Characteristics And Functions Of English Verbs Of Lexical-Semantic Group Of Movement

Abstract

The article is devoted to English verbs of the lexical-semantic group (LSG) of movement. It presents the problematics of research of verbs of movement in special scientific literature, as well as the principles of their isolation and classification in the English language. Criteria for referring verbs to the nuclear and peripheral zones of the studied lexical-semantic group are presented. The general categorical-lexical seme of movement in space, which is realized at the lexical level in the following integral semes: the movement environment, nature, means, intensity, is distinguished. Verbs that are referred to the periphery of the LSG verbs of motion can be classified according to the following directions: verbs of vertical movement; verbs denoting movement in relation to its final point; verbs denoting movement in relation to the starting point; verbs denoting movement in relation to an intermediate point; verbs denoting movement in general. The movement of objects in space was studied taking into account their interaction with lexical units describing various types of movement based on different characteristics, such as, for example, the method, environment, nature and intensity of movement and depending on the types of movement: movements that are made by the participants represented by animate actors (man or animal) with the ability to move independently or with the help of any means of movement, and inanimate objects incapable of independent movement.

Keywords: Lexico-semantic group, movement, verb

Introduction

Space and time attributed by philosophers to universal categories and forms of perception of objective reality were of great interest to researchers from the earliest stages of human society development. Among the verbs participating in the expression of the category of space, the verbs that serve to express the concepts of movement and motion, in the fair opinion of the researchers, occupy a central position.

Problem Statement

The study of the verbs of movement is of particular interest due to the fact that in the world around us and in nature there is no process more widespread than movement. As you know, space and time are the main forms of the existence of matter, and motion is defined by philosophy as its most important attribute. In the broadest sense, motion is any interaction of material objects. One of the most diverse forms of the manifestation of matter motion is movement. All objects of the objective world are capable of moving in space. Some of them do it independently, actively, for example, living beings, while others (inanimate objects) are not capable of active movement. Inanimate objects move on the initiative and under the influence of living beings, as well as under the influence of various physical forces of nature being wind, flowing water, etc. Various forms of movement find the most specialized expression in the lexical-semantic group of verbs of movement.

Research Questions

The problem of functioning of lexical-semantic groups of verbs being one of the manifestations of the systematic nature of the vocabulary fund of the language is one of the topical problems considered by domestic and foreign lexicologists. The lexico-semantic group of verbs of movement is one of the most ancient verb groups. Researchers consider it necessary to identify the basic conditions for ascribing individual verbs to the lexico-semantic group of verbs of motion.

Purpose of the Study

To characterize and describe the features of functioning of the verbs denoting movement in English, it seems necessary to handle the following tasks:

  • to describe the lexical-semantic group of English verbs of movement,
  • to characterize the semantic structure of basic English verbs of motion.

Research Methods

The solution of the tasks posed in the study has required the complex application of the following research methods of the studied material:

  • linguistic methods of contextual analysis, semantic interpretation, constructive analysis;
  • general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, a hypothetical-deductive method.

Findings

Linguists refer verbs of movement to a group of verbs expressing the concept of physical movement. These verbs unlike many other verbs are characterized by a peculiar pairing or correlation, semantic and morphological relationship of two members of opposition.

Roget being the author of the famous ideographic thesaurus (Roget P.M. Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases) classifies verbs of movement into four subclasses based on the following semantic features: 1) direction of movement (moving the object up, down, forward, backward; unidirectional movement; bi-directional movement (change of direction); multi-directional movement (circular, random)); 2) quality and method of movement (fast-slow; easy-with difficulty); 3) interaction with the environment (movement through water, land, air); 4) movement relative to the object (approaching the object, reaching, surrounding the object, moving away from the object) (Roget, 1911)

The authors studying lexical semantics (Miller & Johnson-Laird 1976) mean lexemes denoting a situation in which the Subject at some point in time is at a point with the location L1, and at some next moment – at the point with location L2 by verbs of movement. In this case, the L1 position is the starting point of the movement, and L2 is its end point.

In modern linguistics, a huge experience has been accumulated in the description and classification of the verbs of the lexical-semantic group we are studying. A prominent place among the works devoted to the verbs of movement is held by the work of Leech (1970), in which the author analyzes the semantic structure of the English verbs of movement. The researcher refers those verbs whose definitions contain the semantics of the verb, and, therefore, can be replaced by it without loss of meaning: to this LSG (Leech, 1970, p. 188). This approach enables to exclude the verbs whose definitions include the semantics of the verb but they cannot be replaced by it since their meaning in addition to the seme of motion contains other semes from the LSG verbs of motion. These are, for example, the verbsand others (Danilova, 2018, Garifullina et al., 2020).

When studying the semantics of the English verbal lexicon, Leech (1970) understood motion as the process of changing the position of the body in space. However, with this approach, the author has certain difficulties in identifying a clearly limited group of verbs of motion, since there are examples when:

1) the verb expresses not real but potential movement, for example,;

2) the specific phase of the motion is taken into account, and not for the whole process in general: the verbs expressing the initial phase of the motion, denoting its final phase; – movement in general; – movement cessation, movement end point;

3) the semantics of the verb contains a number of characteristics not related to spatial motion. These are such verbs as purpose, method, etc. and their semantics prevails over the meaning of motion. The group of such verbs includes, for example, the verbs, etc.;

4) the lexical unit ceases to be included in the LSG of the verbs of movement when the characteristics of the movement cannot be correlated with it in the future. The author believes that a change in the location of a body in space can be considered a movement only when it comes to specific tangible and discrete objects:. If the concept of discreteness is absent, i.e. meaning the mass of the matter –, then the location of the object does not change, for example:. In cases where both concepts – tangibility and discreteness – are absent but the object is still felt, the fact of motion is even more difficult to determine:, since the sentence acquires a metaphorical meaning. In some cases, there is a complete loss of the concept of motion:.

