Južnoslovenski Filolog (Jan 2021)
On spatial fragmentisers as temporal localisation markers
Abstract
The paper discusses the subsystem of spatial fragmentisers (PF) as temporal localisation markers in Russian and Serbian. PF have been defined by previous research as inseparable intangible parts of spatial units and considered in concrete-spatial frameworks based on the theory of semantic localisations; according to this theory, PF perform the function of a concretising orienteer in the situation of intralocalisation. In this paper, we analyse their temporal function and refer to them as temporal fragmentisers. The structure of PF, essentially spatial and formed of equipollent and privative semantic oppositions, and the inventory of PF units are modified in terms of temporality, in accordance with the conceptualisation and linguistic representation of the category of time. According to their function, PF are conditionally classified into three groups: the first one - equally represented in the categories of space and time (do načala / pre početka, do konca / do kraja); the second - typically temporal with a clear spatial etymology (po okončaniju / po završetku) and the third - specifically temporal, but structurally similar to PF in characterisation (za vremja / za vreme, v tečenie / u toku). From the aspect of the structure of semantic oppositions, PF appear within the lexicon of the functional-semantic field of temporality mainly within the anthropocentric range ‘centre - periphery’ (načalo, seredina, konec / početak, sredina, kraj). The meanings of the oppositions ‘up - down’, ‘in front of - behind’ and ‘far - near’ are realised in conceptual metaphors of time by units of isofunctional spatial subsystems (adverbial, adjectival, etc.). The PF subsystem, which is partially reduced in this sense (compared to the spatial one) due to the conceptualisation of time, on the other hand, becomes enriched with the instruments expressing the sense of durability. In addition, there is wide field of overlap with other isofunctional grammatical-syntactic categories, e.g., prepositions and conjunctions (v tečenie / u toku, tokom; vo vremja / u vreme; do teh por poka; s teh por kak; v to vremja kak etc.). Bilingual examples illustrate the isomorphism of the categories of time and space in both languages and reveal a well-developed PF subsystem, whose intricate intrasystemic and intersystemic links become distinctly noticeable through interlingual comparison.
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