Formal and semantic derivation of the Proto-Slavic verbal root *dvig- in the Macedonian language

Abstract

The subject of analysis in this paper is the verbal root *dvig-, whose formal and semantic development can be followed ever since the Proto-Slavic period. The research is based on anthropocentric-spatial language theory, which enables the analysis of how basic semantic component? embedded in some verbal roots representing basic human positions, movements and activities with hand, can be transferred and elevated by the evolving conceptualisation (of the material and mental world). The author analyses the derivatives of the Proto-Slavic verbal root *dvig- / *dig- with the embedded semantic components ?human relocation in space? and ?relocation in space upwards?, which during language evolution have been transferred into the mental domain, preserving only the basic concept of ?relocation? and the broad concept that ?upwards? refers to ?a higher level?, which is perceived as ?better, more desired? in the mental world. The author also analyses how these formal verbal and nominal derivatives carry this semantic information through language evolution, both in real and in mental world.