The Linguistic and Cultural Functions of Interlingual Insertions in Pushkin’s Prose

This article examines the role of interlingual insertions in reflecting the historical and cultural environment of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Russia in the prose of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin. Particular attention is paid to the multilingual character of Russian society, the social prestige of French, and its functions in aristocratic education, intellectual communication, and cultural fashion. The article also analyses the artistic and pragmatic functions of French-language elements in Pushkin’s historical novel The Captain’s Daughter. Through a sociolinguistic, contextual, and linguocultural approach, the study demonstrates that foreign-language insertions are not merely decorative lexical elements but significant literary devices that reveal social hierarchy, cultural identity, educational practices, and interpersonal relationships. The analysis of expressions such as Monsieur Beaupré, pour être outchitel, and mossoo illustrates how Pushkin employs linguistic diversity to create historical authenticity, irony, and characterisation.