Classification of interpersonal interaction verbs with semantics of mental influence

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe the verbs of interpersonal interaction with the semantics of mental influence in the English language and to consider the criteria for semantic classification, on the basis of which the selected verbs can be grouped. There is a large number of works devoted to the study of lexico-semantic, pragmatic, morphological and other features of individual subgroups of interpersonal interaction verbs (in particular, compulsion verbs, verbs of speech influence, etc.), however, no attempt has yet been made to identify, study and classify a group of interpersonal interaction verbs with the semantics of mental influence. The material of the study is dictionary definitions from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture, as well as examples from the National British Corpus. The study describes in detail the procedure for selecting verbs of interpersonal interaction with the semantics of mental influence, identifies the features that are integral for this group of verbs, as well as the criteria for semantic classification, on the basis of which the selected verbs were divided into subgroups. Verbs of mental influence have a complex semantic structure. The signs «interpersonal interaction» and «impact on the object» are integral for the studied group of verbs. The sign of intentionality is not integral, but it is included in the semantic structure of most verbs of this group. In addition, the semantic structure of verbs of mental effects shows thatthe classification of verbs in this group may be an indication of the impact on a particular area of the psyche which indicates the correlation of the meanings of mental influence verbs with the findings of modern psychological theory