Explanatory dictionary and their lexical meaning. Lexical meaning of the word examples

The lexical meaning of a word is the correlation of the sound complex of a linguistic unit with a particular phenomenon of reality, fixed in the minds of speakers.

Most words name objects, their characteristics, quantity, actions, processes and act as full-valued, independent words, performing a nominative function in the language (Latin nominatio - naming, appellation). Having common grammatical and syntactic meanings and functions, these words are combined into the categories of nouns, adjectives, numerals, verbs, adverbs, words of the state category. Their lexical meaning is supplemented by grammatical ones. For example, the word newspaper denotes a specific item; the lexical meaning indicates that it is “a periodical in the form large sheets, usually daily, dedicated to the events of current political and public life." The noun newspaper has grammatical meanings of gender (feminine), number (this object is thought of as one, not many) and case. The word read names the action - "perceive what is written, saying it out loud or reproducing to oneself" and characterizes it as real, occurring at the moment of speech, performed by the speaker (and not by other persons).

Among the significant parts of speech, pronouns and modal words lack a nominative function. The first ones only point to objects or their signs: I, you, this, so much; they receive a specific meaning in speech, but cannot serve as a generalized name for a number of similar objects, characteristics or quantities. The latter express the speaker’s attitude to the thought being expressed: The mail has probably already arrived.

Functional parts of speech (prepositions, conjunctions, particles) also do not perform a nominative function, that is, they do not name objects, signs, actions, but are used as formal grammatical linguistic means.

Lexical meanings of words, their types, development and changes are studied by lexical semantics (semasiology) (gr. sЇemasia - designation + logos - teaching). The grammatical meanings of the word are considered in the grammar of the modern Russian language.

All objects and phenomena of reality have their own names in language. Words point to real objects, to our attitude towards them, which arose in the process of understanding the world around us. This connection of the word with the phenomena of real reality (denotations) is non-linguistic in nature, and nevertheless is the most important factor in determining the nature of the word as a sign unit.

Words name not only specific objects that can be seen, heard or touched in at the moment, but also the concepts about these objects that arise in our minds.

A concept is a reflection in the minds of people of the general and essential features of the phenomena of reality, ideas about their properties. Such signs can be the shape of an object, its function, color, size, similarity or difference with another object, etc. A concept is the result of a generalization of a mass of individual phenomena, during which a person is distracted from unimportant signs, focusing on the main, fundamental ones. Without such abstraction, that is, without abstract ideas, human thinking is impossible.

Concepts are formed and consolidated in our minds with the help of words. The connection of words with a concept (significative factor) makes the word an instrument of human thinking. Without the ability of a word to name a concept, there would be no language itself. Denoting concepts with words allows us to make do with a relatively small number of linguistic signs. So, in order to single out one person from many people and name anyone, we use the word person. To denote all the richness and variety of colors of living nature, there are words red, yellow, blue, green, etc. Moving in space various items expressed by the word goes (person, train, bus, icebreaker and even ice, rain, snow, etc.).

Explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language most succinctly reflect the systemic connections of words. They represent, with varying degrees of completeness and accuracy, lists of words that make up the lexical system in all the diversity and complexity of its functioning in the language. Thus, the word island does not indicate the geographical location, size, name, shape, fauna, flora of any particular island, therefore, abstracting from these particular characteristics, we use this word to call any part of the land surrounded on all sides by water (in the ocean, sea, on a lake, river) Thus, those essential features and properties of objects that make it possible to distinguish a whole class of objects from other classes are fixed in words.

However, not all words name a concept. They are not capable of being expressed by conjunctions, particles, prepositions, interjections, pronouns, proper names. The latter deserve special mention.

There are proper names that name individual concepts. These are the names of outstanding people (Shakespeare, Dante, Leo Tolstoy, Chaliapin, Rachmaninov), geographical names(Volga, Baikal, Alps, America). By their nature, they cannot be a generalization and evoke the idea of an object that is unique in its kind.

Personal names of people (Alexander, Dmitry), surnames (Golubev, Davydov), on the contrary, do not give rise to a certain idea about a person in our minds.

Common nouns (historian, engineer, son-in-law) based on the distinctive features of professions and degree of relationship allow us to get some idea about the people named by these words.

Animal names may be close to generic names. So, if a horse’s name is Bulany, this indicates its gender and color. Squirrel is usually called an animal with white fur (although a cat, a dog, and a goat can be called this way). So different nicknames relate differently to generalized names.

Types of lexical meanings of words in Russian

A comparison of various words and their meanings allows us to identify several types lexical meanings words in Russian.

According to the method of nomination, direct and figurative meanings of words are distinguished. The direct (or basic, main) meaning of a word is a meaning that directly correlates with the phenomena of objective reality. For example, the words table, black, boil have the following basic meanings:

A piece of furniture in the form of a wide horizontal board on high supports or legs.
The colors of soot, coal.
To seethe, bubble, evaporate from strong heat (about liquids). These values are stable, although they may change historically. For example, the word stol in the Old Russian language meant throne, reign, capital.

The direct meanings of words depend less than others on the context, on the nature of connections with other words. Therefore, they say that direct meanings have the greatest paradigmatic conditionality and the least syntagmatic coherence.

Transferable (indirect) meanings of words arise as a result of the transfer of names from one phenomenon of reality to another on the basis of similarity, commonality of their characteristics, functions, etc.

So, the word table has several figurative meanings:

Item special equipment or part of a machine of similar shape: operating table, raise the machine table.
Meals, food: rent a room with a table.
A department in an institution in charge of some special range of matters: information desk.

The word black has the following figurative meanings:

Dark, as opposed to something lighter called white: brown bread.

