Abstract
<jats:p>The paper explores the occasional words that originated in the song lyrics of popular Russian animated franchises, such as the cartoon series “Masha and the Bear,” “Fiksiki,” and “Smeshariki.” The aim of the study is to identify the specific lexical and word-formation patterns of the occasional words used to create a comedic effect, a gentle and instructive tone, and a fairy-tale setting in products aimed at children and families. The methods of word-formation and contextual analysis demonstrate how occasional formations are integrated into the musical part, performing narrative and expressive functions. As a result of the analysis of song texts conducted in this work, the dominant word-formation models were identified: it was found that child-oriented content is dominated by models that provide maximum visibility and semantic transparency (contamination and expressive suffixation). The functional differentiation of occasional formations depending on the genre of the animated series was also determined: In “Masha and the Bear,” they perform a predominantly playful, comic, and hyperbolic function, serving as a tool for verbalizing children’s fantasies. In “Fixiks,” the occasional words have a nominative, didactic and technicalizing nature, modeling the world of technology through pseudo-terms and fulfilling an educational purpose. In “Smeshariki,” they often serve an ironic, philosophical, and characterological function, creating abstract concepts or reflecting the characters’ self-irony, which is designed for a dual-level perception (children’s and adult). The research results can be used in the practice of creating and adapting children’s song discourse and media discourse, in linguadidactics (developing children’s language intuition and creativity), as well as in courses on modern word formation, medialinguistics, and linguaculturology.</jats:p>