The purpose of the study is to reconstruct the cognitive semantics of the verbal predicates “чудиться”, “почудиться”, taking into account their inner form, and also to suggest a linguo‑cognitive model for explaining polysemy. The object of the study is the different contextual meanings of the verbal predicates “чудиться”, “почудиться” in the contexts of fictional discourse, the subject is cognitive semantics as a repeated structure of cognitive processes reflecting the patterns of understanding and thinking. The article presents a typology of contexts for the functioning of verbal predicates, their different contextual meanings are defined, the semantic dependence of the contextual meaning of the verb word on the semantics of the broader context analyzed, the role of the inner form in the creation of polysemy determined, while a linguo‑cognitive model for explaining polysemy in terms of “gestalt”, “focus”, “background – figure”, “focusing – defocusing” is suggested.

This paper conducts a comparative analysis of internal conflict’s intensity among students according to three parameters (loneliness, guilt, and resentment), taking into account digital technology use. The research was conducted in 2020 in Moscow (Russian Federation) among 98 university students, who were diagnosed with intrapersonal conflict. Interviewing methods and Gestalt therapy were used to reduce the intensity of internal conflicts. The level of three parameters among students at the beginning and at the end of the study was taken into account: loneliness, resentment, guilt. The number of students with a high level of loneliness decreased 25 times (p≤0.001) after therapy. The number of students with an average level of loneliness increased because students with a high level of loneliness moved into this category. The number of students with a maximum level of resentment decreased fivefold, and there was a 17-fold decrease in students with a high level of resentment (p≤0.001). There were no students with a maximum level of guilt after the consultation, while the number of students with a high level of guilt decreased only 0.5 times (p≤0.05) because students from the previous category moved to this one. The most popular activities among students were Internet use (100% of students), reading books (61 students, p≤0.05 compared to the Internet use), and watching TV (32 students, p≤0.01).

The paper investigates the issue of motivation of a subcategory of nouns called by Quirk et al. (1985: 303) and Huddleston & Pullum (2002: 345), respectively, unmarked plural nouns and uninflected plural-only nouns. These are nouns with untypical, from the perspective of the majority of English nouns, properties: their form, despite the plural designation, is singular. Adopting the general cognitive perspective on motivation in language (e.g. Lakoff 1987; Heine 1997; Radden, Panther 2004; Gibbs 2005; Panther, Radden 2011, etc.), the paper analyses whether such irregular properties of uninflected plural-only nouns can be motivated by one of the factors shaping visual experience – Gestalt principles of perception (e.g. Koffka 1936; Pomerantz 1981; Rock & Palmer S. 1990; Palmer S. 1999).