Abstract: The object of the study is the phenomenon of verbal political symbols, which is understood as a key sign of political discourse that has lost its original meaning and, in the course of secondary signification, receives opportunistic meanings beneficial to political subjects in order to influence public consciousness. The subject of the study is the possible grounds for the typologization of verbal political symbols, as well as basic typological series, operationalized for use in empirical studies of political communications. The author examines in detail the methodological aspects of typologization based on the concepts of social constructionism and symbolic politics, as well as semantic, syntactic and pragmatic bases of typologization of symbols.   The main conclusions of the study are the identified basic bases of typologization of verbal political symbols: semantic (belonging to certain thematic conglomerates of concepts, belonging to political ideology, attitude to the state position), as well as syntactic and pragmatic (status and level of authority of the subject – creator of the symbol, channels of popularization, the duration of the life cycle of the symbol, universal functions of verbal symbols in politics).
A special contribution of the author to the study of the topic is the analysis of thematic conglomerates of concepts peculiar to Russian political discourse.
The novelty of the research lies in the application of a typological approach to the phenomenon of verbal political symbols, as well as the identification of the main features that can be used for the typology of discursive symbols in the future.

Abstract: This article raises a problem of existence of the verbal political symbols of autocratic discourse in public space. The hypothesis is advanced that in the conditions of centralization of the Russian political system, forms a specific type of discursive loyalty, interpreted as communicative behavior within the framework of the structure of verbal political symbols set by the official political discourse. The object of this research is the Russian sociopolitical discourse of Russia in the early XXI century. The subject is the instruments of manifestation of discursive loyalty used by public actors. Special attention is turned to the public attitude on verbal symbols of the country’s leader, political parties and bureaucracy in the conditions of centralization and personification of power over the period from 2000 to the present. An attempt is made to formulate the typology of discursive loyalty based on the components of perception of political symbols indicated by R. Cobb and C. Elder. Three basic types of discursive loyalty are defined depending on the dominance of separate components in perception: 1) affective, based on emotional empathy with the content of the discourse of power and its source; 2) cognitive, based on recognition of the relevance of verbal symbols of the discourse of power; 3) analytical, based on rational choice of the verbal symbols of power upon availability of the alternative or evasive option. Types of loyalty are illustrated by examples of discursive behavior of the subjects of civil society of the early XXI century – presidency and prime-ministry of V. V. Putin, whose personal influence actualized the affective type of loyalty, and the results of transformation of the political system led to proliferation of analytical type of loyalty. The author believes that the prevalence of analytical type of discursive loyalty is dangerous for the political system, due to its simulated nature, which creates an illusion of public support.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the process of symbolization of radical terms and ideological stamps in discourse of the students of higher education institutions of Rostov Oblast. The first turn noticed in the last decade in Russian policy, lead to popularization of peripheral radical ideologemes within the educational and media spaces, the digestion of which creates a complex of verbal symbols in students’ consciousness. Having lost the scientific content, these symbols become an index of latent support of the right-wing radicalism and comprise the potential of transformation into an active form of political activity. The article makes an attempt of deconstruction of the verbal symbols, as well as substantiates the affiliation of a number of universally used and scientific terms to periphery of the right-wing radicalism. The main conclusion of the conducted research lies in verification of the presence of a complex of radical verbal symbols within the students’ consciousness. Radical terminology, having become a topic of political scientists from media space, is not subjected to a critical rethinking, but is rather digested in form of stamps that distort the perceptions about the real political situation. Common to the legal radicalism peripheral concepts (great power, empire, Russian/Slavic world, civilized collapse, etc.) are extensively used by the students in communication on political topics. The scientific novelty consists in the attempt of integration of the “ideologemes” theory with the idea of presence in discourse of the verbal symbols and their lexical expression.