Invariant Meaning Research Articles

English Verbs of Directional Vision:Compatibility with Designations of a Qualitative Attribute

This article addresses the challenges of constructing a semantic model of verbs related to the concept of ‘directed vision process and its qualitative attribute’ based on English collocations. The authors examine the structure of meaning of these lexical items through the analysis of the collocational patterns of look, watch, glance, stare, and gaze. This classification can be seen as a step towards creating a typological semasiology of specific languages. The structure of the complex lexical meaning ‘directed vision process and its attribute’ can be broken down into the following components: the invariant meaning, i.e., the core sememe (directed vision process), and an additional semantic component, i.e., the subordinate sememe (qualitative attribute of the vision process). A comprehensive sample was taken from 8000 pages of text from 24 works of fiction, describing 927 collocations. The first group includes collocations expressing various negative emotions associated with directed vision process: bad mood, nervousness, distrust, unfriendliness, fear, hatred, contempt, cruelty, etc. The second group consists of collocations expressing attentiveness, steadfastness, surprise, curiosity, wonder in characterizing directed gaze. The third group combines collocations expressing activity, speed, brevity, stealth of a brief glance. The authors came to the conclusion that all vision lexemes, except the verb ‘to look’, have a complex meaning structure.

Личностно обусловленный контент доброты в контексте межличностных интеракций

The relevance of the research is due to the fact that in the modern technogenic world, kindness requires special attention because of several reasons: first, kindness is a gift that contributes to the preservation of the humane in a human; second, it resists the devaluation and depersonalization of human individuality; third, it unites people on the basis of deep spiritual values; and finally, kindness helps people develop and improve themselves through the expansion of social ties and activation of prosocial behaviors. The objective of the research is to identify how kindness in interpersonal relationships is specific to a person depending on its dominant mode. Hypothesis: the subjective experience of receiving and showing kindness in interpersonal interactions determines its content and the specifics of verbal referents. Participants: students (N = 75) of Saratov State University (Saratov) aged between 20 and 22 years (M=21.48; SD=1.12), 83% female. Methods (tools): prototypical methodology for describing the structure of the social concept of kindness (P. Verges); semantic differential technique to characterize the semantic space of the construct “kind person” (Ch. Osgood); methodology of kindness modes to determine its dominant mode (D. E. Youngs, M. A. Yaneva & D. V. Canter); self-actualization test for the diagnosis of the self-actualization index (E. Shostrom adapted by A. Jones, R. Crandall); behavioral activity questionnaire to determine its type (L. I. Wasserman and N. V. Gumenyuk). Results: the research reveals the structure of the social concept of kindness, constructs the semantic space of the concept “kind person”, identifies the three groups that differ in relation to themselves and Others, in relation to the modes of kindness, ideas of kindness, behavioral patterns and the specifics of verbal referents. Conclusions. The research has worked out the invariant meaning of the concept of good and kindness in different languages; the study has emphasized intersubjective (caring for the Other) and intrasubjective (caring for oneself) psychological orientations of kindness, which are associated with the responsibility of the individual for the present and future of their own and of the Other’s; the research has identified the tendency to understand kindness one-sidedly reducing it to a helping behavior and identifying it with the proper care of the Other; the study has established that the subjective experience of receiving and showing kindness in interpersonal interactions determines the type of the kindness mode and the specifics of verbal referents. Practical significance. The results of the study can be used in counseling and psychological training.

Vacua in locally de Sitter cosmologies, and how to distinguish them

(1+1)-dimensional locally de Sitter–Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies with compact spatial sections allow cosh, sinh, and exponential evolution laws, each with a freely specifiable spatial circumference parameter, and the value of this parameter has an invariant geometric meaning for the cosh and sinh evolution laws. We identify geometrically preferred states for a quantized massive scalar field on these cosmologies, some singled out by adiabatic criteria in the distant past, with an ambiguity remaining due to a massive zero mode, and others induced from the Euclidean vacuum on standard (1+1)-dimensional de Sitter space by a quotient construction. We show that a comoving quantum observer, modelled as an Unruh-DeWitt detector, can distinguish these states from the Euclidean vacuum on standard de Sitter space. Numerical plots are given in selected parameter regimes. We also evaluate the field’s stress-energy tensor expectation value for those states that are induced from the Euclidean vacuum by a quotient construction. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Structuration des sens dans l’espace textuel: les aspects cognitifs lexicaux et cognitifs synergiques

