Inanimate nature vocabulary of the Yakut language with a zoonymic component: structural and semantic ways of nomination

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The article explores inanimate nature vocabulary in the Yakut language, specifically focusing on terms that incorporate zoonymic (animal-related) components. This study is highly relevant in the context of preserving linguistic heritage. While fragmentary research exists on certain categories of terms, such as meteorological, landscape, and hydrographic vocabulary, a systematic analysis of this lexicon remains lacking. This study aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the inanimate nature vocabulary in Yakut, with a focus on zoonymic components, and to identify the structural and semantic patterns of word formation. To achieve this, the following tasks were undertaken: (1) collecting and systematizing lexical units related to inanimate nature in Yakut that include zoonymic elements, and (2) identifying the most productive structural and semantic models for forming compound words with zoonyms. The methodology included continuous sampling from lexicographic sources, cognitiveonomasiological analysis, and componential analysis. The findings reveal that the most productive structural model is the “noun + noun with a third-person possessive affix” pattern (50% of cases), as seen in examples like tulluk khaara (lit. “snow-bunting + snow-POSS.3SG”). The semantic models “zoonym + somatism” (26%) and “zoonym + landscape” (21%), which emphasize the role of visual analogies and connection with traditional economic activities are quantitatively prominent. It has been revealed that zoonyms are actively used in the Yakut language to nominate natural features of Yakutia, which reflects the northern component of Yakut culture. Thus, snow is metaphorized through images of fur-bearing animals (hare, fox) and birds (crow, snow-bunting), northern lights are associated through the zoonim balyk ‘fish’, and names of domestic (dog, cow, horse) and commercial (hare) animals are found in the nomination of bumpy terrain. These terms not only serve a nominative function but also encapsulate traditional ecological knowledge. The research underscores the importance of such lexicon in understanding the linguistic worldview of indigenous Arctic and Far Northern communities. Future research directions include a deeper investigation into the motivational features of inanimate nature lexicon in Yakut. The results contribute to the fields of Yakut lexicology and ethnolinguistics, enriching our understanding of the linguistic worldviews of Arctic and Subarctic peoples

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The article is devoted to the study of models of existential constructions in the Yakut language. It examines the causation model of the beginning of existence in accordance with the principles of functional and semantic analysis. The relevance of this article is due to modern approaches in the study of the Yakut language as a system represented by multi-level means of its expression. The sentence as the main syntactic unit is displayed in a model that "combines the invariants of the minimal structural schemes that ensure the completeness of the sentence, and the generalized propositions associated with them." The structural scheme of the causation model of the beginning of existence in the Yakut language consists of a subject, an object and a predicate of an existential type expressed by verbs of the initial phase of being, existence. The typical meaning of the model is "to give the beginning to any event, phenomenon, contribute to the appearance, emergence of someone or something." The basis of this study is a functional-semantic approach to the study of language phenomena, which assumes a holistic organization of universal semantic categories. The study uses the continuous sampling method in the formation of material from lexicographic sources, the modeling method, and the glossing method to represent illustrative material. The presentation of the causation model of the beginning of existence as a component of the functional and semantic field of being in the Yakut language is new. It is revealed that the subject and object of the considered model can be stated by a noun, a pronoun, denoting an animate or inanimate person. In accordance with the forms of the subject and object included in the structural composition of the specified model, variants of its structural type are determined. It is established that in this model, such verbs of being as tөrүtte ‛to found, create something; to start something, olohtoo ‛ to inhabit, settle, infuse; can be used as a predicate, to establish; justify’, saҕalaa‛to start any action; to begin’, tөrөt‛to give birth.

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