Article

Name: Fixed word combinations dealing with the mental opposition “straight – curved” in the history of the Russian language

Authors: E. V. Generalova

Saint Petersburg University, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation

In the section Linguistics

Abstract: The paper deals with the fixed word combinations connected with the conceptual opposition “straight – curved” in semantic aspect (the fixed word combinations include the words used in Russian with semantic meaning of “straight” or “curved”), etymological aspect (the fixed word combinations originating from the concepts of “straight” or “curved”), and onomasiological aspect (the semantics of fixed word combinations is the designation of straightness or curvature properties). The research analyses the data of historical dictionaries, card files, and dialect and phraseological dictionaries. The collocations including the lexemes with the semantics of “straight” or “curved” in a direct sense are mainly compound names, nomenclature designations of objects. In the history of Russian language, the word combinations, the phraseologization of which is based on a figurative meaning of lexemes of “straightness and curvature,” realize primarily the metaphoric models “straight / curved – truth / lie,” “straight / curved – God / devil,” “straight / curved – order, norm / disorder, deviation from the norm.” In a number of phraseo- logical units, the figurative sense is based on the metaphorical understanding of the phrase as a whole. The fixed word combinations denoting the physical characteristics of “straight- ness / curvature” are formed based on the description of a specific form or comparison with an object having such a shape. The analysis shows that the straightness was perceived as an abstract, direct, homogeneous (having a small number of concrete manifestations), positively marked quality based on the image of a direct way in the ancient time, interpreted in connection with truth, honesty, God and divine. And the curvature was perceived as a concrete, mediated, polytypic negatively estimated quality, interpreted in connection with the lie, devil, evil, and also hard work.

Keywords: Russian language, historical lexicology, phraseology, fixed word combination, mental opposition, cultural semantics

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