The article presents the results of cognitive-synergetic and lexicological research of the meaning formed in the text. The research is based on the “meaning and sense” dichotomy of cognitive lexicology, as well as cognitive semantics position on the close connection of cognition and communication, relying on the principle of multilevel analysis, the unity of language and speech. The unity of cognition and communication manifests in the need to examine text meanings within a cognitive-discursive paradigm, which allows analyzing the dialogue between the author and reader, mediated by the text. It is in the process of interaction between the author (addresser) and reader (recipient) that the author’s ideas (intentions), as well as various shades of the author’s modality meaning, are transmitted, and new senses come forth in the course of the reader’s interpretation of the narrative. The paper used a combination of cognitive-synergetic methods (discursive, conceptual, interpretive methods, fractal analysis, conceptual integration, and associative experiment). The purpose of the study is to identify the meanings of the author’s and reader’s fields in the text semantic space, to determine their types and to analyze the ways of their formation. The article considers three main meaning formation models based on the analysis of the literary text semantic space of I. Esenberlin’s novel “Nomads”: 1) the author’s meaning model; 2) a model of the meaning formed in the reader’s interpretative activity; 3) invariant meaning, formed in the recipient’s mind as different from the author’s. The author shows that the processability of meanings, i.e., that they generate new meanings in the discursive activity of the author and the reader, is common to all these models. The article also focuses on cognitive integration, when the reader’s sense is formed by taking into account social factors of other eras, the new assessment and the development of the author’s text meaning from modern positions. The novelty of the conducted research lies in the fact that, for the first time, an attempt is made to identify and describe the author’s and reader’s meanings, formed in the context both of the historical period and current times, based on the material of a literary text. In addition, the novelty of the research consists of the author’s attempt to apply a cognitive-synergetic approach to the analysis of the text semantic space. This approach is used in the process of analyzing the discourses of the author and the reader, aimed at the formation of various types of meanings (conveying the author’s ideas and evaluation of implicit meanings in the reader’s perception). As a result of the analysis, it was established that the semantic space of the text is a dynamic field in which various meanings generated by the author and the reader interact. In order to review them, a set of methods were used to unfold new word meanings in the text.

On a Universal Tendency to Debase Retranslations; or, The Instrumentalism of a Translation Fixation

AbstractSome readers prefer an earlier translation in which they encounter a source text, particularly a canonized work, over later versions of the same text. The decisive encounter is so compelling as to establish an enduring attachment that entails denigration or outright rejection of later versions. Insofar as the attachment suggests obsessiveness, it can be called a fixation. The readers’ responses share features that transcend membership in specific linguistic communities and cultural institutions: they value a high degree of readability, which is construed as an indication of greater equivalence to the source text. Here the readers reveal their assumption of an instrumental model—that is, an understanding of translation as the reproduction or transfer of an invariant contained in or caused by the source text, an invariant form, meaning, or effect. The fixation can be illuminated by considering the intersubjective relations in which the preferred translation is first encountered. Cases recorded or represented in literary texts enable a more incisive account of the conditions that shape the reader's experience: John Keats's poem “On First Looking into Chapman's Homer” (1816) and Vladimir Nabokov's novel Pnin (1957). These texts disclose an identity-forming process that can be deepened with Jacques Lacan's concept of the “object a.” The instrumentalism that underpins the fixation deserves consideration because it would in effect deny or stop cultural change, innovative interpretation, the very practice of translation.

Структура и семантика каузативных форм -тыр и -т в хакасском языке

The aim of the study is to determine the structural and semantic features of the synonymous causative forms -тыр and -т in the Khakass language. The article indicates debatable points in determining the essence of the Turkic causative. The characterizing features of the causative are listed: the presence of the causator, the connotation of its invariant meaning by the seme of “impact”, agentivity. The scientific novelty of the work lies in a detailed description of the semantics of the causative forms -тыр and -т in the Khakass language and their derivational features. As a result, the processes of direct, indirect and passive-reflexive causation are shown. The work is based on the data of the Khakass language electronic corpus.

