Scholarly record

ORNITHONYM AS A UNIQUE POLYSEMY VERBAL SIGN IN SPANISH, ENGLISH AND RUSSIAN: PRAGMATICS OF ABSTRACT MEANINGS

Marina Kutieva, G. Khorokhorina, N. Arupova, S. Kurbakova

Abstract

This article offers a comparative approach to the analysis of figurative meanings of the lexicon nominating birds in Spanish, English and Russian texts. We consider pragmatics of figurative uses of ornithonyms. This theme is relevant, because the mental archetypes, based on the images of nature, totally permeate and pierce the ethno-cultural semiotic space of verbal thinking in any linguistic culture. A special place among these archetypes belongs to the symbolism of the ornithonyms, for only the birds, among all the fauna representatives, access the sky. We carry out a pragmatic communicative and cognitive-discursive analysis of the functioning of the ornithonymsВ’ secondary meanings in novelistic literature o poetry context. Secondary semantics manifests numerous cognitive similarities between the linguistic cultures we compare. Ornithonymic vocabulary actively absorbs abstractions into the spectrum of its metaphoric semantics that completely cover all spheres of the emotional and spiritual life of a person. That is why the cultural transcendence of ornithonyms is indisputable. The authors conclude that in a set of figurative values of ornythonym, which is specific for each culture, the peculiarity of everyday thinking and people's everydaymemory is fixed and reflected. For this reason, pragmatically the secondary meanings of bird names reveal a significant difference in contemporary Spanish, English and Russian discourse. Automatic transfer of ornithonyms in performative function for intercultural communication is impossible. Ornithonyms develop mainly anthropocentric figurative values, aimed at characterizing the appearance, extrinsic aspect, occupation, behavior of a person and events in his life. Ornitonyms absorb actively into the sphere of their figurative semantics all kind of abstraction, covering all spheres of the emotional and spiritual life of person. We consider, that the secondary figurative meaning should be obligatory reflected in the dictionaries. Picturesqueness of birdsВ’ denominations embodies the uniqueness of national nature and world vision. Besides, the metaphorical-symbolic cluster "birds" serves as a formulator for evaluating the intellectual and moral qualities of a person.

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