Znaczenie przymiotnika żałosny w świetle kognitywnej semantyki uczuć
The Meaning of the Adjective żałosny in the Light of Cognitive Semantics of Feelings

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to analyse the meanings of the adjective żałosny from both a diachronic and synchronic perspective, in the context of the semantics of the emotion of żal (‘pity’). The goal is to show how the concept of żal is evoked in both historical and contemporary meanings of this adjective. The methodological foundation of the analysis is based on concepts from cognitive and cultural linguistics, frequently used in research on linguistic expressions of emotions: Eleanor Rosch’s prototype theory (1978), Charles Fillmore’s frame semantics (1985), and Anna Wierzbicka’s (1999) suggestion for describing emotion scenarios. The material basis consists of historical and contemporary dictionaries of the Polish language as well as corpus data. The results of the analysis indicate a transformation in the meanings of the adjective żałosny, linked to a shift in evaluative connotation, which can be explained by changes in the prototypical emotion scenarios (and their profiled elements) evoked in the respective meanings of the adjective under study.

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