Levelt, Schroeder, Hohenkamp, when classifying the verbs of movement, refer to the parameters introduced by Gruber (1992), who distinguished the moving subject/object designated as a theme, source and end points (goal) movement. Some verbs of movement have additional information about the agent causating the movement of the topic, which allowed Gruber to subdivide the verbs of movement into agentive and non-agentive. In the case when the semantics of the verb contains information about the agent performing the action expressed by the verb, the verb belongs to the group of agentive verbs. For example, in the sentence, is the agent causating the ball to move. There is no agent in. A further classification of agentive verbs of movement is constructed by the authors on the basis of how the topic, starting and ending point of movement relate to the agent:

1) If the agent coincides with the topic (agent = theme verbs), the predicate in the sentence is most often intransitive verbs of movement, such as:, etc.;

2) If the agent is at the starting point of movement (agent = source verbs), the topic moves in the direction from the agent:;

3) If the agent is at the end point of movement (agent = target verbs), the topic moves towards the agent:;

4) If the agent is neither at the starting nor at the end point of the movement; i.e. the agent does not coincide with the topic (agent external verbs), the predicate is expressed by the verbs, etc.

Motion verbs are divided into 3 classes:

a) arrive class, which includes the verbs arrive, descend, go, depart, fall, return;

b) class, which includes the verbs;

c) class, which includes the verbs.

Fillmore (1985) distinguished two classes of lexemes based on the orientation of the semantics of the verb to the starting or ending point of movement: Source-oriented, i.e. start-point-oriented movement; and Goal-oriented, i.e. endpoint-oriented movement (Fillmore, 1985). In the terminology of the Moscow Semantic School, Source-oriented verbs are referred to as deletion verbs, that is, verbs with a mandatory semantic valence of the initial point, Goal-oriented are verbs of arrival with a mandatory semantic valency of an end point.

In Russian linguistics, there is also a number of works devoted to the verbs of movement in the English language.

Yarema believes that the verbs of movement are a special group of verbs, between which there are semantic, morphological and categorical connections. This group of verbs is capable of expressing the process of movement in one direction and vice versa, movement in different directions, circular movement.

By combining the verbs of movement into one lexico-semantic group, the scientist considers it necessary to highlight the core of this semantic field consisting of context-free verbs, whose semantics is characteristic and defining for this field (Shaydullina, 2019; Zaylalova & Zaylalov, 2019, 2020).

The transitional and peripheral zones of the semantic field, as a rule, are represented by verbs with optional and even occasional relevant features. In accordance with this assumption, researchers attribute such verbal units as to the core of the semantic field of verbs of movement based on the fact that they denote the main types of movement of an animate Subject in space, to the periphery – verbs

Verbs assigned to the peripheral zone of a given LSG can form the following subgroups:

  • verbs of vertical motion: descend, fall, rise;
  • verbs denoting movement in relation to its final point: advance, approach, arrive, enter, reach, return;
  • verbs denoting movement in relation to the original point: depart, escape, leave;
  • verbs denoting movement in relation to an intermediate point: cross, pass;
  • verbs denoting movement in general (usually over long distances): journey, travel.

Researchers quite rightly, in our opinion, consider the verb of movement as an identifier verb, since, due to the abstractness of its semantics, it can be used as a pivotal component in the lexicographic interpretations of the initial meanings of other verbs of LSG verbs of movement (Vasilyeva & Sinagatullin, 2018).

The study of the functioning mechanisms of the verbs of motion in various types of discourse convincingly shows that English-language texts are distinguished by many phrasal verbs with semantics expressing movement in space, time, change of location, etc. The study of the movement of objects in space involves the study of lexical units that describe various types of movement based on different characteristics, such as, for example, the method, environment, nature and intensity of movement.

The types of movement are also different: movements that are made both by the participants (a person or an animal) having the ability to move independently, or with the help of means of movement, and inanimate being incapable of independent movement objects. At the same time, situational transformations related to a change in the location of abstract concepts, feelings, emotions, when they are presented in discourse as a change in a certain position, are considered (Samigullina, 2015; Samigullina & Samigullina, 2018; Vasilyeva & Nurutdinova, 2018).

Conclusion

The lexico-semantic group of verbs of movement is separated from the system of the English verb on the basis of the categorical lexical seme “movement in space”. Integral semes “way of movement”, “movement environment”, “movement nature” and “movement intensity” being subsequently concretized in differential features serve as the basis for highlighting the verbal vocabulary of this lexico-semantic group.

The functional-semantic field, in which the verbs of LSG movement function in English, consists of the nuclear and peripheral areas. The verbs denoting the main types of movement of the subject in space constitute the nuclear zone and are dominant subgroups. The verbs constitute the peripheral zone of this LSG.

Verbs referred to the periphery of the LSG verbs of motion can be classified based on the following characteristics: verbs of vertical movement; verbs denoting movement in relation to its final point; verbs denoting movement in relation to the starting point; verbs denoting movement in relation to an intermediate point; verbs denoting movement in general.

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02 December 2021

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Samigullina, L. Z., Samigullin, E. F., & Ivanaevskiy, V. B. (2021). Characteristics And Functions Of English Verbs Of Lexical-Semantic Group Of Movement. In O. Kolmakova, O. Boginskaya, & S. Grichin (Eds.), Language and Technology in the Interdisciplinary Paradigm, vol 118. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 829-834). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2021.12.100