In this article we will consider the types of lexical meanings of words and present their most famous classification, created by V.V. Vinogradov.
What is the lexical meaning?
As you know, the word has two meanings - grammatical and lexical. And if the grammatical meaning is abstract and inherent in a large number of words, then the lexical is always individual.
The lexical meaning is called the correlation of objects or phenomena of reality with a certain sound complex of a language unit, fixed in the consciousness of a native speaker. That is, the lexical meaning denotes the content inherent in a particular word.
Now we will analyze on the basis of what types of lexical meanings of words are distinguished . And then consider one of the most popular classifications.
Types of lexical meanings
The semantic correlation of different words of the Russian language allows us to identify various types of tokens. To date, there are many systematizations of such values. But the classification proposed by VV Vinogradov in his article entitled “Basic types of lexical meanings of words” is considered to be the most complete. We will analyze this typology further.
By correlation
According to the nomination (or correlation), it is customary to distinguish two lexeme values ​​- direct and figurative.
The direct meaning, it is also called the main or main, is a meaning that reflects the phenomenon of reality, the real world. For example: the word “table” refers to a piece of furniture; “Black” is the color of coal and soot; “Boiling” means bubbling, boiling, evaporating from heating. Such semantics is permanent and is subject only to historical changes. For example: "table" in ancient times meant "reigning", "throne" and "capital".
The main types of lexical meanings of a word are always subdivided into smaller ones, which we proved in this section, speaking of direct and figurative meanings.
Returning to the main topic, we can add that the words in their direct meaning are less than others depending on the context and other words. Therefore, it is believed that such values ​​have the least syntagmatic connectivity and the greatest paradigmatic conditioning.
Portable
Types of lexical meanings of words were identified on the basis of live Russian speech, in which a language game is often used, of which the use of words in figurative meanings is also a part.
Such values ​​arise due to the transfer of the name of one reality object to another on the basis of common features, similarity of functions, and so on.
Thus, the word got the opportunity to have several meanings. For example: “table” - 1) in the meaning “part of the equipment” - “machine table”; 2) in the meaning of "food" - "get a room with a table"; 3) in the meaning of “department in an institution” - “round table”.
The word “boil” also has a number of figurative meanings: 1) in the meaning “manifestation to a high degree” - “work in full swing”; 2) excessive manifestation of emotions - "boiling with indignation."
Figurative meanings are based on the convergence of two concepts with the help of various kinds of associations that are easily understood by native speakers. Very often, indirect meanings are highly imaginative: black thoughts, full of indignation. These figurative phrases are quickly fixed in the language, and then fall into the explanatory dictionaries.
Figurative meanings with pronounced imagery are distinguished by their stability and reproducibility from metaphors invented by writers, publicists and poets, since the latter are strictly individual in nature.
However, very often figurative meanings lose their imagery for native speakers. For example, “sugar bowl handles”, “pipe bend”, “clock beat” are no longer perceived by us as figurative phrases. This phenomenon is called extinct imagery.
Types of lexical meanings of words by origin
Depending on the degree of semantic motivation (or origin) are distinguished:
- Motivated words (secondary or derivatives) - are derived from word-building affixes and meanings of the word-derivative basis.
- Unmotivated words (primary or non-derivative) - they do not depend on the meaning of morphemes that make up the word.
For example: the words “build”, “table”, “white” refer to unmotivated ones. The motivated ones are “building”, “desktop”, “whitening”, since these words were formed from unmotivated ones, in addition, the source words help to understand the meaning of the newly formed lexemes. That is, “whiten”, formed from “white”, means “make white”.
But not everything is so simple, the motivation of some words does not always manifest itself so vividly, as the language changes, and it is not always possible to find the historical root of the word. Nevertheless, if an etymological analysis is carried out, it is often possible to find an ancient connection between seemingly completely dissimilar words and explain their meanings. For example, after an etymological analysis, we find out that the words “feast”, “fat”, “broadcloth”, “window”, “cloud” came from “drink”, “live”, “twitch”, “eye”, “drag” respectively. Therefore, it is not always possible for a non-specialist to distinguish the unmotivated word from the motivated one the first time.
Types of lexical meanings of words by compatibility
Depending on the lexical compatibility of the meanings of the word can be divided into:
- Free - are based on only subject-logical relationships. For example: “drink” can only be combined with words that mean liquid (tea, water, lemonade, etc.), but can never be used with words such as “run,” “beauty,” “night.” Thus, the combination of such words will be governed by the subject compatibility or incompatibility of the concepts that they designate. That is, “freedom” in the compatibility of such words is very arbitrary.
- Not free - such words are limited in their ability to combine lexically. Their use in speech depends on both the subject-logical factor and the linguistic one. For example: the word “down” can be combined with the words “eyes”, “look”, “eyes”, while these words cannot be correlated with other tokens - they do not say “down your leg”.
Non-free types of lexical meanings of words in Russian:
- Phraseological related - implemented exclusively in stable (or phraseological) combinations. For example: sworn enemy - a sworn friend is not used, unless it is an authorial language game.
- Syntactically conditioned - it is realized only in those cases when the word is forced to perform an unusual function for it. For example, the words “hat”, “oak”, “log” become predicate, characterizing a person as not-so-distant, stupid, messy, insensitive, uninitiated. Fulfilling such a role, the word always acquires imagery and is assigned to the type of figurative meanings.
The syntactically determined meanings include those vocabulary constructs that can be implemented only in certain syntactic conditions. For example: “whirlwind” acquires a figurative meaning only in the form of genus. p. - "whirlwind of events."
By function
Types of hyphenation of the lexical meaning of words can be distinguished depending on the nature of the functions performed:
- Nominative - the name comes from the word "nomination", and denotes the naming of objects, phenomena and their qualities.
- Expressive-semantic - in such words connotative (emotional-evaluative) becomes the predominant seme.
An example of a nominative word: “tall man” - this phrase informs the listener that a person who is given a characteristic has high growth.
An example of an expressive-semantic word: in the same case as described above, the word “tall” is replaced by the word “lanky” - this adds an disapproving, negative assessment of this growth to information about high growth. Thus, the word “lanky” is an expressive synonym for the word “tall”.
By the nature of the connection
The main types of lexical meanings of Russian words, depending on the nature of the connection in the lexical system of some meanings with others:
- Relative meanings are words opposed to each other on any basis: good - bad, far - close.
- Autonomous meanings are relatively independent words denoting specific objects: a chair, a flower, a theater.
- Deterministic meanings are words conditioned by the meanings of other words, as they are expressive or stylistic of their variants: the word “nag” is due to the word “horse”, “beautiful”, “magnificent” - “good”.
conclusions
Thus, we have listed the types of lexical meanings of words. Briefly we can name the following aspects that formed the basis of the classification we presented:
- Subject-conceptual relationships of words or paradigmatic relationships.
- Syntagmatic relationships or the relationship of words to each other.
- Derivative or derivational connections of tokens.
Thanks to the study of the classification of lexical meanings, you can better understand the semantic structure of words, to understand in more detail the systemic relationships that have developed in the vocabulary of the modern language.