Semantic relations in the system of adjectives to portray a person

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УДК 81.ПГ373

SEMANTIC RELATIONS IN THE SYSTEM OF ADJECTIVES TO PORTRAY A PERSON

I.K. Kozka

У статті розглядається система прикметників на позначення портретної характеристики людини в сучасній українській мові. Аналізується специфіка синонімічних та антонімічних відношень прикметників, що належать до макрополя «Портретна характеристика людини». У рамках макрополя виокремлено мікрополе «Вертикальний розмір». Виділено лексико-семантичні групи на основі інтегральних та диференційних денотативно-сигніфікативних сем. Визначено структурну організацію лексико-семантичних груп, виявлену в результаті семного аналізу значень. Предметом дослідження є семантичні та функціональні особливості системних відношень українських прикметників, що позначають портретну характеристику людини, як конституентів лексико-семантичного поля.

Ключові слова: лексико-семантичне поле, синонім, ядро та периферія поля, сема, емоційно-оцінне забарвлення, інтенсивність ознаки.

Козка Ірина Кирилівна -- кандидат філологічних наук, доцент, доцент кафедри іноземних мов, Харківський національний медичний університет. Україна, м. Харків, проспект Науки, 4.

E-mail: iryna.kozka@gmail.com http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2414-0249

adjective ukrainian synonymic portrait

Козка И. К. Семантические отношения в системе прилагательных, обозначающих портретную характеристику человека. В статье рассматривается система прилагательных, обозначающих портретную характеристику человека в современном украинском языке. Анализируется семантическая специфика синонимических и антонимических отношений прилагательных, которые входят в макрополе «Портретная характеристика человека». В рамках макрополя выделено микрополе «Вертикальный размер». Выделены лексико-семантические группы на основе интегральных и дифференциальных денотативно-сигнификативных сем. Определена структурная организация лексико-семантических групп, выявленная в результате семного анализа значений. Предметом исследования являются семантические и функциональные особенности системных отношений украинских прилагательных, обозначающих портретную характеристику человека.

Ключевые слова: лексико-семантическое поле, синоним, ядро и периферия поля, сема, эмоционально-оценочная окраска, интенсивность признака.

Kozka I. K. Semantic Relations in the System of Adjectives To Portray a Person. The article deals with the system of adjectives which denote the portrait characteristics of a person in the Modern Ukrainian Language. The semantic specific features of synonymic and antonymic relations of the adjectives which form a macrofield «Portrait Characteristics of a Person» have been analyzed. The microfield «Vertical Size» has been singled out in this macrofield. Lexical and semantic groups have been defined on the basis of integral and differential denotative and significant semes. Structural organization of lexical and semantic groups has been clarified as a result of semes analysis. The subject of the research concerns semantic andfunctional peculiarities of systematic relations of the Ukrainian adjectives which denote the portrait characteristics as constituents of a lexical and semantic field.

Key words: lexical and semantic field, synonym, nucleus and periphery of a field, seme, emotional colouring, quality intensity.

Quality intensity Spatial

Grding of an indicator

Degree of manifestation of an indicator

Wordforming synonym

Commonrooted derivatives

Interlevel relation

Indicator's bearer

Shadow of meaning

Kozka Iryna Kyrylivna -- Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor at the Foreign Languages Department, Kharkiv National Medical University. Ukraine, Kharkiv, Nauki Av., 4.

The adjectives which characterize the height, stoutness and peculiarities of a person's stature form a significant group in the system of the adjectives of the portrait characteristics of a person in the Modern Ukrainian Language. We call them «parametric» as they convey certain parameters of a person.

The parametric adjectives have often been the subject of the analyses of scientific research since they represent the oldest layers of the language lexical system.

In the monograph ``Parametric Adjectives and Their Development” T. Lynnyk investigates the semantics of the adjectives with the meaning of measurement and sizes concerning synchronic and diachronic names on the material of the Ukrainian and English languages. The researcher presents in details the hierarchical structure of synonymic groups that constitute the microfields to denote measurement and sizes (large and small), stoutness (strong and weak) and height (tall and short) [7, с. 80-116 ]. T. Lynnyk gives the general characteristics of these adjectives without referring to a person.