Scalar-tensor cosmologies in a minisuperspace formulation: A case study

We revisit a general minisuperspace (MSS) formalism for scalar tensor Friedmann-Lema\^{\i}tre-Robertson-Walker type cosmological models in an arbitrary frame with a perfect fluid source. We discuss how to impose Cauchy data on the corresponding dynamical system in order to reconstruct a standard ($\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{CDM}$) cosmological model. So far, the integrability of such models has been extensively studied in the Einstein or Jordan frames mainly. We extend these studies to an arbitrary frame taking into account nonminimal coupling between matter and gravity. To this aim we explore a gauge freedom associated with a choice of lapse function. We show that particular isothermal MSS coordinates are related with Einstein frames representing solution equivalent classes and have some invariant meaning. This provides a new universal framework for investigating cosmic evolution in an arbitrary frame: analytical solutions obtained in the Einstein frame can be transformed back to the physical frame by making use of a conformal transformation and field redefinition. We also show how such a technique can be useful when applied to Wheeler-DeWitt quantum cosmology.

СТРУКТУРНО-СЕМАНТИЧНІ ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКИ АНГЛІЙСЬКИХ ТЕРМІНІВ МОБІЛЬНОГО ЗВЯЗКУ

The article is devoted to the structural-semantic analysis of the mobile communication term which is characterized by the presence of a stable invariant meaning and its variable meanings that are closely related to the words of common vocabulary. It is argued that in the process of analyzing the mobile communication terms it is necessary to take into account the abstract, generalized invariant feature in the language system and differential semantic features in the speech system that is the basis for the creation of an unlimited number of semantic concepts and in fact is the source of the word-forming potential of the term. The basis for the nomination of concepts in a special field is the invariant meaning of the term which remains unchanged in all contextual cases of its usage. In conclusion, it is noted that the mobile communication term due to the explication of its structural and semantic features represents in the professional language a stable unit of synthetic or analytical nomination, which is fixed by the relevant concept in the field of mobile communication and limited to a special field of usage.

The particle “just” in lexicographic terms and materials for complementing its lexical entry

This article is devoted explores the lexicographic description of functional words. The object of this research is the lexicographic interpretation of functional words. The subject is the interpretations of the particle “just” in various types of dictionaries, namely explanatory and etymological dictionaries of the Russian language, as well as dictionaries developed foreign scholars. The goal is set to systematize the existing information on the particle “just” in the dictionaries, as well as present the material for complementing its lexical entry based on the analysis of factual material in order to create a comprehensive portrait of this unit. For achieving the set goal, the article employs descriptive, comparative, and analytical methods. Comparison of the dictionary data allows determining the similarities and differences in interpretation of the word “just”, establish the invariant meaning of this particle, outline the discrepancies in classification of the types of its use. Leaning on the analysis of factual material of the particle “just” in relation to its syntagmatic and paradigmatic characteristics, the author offers a new interpretation of the meanings of this particle and division of modifications of its meanings. The novelty of this work consists in the proposed material for complementing the lexical entry of the particle “just”.

Downward movement: (se) baisser ‘to fall’

This article aims to disambiguate the French verb baisser, which describes the downward movement of an entity, and to present its conceptual structure. Our approach is strongly based on the belief that the meaning of the word is conceptual, and that it reflects the world being looked at, not the real world (Honeste 1999, 2005). Our interest will focus on the locative and abstract meanings of the chosen verb, the uses of which we will study. Each use is a set formed by a predicate, defined by its arguments whose field is delimited by the predicate itself (Gross 2015). Arguments are defined using object classes. Each use is illustrated by a single sentence and a translation into Polish, the translation being a synonym of a word in another language. The type of event described by the verb will be studied, taking into account:
 
 the situation described by the verb (kinematic, dynamic, according to Desclés 2003, 2005);
 belonging to one of the four groups of verbs of movement, distinguished by Aurnague (2012) according to two parameters: change of location and change of elementary locative relwation;
 polarity (initial, median and final, according to Borillo 1998).
 
