Linguistic ways of expressing temporal approximation

Statement of the problem. Modern linguistics has not sufficiently investigated the phenomenon of time expression in language from the point of view of approximation, when objective understanding of time duration is intertwined with subjective perception. There is a need to define and systematize the linguistic means by which approximation of time is expressed, as well as to reveal the dual nature of time as an objective physical phenomenon and a subjective phenomenon of consciousness. The purpose of the article is to investigate temporal approximation as a functional-semantic microfield, to reveal its specificity based on the dual nature of time (objective and subjective), and to describe the linguistic means of its realization at the lexical, morphological, and syntactic levels. The material of the article is the resources of the main corpus of the NCRL. The corpus of examples from fiction, journalism and scientific texts (on the material of the NCRL) served as the basis of the study. Research methods: philosophical analysis, semantic-functional analysis, contextual analysis, comparative analysis, and semantic analysis. The review of scientific literature on the problem: The philosophical basis of the study is based on the concepts of I. Kant (time as an a priori form of sensuality) and I. Newton (absolute time as an independent entity), which emphasizes the dualism of temporality. It also takes into account the works on approximation, temporal approximation by T.I. Desherieva, on temporality and biplanarity of temporality by S.M. Belyakova and E.V. Tarasova. Research results. Three categories of temporal approximation are distinguished: approximation through a specific moment of time, approximation through a time period, contextually determined approximation, in which the emphasis shifts from uncertainty to accuracy. From the point of view of language levels, lexical, morphological and syntactic methods of expressing temporal approximation are distinguished.