How One Can be Wildly Jealous and Wildly Interested:  the Polysemy of Adjectives Denoting Wild Animals in the Field of Human Life

Based on the data of various European languages, the article considers the polysemy of adjectives initially meaning WILD, UNTAMED (animal) when used to characterize human character and behavior. In such contexts, these adjectives develop four major meanings, so that the result of the semantic derivation can be described with semantic labels 1) SHY; 2) RUDE, IMPOLITE; 3) AGGRESSIVE; 4) IMPULSIVE. The cognitive mechanism of the semantic shifts WILD, UNTAMED  RUDE, IMPOLITE and especially WILD, UNTAMED  AGGRESSIVE; WILD, UNTAMED  IMPULSIVE, is apparently based upon the perception of a prototypical wild animal as predatory and dangerous to humans, whereas the meaning SHY emerged on the basis of a more general opposition between human and animal life. In addition, the semantic development of adjectives denoting WILD, UNTAMED can go further due to their compatibility with names of emotions, so that the adjective (or the adverb derived therefrom) can be used in a wider range of contexts, realizing the lexical function “Magn”, i.e. labelling a high degree of a given feature (semantic label VERY). All the semantic shifts cited in the article are common in European languages, demonstrating importance of these instances of polysemy for the conceptualization of reality encoded therein.

Keywords

semantic typology, semantic shifts, cognitive metaphor, intensificators, zoonymy, anthroponymy, natural language metaphysics

Acknowledgment

This study was funded by the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), project no. 22-28-00072, “Nomination strategies in the field of basic zoo- and anthroponymic vocabulary in the languages of Eurasiaˮ

Received

19.12.2022

Publication date

19.12.2022

Number of characters

41052

Cite

GOST	Orlova M. How One Can be Wildly Jealous and Wildly Interested: the Polysemy of Adjectives Denoting Wild Animals in the Field of Human Life // Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka – 2022. – V. 81. – Issue 6 C. 89-101 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://izv-oifn.ru/S160578800023676-9-1 (circulation date: 05.05.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S160578800023676-9
MLA	Orlova, Mariia V "How One Can be Wildly Jealous and Wildly Interested: the Polysemy of Adjectives Denoting Wild Animals in the Field of Human Life." Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka 81.6 (2022):89-101. DOI: 10.31857/S160578800023676-9
APA	Orlova M. (2022). How One Can be Wildly Jealous and Wildly Interested: the Polysemy of Adjectives Denoting Wild Animals in the Field of Human Life. Izvestiia Rossiiskoi akademii nauk. Seriia literatury i iazyka 81(6), pp.89-101 DOI: 10.31857/S160578800023676-9

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 224

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Nguyen, V.T., Tran, T.H.T. Semantic alternation from animal to human under semantic field perspectives. CLlient Journal. 2020, No. 2 (1), pp. 18–29.

2. Lehrer, A. Semantic Fields and Semantic Change. Coyote Papers: Working Papers in Linguistics from A–Z, Exploring Language: Linguistic Heresies from the Desert. 2016, pp. 119–128.

3. Zaliznyak, A.A. Semanticheskij perekhod kak objekt tipologii [Semantic Shift as an Object of Typology]. Voprosy yazykoznaniya [Topics in the Study of Language]. 2013, No. 2. pp. 32–51. (In Russ.)

4. Apresyan, Yu.D. Izbrannyye trudy, tom 1. Leksicheskaya semantika [Selected Works, Vol. 1. Lexical Semantics]. Moscow, Shkola “Yazyki russkoy kulturyˮ Publ., 1995. (In Russ.)

5. Slovar russkogo yazyka [The Dictionary of Russian Language]. Ed. A.P. Evgenjeva. Moscow, Russkij yazyk Publ., 1985. Vol. 1. (In Russ.)

6. TLFi: Trésor de la langue Française informatisé. ATILF – CNRS – Université de Lorraine. URL: http://atilf.atilf.fr/tlf.htm

7. Duden Deutsches Universalwörterbuch. Ed. G. Drosdowski. Mannheim: Bibliographisches Institut, 1983.

8. Sorlin, S., Gardelle, L. Anthropocentrism, egocentrism and the notion of Animacy Hierarchy. International Journal of Language and Culture. 2019, No. 5 (2).

9. Kustova, G.I. Tipy proizvodnykh znacheniy i mekhanizmy yazykovogo rasshireniya [Types of Derivative Meanings and Mechanisms of Language Extension]. Moscow, Yazyki slavyanskoy kultury Publ., 2004. (In Russ.)

