Lexical motivation and linguistic typology

1. Motivated and non-motivated words

2. Types of motivation(phonetic, morphological, semantic)

3. The inner form of the word

4. The inner form in phrases

In all languages the lexicon comprises non-motivated, partially motivated and motivated words. Ferdinand de Saussure introduced the notion of motivation, which was later developed in the works by A.A. Potebnya, V.G. Gak, St. Ullmann, G. Fano, etc.

Association between two meanings based on metaphor (similarity) or metonymy (contiguity) of meanings.

e.g. trip = 1) travel, 2) drug-affected trance that resembles travel.

Motivation restricts word usage, while a demotivated word tends to expand its semantic range.

e.g. пол (RUS) = floor (ENG) = plancher (FR).

The RUS and ENG equivalents are non-motivated, and so they potentially can denote any surface in this function, be it made of wood, or stone, or clay. Should it be applied to any type of covering its motivation would become obscure (e.g. RUS чернила < чёрный “black”, now it denotes ink of any color).

A motivated word in one language may correspond to a non-motivated word in another language. e.g.

потолок (RUS) = ceiling ENG) = platfond (FR)

(non-motivated) (partiallymotivated) (motivated:“plat”“flat” + fond “bottom”)

Cross-linguistic variation in the degree of motivation results from the quantity of motivated units. Traditionally scholars point out a weaker degree of motivation in French. One can compare equivalent words, for instance:

RUS: глаз - глазной брат - братский месяц - месячный

ENG: eye - eye brother - brotherly month - monthly

French: oeil - oculaire frère - fraternal mois - mensuel

German: Auge – Augen Bruder – Brueder Monat - Monate

To measure the degree of motivation it is necessary to take into account 1) the basis of derivation, 2) the type of derivation

3 types of motivation: phonetic, morphological, and semantic

The phonetic type embraces all cases of sound imitation.:

The Italian boy: bu-bu

The German boy: wau-wau

The Dutch boy: waf-waf

The French boy: oua-oua

The Japanese boy: wan-wan

The RUS boy: гав-гав and

The Navajo boy: hyah-hyah, or beii-beii.

The morphological type deals with morphologically motivated words which have meanings based on the meanings of their morphemes. These words may be classified into 2 groups according to the structure and meaning of their components.

1. Distinction between direct and indirect motivation. Direct motivation characterizes words with free morphemes, while indirect motivation characterizes words in which at least one morpheme is bound, for example:

DIRECT INDIRECT

ENG love-letter (love + letter) lovable (love + -able)

RUS “run up” достигать “reach”

(до preposition + бежать “to run”) (до preposition + стиг bound root)

2. Distinction between full and partial motivation. In a fully motivated word all components are singled out structurally and semantically, while in partially motivated words there is some component that is singled out only structurally, in other words, the meaning of this component remains obscure.

E: blue-berry (blue“color”+berry“plant”) FULL

E: cranberry (cran?+berry”plant”) PARTIAL

R: добежать (до preposition + беж root “run” + a suffix + ть suffix) FULL

R: снегирь ”bullfinch” (снег ”snow” + ирь?) PARTIAL

The semantic type is based either on metaphor or metonymy.

Metaphor is built as a similarity between two objects one of which resembles the other, for example, there is a metaphoric association between leg 1 in the sense ‘body-part” and leg 2 in the sense “leg of an article of furniture” based on similarity and directed from leg 1 to leg 2.

Metonymy is built as a contiguity between two objects one of which makes part of the other, for example, there is a metonymic association between an object and material it is made of (an iron – iron), a building or institution and people related to the building or institution (the whole house applauded; the parliament voted against war), a party and a member of the party (the Labor – a Labor), quality and bearer of this quality (youth – a youth), etc.:

RUS ENG FR GER SP

нога - ножка leg - leg (of a bed, etc.) pied - pied Bein Pierna

нога - подножье foot - foot(of a hill, etc.) pied – pied Fuss Pie

локоть – подлокотник arm – arm(of an armchair, etc.) bras - bras

Metaphor - full and partial. In a full metaphor there is no difference in form between the representation of the source non-motivated and the target motivated senses.

3 metonymic models in naming identical objects in English:

1) “quality” – “bearer of a quality”

ENG: youth - a youth

[ cf. RUS юность “youth” (root юн- +suffix –ость):

юноша “ a youth”(root юн- + suffix -ш + -а)]

ENG: beauty - a beauty

2) “material” – “object made of this material”

[cf. RUS красота “beauty” (root крас- + suffix -ота):

красавец “male beauty” (root крас- +suffix -авец): красавица “female beauty” (root крас- +suffix -ица)]

ENG: brass - the brass

ENG: iron - an iron

3) “organization” - a member of this organization”

ENG: Labour: a Labor

[cf. RUS лейбористская партия “the Labor party” (root лейборист +grammatical adjectival suffix): лейборист (non-motivated word)].

ENG metonymy displays a certain degree of similarity. It is expressed in the tendency to use an abstract word for a concrete object or person.

