragmatic vector of publications and the authorial position that reflects the the tendentious suggestive intentions characteristic to the authorial publicistic writing: accusatory, critical, etc. Change of the usual plan of perception is achieved by various means; most typical is the reference to semantic invariant, which in the authorial context contravenes the known presuppositions. The observations indicate that the language game based on the partial or full change of usual meaning of the word is of syncretic nature: as a rule, the new metaphorical level is not limited by modification of a single lexeme, but extends to the entire structure and compositional volume of the sentence.

Abstract: The object of this research is the transformed phraseologisms determined through the method of continuous sampling in the journalistic texts of V. V. Nabokov. The subject of this research is the structural-semantic and functional-pragmatic peculiarities of transforms. The subject of this research is define by various “game” mechanisms of transformations in the area of phraseology, as a result of which the individual-authorial transformations ensure the implementation of the author's plan. The goal of this work is to determine the peculiarities of the authorial transformation of phraseological units in the context of language game, and establish the role of modified phraseologisms in enhancing the influencing potential of the journalistic text. The theoretical and methodological framework contains the works that view the phenomenon of language game and the general principles of occasional transformation of phraseological units. The author advances the hypothesis of the pragmatically justified use of transformed phraseologism, substantiated by the stylistic specificity of resorting to language game as a means of creating certain expressive effect and implementation of the author's plan in the journalistic text. The scientific novelty consists in the complex structural-semantic and functional-pragmatic approach towards studying the transformed phraseological units. This article is first to describe the individual-authorial transformations of phraseological units in the journalism of V. V. Nabokov. It is noted that in the journalistic texts of V. V. Nabokov, the language game pursues both, aesthetic and functional-pragmatic goals, which correlate with the specificity of journalistic genre. The use of familiar, easy to reproduce phraseological units creates a cultural presupposition, which in the context of language game acquires additional connotations, substantiated by game transformation of the usual form and the meaning of phraseological locution, which contributes to the periphrastic expression of the author's attitude towards the topic under review.