Methodology of contrastive typological investigation of the Ukrainian, English and French axionomens

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Department of the English Language and Translation

Izmail State University of Humanities

Methodology of contrastive typological investigation of the Ukrainian, English and French axionomens

Soroka T. - Candidate of Science (Linguistics), Associate Professor

The purpose of the article is to develop and to characterize the procedure of formalized analysis of lexical semantics; to define methodological principles of contrastive typological analysis of national values of unrelated languages. The object of this study is lexico-semantic groupings of words denoting philosophical, world outlook, scientific, social, political, moral, religious, legal, aesthetic values of Modern Ukrainian, English and French languages. The subject of this study is structurally defined organization of axionomens which are qualified as determined linguistic units taken from the lexicographical interpretative sources.

Key words: axionomen, lexical meaning, matrix, generalized seme.

Сорока Т. - кандидат філологічних наук, доцент кафедри англійської мови та перекладу Ізмаїльського державного гуманітарного університету

Методологія зіставно-типологічного дослідження українських, англійських та французьких аксіономенів

Мета статті - розробити й охарактеризувати процедуру формалізованого аналізу лексичної семантики; визначити методологічні принципи зіставно-типологічного аналізу системи цінностей неспоріднених мов. Об'єктом аналізу є лексико-семантичні угруповання слів на позначення філософсько-світоглядних, наукових, громадсько-політичних, соціальних, моральних, релігійних, правових і естетичних цінностей у сучасних українській, англійській та французькій мовах. Предмет дослідження - системноструктурна організація аксіономенів, що кваліфікуються як ціннісно-зумовлені реєстрові одиниці лексикографічних джерел тлумачного характеру.

Ключові слова: аксіономен, лексичне значення, матриця, генералізована сема.

Сорока Т. - кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры английского языка и перевода Измаильского государственного гуманитарного университета

Методология сопоставительно-типологического исследования украинских, английских и французских аксиономенов

Цель статьи - разработать и охарактеризовать процедуру формализованного анализа лексической семантики; определить методологические принципы сопоставительно-типологического анализа системы ценностей неродственных языков. Объект анализа - лексикосемантические группировки слов, обозначающих философско- мировоззренческие, научные, общественно-политические, социальные, моральные, религиозные, правовые и эстетические ценности в современных украинском, английском и французском языках. Предмет исследования - системно-структурная организация аксиономенов, которые квалифицируются как ценностно-обусловленные реестровые единицы лексикографических источников толкования слов.

Ключевые слова: аксиономен, лексическое значение, матрица, генерализированная сема.

Problem statement

The modern stage of the development of linguistics is characterized by the formation of two main scientific and research tendencies: description of separately-selected languages to establish the specifics of national and cultural world perception and complex coverage of linguistic material in the comparable typological aspect on the material of genetically related and unrelated languages.

Critical overview

In recent years, more and more linguists are inclined to believe that the most productive basis for language comparison is lexical semantics, since without comprehensive learning of language content it is impossible to adequately represent the structure of the language. We share the opinion of M. P. Kochergan that "fundamental features of the linguistic structure are hidden in lexis, which determine the presence of many specific characteristics at other levels of language" and "support for semantics will help to reveal the widest possible aggregate of systemically defined structural characteristics of the language, which allow shedding light on the problem of relations language and thinking" [2, с. 88]. Thus, the reorientation of linguistic researches to the semantic soil is manifested as a natural and scientifically-weighted one. Nowadays, the primacy of linguistic content on the wordform and vocabulary lexical essence in a word as well as possibility of using the semantic approach are undeniable in the study of all language levels.

The comparable investigation of linguistic semantics is carried out in several aspects depending on the scale and location in the general language system and functional status of the matched categories. In this regard, the linguists stand out two directions: the comparable study of semantics on the interlingual level and the comparable study of semantic phenomena on the level of one language. The first comparable study is organized principally in the typological plan and mainly on the level of the general categories of the semantic structure, the comparison of which aims to establish common and different facts in basic forms of logical thinking. By the method of conducting a comparable study of semantics on the interlingual level is considered to be a study with horizontal location of objects, whereas the comparable analysis of semantic phenomena on the level of one language is understood as vertical one. In the process of comparison units of linguistic semantics of different structural levels of one language system taking into account their hierarchical relationship are included.

