The Role of Context in the Process of Semantic Transformations of a Lexical Unit

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the study of the role of context in the process of semantic derivation. The authors propose to distinguish between the term "semantic derivation" as a dynamic process of the appearance of a new word meaning and the term "polysemy" as the result of this process. Terminological distinction makes it possible to diversify research methods depending on the stage of semantic transformations. In the conditions of entirely completed polysemy, the speech context in which the polysemant is used serves as a means of identifying a specific lexico-semantic variant. At the current stage of semantic derivation, the context creates the necessary conditions for the emergence of a new meaning, and therefore the detection of innovative contexts in speech practice should be used for the purpose of linguistic monitoring of semantic transformations. The specific ways of changing the context in the process of neosemantization depend on the part of speech, which the word belongs to. Semantic derivation of adjective proceeds as a result of its attribution to the new object. The appearance of new meanings in the verbal units implies a change in the taxonomic class within the actant framework. In the case of a noun the context change is not of an obligatory nature and varies depending on the type of semantic transformations.