O.A. Gorban

Volgograd State University, Volgograd, 400062 Russia

E-mail: oa_gorban@volsu.ru

Received June 21, 2017

Full text PDF

Abstract

The study has been performed as part of the collective research project no. 16-14-34004 supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Government of the Volgograd region. The aim of the study is to reveal the functional semantic properties of motion verbs from the documents of   “Mikhailovsky Stanitsa Ataman” Archive Fund (State Archive of Volgograd region, Russia), created in the military and the stanitsa offices of the Don Cossack Host Province in the middle of 18th – late 19th century, to reveal their dynamics in synchrony and diachrony; the tasks are to find out the representation of lexical units in the documents, as well as to describe their direct and figurative use, constant nominal combinations. The analysis is based on the comparison of the documents, which is intended to identify trends in their functioning. The methods of des­criptive, comparative, component, and contextual analysis have been used.

It has been discovered that motion verbs were used in the middle of 18th century mainly in the meanings reflecting movement in space specified by environment, tools, manner, and intensity; they were also be used in figurative meanings and as components of stable combinations. The late 18th – first half of 19th century is marked by a rising tendency to the use of motion verbs denoting moves indifferent in their manner, as well as to the more active use of words in figurative abstract meanings.

It has been concluded that the functional semantic properties of motion verbs are dynamic. In synchrony, they are manifested as semantic and frequency variations in the documents of the same period. In diachrony, they are changes in the proportion of reporting verb forms, reflecting the all-Russian process of common official language formation.

Keywords: Russian language, vocabulary, verb, verbs of motion, text, history of official language, document, Don Cossack Host

Acknowledgments. The study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Administration of Volgograd region (project no. 16-14-34004).

References

1.     Markov V.M. Selected Works on Russian Language. Problemy grammaticheskoi leksikologii i russkii literaturnyi yazyk XVIII v. [Problems of Grammatical Lexicology and Russian Literary Language of 18th Century]. Kazan, DAS, 2001, pp. 156–163. (In Russian)

2.     Nikolaeva T.M. Semantic and stylistic changes in the Russian literary language in the late 18th – early 19th century (historical and cultural aspect). Yazykovaya semantika i obraz mira: Materialy Mezhdunar. nauch. konf. (g. Kazan', 20–22 maya 2008 g.) [Language Semantics and World Image: Proc. Int. Sci. Conf. (Kazan, May 20–22, 2008)]. Part 1. Kazan, Izd. Kazan. Gos. Univ., 2008, pp. 44–47. (In Russian)

3.     Lopushanskaya S.P. Russian Verb (In Comparison). Izmenenie semanticheskoi struktury russkikh bespristavochnykh glagolov dvizheniya v protsesse modulyatsii [Changes in the Semantic Structure of Russian Prefixless Motion Verbs]. Volgograd, Izd. VPI, 1988, pp. 5–19. (In Russian)

4.     Lopushanskaya S.P. Semantic modulation as a verbal and cogitative process. Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta, Seriya 2: Filologiya, 1996, no. 1, pp. 6–13. (In Russian)

5.     Gorban O.A., Sheptukhina E.M. The linguistic ideas of Professor S.P. Lopushanskaya in the light of the modern scientific paradigm. Ucheye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta, Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2011, vol. 153, no. 6, pp. 7–15. (In Russian)

6.     Semantics of Old Russian Verb: Synchronic and Diachronic Aspect. Moscow, Flinta, Nauka, 2015. 352 p. (In Russian)

7.     Russian Grammar. 2 Vols. Moscow, Nauka, 1980. 783 p., Vol. 1. 709 p., Vol. 2. (In Russian)

8.     Gorban O.A. Dynamics of realization of textual space category in regional documents of 18th century. Nauchnyi Dialog, 2016, no. 12 (60), pp. 74–87. (In Russian)

9.     Markov V.M. On Semantic Way of Word Formation in Russian Language. Izhevsk, Izd. Udmurt. Gos. Univ., 1981. 29 p. (In Russian)

10.   Nikolaeva T.M. Systemic character of semantic changes. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta, 1998, vol. 135, pp. 103–110. (In Russian)

11.   Kosova V.A. Derivation and its place in the language system. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta, 1998, vol. 135, pp. 171–175. (In Russian)

12.   Balalykina E.A. Metamorphoses of Russian Word. Moscow, Flinta, Nauka, 2012. 264 p. (In Russian)

13.   Balalykina E.A. Language World and World Languages of World: Selected Works on Russian Language and Baltic-Slavic Relations. Kazan, Yaz, 2012. 319 p. (In Russian)

14.   Balalykina E.A. Semantic laws and verbal vocabulary. Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta, Seriya 2: Yazykoznanie, 2013, no. 3, pp. 13–18. (In Russian)

15.   Gorban O.A. Old Russian Motion Verbs in the Language System and in the Text. Volgograd, Izd. VolGU, 2002. 332 p. (In Russian)

16.   Vinogradov V.V. Essays on Russian Literary Language History of the 17th – 19th Century. Moscow, Vyssh. Shk., 1982. 528p. (In Russian)

For citation: Gorban O.A. The functional semantic properties of motion verbs from the documents of Don Cossack Host province offices of the 18th – 19th centuries. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2017, vol. 159, no. 5, pp. 1120–1131. (In Russian)

The content is available under the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.