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The study is devoted to the explication of the frame LOVE AFFAIR in the lexico-semantic system of the Russian language and speech itself. The research is based on the data from Russian etymological, explanatory dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms, and modern podcasts. The urgency of the research is determined by the undying interest of scientists to the words that reflect stereotypes of people’s social interaction, which is explained by the importance of looking into ethical categories such as human acts. The lexemes that are examined in the study are selected from dictionaries with the help of the definitional analysis. The method of frame modelling is also used in the study to organize the data into a structure. In order to create a frame model of the act the following procedures are involved: the analysis of the semantics of the words that represent the situation of a love affair, the analysis of the synonyms and the combinability of the words. These procedures help to reconstruct the frame of the object in study. The next step is to verify the frame in modern speech. This paper is the first study of the concept LOVE AFFAIR in modern public communication such as podcasts. The choice of the material is explained by the fact that podcasts look at the most important questions from all angles. The research identifies the most important characteristics of all the elements of the situation «love affair», shows the interrelation of these elements, determines the peculiarities of the explication of the model in the language system and modern speech, marks the prototypical meanings of the structural elements. As a result, the conclusion about semantic broadening of the word affair is made, as well as reinterpretation of traditional negative evaluation of the act «love affair».

Euphemisms that act as means of linguistic representation of the act of “infidelity in love relationships” in the Russian and the English are examined in the article. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that the situation of the act of “infidelity in love” is presented in the form of a frame model, in the structure of which slots are allocated that actualize various aspects of the situation under consideration. It is shown that in Russian linguoculture the slots “Agent of an act and its properties”, “Counterparty of an act”, “Patient of an act”, “Action as a manifestation of an act”, “Evaluation of an act, an agent of an act”, “Place of the act” are objectified. It was revealed that in the English linguistic culture, in addition to the indicated slots, the “Motive of Action” slot is also updated. Comparison of the semantics of the euphemistic units of the two languages showed that the euphemization of the act of “infidelity in love” is based on similar techniques: the mechanism of linguistic generalization, replacement of direct nomination with a foreign lexeme, pronominalization, meiosis, metonymic / metaphoric transfer. It is shown that the actualization of infidelity is carried out on the basis of similar metaphorical concepts MOVEMENT, RELATIONSHIP, ENTERTAINMENT / RECREATION, POLLUTION, which are identified both in Russian and in English, and the metaphorical concept of SPORT is found only in English.

The article focuses on the cognitive-semiotic nature of precedent phenomena as a marker of intertextuality. The symbolic function of precedent statements, texts, and names allows them to act as indirect naming and represent concepts of acts. An act is always voluntary; it is committed by an actant, receives external evaluation, and leads to a certain result. The precedent phenomena that facilitate interpretation of the acts they describe appeared to have a high cognitive potential in the Russian speech. Different kinds of phenomena represent different acts, precedent statements being the most popular type. They can represent all kind of acts, even in their concise form. Some precedent phenomena name only particular acts, e.g. betrayal, dishonesty, and other negatively evaluated acts, while others can mark a wide range of acts, even those with opposite values, e.g. heroism vs. crime.

The article presents the results of the frame analysis of the situations of such acts as “help”, “benefaction”, “heroism”, “exploit”, “prank”, “antic”, “trick”, etc. The research is based on the idea according to which the conceptualization of acts is linked with the invariable frame, which is a structure built by the following elements: aim, action, subject, object, valuation, result. The aim of the paper is to show how the names of the acts represent this invariable frame model of an act. In the analysis of the names of acts and their cognate words in speech it was revealed that the elements of the slots are interrelated and characterize different aspects of the situations of acts. The conclusion was made that in different situations various elements of the invariable frame can come into the focus of attention. The research shows that the frame of act is a complex, multidimensional category, which reflects the world and relations between its elements.