Realization of specific role of pronouns in text and discourse

Language performance of its communicative function, which is generally regarded as paramount, is possible primarily through the use of words with nominative potentials. It is known, however, that these potencies are implemented quite variably - depending on the partial affiliation of the lexeme. In this aspect, pronouns are very interesting. Their lexical values are somewhat similar to zero endings: formally absent, but implicitly implied. The semantics of the pronoun can be embodied due to the presence of its closest verbal environment, that is, in the context of the statement, which in the situation of direct oral communication is also formed with the participation of non-verbal actions of the addressee. The purpose of the article is to illustrate the specificity of pronouns as a special part of speech and their ability to acquire a convention-defined lexical meaning in different forms of communicative acts. Research. We analyze the use of pronouns of two different sources: the first group includes literary and artistic texts, where pronouns serve as a special kind of manifesto of author’s intentions; the second group consists of fragments of modern Russian-language discourse, in which the proportion of pronouns is extremely high. Conclusion: the increase in the relative weight of pronouns in today’s Russian-language speech flow is one of the important features characterized by a decrease in the number of actively used lexical units in everyday conversational communication. This process is complemented by an increase in the use of pictograms in electronic and other correspondence. The totality of such phenomena signals the impoverishment of the cognitive potentials of members of the linguistic community.