On the Specificity of Event Actualization in an English Verb Phrase Headed by a Verb of Movement

Abstract

The article deals with the cognitive-semantic analysis of an event and its mapping onto a verb phrase headed by an English verb of movement (changing location). The object of the study was a group of English verbs of movement, presented in the work of the American linguist B. Levin. It is marked in the article that all the numerous classifications and subsequent refinements and splitting into subgroups of this part of the lexicon do not give their accurate and proper categorization. In the process of the analysis, the root semes of the verbs of changing location were identified, the presence of which allows to convey adequately the basic meaning of the situation they have objectified. All optional semes in each verb are highlighted depending on the functional-communicative, stylistic, socio-psychological requirements of the context. Based on this, the concept of positional variants of polysemantic verbs - allosemants - is introduced into the work. Particular attention was focused on the study of differences in the frame structure of the verb-framed and satellite-framed events. The analysis of the second type of events, actualized by the verbs of movement, gives a possibility to mark the appearance of a new variant of word formation based on cognitive compression. In the analyzed group of verbs, there were identified mechanisms for incorporating such components as MANNER, PATH, and INSTRUMENT into the frame structure of motion verbs that give the opportunity to enrich the English lexicon.

Keywords

• english verbs of changing location
• frame structure of the event
• root seme
• prototype seme
• allosemant
• satellite-framed event
• verb-framed event
• cognitive compression
• components incorporated into the frame structure