Perception vocabulary in a cross-linguistic perspective

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Perception vocabulary in a cross-linguistic perspective

Oleh Demenchuk (Rivne, Ukraine)

The article focuses on perception vocabulary in a cross-linguistic perspective. The object of investigation is perception compound words. The analysis is carried out within an onomasiological approach. It reveals the peculiarities of perception lexical units and ascertains the degree of their congruence in the English, German, Polish and Ukrainian languages. The propositions and obtained results may be useful in elaborating theoretical and special courses in Contrastive and Typological Linguistics, Lexicology (Wordformation), Theory and Practice of Translation.

Key words: perception, derivative, compound word, onomasiological structure, onomasiological mark, onomasiological base, equivalent, congruous.

В статті розглядається перцептивна номінація в зіставно-типологічній перспективі. Об'єктом дослідження слугують композитні номінації з перцептивним компонентом. Перцептивна лексика аналізується з позицій ономасіологічного підходу. В ході аналізу встановлюється ступінь ономасіологічної конгруентності перцептивних номінацій в англійській, німецькій, польській та українській мовах. Результати можуть бути використані при розробці теоретичних і спеціальних курсів із зіставно- типологічного мовознавства, лексикології (словотвір), теорії і практики перекладу.

Ключові слова: перцептивний, дериват, композита, ономасіологічна структура, ономасіологічна ознака, ономасіологічний базис, еквівалентний, конгруентний.

В статье рассматривается перцептивная номинация в сопоставительно-типологической перспективе. Объектом исследования являются композитные номинации с перцептивным компонентом. Перцептивная лексика анализируется с позиций ономасиологического подхода. В ходе анализа устанавливается степень ономасиологической конгруэнтности перцептивных номинаций в английском, немецком, польском и украинском языках. Результаты могут быть использованы при разработке теоретических и специальных курсов из сопоставительнотипологического языкознания, лексикологии (словообразования), теории и практики перевода.

Ключевые слова: перцептивный, дериват, композита, ономасиологическая структура, ономасиологический признак, ономасиологический базис, эквивалентный, конгруэнтный.

Contemporary linguistic semantics advocates the priority of cognitive and functional approaches towards the study of the linguistic unit semantics. Positing the dynamic conceptualization of a certain situation or its fragment), such approaches declare a new conception of the linguistic unit semantics modeling.

The topicality of the subject is determined by general anthropocentric trends of contemporary linguistic theories, tendencies to profound studies of the ways the semantics of linguistic units encodes information on how a person comprehends and interprets the reality. The informational approach towards the study of the linguistic unit semantics provides for the elaboration of models of designation that are supposed to mark a conceptual entity, verbalized in a linguistic sign.

It is efficient to elaborate the models of designation based on a cross- linguistic comparison. This may provide for natural and universal notions that are supposed to be found in many (if not in all) languages of the world, irrespective of their genetic and cultural differences [25]. Another point, which is crucial for cross-linguistic investigations, is the use of a metalanguage, which is supposed to record all features (common and peculiar) of the contrasted systems [14, p. 372].

The reasoning for the models of designation to be elaborated in a cross- linguistic perspective provides for the analysis of those segments of a vocabulary stock that reveal non-discrete, continuant features of designation, a vivid asymmetry of a linguistic sign, thematically extended polysemy. It is those characteristics that perception vocabulary shares, the latter being defined as a class of words that denote various aspects of a human being worldview.

The linguistic studies of perception vocabulary are diverse and multiple. The subjects of the analyses were: perception vocabulary «lingua mentalis» [24], typological characteristics of perception vocabulary [6; 9], semantic derivational models of perception vocabulary [7; 12]. Within a functional linguistics approach, perception vocabulary was considered to encode the information about properties and relations of perception situation participants. The studies revealed the role and taxonomic characteristics of perception actants [5; 13], perception vocabulary diathetic alternations [8; 20], functional characteristics of perception constructions [21; 22]. Pursuing to reconstruct a set of universal «cognitive categories» [4], contemporary studies of perception vocabulary advocate expediency and necessity of its onomasiological analysis. Within a contrastive linguistics approach, the onomasiological studies aim to establish the formal and structural correspondence (congruence) of lexical units.

