UDC

81-119

DOI

10.17238/issn2227-6564.2019.3.33

Authors

Anastasiya V. Semkova
Polytechnic Institute (Branch) of M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University; ul. Tikhonova 5, korp. 1, Mirny, 678170, Respublika Sakha (Yakutiya), Russian Federation;
e-mail: semkova1@rambler.ru
Tat’yana V. Gorbunova
Irkutsk National Research Technical University; ul. Lermontova 83, Irkutsk, 664074, Russian Federation;
e-mail: tanya.mironchuk@hotmail.com

Abstract

The article deals with the analysis of structural and semantic features of non-prototypical constructions that categorize both regret and emotional-evaluative attitude. The research was performed within the framework of the onomasiological approach to the sentence study, in other words, from content to form. Models of prototypical situations containing explicit and implicit dimensions are presented in the article. A prototypical situation model enables one to determine the language means and grammatical constructions that are expected from the speaker verbalizing these situations. Moreover, the paper presents prototypical constructions best categorizing prototypical situations of regret and emotional-evaluative attitude without any additional shades and describes their structural features. Non-prototypical (diffuse) constructions (blend constructions) are analysed within the framework of the theory of mental spaces and conceptual integration. The basic method of this theory makes it possible to reduce the situation categorized by the speaker to mental spaces and identify the most unusual cases of categorization. Blend constructions combine structural and semantic features of both constructions categorizing regret and those categorizing emotional-evaluative attitude. In other words, they borrow lexical and grammatical means of prototypical constructions of regret and emotional-evaluative attitude creating a unique structure that is non-equivalent to these prototypical constructions either semantically or grammatically. This property is described by the authors of the conceptual integration theory as emergence. At the same time, blend constructions exhibit the property of compression, which means that spaces beyond understanding and operating them are compressed into compact spaces. In addition, this article demonstrates combined categorization of the situation by all parts of a sentence; they contribute equally to forming the meaning of the sentence, which enables us to speak of a holistic approach to the sentence study.

Keywords

cognitive grammar, prototypical construction, non-prototypical construction, blend, mental space, emergence, compression

References

1. Rakhilina E.V. (ed.). Lingvistika konstruktsiy [Linguistics of Constructions]. Moscow, 2010. 584 p.
2. Kovaleva L.M., Bogdanova S.Yu., Semenova T.I. (eds.). Prototipicheskie i neprototipicheskie edinitsy v yazyke [Prototypical and Non-Prototypical Units in a Language]. Irkutsk, 2012. 266 p.
3. Fauconnier G., Turner M. Conceptual Integration Networks. Cogn. Sci., 1998, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 133–187.
4. Fauconnier G. Methods and Generalizations. Cognitive Linguistics: Foundations, Scope and Methodology. Berlin, 1999, pp. 95–127.
5. Fauconnier G., Turner M. Compression and Global Insight. Cogn. Linguist., 2000, vol. 11, no. 3/4, pp. 283–304.
6. Fauconnier G., Turner M. Blending as a Central Process of Grammar. Conceptual Structure, Discourse, and Language. Stanford, 1996, pp. 113–129.
7. Fauconnier G. Mental Spaces: Aspects of Meaning Construction in Natural Language. Cambridge, 1994. 190 p.
8. Fauconnier G., Turner M. Mental Spaces: Conceptual Integration Networks. Cognitive Linguistics: Basic Readings. Berlin, 2006, pp. 303–371.
9. Fauconnier G. Compression and Emergent Structure. Lang. Linguist., 2005, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 523–538.
10. Semkova A.V., Nikolaeva T.A. Strukturno-semanticheskie osobennosti konstruktsiy s predikatami sozhaleniya v sovremennom angliyskom yazyke [Structural and Semantic Peculiarities of Constructions Organized by Predicates of Regret in Modern English]. Voprosy kognitivnoy lingvistiki, 2016, no. 3, pp. 148–153. DOI: 10.20916/1812-3228-2016-3-148-153
11. Kovaleva L.M. Angliyskaya grammatika: predlozhenie i slovo [English Grammar: Sentence and Word]. Irkutsk, 2008. 394 p.