V. Korobeinykova has developed the classification of spatial adjectives on the basis of the field structure theory of language objects [6, с. 68-69]. O. Shevchuk has added one more group to Korobeinykova'classification, that is, a microparadigm of words which are the synonyms to the adjectives `large' and `small' [12, с. 6]. O. Shevchuk calls the members of this subparadigm `gradual adjectives' as they state not only the measuring characteristics of objects but also define the certain level of their manifestation. Both these classifications are crucial for our research as the adjectives with direct spatial meaning are used also to portray parametric characteristics of a person. In this group synonymic and antonymic relations are clearly singled out. In contrast to other adjective groups the adjectives of this group have the distinct grading of indicators and a synonymic group consists of members which are distinguished by the degree of manifestation of a certain indicator.

O. Volf considers intensification and affectation to be the indicators of these adjectives which the analyzed groups belong to [2, с. 29]. The words with evaluating meaning are analyzed on the basis of their correlation to the main, neutral synonyms. The role of these adjectives is very important in defining the lexical meaning of a word.

The subject of the research is functional and semantic features of the systematic relations in the lexical and semantic groups of Ukrainian adjectives within the macrofield `The portrait characteristics of a person'.

The topicality of the research is specified, firstly, by the fact that the Ukrainian adjectives describing physical appearance of a person are frequently used in the language. Secondly, there is a need to outline functional and semantic characteristics of the adjectives of this system in order to clarify their speech peculiarities and the role of extra-lingual factors in the formation of their meaning and pragmatic potential.

The aim of the research is to reveal semantic peculiarities of the systematic relations within the lexical and semantic groups with the dominants `високий' (tall) and `низький' (short) which are considered to be the microfields that form the macrofield `The portrait characteristics of a person'.

The tasks of the research are: 1) to analyze systematic relations in these lexical and semantic groups; 2) to single out the seme content of the constituents of the microfield.

The first group consists of such adjectives: високий-довгий-гінкий-рослий-рославий / рослявий-довготелесий-довгов'язий-жердинястий-стебелястий- саженний-/сажневий. The word високий realizes a nuance of the direct meaning, it has a seme `height which is more than a norm': Йде Данило хутко, бо високий на зріст і цибатий, як лелека ( Григір Тютюнник ).

The seme `an indicator of a person' is common for all constituents, but it performs its differentiated functions only in those cases when a lexical and semantic group has the words with wider semantics (високий, низький and the other words).

The adjectives височенний and височезний are connected with the dominant. These words contain a seme `height which is more than a norm' and a seme ` a great intensity`. Similar lexical items manifest a very high level of the intensity of a quality, they are formed with the help of suffixes -ущ -- ( - ющ - ), -уч- ( -юч - ), -енн-,-езн-,-елезн-. The degree of a quality intensity is very high in such words: “These words have a clearer emotional and evaluating colouring and characterize mostly the colloquial communication . Their differentiation is based on a person's subjective evaluation and his neutral, positive or negative attitude towards what is being spoken” [1, с. 130].

The word довгий realizes a nuance of the direct meaning, it has a seme `height which is more than a norm' and `a stylistic characteristics' which is followed by a sign `colloquial' in the dictionary [10]: Тоді довгий Вовчик розкинув свої довгі руки...(М. Хвильовий). This word has a developed system of word formations with suffices of the excessive degree of a quality intensity. These words are characterized by vivid emotional and expressive component and used in colloquial style: довжелезний, довжезний, довженний.

All the analyzed words differ from the dominant by functional limiting as they belong to the vocabulary of the coloquial style. Except the word довгий their emotionality has formal grammar indices. Only the adjective височенний due to its frequent usage in the styles of a written speech has lost its colloquial nuances.

The adjective гінкий enters this group on the basis of its derivative meaning: Він, здавалося, зовсім забув про нього, наче Кость загубився серед інших і присадкуватих, і гінких на зріст сталеварів ( М. Рудь).

The dictionary [ 10 ] doesn't state the meaning of a person's height, but this example proves that this word means the height because it accompanies the word присадкуватий. This lexical and semantic variant has such semes: `height which is more than a norm' and ` small in the width'.

The word рослий realizes its direct meaning which denotes a tall person who has got a proportionally developed figure. This lexical and semantic variant is characterized by the semes `height which is more than a norm', `proportional figure' and `positive evaluation'. The words рославий /рослявий are mostly identical to it. We distinguish the semes `height which is more than a norm' and `proportional figure' in the meaning of these words.

Рославий and рослявий are word forming synonyms which are characterized in the literature as `the rows of common rooted derivatives that belong to the same part of speech and have different sound affixes with the same common word forming meaning [4, с. 5]. V. Rusanivskyi also accents that a word as a separate language item should be regarded in the aspect of inter-level relations [8, с. 73].

