Abstract
The present paper investigates semantics of human body part names (BPN) in languages of different structure. The lexemes under study are characterised by a high level of polysemy, frequent occurrence and primary role in the processes of world perception and categorisation. The empirical data comprise 438 lexemes (expressing 1438 meanings), which were analysed in seven languages of different structure (related and unrelated) from two language families: Indo-European (featuring such language groups as Germanic (English and German), Romance (Spanish), Balto-Slavonic (Latvian, Ukrainian and Russian)) and Japanese-Ryukyuan (featuring Japanese). The data are analysed within the framework of meronymy relation and highlight the universal features of semantic change in the compared languages, thus presenting a model for more extensive and complex studies of the semantic potential of basic lexical units. The research is based upon the methodology of classical semantics and typology as well as contrastive lexical studies, and is aimed at revealing the nature of semantic universals and regularities in the process of BPN semantic development. The lexical units under analysis are generalised and systematically investigated using contrastive analysis and linguistic description, whilst their semantic structure is thoroughly described with the help of componential analysis. The paper focuses on the classification of their regular semantic change mechanisms and juxtaposes the cross-linguistic similarities as well as differences in semantics of body part names. The relation of meronymy reveals interdependence with that of polysemy. The introduced index of polysemy helps to compare the potential for polysemy development in the languages under analysis. The conducted research enables the formulation of semantic universals and regularities within BPN polysemy development in languages of different structure as well as the creation of a semantic typology of BPN in related and unrelated languages. The analysis is supplemented with the statistical data allowing for the verification of the results. The main principles of this research may be applied to different thematic groups of lexis, contributing to further development of semantic language typology worldwide.
Highlights
One of the fundamental types of semantic hierarchical relations in the lexical system of the language is the meronymic or Part-Whole relation (Goddard, 2001, p. 1190; Heydrich, 1995, p. 51-52), which can be treated as a language universal
The thematic group of body part names as a miniature reflection of linguistic and extralinguistic mechanisms is a model that allows penetrating into the process of metaphorical and metonymical organisation of a human’s world, exemplifying the semantic regularities which, due to their fundamental nature, do not depend on the genetic relations between languages
The following table contains the statistical data about the polysemy level as well as the number of the lexical units investigated alongside their meanings
Summary
One of the fundamental types of semantic hierarchical relations in the lexical system of the language is the meronymic or Part-Whole relation (Goddard, 2001, p. 1190; Heydrich, 1995, p. 51-52), which can be treated as a language universal. This study aims at highlighting the similarities and differences of semantic processes in the lexical system of diverse languages and presents a case study of meronymic lexis (exemplified by body part names, further referred to as BPN), which reveals the universals as well as the regularities of their semantic change, tracing the basic mechanisms and models of their polysemy development, and formulating the main principles of meronymіс interrelations. They can be treated as a model for highlighting the main semantic regularities of the polysemy development of meronyms, outlining their cultural value and Materynska, O.(2019).
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