Abstract

The paper examines the lexicalization of contiguous semantic fields — FALLING and THROWING — in Tamil. The data obtained from native speakers as well as from dictionaries and written sources is considered. Lexical units of FALLING semantic field are investigated with the help of a questionnaire developed within the project and used for all the papers of this volume. The THROWING semantic field is less described. Our research is based on the questionnaire worked out in [Ivtushok 2015] which is adapted to Tamil data. Related with quasi-causative bond, these fields demonstrate different semantic strategies of their lexification. The FALLING field is organized as a strongly dominant zone, while the THROWING field is covered by three main verbs and several more peripheral ones. The main lexeme describing the semantics of FALLING in Tamil (the dominant verb of the field) is viẓu. It is supported by a number of verbs with considerably restricted meanings: pey (“rainfall” and other natural phenomena), utir (‘falling of leaves and similar objects’), koṭṭu (‘loss of teeth, hair’), citaṟu (‘falling with scattering in different directions’), cintu (‘uncontrolled downward movement of liquids, including liquid drops’), naẓuvu (‘falling with slipping’) and some others. In the THROWING semantic field the main verbs er̠i (‘to throw with an eff ort to the target’), vīcu (‘to throw with less effort as a wide sweeping movement’) and pōṭu (‘to throw from a short distance with accuracy’) are also accompanied by peripheral ones, like ey (‘to throw a light object’, ‘to launch, as an arrow’), ir̠ai (‘to scatter a multiple object to the sides, as to sow grain’). In addition to THROWING frames suggested in [Ivtushok 2015], such as “throwing at a target”, “throwing up”, “throwing down”, “multiple object throwing”, “throwing inside a container” etc., the paper proposes some new frames describing this semantic field in regards to Tamil data, such as ‘throwing at a target with resistance overcoming’ or ‘throwing with a wide, sweeping movement without overcoming resistance’.

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