Features of the Graded Semantics of the Particle Pronoun Me in Modern Russian

Aim. The article aims to offer a comprehensive analysis of the uses of the pronoun-particle me based on structural, semantic and functional approaches. Russian scholars of the past and modern times (cf., A. M. Peshkovsky, V. V. Vinogradov, V. V. Babaytseva, E. N. Sidorenko, S. M. Kolesnikova, etc.) recognize the existence of hybrid words – units with sets of differential features of various structural and semantic classes. Hybrids are often found in live colloquial speech and are often explicators of different types of relationships. Methodology . The following methods were chosen for the analysis: the method of substitution to clarify the semantic properties of a word and the method of distributive analysis (analysis of the verbal environment of the studied language unit), the method of identity and analogy (selection and analysis of synonymous and similar constructions). Results. The study showed that hybrid words of pronominal origin can exhibit graduated semantics in various constructions, most often exclamation points, since particular-pronominal formations may contain additional emotional shades of knowledge. Research implications. The relevance of this work lies in the fact that it attempts to describe the functioning of a particle-like element of speech - the word me. The uniqueness of this linguistic unit is determined based on incomplete processes of desemanization and particularization (the transition of linguistic units into the category of particles). In our opinion, some particles (particulars) of pronominal origin (all, this, it, etc.) may exhibit hybrid properties – properties of an intermediate position between two (three) lexical-grammatical classes and combining features of words of different lexical-grammatical groups.