XXII Открытая конференция студентов-филологов в СПбГУ

Lexico-Typological Study of the Verbs of Throwing

Алёна Алексеевна Блинова
Докладчик
магистрант 2 курса
Национальный исследовательский университет «Высшая школа экономики»

ауд. 184
2019-04-18
17:20 - 17:40

Ключевые слова, аннотация

This study focuses on the verbs of throwing in Russian (бросать, швырять, кидать, метать) and English (throw, drop, toss). The key concept is findings links between their direct and metaphorical meanings through in-depth analysis of their usage cases. Data for the study is taken from previous studies, corpus and dictionaries. The instances are analysed and clustered to form frames of meaning. As a result, sixteen groups have been formed and lists of meanings developed for both Russian and English, metaphors and direct meanings are matched and nine hypotheses for future testing identified.

Тезисы

This study continues the research tradition in lexical typology - studying verbs of movement. Its matter of study is formed by verbs of throwing in two European languages — Russian and English. The data collected covers various usage cases in which verbs of throwing display different meanings. The list of verbs studied includes three English (throw, drop, toss) and four Russian verbs (бросать, кидать, швырять, метать), all non-phrasal, non-affixal, imperfective and able to take on physical objects.
This study adds a new layer to the semantic analysis by bringing metaphors with verbs of throwing into the picture. These metaphorical usage cases, as well as direct meanings, are derived based on previous studies, dictionaries and corpus data. The instances are analyzed, classified and clustered to form frames of meaning. Once groups have been formed and lists of meanings are present for both Russian and English, metaphors and direct meanings are matched. Consequently, several hypotheses linking direct and figurative meanings are suggested for further testing, with their potential assessed.
As a result of the study, sixteen frames have been identified for metaphors with verbs of throwing in Russian and English and respective semantic map has been devised. What is more, nine hypotheses of have been formed; their validity has been assessed and further statistical validation suggested. Furthermore, semantic maps suggested by E. Ivtushok for the verbs of throwing in Russian and English have been updated and translated into English to make them more useful for the international scientific community.
In general, matching direct meanings to figurative ones is a novel concept, and verbs of throwing may contribute greatly to the field. What is more, it may lay foundation for other studies that may broaden the scope of analysis, bring in new facts and observations, and collect an amount of quantitative data high enough to make hypothesis testing valid. Concerning practical value of this study, it may boost development in the sphere of artificial intelligence and machine learning by developing a framework of linking metaphorical meanings to direct ones.