Semantic features of perceptual adjectives (the lexico-semantic groups “Vision”, “Hearing”, “Touch”, “Smell”, “Taste”) in Old English

Abstract

The aim of the research is to identify the semantic characteristics of perceptual adjectives in Old English, to obtain data on the ratio of adjectives belonging to the lexico-semantic groups (hereinafter LSG) “Vision”, “Hearing”, “Touch”, “Smell”, “Taste” and to study the formation of the lexico-semantic field of synaesthetic adjectives. The paper notes the percentage of intramodal, polymodal and crossmodal adjectives, analyses cases of synaesthetic usage of perceptual adjectives and presents models of synaesthetic transfer. The scientific novelty of the research lies in ascertaining the fact that the boundaries between the lexico-semantic groups of perceptual adjectives are not rigid and there are attributes whose meanings relate to characteristics of multiple modes. The paper is the first to determine that adjectives from the LSG “Vision”, alongside adjectives from the LSG “Touch”, are dominant in Old English. A classification of adjectives from the LSG “Vision” was developed and the ratio of perceptual adjectives of different modes was determined. The novelty of the research also lies in a broad approach to selecting perceptual adjectives for lexico-semantic groups. As a result of the conducted overview, the semantic characteristics of perceptual adjectives in Old English were identified and data on the ratio of adjectives in the lexico-semantic groups “Vision”, “Hearing”, “Touch”, “Smell”, “Taste” were obtained. It is shown that adjectives from the LSG “Vision” are used to denote auditory, tactile, gustatory and olfactory semantic features through semantic transfer (synaesthetic metaphor).