Semantics and ethnoculture: current issues in the study of the Khanty language

The article is devoted to the delimitation of hidden and formally expressed imagery in the language (namely, in the lexicon, that is, the vocabulary of the language). In the first case, imagery is understood as the semantic non-triviality of the origin of a word due to its internal form or etymology (if this particular postulated path of origin is proved). Formalized is considered imagery, the means of expression of which are widely used in the languages of the scheme of "transferring" the word meaning, creating epithets, comparisons, personifications, hyperbole. The article considers one of the most important linguistic semantic phenomena - the creation of new lexemes, based on existing units, in some formal way (suffixation, verbiage), reinforced by semantic transformation. Additionally, if possible, binding to the features of ethnic culture is made. As a result of the study, the concept of imagery was formulated in relation to the vocabulary (or lexicon) of the language, a distinction was made between hidden and formally expressed imagery. The empirical basis of the study was compiled by dictionaries of the Khanty language, as well as lexical material presented in one of the fundamental works on Finno-Ugric studies - the collective work "Fundamentals of Finno-Ugric linguistics" (1974). The main research methods are descriptive method, taxonomy, as well as comparison. A typological approach is used in the general assessment of word formation methods.