“Myth” about the error: on setting the norm for the word-combination samyi luchshyi

Abstract

The article focuses on the problem of setting the norm for the word-combination samyi luchshyi. The purposes of this research are 1) to challenge the statement about deviation of the word-combination samyi luchshyi from the established literary norm; 2) to prove this pattern satisfies the criteria of defining a language fact as a normative one, under support of data from The National Corpus of Russian Language (NCRL), Russian classical literature, web-portals (including the reference and information portal «Gramota.ru»), a number of dictionaries, descriptive and prescriptive grammars of the modern Russian language, grammar reference books; publisher’s guides and training manuals; 3) to reveal the grammatical and semantic peculiarities of the word-combination samyi luchshyi in comparison with the words samyi horoshyi and luchshyi given in different contexts. As a result, it has been found, that 1) in many authoritative works of modern scientists complex superlative degree formed with the help of an adjective in comparative degree ending in – shyi isn’t mentioned at all, and, as follows from this fact, the word-combination samyi luchshyi is forcibly deprived of the normative status, despite its compliance with the system of contemporary literary language and regular mass reproducibility; 2) the analytic form of the adjective samyi luchshyi is used to avoid grammatical homonymy with the form of comparative degree – luchshyi, to mark expression and forms of nonintrinsic-direct speech; 3) it is possible to assume the word-form luchshyi has some of the features of the lexeme with its own paradigm.