RUS metonymy tends to use special concrete nouns – either roots or derivatives – to name such an object.

“tree” and “fruit of this tree”:

RUS: вишня - вишня слива - слива груша- груша

ENG: cherry - cherry-tree plum - plum-tree pear - pear-tree

А.А.Потебня developed it with reference to word structure, defining it as an image underlying a word and pointing to its meaning. An image here stands for information directly available through word form or association evoked by it.

e.g. RUS занавес = FR rideau = ENG curtain, veil.

e.g. topcoat. Here the meaning of the component coat points to a class, namely the class of outer garments, and the component top adds to it by providing information, that it is not just a coat, but an over-coat, or a coat worn over other garments.

3 groups of motivated words

1. the genus sense, the identifier that stands out. ENG: pea-jacket “a short overcoat worn by sailors”, surcoat, cranberry, bilberry, duchess. In the last word the only semantically clear component is -ess, and this refers the word to the category of feminine person, because duch- is derivationally not related to duke and so is considered as obscure.

2. the species sense, the modifier that stands out. ENG: hand-me-downs, slacks, bananas, pull-over, waterproof, mackintosh, tails, buff, etc. which refer either to material, or shape, or the way of wearing a garment, or the person after whom this article of clothing is named, but this is all indirect information, as there is nothing that specifies the category (e.g. buff “a jacket made of buffalo leather”).

3. both identifier and the modifier are expressed, for example, in names for garments in ENG: topcoat, raincoat, tailcoat, overcoat, dressing gown, short-frock, and undershirt. The same holds for other lexical sets, too, road-names: freeway, expressway, highway, driveway, roadway, by-way, dirt road; house-names: town house, country-house, summerhouse, farmhouse, ranch house, etc..

ENG - it is mostly noun compounding that gives rise to a great number of lexical units related to one another through both identifier and modifier.

RUS - favors this type of the inner form due to productive prefixal verb derivation. There are whole sets of verbs, highly motivated by their inner form. e.g. the category “play” (игра) includes the following words: сыграть (с + игр + а + ть) “have a game”, выиграть (вы + игр + а + ть) “win a game”, проиграть (про + игр + а + ть) “lose a game”, доиграть (до + игр + а + ть)“play to the end”, переиграть (пере + игр + а + ть) “prove oneself superior in a game or other activity”, подыграть “to lose on purpose, to scheme so that somebody wins without knowing that it is a fake victory”.

The identifier of the ENG word is expressed by a root, which points to the semantic field of garments (“gown’); thus, the meaning of the word may be explained as “a gown to be worn in the morning”. It is only natural that this should cause polysemy, and the word has more than one meaning, namely “a morning theatrical performance”. A similar semantic change in the ENG equivalent morning-gown would be rather problematic.

Phrases - non-motivated (idiomatic) and motivated (transparent).

ENG as 1) to kick the bucket and 2) kick up a row

V.V.Vinogradov: Phrases are divided into phraseological fusions, which are absolutely non-motivated (kick the bucket type), phraseological collocations, those which are partially motivated through metaphor (kick up a row type), and phraseological unities, which are clearly motivated, but characterized by a certain degree of lexical stability (for example, to take lessons, to take a shower, to have tea, etc).

MEANING	INNER FORM	EXAMPLES
“inebriate” (of a beverage)	[go (come up)+<where>+head]	ENG: go to one’s headFrench: monter a la têteопьянеть
“take good care” (of smth)	[protect+<like>+eye(pupil of)]	ENG: cherish as the pupil of one’s eye
“despise, look down” (on smb or smth as bad)	[turn (twist)+nose]	RUS: воротить носFrench: tordre le nez

A typological analysis of phrases containing body-part names has established 24 cases of full coincidence across RUS, ENG, FR, GER

MEANING	INNER FORM	REPRESENATION
“control, subordinate”	[have(hold)+ <where>hand(s)]	R: держать в руках E: have in hand F: avoir entre les mains G: in der Hand halten
“keep silence”	[hold+tongue]	R:держать язык за зубами E:hold one’s tongue F:tenir sa langue G:seine Zunge im Zaum halten
“get confused”	[lose+head]	R:терять голову E:lose one’s head F:prendre la tête G:den Köpf verlieren
“ignore, pretend not to see”	[close+eye(s)]	R:закрывать глаза на E:close one’s eyes to F:fermer les yeux G:beide Augen zudrücken bei D
“interfere in smb’s affairs”	[poke+nose]	R:совать нос в E:poke one’s nose into F:fourrer son nez partout G:zupf dich an deiner eigenen Nase
“risk or fail”	[break+neck]	R:сломать себе шею E:break one’s neck F:se casser le cou G:sich den Hals brechen
“get alert”	[lift up(stretch)+ear(s)]	R:навострить уши E:prick up one’s ears F:prêter l’oreille G:die Ohren spitzen
“waste away time”	[fold+arm(s)]	R:сложить руки E:fold one’s arms F:croiser les bras G:die Hände falten

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14