Methods of expressing indefinite quantity in the Erzya language

The study is aimed at identifying the ways to communicate the meaning of indefinite quantity in the Erzya language. The semantics of this phenomenon lies in the fact that the words belonging to different lexical-semantic groups produce the specified meaning based on the concepts of totality, collectivity, capacity, extension, etc. A peculiarity is that the variety of means for communicating the semantics of indefinite quantity comes not only from the direct meaning of words, but also from their use in a figurative sense. Scientific novelty lies in identifying the methods of communicating the meaning of indefinite quantity in the modern Erzya language. As a result of the study, it was found that there are different methods to communicate the meaning of indefinite quantity in the Erzya language. The most common one is the lexical method: words of different parts of speech are used to express indefinite quantity, but the overwhelming majority of them are nouns that have received this meaning as a result of metonymic or metaphorical transfer. It was discovered that phraseological units are also widely used to express indefinite quantity, communicating the meaning of an indefinitely large or small amount.