SEMANTIC PROCESSES IN THE STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH POLYSEMANTIC VERBS WITH EMOTIVE AND EVALUATIVE LEXICO-SEMANTIC VARIANTS

Abstract

The article deals with semantic structure of polysemantic verbs of present-day English. Polysemantic English verbs having evaluative lexico-semantic variants of meaning are analyzed in the article. It is underlined that lexico-semantic variants of meaning of a polysemantic English verb are joined in its structure with a common dominating semantic component; semantic variants with emotive and evaluative meaning play a significant role in the semantic structure of a polysemantic verb. It is stressed that the semantic variant of verb meaning with a certain evaluative content possesses an independent linguistic status and simultaneously plays an important role in the development of pragmatic meaning of a polysemantic verb. Emotive and evaluative components of meaning of the English verb were defined by means of linguistic definition analysis of meanings on the basis of definitions in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. The New English-Russian Dictionary edited by professor I.R. Galperin served as material for analysis in our research. Polysemantic English verbs have a great number of lexico-semantic variants of meaning including semantic variants implying evaluation of actions denoted by the verb. Ways of forming these meanings are analyzed in the article, the main ways of forming evaluative meanings of the English verb are considered to be semantic transfer. The most widespread type of semantic transfer of the English verb is change of the subject of the action denoted by the verb from an inanimate object to an animate person. Metaphoric transfer of meaning from denotation of a physical action towards a psychic one is also widespread among English polysemantic verbs. Further development of evaluative meaning of the English verb may be based on transfer of denotation of a concrete action towards an abstract one, simultaneously a referent is evaluated and this evaluation is absolute according to its type. New lexico-semantic variants may be added to the semantic structure of a polysemantic English verb as a result of linguistic process of enantiosemy, i.e. juxtaposition of evaluative meanings of opposite evaluative sign.