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16проелемы современного осрпзоопнип
N.V. Volkova
THE PROBLEM OF INTERPRETATION OF INDIRECT MEANING OF ENGLISH VERBS OF VISION (ON THE MATERIAL OF ENGLISH VERBS SEE, NOTICE, SPOT, DISCERN)
Статья выполнена при поддержке гранта РГНФ 14-14-00497
Keywords: interpretation approaches, construction, metaphorisation, conceptual analysis, componential analysis, meta-language, semantic interpretation, linguistic experiment, semantic model.
Abstract of the paper: The article deals with the problem of interpretation of the mechanism of transformation of a direct meaning of verbal lexis into an indirect one. The major purpose is to describe the procedure of the research dealing with the phenomenon of productive interpretation of the kind. The field of analysis is the 'visual' group of verbs of sense perception. The key approaches applied in the paper are: conceptual analysis, componential analysis, semantic interpretation and linguistic experiment on the basis of the meta-language formulated for the given layer of vocabulary. The main result of the research is in the formulated semantic models of the 'visual' verbs that allow us to state the parameters of situations regulating the usage of the given verbs in the indirect meaning and, thus, to clarify the area of their usage. The results of the work may be applied for further integrative semantic researches.
Ключевые слова: методы толкования, конструкция, метафоризация, концептуальный анализ, компонентный анализ, метаязык, метод семантического толкования, лингвистический эксперимент, семантическая модель.
Аннотация: В статье рассматривается проблема толкования механизма перехода прямого значения в переносное. Основная задача - описать процедуру исследования, позволяющую аргументированно интерпретировать анализируемый феномен изменения значения глагольной лексики. Рассматриваемый пласт лексики - глаголы визуального чувственного восприятия. Ведущие методы исследования: концептуальный анализ, компонентный анализ, метод семантического толкования и лингвистический эксперимент, базирующиеся на метаязыке, сформулированном для изучаемого пласта лексики.
The paper is focused on the problem of effective approaches to interpretation and differentiation of polysemantic verbs. The review of Russian and foreign works on the given topic shows considerable interest to it and gives a basis for further reflections. Moreover, the issue of proper translation and usage of such verbs by learners of English makes the research relevant. Undoubtedly, the question of the origin of indirect meaning and its interpretation is still unsolved.
The research is aimed at the attempt of definition of a type of effective approach of the kind. The verbs of vision in their indirect meaning (see, notice, spot, discern) are taken as the field of work. The analysis of the works devoted to the description and research of the English verbs of vision and their semantic types has shown that their majority is concentrated on their direct "vis ual" meaning [Stainsby 1970; Wierzbicka 1976; Усонене 1983; Шабанова 1998; Бостонов 2005]. However, the work with factual material has showed that by no means fewer of these verbs are used in their indirect meaning. In the course of selection of these particular verbs as the target of the given research among the ample amount of similar units, one took into account both the information about the frequency of their usage in various language styles and their representation in the text in metaphorical meanings. Being quiet frequently used lexical units, they clearly demonstrate the system of semantic relations of the verbs of the analyzed group.
The main interest of the paper is in the group of indirect meanings based on conceptualization of comprehension processes of the received information about connections and relations between objects and phenomena of reality (the definition of mental processes is borrowed from psychology). The work of brains is conceptualized in the language in the image and likeness of vision.
Ex: We'll have to ask Wilson later and see if he has any ideas.
Ex: Campbell has simply spotted the contradiction in trying to support unrestrained economic growth with ecologically harmless systems for energy.
Ex: She noticed Ralph's coldness; she understood it due to the fact that he didn't ask her any questions.
Ex: Not everyone could discern her vulnerability.
More than 2, 000 sentences with 'visual' verbs in indirect meaning have been analyzed. The sources of the examples were British National Corpus / BNC and texts from Gutenberg project. We've arrived at a conclusion that 'mental' metaphorical meanings form the largest group of indirect meanings. One meets ample usage of the following examples as: I see your point or Let me see what you mean and etc. in every day speech as well. Most fluent speakers of English would willingly use such structures, however, they would find obstacles in explaining which particular indirect meaning is realized in the sentence and the reason for it. Obviously, the answer should be found in the definition articles of dictionaries. Althogh, in fact we observe only lists of meanings and few examples. There is the problem of absence of explicit information on the characteristics of the situations that presuppose the usage of this or that meaning:
see (WEUDEL) 1 .to perceive with the eyes; look at.