The words довготелесий and довгов'язий are identical synonyms. The last one enters this lexical and semantic group by its derivative meaning: Він справді підкотився: сам Тарасуло довготелесий, плечастий, а ніжки коротенькі, так і здається,що котиться на коліщатах погруддя...(Ю. Мушкетик ).

Довготелесий, довгов'язий are characterized by the semes `height which is more than a norm' and `unproportional figure' as довготелесий denotes a person who is tall due to the unproportional development of one part of the body. These words both have the seme `small in the width' and the seme of figurativeness. A lot of examples have shown that довгов'язий is not used in the meaning which the dictionary [10 ] gives as the main one (`with a long neck') but in the meaning by which it is synonymized with the word довготелесий. By their structure these adjectives are compound words, they show distinctive features of semantic condensation. It is a process when the meanings of two words are not only joined together but a new meaning is added due to the idiomatic colouring in the meaning of a word. N.F. Klimenko stresses this peculiarity of compound words: “The distinctive feature of compound words is the presence of evaluation, the meaning of modality and emotive moment in their semantics” [5, с. 40].

Високий-довгий-гінкий-рослий-рославий / рослявий and довготелесий- довгов'язий form two microblocs which have different stylistic characteristics: - високий-довгий-гінкий-рослий-рославий-рослявий are neutral, commonly used words; довготелесий, довгов'язий are used in the colloquial style. While performing a linguistic analysis of these two words we can't but see the seme of evaluation which is very vivid. This seme is negative in довготелесий, довгов'язий but in the words of the second bloc it is positive. Due to a transparent and clear inner form довготелесий and довгов'язий are characterized by an expressive figurativeness. V. Rusanivskyi writes: “The figurativeness which occurs on the basis of comparison is one of the parts of an inner form of a word” [8, с. 26]. The adjective саженний is characterised by a seme `height which is more than a norm', a seme of great quality intensity and vivid figurativeness since comparison is the basis of motivation of the meaning: Це був саженний і важкий (пудів на вісім) чолов'яга (М. Хвильовий). The word сажневий is a rarely used word forming variant of саженний.

The nucleus of this lexical and semantic group is formed by the words високий, довгий, рослий. Their less used variants are located near them. The words рославий/ рослявий, жердинястий, стебелястий, саженний/сажневий, довготелесий, довгов'язий and their word forming models are located in the periphery and are formed with the help of suffixes of abundant quality intensity which add the feature of expressiveness and colloquial stylistic colouring to these adjectives.

The word forming variants and compound words occupy a leading position in this lexical and semantic group. The existence of word forming variants is determined by close interrelation of literary Ukrainian with dialects. This language enrichment concerns not only the increase of synonymic items (which might not mean the merits of a language) but predominantly the enrichment of stylistic and expressive (in our case -- synonymic) means of a language. These adjectives with expressively synonymic meaning perform stylistic function in speech.

V. Rusanivskyi considers synonymy to be one of the features of language variability. For the researcher this variability is a possibility to express one and the same thought with the help of different means and, above all, with a different degree of emotional evaluation [8, с. 77].

The group of adjectives which consists of the words низький -- невисокий -- короткий -- низькорослий -- малорослий -- приземкуватий -- дрібний -- куций is antonymous to the group which has just been analyzed. These words contain the integral seme: `height which is less than a norm' and such differential semes as: 'emotional colouring', `negative evaluation', 'strong stature', `stylistic characteristics', 'of a young age' and' not fat'. In the words of this group we observe a narrowing of total volume of meaning owing to the restriction of the number of indicator's bearers by persons. The word низький realizes a nuance of the direct meaning in this group: Перед ним, як вродився з асфальту -- професор Глинський, низький, засмоктаний і тонкий...(Б. Харчук). The words низенький, низесенький, низькуватий with diminutive semes are grouped around the word низький. Scientists admit that such words with suffixes of subjective evaluation mostly contain a meaning of diminution in their semantics and belong to colloquial styles : “The words with diminutive and affectionate suffixes are the most typical for colloquial speech” [9, с. 58]. The scientist A. Hryshchenko states that gradual, expressive and evaluating aspects are inseparably linked in such words [3, с. 138]: Сама Явдоха Гарасимівна, до речі, була... трохи сивенькою,...низенькою п'ятидесятилітньою жінкою (М. Хвильовий).

