Marina Y. Sidorova

The article analyzes the linguistic means and textual techniques by which A. F. Koni characterizes moral concepts in his journalistic works dedicated to great Russian people — contemporaries and predecessors. The tactics of refinement, juxtaposition, gradation, intensification and their varieties are considered. The material includes speeches and essays by A. F. Koni “The Moral image of Pushkin”, “In Memory of Turgenev”, “Memories of Chekhov”, “Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov”, “Pirogov and the School of Life”. The theoretical basis of the research is modern communicative and functional grammar, based on the concept of the author’s image and the idea of the interaction of unit and context. The analysis allows us to conclude that it is important for A. F. Koni to accurately characterize the moral qualities of the described subject and the author’s desire to involve the reader in thinking not only about these qualities, but also about the relationship between the individual and society and the problem of moral choice. The general approach of A. F. Koni to assessing the personality of the “great Russian man” is to affirm the continuity of the achievements of the hero of Koni’s speech or essay in his professional field of activity and his exceptional moral qualities, an important place among which is occupied by patriotism. The hero of Konya’s speech shows these qualities in their highest, true version, the difference of which from the possible “lower version” is explicated in the text.