Abstract
The article presents the results of the study of one of the most popular variants of speech behavior in modern discursive practice – language play. The concept of "language play" in the authors' view is secondary, formed on the basis of the cultural concept of "play". The secondary concept retains the notion of "rules"/ "norms" as a semantic dominant, significantly transforming it within the framework of a new structure: "following the rule" assumed in the primary concept is replaced by the opposite "deviation from the rule".
The research material was the texts selected by the method of directed search for the texts, which are created on the basis of the pun principle, on the Internet. Traditionally, a pun is qualified as a stylistic device, but its active use in discourses of various types allows us to talk about a pun as a principle of the organization of text space. The specific features of the pun principle (semantic layering combined with the minimization of the form) make it related to paroemias. At the same time, unlike paroemias, a pun is not a "packed wisdom of the people", but an author's product based on the play principle, i. e. on violation of the norms of the language.
The classification of punning texts presented in the article is based on correlation with the rule, deviation from which allowed the author to produce a creative product. Violations of the rules of semantic agreement are the most frequent in modern speech practice; the semantic depth of the text is predetermined by the possibility of a double interpretation of the polysemant. The second classification group consists of texts that include set word combinations; their semantic ambiguity is based on the possibility of literal reading of set phrases. The least popular play is the one with similar sounding words and allusions.
It is noted that pun texts are no longer the prerogative of humorous content, but are gaining new communication platforms.
Keywords
Communication, discourse, speech behavior, concept, language game, pun, text, semantic depth, interpretation.