The adjective невисокий enters this group by its direct meaning, it corresponds with the dominant of the lexical and semantic group which has just been analyzed as it is formed from the adjective високий by the prefix не- and is antonymic to it: З першої/ брички/ зійшов невисокий, але ставний.начальник з великими блакитними очима на витонченому обличчі (А. Дімаров). The frequency of usage of the adjective невисокий in the meaning of a person's height equals to the same frequency of the adjective низький. The word короткий realizes a shadow of the direct meaning. It is characterized be the semes `height which is less than a norm', `emotional colouring' and `negative evaluation'. A widely used adjective коротенький is the derivative with the meaning `diminutive and affectionate to короткий [10]: Але в сей мент одчинились бокові двері, й з них поспішно вийшов товстенький,коротенький добродій (В. Винниченко). This lexical and semantic variant is characterized by the integral seme `height which is less than a norm', the differential semes `great quality intensity' and `colloquial style'.

The word низькорослий is actualized in the meaning `the one who doesn't have a great stature, who didn't grow to a normal height; not tall' [10]: Постривай, -- здивовано зупинився Дунай, відкидаючи стан, щоб краще розглядіти низькорослого пана (М. Стельмах). This lexical and semantic variant is characterized by the semes `height which is less than a norm', `negative evaluation' and `emotional colouring`, in this last the inner form of this compound word is revealed . The adjective малорослий takes a very close position to the previous constituent: `not of a great height; not tall' [10]: І коли слідчий ...став навпроти нього, малорослого, немічного, з тонкою нервовою шкірою, Костюк одразу ж зрозумів, що його зараз ударять ( А. Дімаров). The semes `height which is less than a norm', 'emotional colouring' and `negative evaluation' are present in the meaning of this word. Similar formations likely emerge by analogy that was rightly observed by O. Taranenko [ 11, с. 52].

The next constituent приземкуватий is characterized by a vivid inner form and semes 'height which is less than a norm', `strong stature' and `stylistic characteristics' which is stated in the dictionary by a note `colloquial': Документи взяв широкий у плечах, приземкуватий чоловік у шкіряному пальті і шапці-кубанці (Григорій Тютюнник).

The word дрібний realizes in the following context a nuance of the direct meaning, an integral seme `height which is less than a norm' and differential semes `of a young age' and ` not of fat stature': Від дітей, від дрібних, тільки пил один (І. Багряний). The last seme is set in the direct meaning of this word. The adjective дрібний often comes together with the names of body parts. Its usage with the words руки, ніжки is rather widely spread in a poetic speech: Спить маленький; матусину руку щільненько обняли рученята дрібнії (Л. Українка). The words дрібненький, дрібнесенький with diminutive suffixes differ by the degree of this diminution. They are characterized by a seme of an excessive quality intensity and stylistic colouring which is proved by a note `colloquial' in the dictionary [10]: Дрібненька постать -- бюст у чорній фарбі, як чорні злидні дальніх хуторів... (І. Багряний).

The adjective куций realizes the derivative meaning in the limits of this group: ...він/генерал/...такий товстелезний, круглий та куций, чисто тобі цибулина по стежці котиться (В. Винниченко). The negative attitude of the subject to the described person is expressed in this example.

These two groups of adjectives form two microblocs which are linked by the integral seme `vertical size'. In the limits of these microblocs this seme is realized in two opposite integral semes: `height which is more than a norm' and `height which is less than a norm'. The groups differ both in the number of constituents and differential signs. The microbloc with a dominant високий has more constituents. These groups of adjectives are characterized by a partially symmetrical structure, the words високий, довгий have correlating antonyms низький, короткий, the other words are not completely correlated in pairs as they differ in some semantic peculiarities.

Summing up the results of the research paper, it should be noted that the adjectives which denote a person's portrait characteristics embrace one of the most developed systems of synonymic and antonymic relations in the vocabulary of the modern Ukrainian language. Physical parameters as a rule are connected with a definite system of grading and evaluating and in speech they are expressed by antonymic words and antonymic blocs. We have studied the adjectives that characterize a person and such an analysis is always accompanied by evaluation. That's why in these lexical groups the expressive and evaluative synonyms prevail. The microbloc which predominantly expresses a positive evaluation is less complex by both the number of constituents and semantic structure in comparison with the bloc of negative evaluation. The research findings are: 1) two lexical and semantic groups have been defined within the microfield; 2) the seme content of the constituents of lexical groups has been outlined; 3) 19 adjectives have been chosen on the basis of integral and differential denotative and significant semes, many of them have been characterized as emotionally coloured and stylistically marked.

Adjectives to portray a person form a macrafield “Portrait Characteristics of a Person” and can't be measured with those ones to describe a vertical size of a person. Therefore to present the most comprehensive list of the Ukrainian words to describe the characteristics of a person's portrait which are represented in works of fiction, it is necessary to pay attention to other semantic adjectives groups.

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