Lexical and Semantic Structure of the Kalmyk Verb of Motion һарх ‘Go / Come out’: a Case Study of the Jangar Epic

Abstract

Goals. The work seeks to consider the Kalmyk multivalent verb of motion ɤarkh ʻleave, come outʼ, and identify its lexical-semantic variants. Materials. The paper analyzes texts of the Jangar epic songs. Results. The semantic structure of the Kalmyk verb ɤarkh ʻleave, come outʼ is very wide and multivalent, being represented by 25 lexical meanings. The semantic structure of the Kalmyk lexeme proves to contain meanings typical for a verb of motion: 1) leave, come out, 2) rise, 3) climb up, 4) go, 5) pass, pass by, through, 6) pass, move through something, 7) ascend. The Kalmyk verb ɤarkh ʻleave, come outʼ denotes both horizontal and vertical movement. The sememe ɤarkh contains both direct and indirect meanings, also acting as an auxiliary verb: ʻexude (about liquid) ʼ, ‘ascend (to a throne)’, ʻarise, be bornʼ, ʻpublish, proclaimʼ, ʻbecome famousʼ, ʻloseʼ; as an auxiliary verb ― ʻget rid of’, ʻbe healthy, safeʼ, ʻresembleʼ, ʻgrow (about plants)ʼ, ʻextractʼ, ʻdisappearʼ, ʻsurvive a battleʼ, ʻemergeʼ, ʻsurpassʼ, ʻexhaleʼ, etc. The verb ɤarkh participates in formation of verbal phraseological units which constitute a considerable part of the epic narrative. The analysis shows that subjects of such movement are both sentient (those with legs or wings) and insentient (e. g., gaseous substances).

Keywords

• verb
• epic
• sememe
• movement
• lexical-semantic variants
• kalmyk language