Substantive Adjectives in Russian Proverbs

Abstract

The process of substantivating adjectives in Russian is considered. The relevance of the topic is determined by the subject of research: transient processes in the field of parts of speech reflect and fix at the level of lexical and grammatical semantics the processes of rethinking and reformatting a person’s knowledge of the world. The purpose of this study is to establish the conditions for substantivating adjectives. The material was proverbial expressions from the collection of V. I. Dahl “Proverbs of the Russian people”, which include substantiated adjectives. Based on the contextual analysis of the use of these words, the following conditions for substantivating adjectives are determined: the qualitatively-estimated value of the original adjective; the uniqueness of the reference between the attribute and its carrier, established on the basis of the causal component in the semantics of the adjective as a significant component of background knowledge. The vast majority of substantiated adjectives presented in proverbs are the names of a person or an abstract concept. As a result of the study, the semantic groups of substantive adjectives found in proverbs are defined. It is argued that substantiation is a means of reinforcing stereotypical ideas about a person and his qualities. The analysis allows us to conclude about the causative potential of the adjective, which manifests itself in the process of substantiation, which may become the basis for rethinking the functional-semantic status of the name of the adjective in the system of parts of speech.

Keywords

• noun
• substantiation
• substantive adjective
• adjective
• proverb
• causal semantic relationships