On Principles of Meaning Formation in Denominal Verbs

Abstract

The article considers the principles of forming the meaning of verbs formed from nouns. Intralinguistic and extralinguistic features contribute the formation of the semantics of verbal units. Two groups of verbs are characterized, differentiated depending on the hierarchical structure of semantic features in the structure of contextual refiners or motivating substance. The first group includes verbs, in the semantic structure of which the contextual refiners are nuclear seme. It is shown that the semantics of such verbs outside the context is not uniquely determined. This leads to the formation of the occasional meaning, which is created in speech use and not fixed in dictionaries. The semantic structure of new formation is based on the semes of words that make up the context environment, the verbs of the first group have the potential to denote any process that is in any way connected with the producing noun. The second group consists of verbs, in the semantic structure of which the semes of the motivating noun is nuclear, which determines the predictability of the meaning of the derived verb. This meaning can be called innovative. In the basis innovative meaning is seme of the motivating nouns in a particular speech use and has the potential to get a fixation in the dictionary as one of the lexical-semantic variants. The source of the analysis of verbal units was the publication of modern media.

Keywords

• denominal verb
• innovative meaning
• occasional meaning
• semantic structure
• seme
• context