BASIC APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF COMPARISON IN LINGUISTICS

Abstract

Objective. The objective of the article is to determine the the basic approaches to the study of comparison in linguistics. Methods. The main scientific results are obtained applying a set of general scientific and special methods of research, namely: analysis and generalization of scientific literature on the problems of comparison in linguistics; theoretical generalization, analysis and synthesis; holistic and integral approaches to the study of comparison in linguistics; comparative, descriptive and analytical methods. Results. Comparison is defined to be the assimilation of the depicted objects, phenomena, facts. One more understanding of comparison is a figurative lexical expression, the base of which is the comparison of two objects, phenomena etc., after consideration of which the perception of the first phenomena is enhanced by emphasizing its characteristics and properties. Some may imply the presence of the following properties in comparison: the separate communication of the compared concepts, the dissected nomination, structurality, semantic multifunctionality, polyfunctionality. Comparisons can be typologized based on various bases — of which structures, semantics, stable connectedness of elements, their functional characteristics, etc. Each of the classifications is important both for understanding the linguistic essence of comparison, and for a full analysis of comparative constructions in the language of a particular writer. In comparison with other tropes, comparison is characterized by a wide variety of structural organization. The classic division of comparisons into simple and sustained similes is important for a stylistic analysis of the literary text, in which both simple and sustained similes comparative constructions can play a significant role, obeying the author’s communicative plan. Comparison is a trope that is formed on a figurative comparison of two objects or phenomena and is a three-membered structure consisting of an explicit subject, an object and a comparative modulator. Other scientists distinguish two types of comparisons from the point of view of semantics. To the first group, they refer neutral comparisons, specific ones, with the help of which the speaker recreates the objectively existing characteristics of phenomena. The second group of comparisons includes tropes that have an evaluative element or stylistically expressive content components. According to classification developed by K. Fromilheig, objective and subjective comparisons are distinguished. Objective comparisons are created by the speaker on the basis of specific physical experience, while subjective ones follow from individual associations. Under stable comparisons, or comparative phraseological units (CPU), phraseological units (PU) of comparative semantics are usually understood. They have a pronounced evaluative function — the evaluation can be both positive and negative. Stable comparisons are characterized by the following properties of phraseological units: stability, motivation (as phraseological units), expressiveness, reproducibility. The main feature of sustainable comparisons is the usual rather than occasional figurativeness of individual comparisons. An important clarification about CPU is made, noting that they perform an amplifying function compared to metaphorical tropes, in which this function is expressed more implicitly.