10. Rosch, E.H. Natural categories. Cognitive Psychology. 1973, No. 4, pp. 328–350.

11. Pesina, S.A. Slovo v kognitivnom aspekte [The Word from a Cognitivist Perspective]. Moscow, FLINTA: Nauka Publ., 2011. (In Russ.)

12. MacLaury, R. E. Social and cognitive motivations of change: measuring variability in color semantics. Language. 1991, No. 67 (1), pp. 34–62.

13. Dizionario italiano, con sinonimi e contrari. Milano: Garzanti, 1998.

14. Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa. Ed. A. Houaiss, M. Villar, F. M. Franco. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Objetiva, 2001.

15. Diccionario general illustrado de la lengua Española. Ed. R.M. Pidal, S.G. Gaya, M.A. Ezquerra. Barcelona: Bibliograf S.A., 1987.

16. Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române. Bucarest: Editura academiei republicii socialiste România, 1975.

17. Zaliznyak, A.A. Mnogoznachnost v yazyke i sposoby ee predstavleniya [Polysemy in Language and the Ways of its Representation]. Moscow, Yazyki slavyanskikh kultur Publ., 2006. (In Russ.)

18. Nacionalnyj korpus russkogo yazyka [Russian National Corpus]. 2003–2022. URL: https://ruscorpora.ru

19. Fufaeva, I.V. Metafora malogo: russkie diminutivy [The Metaphor of Smallness: Russian Diminutives]. Moscow, RSUH Publ., 2020. (In Russ.)

20. Zingarelli, N. Vocabolario della lingua italiana. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1970.

21. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára. Ed. László O. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1962.

22. Rico F. Gran diccionario de la lengua española. Barcelona: Larousse, 2000.

23. Treccani: dizionario della lingua italiana. Firenze: Guinti, 2013.

24. Dictionnaire Larousse online. URL: https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais

25. Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti. Ed. F. Sabatini, V. Coletti. Florence: Giunti, 1997.

26. Det Norske Akademis Ordbok. URL: https://naob.no

27. Longman dictionary of contemporary English. Ed. by D. Summers. 4th ed. White Plains, NY: Longman, 2003.

28. Dictionnaire historique de la langue française. Ed. A. Rey. Paris: Le Robert, 2011.

29. Grande dizionario italiano dell’uso. Ed. T. de Mauro. Torino: UTET, 2004.

30. Melchuk, I.A. Opyt teorii lingvisticheskih modelej “Smysl Tekstˮ. Semantika, sintaksis [An Essay of a Theory of Linguistic Models “Meaning–Text”. Semantics, Syntax]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1974. (In Russ.)

31. Bokmålsordboka. Språkrådet og Universitetet i Bergen. URL: https://www.ordbok.uib.no

32. Svenska Akademiens Ordböcker. Svenska Akademien. URL: https://svenska.se

33. O’Dónaill, N. Focloir Gaeilge-Bearla. Baile Atha Cliath: An Gum, 1992.

34. ISLEX-orðabókin. URL: https://islex.arnastofnun.is/is/

35. Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa. Ed. M. B. Ferreira, M. Dos Anjos. Curitiba: Editora Positivo.

36. Corbett, G.G. Number. (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics.) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

37. Den Danske Orbog. Det Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab. URL: https://www.ordnet.dk/ddo/forside

38. Paducheva, E.V. Dinamicheskiye modeli v semantike leksiki [Dynamic Models in Lexical Semantics]. Moscow, Yazyki slavyanskoy kultury Publ., 2004. (In Russ.)

39. Apresyan, V., Lopukhina, A., Zarifyan, M. Representation of Different Types of Adjectival Polysemy in the Mental Lexicon. Frontiers in Psychology. 2021, No. 12.

40. Brinton, Laurel J., Arnovik, Leslie K. The English language. A linguistic history. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

41. Bréal, M. Semantics: Studies in the Science of Meaning. New York: Dover Publications. 1964.

42. Larrivée, K., Kallel, A. The empirical reality of bridging contexts. Journal of Historical Linguistics. 2020, No. 10:3, pp. 427–451.

43. Brockhaus Wahrig: deutsches Wörterbuch in sechs Bänden. Ed. G. Wahrig, H. Krämer, Hildegard, H. Zimmermann. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1984.

44. Diccionario del español actual. Ed. M. Seco, O. Andrés, G. Ramos. Madrid: Aguilar, 1999.

45. Balashova, L.V. Russkaya metafora: proshloe, nastoyashchee, budushchee [Russian Metaphor: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow]. Moscow, Yazyki slavyanskoj kultury Publ., 2014. (In Russ.)