We assume that a cross-linguistic comparison of perception vocabulary provides for establishing correspondences (similarities and differences) in the conceptualization of a reality situation, encoded in the semantics of the linguistic units of closely and distantly related languages. Such an approach is supposed to reveal those elements of language cognition that represent the properties of a national-linguistic worldview, specificities of ethnic mentality, peculiarities of physical and cognitive activities of people, belonging to a certain language community.

From this perspective, the purpose of the article is to determine the degree of the perception vocabulary congruence and to reveal the onomasiological strategies of perception lexical units in the English, German, Polish, and Ukrainian languages. The object of the analysis is the naming of a complex structure (compound words), containing a percept-related (mainly colour) constituent.

The analysis is supposed to establish the degree of congruence of lexical units by their onomasiological structures. The onomasiological structure consists of an onomasiological base (it denotes a class, gender, species, etc., to which the object belongs) and onomasiological mark (it specifies the base) [17, p. 82]. As a criterion of comparison, the onomasiological structure determines the differentiation of perception lexical units by degrees of their total congruence, partial congruence and total incongruence. Besides, the subject could be non-equivalent lexical units, they forming the so-called onomasiological lacunas [15, p. 215].

Totally congruous perception lexical units reveal the complete identification of their components and the identity of their onomasiological structures, cf.: whitehaired «having white hair or covered with white hair» [23], weifihaarig «weiBes Haar habend» [3], bialowlosy «majqcy biale wlosy» [16] and біловолосий «який має світле волосся» [2]; sour-sweat «sweet with an admixture or aftertaste of sourness» [11], sauersufi «sauerlich und suB zugleich» [3], kwasnoslodki «slodki z kwasnym posmakiem» [19] and кисло-солодкий «який має кислуватий і солодкуватий смак; винний» [2]; cold-blooded «without emotion or excitement, unimpassioned, cool» [11], zimnokrwisty «przen. o czlowieku: nieokazujqcy emocji; spokojny, opanowany, flegmatyczny» [19] and холоднокровний «перен. епокійний, урівноважений (про людину)» [2]. It is worth mentioning that the equivalents may reveal the total congruence in the perspective of a single meaning within the semantic (polysemous) structure of a lexical unit, cf.: the German kalt- blutig «(emotional abwertend) sich nicht durch irgendwelche Skrupel oder etwaiges Mitgefuhl beirren oder zuruckhalten lassend» [3] with its reference to the English naming cold-blooded «without sensibility, unfeeling, callous; deliberately cruel (of a person)»: It is the cold-blooded and sagacious wrestler who takes the prize [11].

Partially congruous perception lexical units reveal correspondences based on: a) non-identity of onomasiological structures in the couples: «compound - derivative», cf.: loud-speaker, Lautsprecher, гучномовець vs. glosnik; «compound - word combination», cf.: hot-blooded, heifiblutig vs. gorqca krew, гаряча кров; b) non-identity of onomasiological marks, cf.: greenhorn vs. Grun- schnabel vs. zoltodziob vs. жовторотий; c) inversion of onomasiological marks, cf.: snow-white, schneeweifi, snieznobialy vs. білосніжний.

The cognitive premises of this type of congruence is in the selection of different motivators, that ensuing from different worldviews (construals) a designator reveals in his / her conceptualizing the outer world, cf.: buttercup (yellow-cup) «a name popularly applied to species of Ranunculus bearing yellow cup-shaped flowers» [11], Hahnenfufi «Pflanze mit kleinen gelben oder seltener weiBen Bluten und hahnenfuBahnlich geformten Blattern» [3] vs. жовтець «трав'яниста отруйна рослина родини жовтцевих, що живе переважно на вологих місцях і цвіте жовтим цвітом» [2] vs. jaskier «bot. Ranunculus, roslina o jasnozoltych, rzadziej bialych lub czerwonych kwiatach, czesto trujqca» [19] - different Geschtalts (in English and German) vs. generalization (in Ukrainian) vs. specification (in Polish). One should bear in mind that different types of motivation may also be the case of a (folk etymology) loan-translation, cf.: red- short «[Sw rodskort, fr. rod red + skor brittle] of iron: brittle while in a red-hot condition, owing to excess of sulphur in the metal» [11] vs. rotbruchig «bricht in Rotglut leicht» [3]; czerwonokruchy «ogniokruchy» [16]; червоноламкість «властивість сталі з великим вмістом сірки давати тріщини при гарячій обробці тиском» [2].

