Parametric adjectives of Russian and English as representatives of the category of space
Marina S. Achaeva – Nadezda V. Pospelova – Nataliya S. Subbotina
DOI: 10.18355/XL.2019.12.03.02
Abstract
The lexico-semantic group of parametric adjectives, often called adjectives of general size or dimensional adjectives, is a universal class of words for all languages since spatial categories reflect the process of a person's world cognition. As it is known, lexico-semantic variants of the meanings of parametric adjectives enter into the sense groups with the semantics of space, distance, size or time. The choice of this group of lexical units is because parametric adjectives are actively metaphorized in the speech process and, therefore, with their figurative meanings they may intersect with the adjectives of other lexico-semantic groups. In the process of metaphorization, parametric adjectives can characterize the person, properties, or qualities of the personality, psychic, and mental state. The notions of parametric attributes of objects and space in general, coded in linguistic meanings and verbalized in words, reveal themselves in the processes of semantic derivation. The semantic study of the of identifying words, the specific features of their functioning in the language will allow us to approach the understanding of the language picture of the world of particular people, to reveal the originality of their worldview, the national and cultural specifics of the language, its connection with the material and spiritual life of the people. Parametric adjectives of Russian and English languages, such as wide, narrow, long, short are the objective of the study of this article, namely their specific semantic structure, cognitive characteristics, and compatibility properties.
Key words: parametric adjectives, semantics, polysemy, compatibility, metaphorical meaning
Pages: 12 - 21
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