EUPHEMISMS FOR THE MARKING OF TABOO ANIMALS IN THE UKRAINIAN LINGUISTIC AND CULTURAL SPACE

Abstract

An important component of the taboo problem is the study of structural and semantic features of euphemisms, the appearance of which is conditioned by the prohibition of using names for the marking of dangerous representatives of the animal world.The purpose of the study is to examine the linguistic mechanisms of the creation of euphemisms for the marking of taboo animals and the functional features of the use of their nominations.The object of the study is the euphemistic vocabulary for the marking of the forbidden animals; the subject is the structural-semantic and functional features of euphemisms on their marking.The results of the study will make it possible to concretize the scientific ideas about the interconnection of language and archaic consciousness, to reveal the peculiarities of the formation of the Ukrainian euphemistic vocabulary, determined by the action of taboo.Names for the marking of the animals, depending on the causes of taboo, are divided into five thematic groups. Linguistic mechanisms for the creation of euphemisms are the subject to certain regularities.The peculiarity of the mythological vocabulary as a phenomenon of the secondary nomination is determined in the semantic space of the archaic consciousness and is established by determining the specificity of the connection between the inner form and the meaning of the word.The signs of denotate that can be used for the euphemistic naming of taboo animals are the size, place of residence, colour, appearance, peculiarities of motion, function, axiological assessment, etc. In euphemistic names, extra-linguistic connotations and presuppositions are reflected, the meanings of which are necessary to explain the specificity of the form-creative features of semantic derivation of analyzed lexemes.The image of a dangerous animal appears as an integral entity, which within the Ukrainian cultural tradition reflects the whole amount of knowledge about the object of the euphemistic nomination.The conducted research outlines the prospects for further analysis of various types of nominations and texts,which are subject to euphemisation; allows us to find out the certain characteristics of the sacred function of the language as one of the most ancient, to determine the essential fragments of the Ukrainian linguistic-cultural space.