Development of a dictionary entry of the text connector “first of all” for the Dictionary of Function Words of the Russian Language

The article presents a dictionary entry of the text connector “first of all” (Rus. prezhde vsego) prepared in accordance with the model of lexicographic description for the Dictionary of Function Words of the Russian Language. The model was proposed by A.F. Priyatkina and E.A. Starodumova. Their works, as well as studies by the staff of the Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Far Eastern Federal University on the description of functional words and their presentation in the Dictionary of Function Words of the Russian Language, were the theoretical basis of this study. The following research methods are used in the article: observation; description, including generalization and systematization of linguistic phenomena; and contextual analysis. Examples from the Russian National Corpus and examples collected from modern texts of various functional styles and genres are used as illustrative material. When preparing a dictionary entry, the author has found that the fixed expression “first of all” can function not only at the level of the text, but also at the level of the utterance. The description of the non-textual possibilities of this fixed expression should be the subject of a special research. The text connector “first of all” has the meaning “prior the rest”, “before the rest”, “what comes first from a multitude”, which allows it to be used in three functional variants: (1) the selection of one or several elements that meet certain requirements that are the most important; (2) the designation of the most important condition for further development/impossibility of development of the situation, the possibility/impossibility of the development of events; and (3) the designation of the main argument refuting what is said in the left context of the connector. The location of the connector in the utterance and punctuation design can vary. The fixed phrase “first of all” has been described in several dictionaries, but its description there is not complete. In this regard, a lexicographic description of the phrase was carried out according to the following parameters: types of use, homonymy, morphological structure, meaning (interpretation), functional and semantic variants, scope, functioning as a connector, functioning within the framework of one utterance and types of constructions, intonation, punctuation, location, interaction with other connectors, interaction with other function words, functions other than text connection, units similar in function and semantics, stylistic label, dictionary data, illustrations. The study shows that the text connector “first of all” can be described in the Dictionary of Function Words of the Russian Language in terms of semantics, variation of functions, intonation and punctuation design, interaction with other function words, and others. The author declares no conflicts of interests.