Explicit ways of expressing comparativity in Ukrainian paremias of the 19th century

Abstract

Background. For modern historical linguistics, the study of the comparativity of linguistic units is extremely relevant, because the verbalization of the processes and results of comparing actions, phenomena or objects not only sheds light on the system of views of our ancestors, their ideas about people and their place in the world, but also makes it possible to trace the peculiarities of the linguistic system on a certain synchronous slice. It is especially interesting to identify the specificity of the selection of linguistic means for the implementation of comparative semantics in paremias, which were an integral part of the linguistic picture of the world of Ukrainians in the past.

Methods. In the study, we applied the comparative method to consider the peculiarities of the ways of expressing comparativity in paremias, attested in the collections of I. Franko “Galician-Ruthenian folk paremias” (1901–1910) and M. Nomys “Ukrainian proverbs, sayings, and the like” (1864), as well as a descriptive method with the using of internal interpretation for the classification of analyzed units according to clearly defined parameters.

Results. On the basis of existing classifications of comparative constructions, a separate classification of ways of expressing comparativity in paremias was proposed. Two main ways of expressing comparative relations in paremic units are defined – explicit and implicit, as well as their subspecies. Structurally complete comparative constructions (comparative inflections (uncommon and common) with conjunctions як, мов, немов, наче, неначе, неначебто, ніби, нібито, немовби, немовбито etc. + subordinate clauses); constructions with forms of degrees of comparison of adverbs and adjectives: кращий, ніж…; вищий, ніж…; units that only have an object of comparison are analyzed in detail. Special attention is paid to comparative paremias, which include comparative conjunctions of ancient origin (мол, аки/ак, коби), which the modern Ukrainian language does not record, as well as units with two comparative conjunctions, which act as means of linguistic design of comparative semantics.

Conclusion. The study of comparative paremias, attested in the analyzed collections, makes it possible to reveal the specifics of the verbalization of reality by Ukrainians of the 19^th century, to clarify the role and place of paremias in their linguistic picture of the world, to trace the dynamics of the lexical and phraseological subsystems of the Ukrainian language of this period. Among the explicit ways of expressing comparativity, the most productive is the creation of structurally complete comparative constructions (comparative phrases (uncommon and common) with comparative conjunctions, as well as subordinate clauses).

Information about the author:

Maksym Bondarenko – PhD student of the Department of the Ukrainian Language and Applied Linguistics; Educational and Scientific Institute of Philology; Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Ukraine).

E-mail: maximbondarenko@knu.ua

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REFERENCES

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SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL

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