 Baisser has twelve uses (locative and abstract). Their invariant meaning is downwards movement, which is conceptualized in different ways: displacement of an entity downwards in physical space, but also as a decrease along a scale: of quantifiable value, of sound, of luminosity, intensity or quality, and finally of physical strength and of quality.

Anna Akhmatova’s Mystery: Word and Image

A comprehensive analysis of the word тайна (“mystery”) and its image in Anna Akhmatova’s art demonstrates how insistently Akhmatova created an aura of mystery around her life. The intentional duality of her birth date; the modelling of the image of her childhood as a period when she became aware of her otherness; the legend of a precocious gift of vision and foresight, which is relevant to the image of Akhmatova’s persona (Cassandra – Moon Maiden – enchantress –Chingisidess) and is also associated with the main spheres of her poetry: antiquity, the magical power of poetry, and history. The article identifies the actualisation of “Akhmatova’s mystery” in different aspects: biographical, personally identificatory, and poetical proper. Rigorous linguistic analysis involving corpus-based data makes it possible to establish the special position the word тайна plays in Anna Akhmatova’s vocabulary and provide a justification of its status as an idioglossia. The word тайна in Akhmatova’s poems organizes a wide thematical and associative field around itself, whose units are frequently used and assume an individual significance. The poems contain all meanings of the lexeme тайна that are used in the language system, and all the lexical-semantic variants are consolidated by the seme “unknown information”. The invariant meaning of the word тайна is attributed to the opposition “knowledge – ignorance”. The semantic complex of the lexeme in poetry is also strengthened by the meaning “arcane knowledge, involvement in mystery, and reaching the truth”. It is established that the lexically invariable image of тайна, which can also be seen as a leitmotif, is found in all the themes conceptually significant for Akhmatova: destiny, art, and love. Only on one occasion is the image of mystery not marked by a word but instead grows out of the atmosphere of the poem, which is conterminous to secret fear and mystical terror. Secret as something irrational, inexplicably horrifying is almost certainly commonly found in poems about time and space, where the poet’s daily life takes place. The fear of enclosed space and swift-flowing time is empowered by life circumstances, in which the poet’s creative expression of will is materialised. This fear is born out of the primary knowledge of limits, beyond which a human being is not allowed to go. The analysis of the word тайна and its image in the poet’s art leads the authors to conclude that the externally austere, but internally counterintuitive harmony of Anna Akhmatova’s poetry is created along the fine line between the impermissible and the unrestricted, the secret and the explicit, the mystical and the rational.

Interpretive Factor in Translation: Methodological Aspect

The article illustrates the applied teaching method that helps to eliminate interlingual asymmetries brought about by the differences in the language and conceptional worldviews of the source and target languages (SL, TL). A translation act in a specific communicative situation establishes a contact between SL and TL, which inevitably leads to interference resulting from interlingual contacts and cross-cultural differences. Drawing upon the definition and assessment of interference caused by interlingual asymmetries, the authors offer the ways of eliminating it in translation by making use of interpretive translation transformations. The cases of interlingual asymmetry are illustrated on the examples of translated from English into Russian journalistic texts of political media-discourse, which serve as a teaching material for translators. In rendering denotative and expressive functions – the key functions of the functional style under analysis – the translator resorts to the interpretation of the invariant meaning, which requires moving beyond the structural and semantic parallelism between SL and TL and basing on presupposition knowledge. The comparative analysis carried out by the authors demonstrates that the most common translation techniques are transformations on grammatical and lexical-semantic levels, in addition, explication, or explicitation, and implication of the key features of the described referential situation while switching from SL to TL, the latter presenting the greatest difficulties in translators’ training process.

MEANS AND METHODS OF EXPRESSING THE SENSES IN ENGLISH PREFIXAL VERBS

The paper dwells upon the systematic description of English verbal prefixes. The verbal prefix is to be treated in the paradigmatic and syntagmatic plane of the language. It is asserted in this article that the meaning of a prefix is identical to that of the preposition – the relationship between two objects in space extrapolating on two consecutive states of the subject/object in time, and when generalized, form the two types of senses. Such prefix features as origin, transporting opportunity, negation and valency are considered, as well as semantic features (such as polysemy and chains of synonyms). In semantic analysis we deal with semes as the meaning constituents defining basic and secondary semes. The process of the formation of different senses has been distinguished by means of semantic opposition and combinations of semes that form the invariant meaning of the verbal prefix.

