Part-whole relations in a contrastive approach (using the example of the names of body parts in Germanic and Slavic languages) Cover Image

Teil-Ganzes-Relationen im kontrastiven Vergleich (am Beispiel der Körperteilbenennungen in den germanischen und slawischen Sprachen)
Part-whole relations in a contrastive approach (using the example of the names of body parts in Germanic and Slavic languages)

Author(s): Olena Materynska
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Lexis, Semantics, Comparative Linguistics
Published by: Editura Universitaria Craiova
Keywords: meronymy; polysemy; semantic productivity;

Summary/Abstract: This paper deals with the research of the Part-Whole-Relations in the lexical system of the language exemplified by the human body part names in the Germanic (German, English) and Slavonic (Ukrainian, Russian) languages. The contrastive approach reveals the main differences in the nomination and segmentation process of the lexical units under analysis. The system of naive segmentation of the human body is proved to be the rich source of anthropomorphic metaphor in the compared languages. The polysemy level of the body part names in the contrasted languages is distinguished with the help of the index of polysemy. The study focuses on the classification of the regular semantic change paths of the body part names, highlights cross-language similarities and differences in their semantics and outlines their semantic productivity in the field of terminology.

  • Issue Year: 2021
  • Issue No: 1-2
  • Page Range: 391-407
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: German