2. to perceive things mentally; discern; understand: He could see the point of
the argument.
3. to accept or imagine or suppose as acceptable: I can't see him as presi-
dent.
4. to ascertain, learn or find out: See who is at the door.
5. to find out; make inquiry: Go and see for yourself.
6. to consider; think; deliberate: Let me see - how does
this thing go?
see (LDCE) 1 .to understand or realize something: I can see that you are not very happy with the situation.
2. to use your eyes to look at things and know what they are: I can't see a
thing without my glasses!
3. to find out information or fact: [+ what, when, who, how etc.]: Can you see
who is at the door? [+ if/whether] Sharon! See if there's any juice in the fridge.
4. to consider something to be a particular thing or to have a particular quality:
Jake saw any man who spoke to his wife as a potential threat.
5. to show that you are trying to remember something: Let me see... where
did I put that letter?
see (CALD) 1. to be conscious of what is around you by using your eyes: Turn the light on
so I can see.
2. to understand, know or realize: I see (that) the social club is organizing a theatre trip next mo 3. to consider: She didn't see herself as brave. It was easy to see the gift as a sort of bribe.
4. to try to discover: Will you see if you can get anyone to help? I'll see what I
can do.
5. used when you want to think carefully about something or are trying to remember: Let's see.
Next Saturday, let's see, that's when we're going to the theatre.
The last time I spoke to her was, now let me think, three weeks ago.
The quotations from explanatory dictionaries display that indirect meanings of the visual verbs are often explained in terms of their direct meanings in glossaries. We see that different dictionaries give different lists of possible meanings of lexical units and in many cases these lists
nPOGACMU CO tip CMCHHOfO OCPn3<>OnHHn
are not exhaustive. Another problem is that we can hardly ever explain the reason for the choice of this or that meaning in a particular context and dictionaries are rarely helpful.
notice (WEUDEL) 1. to become aware of (something or someone) by seeing, hearing,
etc.
discern (WEUDEL) 1. to see or understand the difference
observe (WEUDEL) 1 .to see and notice someone or something
One may observe that the verbs notice and discern are described in Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language by means of the verb of the same group see, and if we address the verb observe, we will find in its description notice and see. The comparison of articles of the verbs of this group in the glossaries represent extensive sets of cross-references and synonyms that demand some further interpretation and give a very vague idea of the real usage of the verbs.
One of the keys to the solution of the problem may be found in terms of so widely used nowadays concept of Construction. Construction has always been an essential element of traditional linguistic analysis. It was often used as a primary structural unit for the study of a sentence grammar structure by many scholars. The tradition goes back to Transformation Grammar by N. Chomsky (1957, 1965) that emphasized the primacy of Construction. In Transformation and Production Grammars a structure of phrases making a sentence(these may be groups of words or nominal groups etc.) is meant by the Construction . Other researchers would assert that only a completed sentence may be treated as a Construction, for them its syntactic content would be primary. There is no doubt that the way of presentation of such an important notion may vary in linguistics, however, its essence remains the same: construction is some semiotic entity having the aspect of content and aspect of expression.
One of the first generalized interpretations of the phenomenon of Construction was proposed in Construction Grammar by Ch. Fillmore and Paul Kay in 1990s. He united the ideas of Case Grammar, Frame Semantics and views on the role of phraseological units in language. Construction Grammar postulates complex grammar construction, some kind of grammar frame including lexical, grammar, syntactic and semantic information as the main building block of the language.
Another example of the shift to constructional primacy can be traced in Radical Construction Grammar in the debate between lexical rules and constructions in the analysis of argument structure alternations. The debate is typically framed in terms of verbal polysemy derived by rules (lexical rules) vs. underspecified verb meanings filled out when combined with an argument structure construction. Croft (2003) argues that the verb has its meaning only in particular argument structure constructions.
In our paper constructions are understood as a multifold concept including cognitive, semantic and grammar aspects. The combination of these aspects in the given situation of a given construction creates the particular meaning. The multifold nature of the phenomenon of construction and mental processes realized in the meanings of analyzed verbs of 'vision' determines the necessity of a complex approach to their interpretation.