СЕМАНТИЧЕСКАЯ СТРУКТУРА СЛОВА: МНОГОЗНАЧНОСТЬ VS ШИРОКОЗНАЧНОСТЬ

The paper deals with the modeling of the semantic structure of polysemantic and broad semantic words. The article suggests determining meanings of polysemantic words as lexical-semantic variants that potentially can be united by means of the invariant meaning though not obligatory for the semantic structure of such words – the invariant meaning of a polysemantic word is seen as something artificial. I argue that it is possible to construct the semantic structure of the broad semantic word on the basis of prototypical meanings which are interpreted as basic meanings. Such prototypical meanings are to be united by the use of a broad invariant meaning. This approach is applied while describing the semantics of the nuclear verbs in the action field (do and make in English, tun and machen in German, делать in Russian). Both types of meanings play a critical role in organizing the semantic structure of the broad semantic words: there is a single invariant while there can be more than one prototype, so that an invariant and definite prototype value is realised in speech. In addition the existence of interdependence of semantic derivation between prototypes and within the meaning itself is assumed. There can be a lot of semantic transfers, but they occur based on a regular cognitive model such as cognitive metaphor and cognitive metonymy. For example, the prototypical meanings of the verbs to do and to make remain the same while the nature of the object changes. Based on the conducted research, a new definition of a broad semantic phenomenon is offered along with distinctive criteria for the phenomena of poly- and broad semantics.

Functional-semantic potential potential of syncretic complex sentences with contracted goals and conditions

There are a number of scientific papers dealing with the study of syncretic and transitive nature of complex structures, namely complex sentences. But the scientists haven’t identified all types of syncretic sentences with invariant meanings, structural characteristics of these constructions with a detailed study of specific nature of connecting elements and key words that affect functioning of asymmetric sentences in the language. Thus, the article is devoted to the study of variability of relationship formation and syncretic character between the structural elements of complex sentences with semantic types of purpose and condition. Particular attention is paid to the question of functional-semantic potential of this complex structure and semantic-syntactic system taking into account fine semantic meanings. The conditions of differentiation of core area and syncretic periphery are analyzed. Particular attention is paid to relationship between typical and transitive syntactic units. It is established that syncretic constructions with invariant meaning of purpose and condition lose a certain set of differential features in syncretic peripheral structures and get additional semantic meanings under certain conditions. We have proved that replacement of some semantic meanings by others emphasizes changing nature of syncretic complex sentences with subordinate parts of transitive nature. This reflection of the feature allows you to modify semantic meanings of syntactic functions of complex sentences with relationship of purpose and condition thus giving the opportunities for synthesis of elements. It is noted that in complex sentences of syncretic nature functional relations between semantic meanings of these structural units are determined by entering dependent components the peripheral zones.

МНОГОУРОВНЕВАЯ СТРУКТУРА ПОЛИСЕМАНТА: ИНВАРИАНТНО-КЛАСТЕРНЫЙ АНАЛИЗ

Within the framework of the article, we have come up with a hypothesis of a polysemous word integrity as a multilevel structure, which is ensured by the dominant lexical invariant meaning. The analysis of the English polysemous word “key” is presented with the use of the empirical invariant-component method. Metaphorical clusters of meanings of this word and its lexical invariant are defined as a set of basic dominant components that form the semantic core of the word. The reasons for the ambiguity of the boundaries of the lexical meaning are substantiated, the patterns of schematization of the meanings of the word “key” are revealed. The use of lexical invariants can be useful for didactic purposes when using them as an alternative to memorizing lists of polysemous word meanings. The proposed method can be useful when compiling educational dictionaries. The representation of the semantic structure of words in the form of lexical invariants has a number of advantages over the “list theory”, it can significantly complement the theory of “general meaning”.

