Lexical Semantic Modelling in Cross-Linguistic Perspective

Abstract

Стаття присвячена зіставному дослідженню лексико-семантичних особливостей лексики на позначення моральності як складової лексикосемантичної групи «Добро» в сучасних англійській та українській мовах, яке проводиться за допомогою зіставно-типологічного методу. Досліджувану лексику скласифіковано за семантичним принципом. Виявлено спільні та відмінні якісні й кількісні характеристики досліджуваної тематичної групи у складі лексико-семантичної групи «Добро» в двох віддаленоспоріднених мовах.

The present article deals with the comparative study of the lexicosemantic peculiarities of the lexis denoting morality as a component of the lexico-semantic group «Good» in modern English and Ukrainian, carried out with the help of the comparative-typological method. The lexis in question has been classified on the basis of semantic criterion. Common and distinctive qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the studied thematic group in the languages under research have been revealed. The study of the lexis denoting morality within the lexico-semantic group «Good» in two distantly related languages gave the possibility to reveal both common and distinctive qualitative and quantitative characteristics. Thus, the essential features of structural interconnections of the lexical units’ semantics under study have been singled out on the basis of statistical data. While comparing system and structural organization of the thematic groups in English and Ukrainian, differences in quantitative characteristics prevail over qualitative ones. The thematic groups under research differ in the usage of their elements and the place of the latter in the language systems. The comparative study has shown that forms and means of good realization in the moral sphere partly coincide in the language world pictures of the English and the Ukrainians. The lexis under research is influenced by both purely linguistic and extralinguistic factors. The changes in the meanings of the nouns under study can be explained by the language’s dynamics, the tendency to constant development of its structural organization and content, adapting to new requirements, needs and social conditions of the society members.