The most conspicuous case of partial congruence is observed in the couple of «compound - word combination» equivalents. There we deal with a partitioned construction that contrasts the integral structure of a compound word. The analysis makes it possible to single out three types of «compound - word combination» equivalence.

The first type includes the equivalents, in which the onomasiological marks of a compound word totally coincide with the components of a corresponding word combination. The equivalents of this type form two groups. To the first group there belong equivalents that correlate with each other and one another at the level of a percept-related constituent (the one that refers to a perception phenomenon such as colour, sound, smell etc.), cf.: Schwarzerde, czarnoziem, чорноземля vs. black earth. The second group includes the equivalents with an ethnopercept-related constituent (the one that correlates a perception phenomenon with a certain cultural event), cf.: Weifigardist, bialogwardzista, білогвардієць vs. White Guardist. The relevance of each group is determined by a certain variety of motivation. The equivalents of the first group reveal the features of the integrative motivation, whilst the equivalents of the second group are likely to be the case of the mixed variety of motivation [see 15, p. 175].

The second type includes equivalents with the motivators coinciding alternately: the congruence is observed either with a percept-related constituent, cf.: Grungurtel vs. green belt, pas zieleni, зелена зона, or with a non-percept- related one, cf.: blue-steel vs. brunierter Stahl, stal czerniona, воронована сталь. The equivalents of this type reveal: a) hyper-hyponymic relations, cf.: redfish vs. Rotbarsch vs. okoh czerwony, червона нерка; b) partitive-generalizer relations, cf.: blackwood vs. schwarzes Ebenholz, drzewo hebanowe, чорне дерево; c) equonymic relations, cf.: green-peak, Grunspecht vs. dzieciol zielony, зелений дятел; d) mixed relations, cf.: green-bottle (figurative) vs. Goldfliege, mucha niebieska, зелена муха (generalizer), plujkapospolita (specializer).

The third type includes equivalents that coincide with each other and one another at the level of their percept-related constituents. One may single out the equivalents that correlate with: a) attributive compounds, cf.: blackface vs. чорноморда тварина, blackmouth vs. чорнорота тварина; b) attributive word combinations, cf.: білоемігрант vs. weifier Emigrant, white emigre, bialy emigrant; c) adverbial word combinations, cf.: to blacklist vs. auf die schwarze Liste setzen, wciqgac na czarnq listg, вносити до чорного списку; d) attribute clauses, cf.: whitewood vs. дерево, яке має білу або світлу деревину.

The status of total incongruence is ascribed to those equivalents that reveal completely different onomasiological marks or components in the couples: «compound - compound», cf.: blacksnake vs. полоз-удав; whitlow vs. Fingerwurm vs. нігтьоїда; червонодеревець vs. cabinetmaker, Kunsttischler; «compound - derivative», cf.: brown-nose vs. lizus, підлиза; біложаровий vs. gluhend, rozzarzony, incandescent; «compound - word combination», cf.: yellowboy vs. золота монета; whitebeam vs. горобина арія; чорнобривці, Samtblume (Studentenblume) vs. French merigold.

Totally incongruous equivalents in the «compound - compound» couple may be divided into those that reveal contiguous relations between the onomasiological marks, cf.: redstart «A small European and North African bird so named from its red tail, which it has a habit of moving quickly from side to side (start > from Old English steort «tail»)» [11] vs. горихвістка «невеликий співочий птах родини дроздів із жовтогарячим хвостом» [2], and those that do not reveal such relations, cf.: yellow-bottle vs. чорнобривці.

In the «compound - derivative» couple one may also single out a group of equivalents with contiguous onomasiological marks, cf.: greensickness «an anaemic disease which mostly affects young women about the age of puberty and gives a pale or greenish tinge to the complexion» [18] vs. Chlorose «[Gr. chloros «grun»] Bleichsucht bei Menschen infolge Verminderung des Blutfarbstoffes», хлороз «захворювання жінок - недокрів'я, пов'язане з нестачею в організмі заліза; бліда неміч» [2], chloroza «postac ciezkiej niedokrwistosci dziewczqt w wieku pokwitania» [19], and those that do not reveal such relations, cf.: bluebonnet vs. шотландець; Schwarzseher, czarnowidz vs. pessimist, песиміст.

