In our paper we classify Italian approximative particles and describe their semantics. We define as «approximatives» all those modifiers that imply a certain degree of discrepancy between the speaker’s statement and the state of things it refers to. Approximatives are divided into two classes – limiting and graduating. We display their three main meanings: they imply a veracity assessment concerning the stated name, they imply the possibility of another name, they contain the seme ‘a little’. On the basis of its meanings and functions we define the semantic category of approximation as an autonomous category within linguistic system.

This article analyzes the nominative approximation strategies in the Italian language and provides an integrated semantic description of the approximate functions of the lexeme quasi and its synonyms. The article is divided into four sections. In the first section we introduce the term approximation, as it is a relatively poorly studied semantic category, although scientific interest in this regard is growing. In the second section we present a fundamental, but still little known, publication on approximation based on the study of the French language, being the first comprehensive study on this semantic category. In the third section we present the dictionary use of the word quasi. Finally, in the fourth section, we analyze and describe the morphological, semantic, pragmatic and syntactic properties of lexeme quasi and its synonyms, as well as their combinability and communicative characteristics in order to provide an analysis model for further studies on the semantic category of approximation. The semantic analysis of the approximative quasi and its synonyms demonstrate how the dictionary meaning of the approximatives is fundamental to identify and distinguish their various approximate characters.

The article analyses problems of intercultural communication through the prism of gastronomic images. The study is based on the novel Ni Ève, ni Adam by the Modern French-speaking Belgian writer Amélie Nothomb. This novel is part of the autobiographical hypertext of the writer, contains recognizable autobiographems, it is the artistic reproduction of an episode in her real life. Most of the narrated episodes take place in Japan. The main plot is built upon the love story between a French-speaking Belgian girl and a Japanese boy. The main characters of the novel appear as atypical representatives of their national traditions; the girl of Belgian origins is in love with Japan and its culture, as well as the Japanese man prefers European traditions. Through their tastes these two main characters get to know each other, as well as their culture, tradition and mindsets. Japanese gastronomic discourse is presented more broadly than the Belgian one. It is represented by the names and descriptions of national Japanese dishes, drinks, Japanese culinary traditions, rituals. Belgian gastronomic discourse is almost absent in the novel, because it fits into a broader European discourse, represented mainly by European international dishes. The gastronomic discourse of the novel is a means of characterizing the protagonists, their psychological and social portrait. The mixing of gender and social roles of the characters is shown through the tastes. Gastronomic images become memory boosters, causing the 'effect of a madeleine cookie by Marcel Proust'.

Слово quasi («почти») принадлежит к классу аппроксиматоров. Под термином ап-проксиматор мы понимаем те элементы языка (лексические, морфологические, фразеологи-ческие, синтаксические, фонетические), кото-рые в тексте выражают семантическую катего-рию аппроксимации [9, с. 34]. Главная черта аппроксимации состоит в том, что с помощью аппроксиматора говорящий определенным об-разом сомневается в правомерности данного им именования и это его сомнение влечёт за со-бой определённую оценку [10, с. 4].Лексема quasi принадлежит к классу ап-проксиматоров со значением «количествен-ной характеристики чего-либо». Она преиму-щественно указывает на «близость степени не-которого свойства ситуации к пределу» (il serbatoio è quasi pieno -бензобак почти по-лон), на «неполноту свойства» (il serbatoio è quasi pieno, значит, что бензобак не полон) или на «неполноту некоторого множества» (i posti erano quasi tutti occupati -места были по-чти все заняты).Меркантини Симона -аспирант кафедры романской филологии, Московский городской педа-гогический университет. Факультет иностранных языков и литературы, Миланский католиче-ский университет, Милан, Италия.

The paper examines the phenomenon of creativity of the Italian writer Eugenio Corti, author of the historical novel Il Cavallo Rosso. Namely, it concerns the specificity of his artistic method and themes. The historical novel Il Cavallo Rosso, describes the 30-year period of Italian history from the pre-war period to the referendum on divorce in post-war Italy in the Seventies, so it points out many different and interesting features. This article will mainly focus the attention on the problems concerning the value of human life and humanity, from the point of view both of the Christian ideal and communist ideology. The novel is especially relevant for modern Ukraine, since it shows how the experience of the war can help rethinking national identity, the significance of history and of human life. Even the war represented for the author the possibility of realizing his own task, i.e. discovering the truth of himself and of the world. He could even say: «War can be an immense advantage. War makes men. The war teaches an infinite number of things because it shows us our fellow men as they are: it teaches us to truly know men». Accepting reality as it is represented to Corti the possibility of realizing its mission to be aware of himself and of man condition in general. The dynamisms of the narration in the novel Il Cavallo Rosso reflect the same dynamisms of life: life never goes on standby, human beings never renounce hope, they keep on looking for new and better answers to their existential questions. In this sense Corti's novel can be considered historical, not only because the author, fond of history, loved to be extremely faithful to the facts, but also because he admirably managed to make the same mechanisms of history and life. Through his great love for reality and his desire to know it better and let it known to everybody, Corti discovered his vocation in the world of literature: the vocation of being a Witness. And the novel we are talking about is a proof of this, as there are narrated his life experiences and those of his generation. Knowing better Man and History, the Life and its meaning, is the main goal of the big novel Il cavallo rosso, this is why the concepts of “experience”, “testimony” and “anti-testimony” will be highlighted as main components of both the author’s life and his literary vocation.