Despite of the fact that the sufficiently large number of scientific researches, in which the functionally semantic parameters of lexological comparison have been revealed, semantic approach to the typological study of lexis requires further development, because language comparisons do not always have a systemic character.

Purpose of investigation

The purpose of the study is to fill the gaps in the methodology of the study of lexical semantics by the allocation and characteristics of the procedure for its formalized analysis, as well as the disclosure of methodological foundations for comparable typological analysis of words denoting philosophical, world outlook, scientific, social, political, moral, religious, legal, aesthetic values of Modern Ukrainian, English and French languages.

Research course

lexical semantics axionomen

In modern linguistics, formalized researches of the structure and system of a language are conducted in order to solve a practical need that is to create the system of information search, to construct artificial intelligence, machine translation, etc. For the first time the formalized principles of semantic classification of the Ukrainian vocabulary were formulated and based by scientific employees of the department of structurally-mathematic linguistics of O. O. Potebnia Institute of Linguistics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Just from this institution various up-to-date investigations in theoretical and applied linguistics on the material of lexicographical sources have been spread. The Ukrainian eminent scholar M. Peschak was the author of this methodology [1]. She could with her followers throw light on the problem of differentiating language and speech and also achieve a clear presentation of lexical meanings as linguistic facts. Among the representatives of M. Peschak's scientific school one should name such Professors as M. Fabian, A. Luchik, G. Yarun.

It was from here that the researches of theoretical and applied linguistics on the materials of lexographic sources have been followed, where the phenomena of speech and language are most expressive, and the lexical meanings of words are defined as linguistic facts.

Lexicographical practice of compiling explanatory dictionaries was aiming researchers at studying semantic structure of a word not as an isolated but an integrally-linked element of a language system. Thus, explanatory dictionaries with complete databanks allow realizing the analysis of linguistic means of word-stock manifestations in the terms of semantic components [5].

Any dictionary entry is considered to be a group of strictly-organized formal indications. The quantity of them depends upon the degree of a word polysemy, i.e. the rich polysemy the more reasons for diversifying an entry formal indications. Since a dictionary entry comes out the instrument of word's lexical meaning interpretation, its intersection with others but distinctive indications affords opportunity to describe the correlation of lexical meanings in a language system by means of formalized analysis procedure.

For choosing material of investigating systematically-structural peculiarities of axionomens' lexical semantics of the modern Ukrainian, English and French languages we put formal but exclusively linguistic criterion into operation, i.e. referring the analyzed words only to nouns. This approach gives an opportunity to define and to describe semantics of words with the help of such steps: a) matrix analysis of axionomens' seme structure on the first stage of research material classification; b) description and complex analysis of axionomens' correlations, their connections and peculiarities; c) typological comparison of axionomens' semantics in Ukrainian, English and French lexical systems.

Matrix method of presenting semantic relations between axionouns of the three languages serves as metalanguage for description of analyzed objects in our investigation, whereas matrix on the one hand occurs as a model of system of semantic connections, on the other hand it occurs as semantic structure of axiolexis. This model fixes semantic connections between the words denoting values in the form of columns and lines of equal length, inside of which the axionomens' correlation (a lexical stock) and their meanings ration (i.e. a seme stock) are marked by the symbol +. The places of axionomens in matrix are strongly-fixed: words of the highest and average degrees of polysemy are located in deeply-filled parts but monosemantic ones can be met rarely. At the same time all matrix cells have functional loading, likewise distances between words and directions of their location. In comparison with explanatory dictionaries matrix is formally simple for demonstrating lexical semantics of the language. Its topographical way of placing filled cells practically substitutes verbal expression of interpretative parts of words.

Since a lexeme is considered as an outer word representation, its inner side is characterized by a sememe, which is, in its turn, regarded as the smallest unit of lexico-semantic level and an equipollent to a separate word meaning. In paradigmatic aspect a sememe is not considered as the simplest and indivisible one because it has its own structure and contains some constituents.

All the meanings of lexical units are formed by a hierarchical structure of semantic constituents - theoretical constructs or conceptual building blocks - which semantically characterize the vocabulary of any language. Terms like semantic feature (A. Ufimtseva), semantic component (L. Vasilyev, A. Zholkovskiy) and semantic marker (J. Katz, J. Fodor) are often used interchangeably in the present linguistics; they are of various level of abstraction and determine the semantically-syntactic environment of the word. In our investigation we introduce the term a generalized seme (GS), which is understood as a semantically-derived feature having briefly- generalized content which is logically removed from the initial sememe and used in modeling the horizontal axis of the matrix.

