Light heads and predicate formation: on two scopes of discontinuity

The present article addresses the problem of syntax-semantics mapping of syntactically complex structures that are interpreted as semantically simple terms. While these morphosyntactic mechanisms have been successfully applied to roots in Marantz’s framework, more complex structures turn out to be formally and conceptually challenging. To solve these problems, I make use of Cooper’s type-theoretic framework to propose a formal account of Transfer. I apply this to verbal idioms and direct quotation, whose parts do not obtain the idiomatic/quotational reading. The main result is a formal account of light heads providing the operation of predicate formation within cyclic derivations.

Motivational and Ethnocultural Potential of the Concept Water and its Reflections in the Linguistic View of the World in Slavic Nations

The first part of the article is focused on theoretical side of the process of idiom creation and on defining terms word motivation and idiom motivation. In the second part of the article the concept water is analyzed within the Slavic linguistic area from the aspect of imagery, mythology and ethnolinguistics. Special attention is paid to the motivation of creation and cultural-idiomatic information carried by non-verbal idioms with the structure of determinative syntagma, which contain the component water. Based on the analysis of the idioms, whose constant structural element is in addition to the noun water an attribute, it is pointed out that in several of them the function of the attribute is crucial, because the connotational-pragmatic constituent of an idiom binds precisely to that attribute, as for example in the case of жива вода or тиха вода units.

Idiomatics of the Russian Avant-Garde from the Perspective of Lexicography

The article describes the practices of lexicographical analysis of idiomatic units related to the Russian avant-garde and experience in developing principles to present such units in the deve­loped dictionary – “Idiomatics of the Russian Avant-garde: Cubo-Futurism”. The author demonstrates the relevance of lexicographical studies of literary and artistic works of representatives of the avant-garde movement. The definition of the Russian avant-garde idiomatics is formula­ted on the basis of its distinctive features identified. The article outlines that the unique nature of avant-garde idiomatics, involving the integration of verbal and non-verbal idioms, supposes creating a specific methodology for its vocabulary definition. Special focus is made on the elaborated approach to compile the glossary of the developed Dictionary, to create its macro- and microstructure. As a result of studies, new scientific concepts have been formulated and the need to integrate new zones into the structure of dictionary entries has been demonstrated. The author makes a conclusion on the proposed use of the developed Dictionary and notes the possibility to develop a new interdisciplinary field – “Avant-Garde Idiomatics”, based on the interrelation of Philology and Art History.

¿Nacer de pie o haber nacido de pie? La lematización de las locuciones verbales con el infinitivo compuesto

Verbal idioms are usually lemmatized in dictionaries with their infinitive form (eg., nacer de pie). However, some of them are eventually registered with their perfect infinitive form (eg., haber nacido de pie), conveying the idea that they are preferably used with compound or past tenses. Our hypothesis is that not all idioms of this type are actually used in the same way. To prove it, thirty idioms, lemmatized once at least by the perfect infinitive, have been extracted from five different European Spanish phraseological dictionaries. The information collected is compared with the data obtained from a web text corpus. The main results are: firstly, the chosen lemma sign does not always correspond to the actual use of several idioms; secondly, there are clear differences among dictionaries regarding the treatment that they give to this kind of idioms; thirdly, it seems not to be a common pattern even within the same dictionary; finally, the information provided by a lemma sign sometimes does not fit properly with the definition and/or the example.

THE ROLE OF PLASTIC SYMBOLS IN A DRAMATIC PERFORMANCE (TO THE EXPERIENCE OF COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS)

In modern drama theater directing, there is a tendency to translate literary or verbal idioms into the language of the stage. In the space of the scene, every day, familiar expressions are recreated in the literal sense, and are read in the figurative sense. Drama theater directors strive to give symbolic meanings to the associative characteristics of certain events and situations. The theater has long used plastic and/or dance in its arsenal of artistic means to symbolize artistic images. Symbolists of stage art affirm the search for inner meanings in expression and attempts to make super reality visible. The desire of dramatic art to form a new stage language, which is based on the reorganization of the action, character, time and space, and the speech component of the play, becomes natural. The appeal of directors to the plastic nature of the actor, as one of the bright means of artistic expression in the structure of a dramatic performance, is supported by the nature of the multi-valued artistic and figurative specificity of the choreographic art’s language, which is a set of visual signs. Such visual and acoustic forms of stage action make it possible to trace the process of transformation of visible objects in the mind of the viewer before their projection into the subconscious. A symbol expressed in plastic language and focused on identifying internal emotional processes that are usually summarized in a dramatic performance by a word can be called the main typological characteristic of the interweaving of plastic and dance in the canvas of stage action. The modern theater considers the role of semantic physical activity, plastics and dance fundamental in the formation of the language of symbols. The authors offer an attempt to comprehend and compare the works of "Othello" by the Lithuanian director E. Nyakroshus and "Block" by the Kazakh director D. Zhumabayeva, where the role of plastic symbols in the formation of a special semantic performance’s structure is revealed through the prism of multi-episode, open play and physical actors action. The expressive symbol’s language of the analyzed performances of each director has its own characteristics and way of expression. The active appeal to the principles of performance organization and plastic symbolization of artistic images remains common for all. The completeness and autonomy of each individual scene together make the multi-episode performance, where there is no causal relationship between such independent acts. Involving the viewer in the situation of an open game used in the works of the mentioned directors allows the viewer to see the material in an unexpected angle, to engage in a situation of meaningful activity, in which the motive is not the result, but the gameplay itself. Specific physical actions of actors aimed at their direct application, without any additional subtext or intent, allow the actor to live these feelings in performances as their own, without any artificial addition. This all shows the similarity of directing techniques of Lithuanian and Kazakh theater figures. Along with acting, metaphors and symbols in plastic embodiment act as a constructive and semantic means in the context of the dramatic canvas. Appealing to the viewer's subconscious through plastic symbols, which play a huge role in creating the performance, contributes to the generation of complex associations, it appeals to the feelings of the viewer.

Meaning, metaphor, and argument structure

This paper challenges what it calls the semantic determinist hypothesis (SDH) of argument licensing, according to which the syntactic realisation of a verb’s arguments is a function of its semantic properties. Specifically, it takes issue with ‘event schema’ versions of the SDH applied to the English ditransitive alternation (give/send {Jesse the gun/the gun to Jesse}), which claim a systematic, syntactically predictive distinction between ‘caused possession’ and ‘caused motion’. It is first shown that semantic and syntactic irregularities among the alternating verbs disconfirm such a mapping. More crucially, however, it is argued that ‘non-prototypical’ (metaphorical and idiomatic) usage (The news report gave Walt an idea, Walt’s actions gave the lie to his promises, The discovery sent Jesse into a fury) is fatal to the SDH, since the hypothesis entails the existence of semantic constraints on argument realisation which these expressions violate.Based on an analysis of the semantically-related verbs give, send, and put, it is claimed that prototypical, metaphorical and idiomatic expressions of a verb can all be licensed straightforwardly, but only if theory maintains separate syntactic and semantic representation of arguments in lexical entries, observing the ‘parallel architecture’ of Jackendoff (1997, 2002), and only if argument tokens are licensed by the syntactic representation alone. A type of structure called a Lexical Argument Construction is proposed, which can describe all the relevant properties of verbs and verbal idioms.