In the «compound - word combination» couple the equivalents reveal synonymous relations. These types of relations are established between a compound word percept-related constituent and a word combination non-percept- related component, cf.: blackband «the mineral siderite when occurring mixed with clay, sand, and considerable carbonaceous matter and frequently being associated with coal» [23] vs. вуглистий залізняк.

In addition, some equivalents may reveal enantiosemantic relations between their constituents. The selection of a motivator in this case represents different positions (vantage points) taken by a designator relative to the denoted object, cf.: red-baiting «harassment of those of known or suspected communist sympathies» vs. Kommunistenhetze «Kesseltreiben gegen Kommunisten» [3]. The percept- related constituent red «esp. disapproving having left wing political opinions» [1] reveals a negative connotation that describes the corresponding attitude of Americans towards their ideological counteragents. Compare the same naming in Polish and Ukrainian czerwony «rewolucyjny, o przekonaniach socjalistycznych, lewicowych; komunistyczny» [16] and червоний «який стосується революційної діяльності» [2]. Those lexical units are definitely positive in their connotations what concerns their ideological preferences (or rather coercions), cf.: W owym czasie Gurowski zabawial sic w rewolucj^ i patriotyzm, wyglaszal czerwone mowy [16] and Живи, живи, красуйся, Червона Україно! [2]. A diverse situation is also observed in German, cf.: lieber rot als tot «es ist besser, kommunistisch, sozialistisch regiert zu werden, als im Kampf gegen den Kommunismus, Sozialismus zu sterben» [3].

Not less numerous is a group of non-equivalent compounds in the compared languages. Their non-equivalence is determined by the peculiarities of: a) historical events (evidence), cf.: bluecoat «a soldier esp. of the U.S. during the Civil War» [23]; Schwarzrotgold «Farben der deutschen Fahne von 1919 bis 1933, der Fahne der DDR von 1949 bis 1990 und der Bundesrepublik Deutschland» [3]; bialo- czerwony «sportowiec reprezentujqcy Polske» [19]; білопідкладочник «студент аристократичного походження, що зневажливо ставиться до рядового студентства і був ворожий революційному рухові» [2]; b) social practices or their results, cf.: greenmail «the practice of purchasing enough shares in a firm or trading company to threaten a take-over, thereby forcing the owners to buy them back at a premium in order to retain control of the business» [11], schwarzhoren «ohne Immatrikulation und ohne die falligen Gebuhren zu entrichten, eine Vorlesung an der Universitat besuchen» [3]; zielonoswiqtkowcy «wspolnota religijna wierzqca w nieomylnosc Biblii, powtorne przyjscie Chrystusa i bliski koniec swiata oraz w znaki (dary) zsylane na jej czlonkow przez Ducha Swictego» [19]; чорнобривець «діал. чобіт, що має кольорову халяву і чорний передок» [2].

The contrastive onomasiological analysis of perception vocabulary (mainly colour compound words) reveals heterogeneous congruence of the equivalents in the English, German, Polish, and Ukrainian languages. The partial congruence is prevailing. It employs a strategy based on the selection of identical motivators. A large number of partially congruous equivalents correlate with each other at the level of percept-related constituent semantics. The constituent serves a kind of a universal semantic «aligner» that provides congruence, even though the other equivalent might be a non-percept-related one. The evidence is the case of total incongruence, which is determined not only by the selection of different percept - related motivators, but also of those that are beyond the scope of the perception worldview. Total congruence is the least numerous. It is largely determined either by cross-linguistic contacts (loan words, loan-translation etc.), or by a designator's vantage point relative to the denoted object.

To reveal the entire gamut of perception vocabulary and to establish the way it encodes the information on designation strategies and techniques in related and non-related languages makes it expedient to carry out further research on perception vocabulary within a comparative-historical perspective.

perceptual nomination cross linguistic

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