The procedure of collecting axionomens and selecting their seme- stock are subdivided into such consecutive stages:

1) the axionomens having in their lexical meanings both explicit and implicit indications on forms and means of expressing axiological knowledge are taken from the up-to-date Ukrainian, English and French explanatory dictionaries by means of entire data choosing method and in consequence the card-file of linguistic material are made. One should point out that firstly a preliminary list of lexemes considered as conventional values (social phenomena as constitutionally-guaranteed or approved ones by the General Declaration of Human Rights) of the national community is formed, e.g. Ukrainian (життя, честь, гідність, держава, суверенітет, мова, людина, здоров'я, недоторканність, безпека, свобода, мир, праця, освіта, культура, релігійність, право, порядок, закон), English (life, liberty, security, law, sovereignty, equality, privacy, honour, freedom, worship, personality, dignity, health, well-being, education, respect, religiosity, culture, order, peace) and French (souverainetй, vie, libertй, sыretй, droit, personnalitй, йgalitй, honneur, religion, dignitй, santй, grвce, travail, йducation, respect, paix) national societies' axionomens. Afterwards the step-identification method (in the terms of E. Kuznetsova) [3], is applied for the proposed list of words. This method helps “to determine a lexico-semantic group as a set of units interpreted through the same word identifiers” (the quote after Z. Popova [4, p. 107]). The step-identification method as a means of finding verbal manifestations of semantic components consists in consecutive reducing words through typical identifiers till those ones of maximum generalized character. This procedure will be carried out until the situation of crossidentification arises in contrasted interpretations. Thus, the ultimate identifiers are accepted as lexico-semantic units denoting values which contain stable complexes of semantic components existing in other axionomens;

2) the obtained card-file of axionomens gives an opportunity to analyze their quantitative stock and qualitative peculiarities as well as semantic properties;

3) on the basis of studing lexicographic definitions a special matrix is modeled where a list of axionomens (a lexical stock) is arranged on the vertical axis and the horizontal one indicates a seme stock (GSs) of the collected language material. At the same time inside a matrix cell only one word is disposed. The presence of a common lexical meaning is marked by the symbol (+);

4) lists of words and GSs in matrix are grouped in a descending line depending on a quantitative stock. It is conduced to maximum concentration of axionomens in one matrix angle and contrasting it to an alternate angle placed diagonally as the least completed one;

5) the vocabulary fragment under study is subdivided into lexico- semantic groups due to the total amount of lexical meanings (i.e from axionomens of the highest and average degrees of polysemy till monosemantic ones and its seme stock is divided into sets according to the frequency of GSs' usage distinguished in lexical meanings of words with the different degree of polysemy;

6) in accordance with matrix the degree of axionomens' polysemy and the character of their interconnections are presented enough completely; it helps to bring into axionomens' proper correlation within lexico-semantic groups;

7) the obtained lexico-semantic groups of axionomens are studied as independent systematically-structural unities of words.

Concluding remarks

The application of matrix method in practice proves that the structural organization of axiovocabulary considerably becomes complicated; internal mechanisms and dynamics of semantic cooperations of axionomens are revealed under the influence of extra- linguistic factors. Matrix presentation of non-material values gives an opportunity to describe in detail the structure of axionouns' lexical meangings which are not in chaotic order, but clearly organized, to distinguish the degree of their related semantics, to expose the functional character of semes forming definite structures within the framework of analyzed words.

Further research. The prospect of research is to analyze language objectivization of Ukrainian, English and French cultural axiological categories presented with words denoting philosophical, world outlook, scientific, social, political, moral, religious, legal, aesthetic values.

References

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2. Кочерган М. П. Основи зіставного мовознавства. Київ: Академія, 2006. 424 с.

3. Кузнецова Э. В. Ступенчатая идентификация как средство описания семантических связей слов. Вопросы металингвистики. Ленинград: ЛГУ, 1973. С. 84-95.

4. Попова З. Д. Лексическая система языка. Воронеж: Изд-во Воронеж. унта, 1984. 148 с.

5. Скороходько Э. Ф. Семантические сети и автоматическая обработка текста. Київ: Наук. думка, 1983. 218 с.

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