Semantics and pragmatics of precedent phenomena in the modern media discourse (based on the phrase “sturgeon of the second freshness”)

The article provides a semantic-pragmatic analysis of functioning of the precedent phrase “sturgeon of the second freshness” in the texts of various Russian-language media for the period from 2015 to 2022. Attention is paid to the studies investigating secondary nomination units for a comprehensive understanding of the precedent phenomena features. The novelty of the study consists in an attempt to determine the semantic and pragmatic features of the precedent phrase “sturgeon of the second freshness”, which is widely used nowadays in various media. The significance of the study is due to the wide popularity of linguistic units from the works by M.A. Bulgakov, implemented at the level of secondary nomination, their fixation in the minds of Russian culture representatives, which leads to the expansion of the semantic and pragmatic potential of the studied unit “sturgeon of the second freshness” in the media texts. The research proves that the precedent unit “sturgeon of the second freshness” when used in media texts acquires additional semantics and changes its connotative background due to current events and pragmatic attitudes of the media text author.