According to the hypothesis of our research one of the main mechanisms of the change of meaning of 'sensory' verbs is associated with metaphorisation. On account of this, it seems entirely reasonable to address the methods of Cognitive Linguistics that focuses so much attention on the processes of perception and comprehension of the world in the language. Cognitive interpretation displays metaphor as one of the most productive means of meaning 'creation' on all significant levels of language structure [Guk and others1988: 3-4]. Up-to-date cognitive researches treat metaphor as a 'construct' on the basis of which numerous contextual meanings are formed. Linguistic researches of metaphors became associated with its study as a language char-
acteristic connected not only with words but with comprehension and activity. It's a widespread opinion of modern linguists that metaphor can explain very many language processes, moreover, the thesis of J. Lakoff and M. Jonson that our everyday conceptual system in terms of which we think and act is metaphorical per se has already become canonical. The usage of the cognitive approach based on the ideas of J. Lakoff and M. Jonson assists in recognizing the empirical basis, the origin of the changes of direct meanings into indirect. While speaking of the verbs of vision in terms of Cognitive Linguistics the transformation of 'visual' meaning into 'mental' one will be caused by the cognitive metaphorical model 'UNDERSTANDING IS SEEING'. According to conceptual analysis [Lakoff, Jonson 1980 ] this is a conceptual structural metaphor. This cognitive model is supported by the laws of physiology. The empiric basis of the metaphor in this case is the fact that the greater part of knowledge that we have is received through the visual canal. In addition, such ample realization of the given metaphor in the language is connected as well with the existing general principles according to which the consciousness of a human being (anthropocen-tric by its nature) organizes non-objective (abstract) reality similarly to the space and time of the real world given to us in terms of real physical sensations [Teliya 1988].
Thus, the cognitive approach helps us to understand the physical nature of the change, its primary reason. The general metaphorical mechanism of the meaning transformation is formulated with the help of cognitive analysis .Realization of this ideas can be clearly traced in the language.
Ex: It was the number one awkward question but I discerned the faintest gleam of hope; he had spoken in the unmistakable harsh, glottal accent of my home town.
The indirect metaphorical character of the action of discerning seems quite obvious as the object of the activity 'the faintest gleam of hope' belongs to nonobject reality and the process of its interpretation can hardly be based only on physical sensations but it presupposes some mental operations as well. The consciousness draws an analogy with more comprehensible processes of visual perception. In the language these processes are expressed by means of the usage of 'visual' verb discern in its indirect 'mental' meaning in order to describe the given situation. This is the general formula of the metaphorisation mechanism of the meaning of 'visual' verbs in terms of cognitive approach that makes the basis of the changes under the study. It gives us the notion that the appearance of the new 'mental' meaning is based on the definite cognitive model or construction.
However, it doesn't explain how this process is realized in the language, either the level of the lexical unit is meant or the level of verbal construction is taken into account. Consequently, some further approaches have to be used in addition to make the interpretation of the change being researched more substantial. According to the hypothesis of our work among them the most productive are the following: componential analysis, semantic interpretation and linguistic experiment on the basis of the meta-language formulated for the given layer of vocabulary.
In the given research one would observe several stages of the description of meanings of verbal lexis. Firstly, the relevant meta-language is worked out with the anterior selection and examination of the factual material (examples of sentences with visual verbs in indirect meaning), which has been taken both from printed sources and electronic corpuses(e.g. British National Corpus, Gutenberg Project). Meta-language in terms of this approach presupposes the definite set of basic 'meaning units' which is sufficient for the construction of the semantic structure of each meaning variant. These variants of meanings are constructed from both universal content units and unique ones differentiating one meaning from another in terms of metaphorical ideas and polysemy. The characteristic aspect of this approach in comparison with the classical one of A. Wierzbicka based on semantic primitives [Wierzbicka 1972] is that in the course of working out of the framework of categories for the verbal lexis we do not limit ourselves in the number of neces-
HPOGACMU con PC M CHHOfO OCPn300nHHft
sary components. Recognition of the meta-language relevant for all the levels of lexis groups should be the result of further researches of integrating character.
Secondly, the hypothesis of the semantic structure of each verbal unit if formulated on the basis of the framework components(meta-language) of the work. Further on one performs the verification of the hypothesis by means of linguistic experiment carried out through the work with English-speaking consultants and the system of tests constructed for the given lexical units. The experiment has a definite procedure based on the methodology developed by O.N. Seliverstova [Seliverstova 2004]. The validity of the applied tests and the main previously set conditions of the performance of the experiment are taken into account. The results of the given experimental work are expressed in the construction of semantic models of the researched visual verbs. Semantic model of the word has its inner syntax presupposing the presence of some core information organized in the form of semantic axes.
