Characterizing Function of Verbs of Movement (On the Material of Belarusian and English Languages)

Abstract

The article touches upon a relevant linguistic problem of representation of knowledge about a person in the word semantics. The object of the study is Belarusian and English verbs denoting the movement of a person. The author uses a complex method to reveal implicatory semantic features in the verb meaning, including conceptual analysis and modelling of the situation of movement, component analysis of meaning on the material of dictionary definitions, contextual analysis of concordance examples from national text corpora (COCA, Belarusian N-corpus). As a result of the study, several inferential schemes were identified. These schemes reflect the combining patterns of differential semantic features in the core of verb meaning (movement parameters) and implicatory features of person's characteristics: "direction of movement – person's desire, intention", "body posture – social evaluation", "speed – energy, emotion", "purpose – morality, will". The presented schemes of inferential knowledge, as well as the characteristics of a person that were identified in the meanings of the verbs of movement during the research, serve as a semantic basis for verbs of movement to implement a characterizing function in speech: a description of movement in a certain manner induces a characteristic image of a person. The results of the study proved the hypothesis that some knowledge about a person as a performer of the designated movement is stored in the implicational of the verb meaning. This knowledge becomes the target for inference based on the associative links between the differential components of meaning in the verbs of movement.