Functional potential of the verb улыбаться

Human emotions and their reflection in language are attracting increasing attention from linguists. The field of research that originated in Russian linguistics under the leadership of V. I. Shakhovsky, called emotiology, or the linguistics of emotions, is actively developing and expanding the scope of its interests. The article examines the functional potential of the verb улыбаться, including aspects of its dynamics. The analyzed verb belongs to the sphere of emotive vocabulary, which determines the relevance of the study, since emotions and their reflection in language and speech are an important branch of modern linguistics. The verb улыбаться is interesting due to the dynamics of development of its functional potential. Historically, under the influence of the French language, a new meaning came into the Russian literary language - благоприятствовать, from which нравиться branched off even later. At the present stage, one can observe the functioning of this lexeme as an emotive causative. At the moment, there is a tendecy towards the development of causative forms derived from the verb улыбаться, which is not a causative due to the fact that it is an irreversible reflexive, but in speech, actualizing the scenario of emotional behavior, it performs the functions of a causative verb and acquires the corresponding characteristics. Emotions are typical for interpersonal interaction; perhaps this is what explains this development of the semantics of this verb. It is similar to other, traditional emotive causatives.