Abstract
<jats:p>The aim of this study is to describe the mechanisms of conceptual blending involving the German ethnic adjectives deutsch and russisch. Based on over 140 contexts extracted from the DWDS electronic text corpus of the German language, and employing the methodology of mental space theory and the blending concept by G. Fauconnier and M. Turner, combined with J. Pustejovsky’s qualia structure model, the mechanisms of integration of multiple mental spaces of ethnic words are analyzed. The synthesis of these approaches allows for the explication of deep semantic features actualized in discourse. It is revealed that ethnic adjectives, possessing a weak semantic structure and an extensive network of associative connections, actualize the agentive, constitutive, formal, and telic attributes of the qualia structure. It is established that the blends resulting from conceptual integration integrate different slots of the original mental spaces with specific associates, generating emergent meanings that are irreducible to the sum of the components’ meanings. Types of blends are identified: agentive-constitutive, formal-constitutive, telic-constitutive, as well as blends based on precedent phenomena. A typology of blends is proposed based on the nature of the integrated spaces, the degree of stability, and evaluative modality. Asymmetry is revealed in the tendency of the adjective deutsch towards blends of quality and discipline, and russisch towards blends of the irrational and risk. Differences are established in the degree of conceptual complexity and the level of integration into the linguistic system, conditioned by cultural stereotypes and grammatical features. The proposed typology expands the toolkit of cognitive semantics for the analysis of ethnic lexicon. The results can be applied in lexicographic practice and comparative studies.</jats:p>