LEXICAL COMPOSITIONALITY IN ARKADII DRAGOMOSHCHENKO’S POEMS: THE COGNITIVE SEMANTIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

Aim. The aim of the research is to model the cognitive mechanisms of constructing the meaning of occasional word combinations in poetic speech. A hypothesis is put forward that when comprehending such a phrase, the recipient constructs its conceptual content, overcoming the problematic situation of semantic underspecification through the transformation of the network of verbal associations within the range of semantic possibilities lexically specified by the poet.
Methodology. The material of the study is the set of lexical combinations used by the poet Arkadii Dragomoshchenko to describe natural phenomena in the book “On the Banks of the Excluded River”. Cognitive modelling is used as the main research method, which is supplemented by such research tools as contextual analysis and structural-semantic analysis of the material. Word combinations containing a figure of speech are analyzed as specific speech units, distinguished by novelty of emergent meaning both in terms of the lexical and aesthetic content.
Results. It is shown that non-conventional phrases used in poetic speech are characterized by a unique internal syntagmatic content. In this paper, the construction of the meaning of such units is described as a case of conceptual integration, which requires a preliminary selection of elements from different conceptual areas and the development of a new conceptual formation (blend). The principle of synesthesia in the perception of surrounding reality is considered as a conceptual meta-trope of A. Dragomoshchenko’s poetry. The research focus is put on the cases when occasional lexico-semantic compositionality activates distant verbal associations, which potentially leads to the discovery of unusual connections between a stimulus (perceived natural phenomenon) and a sensation.
Research implications. The results of the study contribute to the theory of cognitive semantics, describing the relations between the linguistic and conceptual systems of the recipient, who constructs the meaning in a situation of actualized poetic ambiguity.