A comparative study of the notions of “hate” and “nenavist’”

The aim of the article is to look into the specific features of the representation of the notions “hate” and “nenavist’” in the lexico-semantic system of the Russian language and spoken discourse. The study is relevant due to the undying interest of the scholars to the conceptualization of a person’s inner world and is caused by the rise of hate on the Internet. The research draws on the data from explanatory dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms and concepts of the Russian language. The National Corpus of the Russian language, podcasts and the Internet are used to provide the examples of the texts with the lexemes that represent the notions of hate and nenavist’. The research identifies the similarities and differences between “hate” and “nenavist’”. The most important features of the notions are found through the analysis of the paradigmatic, syntagmatic peculiarities of the words that represent the notions; the most important aspects of the use of the lexemes in public discourse are shown. The research reveals that despite the fact that the words “hate” and “nenavist’” are used as synonyms in Russian, the notions of hate and nenavist’ are not identical. Although both hate and nenavist’ derive from the negative attitude of the subject to the object due to zero tolerance to certain features or behavior, nenavist’ is not always represented explicitly through words or actions, whereas hate exists on a spectrum of different emotions such as envy, jealousy, anxiety, and always manifests itself in verbal or physical behavior aimed at a successful, popular person.