Example of the semantic models of the verbs notice and spot
NOTICE (SemT - action)
R X + (p) Physical power
+ (d) Controllability + (d) Intellectual Power + Sense of Power Enclosure and Result + Mental Perception R Y - Perceptivity
+ (p) Identifiability
Rsn +Causativeness (ridiculousness Y, attracting atten-
tion X)
+ (g) Abstractedness + Identifiability
R X - semantic role of the left actor (subject), R Y - semantic role of the right actor (object), Rsn - reason(Causativeness), SemT - semantic type of the predicate, (p) - presupposition component, (d)- differential component .
SPOT (SemT - action)
R X + (p) Physical power
+ (d) Controllability + (d) Intellectual Power + Sense of Power Enclosure and Result + Mental Perception R Y - Perceptivity
+ (p) Identifiability
Rsn +Causativeness ( Y seems obviously peculiar against
the background)
+ (g) Abstractedness + Identifiability
The carried out research lets us ascertain that modification of the meaning of 'visual' verbs based on the change of the cognitive model is determined by the influence of the predicative construction. The method of semantic interpretation and componential analysis displays the change of the semantic predicative type 'process' into the semantic predicative type 'action'. The
change of the predicate type is a consequence of the appearance of new components in the structure of actors, both left and right(subject/object in terms of syntax). Among these new components are the following: Controllability, Intellectual Power, Abstractedness, and some others). A detailed description of the semantic models of the visual verbs of sense perception in metaphorical 'mental' meaning in comparison with the ones in direct meaning can be observed in the research "Metaphorika Perenosnogo Znacheniya Angliiskih Glagolov Videniya"[Volkova 2009].
Thus, the complex approach to interpretation of polysemantic verbs allows us to determine the profiles of the constructions typical to mental indirect meanings of English visual verbs and it assists us in defining more exactly the peculiarities of their nomination.
References
1. Bostonov, A.Kh. Rolevaya semantika pravostoronnego aktanta angliiskikh sensornykh glagolov [Text ]/ A.Kh. Bostonov: Dissertaziya na Soiskanie Uchyonoi Stepeni K.F.N. - Ufa, 2005, - 147 s.
2. Croft, W. Lexical rules vs. constructions: a false dichotomy// Motivation in Language: Studies in honour of Günter Radden. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2003. P.49-68.
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5. Seliverstova, O.N. Trudy po semantike [Text] / O.N. Seliverstova. -M.: Yasyki slavyanskoi kultury, 2004. -960s.
6. Shabanova, T.D. Semanticheskaya model angliiskikhglagolov zreniya (Teoretiko-eksperimentalnoe issledovanie) [Text] / T.D. Shabanova. - M.: RAN - Ufa, 1988. -199s.
7. Teliya, V.N. Metaphorisaziya i eyo rol v sosdanii yasykovoi kartyny mira [Text] / V.N. Teliya // Rol chelovecheskogo faktora v yazyke: Yazyk I kartina mira. / B.A. Serebrinnikov, E.S. Kubryakova and others. - M.: Nauka, 1988. - S. 173-204.
8. Usonene, A.M. Semantika predikatov s glagolami tipa SEE i LOOK [Text] / Dissertaziya na Soiskanie Uchyonoi Stepeni K.F.N. - M., 1983. - 181s.
9. Volkova, N.V. Metaphorika Perenosnogo Znacheniya Angliiskih Glagolov Videniya: Dissertaziya na Soiskanie Uchyonoi Stepeni K.F.N. - Ufa, 2009, - 151 s.
10. Wierzbicka, A. Semantic primitives [Text] / A. Wierzbicka. - Frankfurt: Athnaum, 1972.
11. - 235 p.
The list of used abbreviations
1. BNC - British National Corpus (http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/index.xml)
2. CALD - Cambridge Advanced Learners' Dictionary. - Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
3. Gutenberg Project - Project Gutenberg website: www.gutenberg.org.
4. LDCE - Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Longman Group Ltd, 1995.
5. WEUDEL - Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language. - New York: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1994.
