Corruption is a phenomenon that is not only discussed in political or economic contexts, but also leaves linguistic traces in the religious domain. The linguistic subproject will therefore investigate the extent to which religious language differs from secular language through a specific corruption lexicon. 

The topic is of particular interest as it has not yet been researched. In addition, scientific investigation of religious language in Russian linguistics only began in the 1990s, although functional-stylistic research was already established in the early 20th century.

The starting point for the research is the observation that Russian texts on corruption often contain lexemes that originate from the religious domain and have long since fallen out of use in other functional styles. One example is srebroljubie (greed for money), which is listed in modern dictionaries as an obsolete term for bribery (vzjatočničestvo).

This observation raises interesting questions: Does the religious sphere have its own lexicon of corruption? How does the language of the church differ from secular language? 

Text analysis reveals how religious concepts became established in debates about corruption and what role they play today. During the preparatory phase of the project, initial attempts were made to inventory the lexicon of corruption, and several lexemes related to corruption have already been identified. To expand the list of corruption lexicon, language corpora such as NKRJa and created on Sketch Engine and etymological dictionaries are being analyzed in order to systematically inventory the corruption lexicon. Various Russian Orthodox internet portals such as azbuka.ru, pravenc.ru, pravoslavie.ru, and others are also being used as data material for the analysis.

This project aims to contribute to research on religious language in Russian and on the language of corruption in the religious sphere.