Transparent and Opaque Contextual Sensitivity

Lots of contextually sensitive expressions appear to have context invariant meanings that do not by themselves suffice to secure semantic values for those expressions in context. For example, suppose I say 1. She is smart. where I do not demonstrate any female, I don’t intend that some female is the semantic value of my use of ‘she’, no female is uniquely salient in the context of utterance, and no female has been under discussion. It would appear in such a case that the context invariant meaning of ‘she’ does not secure a semantic value in context for my use of ‘she’, resulting in infelicity. After all, what would that semantic value in context be? This appears to show that the context invariant meaning of ‘she’ does not by itself secure semantic values in context for it. The class of expressions that are like ‘she’ in this respect is quite large. It arguably includes simple and complex demonstratives, tense, expressions taking implicit arguments (‘Molly is ready.’), gradable adjectives, quantifiers, ‘only’, possessives, conditionals, modals and more. I call these expressions supplementives to highlight the fact that their context invariant meanings need to be supplemented in context for them to secure semantic values in context. I claim that supplementives differ from each other in the following two ways: 1. The degree to which normal speakers are explicitly aware that the expression is contextually sensitive. 2. The degree to which ordinary speakers are explicitly aware of what sort of semantic value in context the expression takes. I hold the view that semantic values in context for supplementives are fixed by recognizable speaker intentions. However, I argue that given the differences between supplementives with respect to 1 and 2, the intentions fixing the semantic values in context of supplementives that differ with respect to 1 and 2 will themselves be different, while still all being speaker intentions that some entity o be the semantic value of the use of the supplementive in context.

Fractal Semiotics Modeling of Concept Cup in Religious Texts

The article considers the concept CUP as a special fractal-semiotic object in the field of the interaction of language and culture. The relevance of the research topic is determined by the increased interest in the application of a systematic approach to the study of a linguistic object, in particular to the use of a fractal approach to analyze the structure of a concept, including figurative and reflective components. The subject of the review is the fractal organization of the concept CUP in the speech-thought process. The mechanism of this concept, correlating between the mega-level (the spiritual semiosphere) and the micro-level (text), depends on the features of speech organizational patterns with which the synergistic principle of integrity is manifested. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that it reveals the experience of representing the structure of the concept CUP, reconstructed on the basis of Russian contexts with religious content. The fractality of this structure is due to the non-linear nature of the development by a number of symbolized values (LSW) cup . Quantitative data makes it possible to trace the features of symbolization (a movement from subject to symbol) and to justify the possibility of using the concept of fractal as a linguistic approach. The material for the analysis was religious texts that are distinguished by a pattern of implicit meanings and hierarchical internal organization, such as interpretations of scripture, instruction on spiritual life, patristic heritage, and sermons. The aim of the work is to present the structure of the concept CUP and to reveal its specifics of a dynamic nature by taking into account external and self-referential signs, as well as to consider the corresponding patterns of thinking that are repeatedly represented in religious contexts. The analysis showed that the semantics of the concept CUP incorporate a large volume of symbolic meanings. It has been established that at the lexical level, the language unit cup is formed over time and an abstract complex meaning or invariant meaning would be activated. These complex invariants are more likely open conceptual schemes that are given importance depending on contextual conditions, and this occurs as a result of cognitive operations at the conceptual level.

Contra Instrumentalism: A Translation Polemic

Contra Instrumentalism: A Translation Polemic

Interpreting the concept of sedimentation in Husserl’s Origin of Geometry

In the influential text Origin of Geometry, Edmund Husserl argues that even the invariant meaning found in theoretical disciplines like geometry has a historical becoming: through gradual abstraction and stabilization, ending in a completely rational discipline. This is a process which Husserl proposes is due to language and other symbolic systems. In the absence of a system allowing for stable communication of meaning, geometry or any other tradition would constantly have to begin anew. At the same time Husserl also sees the historical process of meaning stabilization in linguistic form as detrimental. It allows for a reception of an established meaning, which simultaneously entails the forgetfulness of the experiential basis and intuitive knowledge that made ideality possible in the first place. Husserl calls this Janus-faced dialectical process between discovery and forgetfulness sedimentation. This paper analyzes this concept in Origin of Geometry and places it in the context of Husserl’s thought more generally. In contrast to Husserl’s negative view of the effects that sedimentation has for an authentic meaning, I discuss four interpretations of sedimentation that provide more constructive perspectives on the concept. These interpretations also differ considerably from one another, a fact which speaks both to the richness and the tensions in Origin of Geometry.