Has taken on a dark color, darkened: black from tanning.
Kurnoy (long form only, obsolete): black hut.
Gloomy, desolate, heavy: black thoughts.
Criminal, malicious: black treason.
Not main, auxiliary (long form only): back door in the house.
Physically difficult and unskilled (long form only): menial work, etc.

The word boil has the following figurative meanings: 1. “Manifest to a strong degree”: work is in full swing. 2. “To show something with force, to a strong degree”: seethe with indignation.

As we see, indirect meanings appear in words that are not directly correlated with the concept, but are closer to it through various associations that are obvious to speakers.

Figurative meanings can retain imagery: black thoughts, black betrayal; seethe with indignation. Such figurative meanings are fixed in the language: they are given in dictionaries when interpreting a lexical unit.

In their reproducibility and stability, figurative meanings differ from metaphors that are created by writers, poets, publicists and are of an individual nature.

However, in most cases, when transferring meanings, imagery is lost. For example, we do not perceive as figurative names such as the elbow of a pipe, the spout of a teapot, the passage of a clock, etc. In such cases, they talk about extinct imagery in the lexical meaning of the word, about dry metaphors.

Direct and figurative meanings are distinguished within one word.

2. According to the degree of semantic motivation, unmotivated meanings are distinguished (non-derivative, primary), which are not determined by the meaning of morphemes in the word; motivated (derivative, secondary), which are derived from the meanings of the generating stem and word-forming affixes. For example, the words table, build, white have unmotivated meanings. The words dining room, tabletop, dining room, construction, perestroika, anti-perestroika, whitewash, whitewash, whiteness have motivated meanings; they are, as it were, “derived” from the motivating part, word-building formants and semantic components that help to comprehend the meaning of a word with a derived base.

For some words, the motivation of the meaning is somewhat obscured, since in modern Russian it is not always possible to identify their historical root. However, etymological analysis establishes ancient family ties words with other words makes it possible to explain the origin of its meaning. For example, etymological analysis makes it possible to identify the historical roots in the words fat, feast, window, cloth, pillow, cloud and establish their connection with the words live, drink, eye, knot, ear, drag (envelop) Thus, the degree of motivation of a particular meaning words may not be the same. In addition, the meaning may seem motivated to a person with philological training, while to a non-specialist the semantic connections of this word seem lost.

3. According to the possibility of lexical compatibility, the meanings of words are divided into free and non-free. The first ones are based only on subject-logical connections of words. For example, the word drink can be combined with words denoting liquids (water, milk, tea, lemonade, etc.), but cannot be combined with words such as stone, beauty, running, night. The compatibility of words is regulated by the subject compatibility (or incompatibility) of the concepts they denote. Thus, the “freedom” of combining words with unrelated meanings is relative.

Non-free meanings of words are characterized by limited possibilities of lexical compatibility, which in this case is determined by both subject-logical and linguistic factors themselves. For example, the word to gain is combined with the words victory, top, but not combined with the word defeat. You can say lower your head (look, eyes, eyes), but you cannot say “lower your hand” (leg, briefcase).

Non-free meanings, in turn, are divided into phraseologically related and syntactically determined. The first are realized only in stable (phraseological) combinations: sworn enemy, bosom friend (the elements of these phrases cannot be swapped).

The syntactically determined meanings of a word are realized only if it performs an unusual syntactic function in a sentence. Thus, the words log, oak, hat, acting as a nominal part of a compound predicate, receive the meanings " stupid man"; "dumb, insensitive person"; "sluggish, lack of initiative person, bungler." V. V. Vinogradov, who was the first to identify this type of meaning, called them functionally and syntactically determined. These meanings are always figurative and, according to the method of nomination, are among the figurative meanings .

As part of the syntactically determined meanings of words, there are also structurally limited meanings that are realized only under certain conditions. syntactic construction. For example, the word whirlwind with the direct meaning of “gusty circular movement of the wind” in a construction with a noun in the form of the genitive case receives a figurative meaning: whirlwind of events - “rapid development of events.”

4. According to the nature of the functions performed, lexical meanings are divided into two types: nominative, the purpose of which is nomination, naming of phenomena, objects, their qualities, and expressive-synonymous, in which the predominant is the emotional-evaluative (connotative) feature. For example, in the phrase tall man the word tall indicates great growth; this is its nominative meaning. And the words lanky, long in combination with the word man not only indicate great growth, but also contain a negative, disapproving assessment of such growth. These words have an expressive-synonymous meaning and are among the expressive synonyms for the neutral word high.

5. Based on the nature of connections between one meaning and another in the lexical system of a language, the following can be distinguished:

autonomous meanings possessed by words that are relatively independent in the linguistic system and denote primarily specific objects: table, theater, flower;
correlative meanings that are inherent in words opposed to each other according to some characteristics: close - far, good - bad, youth - old age;
deterministic meanings, i.e. those “which are, as it were, determined by the meanings of other words, since they represent their stylistic or expressive variants...” For example: nag (cf. stylistically neutral synonyms: horse, horse); wonderful, wonderful, magnificent (cf. good).

Thus, the modern typology of lexical meanings is based on, firstly, conceptual-subject connections of words (i.e. paradigmatic relations), secondly, word-formation (or derivational) connections of words, thirdly, the relationship of words to each other friend (syntagmatic relationship). Studying the typology of lexical meanings helps to understand the semantic structure of a word and penetrate deeper into the systemic connections that have developed in the vocabulary of the modern Russian language.

See Ulukhanov I. S. Word-formation semantics in the Russian language and the principles of its description M., 1977 P. 100–101
Shmelev D. N The meaning of the word // Russian language: Encyclopedia. M., 1979. P. 89.

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Self-test questions

What is the lexical meaning of a word?
What branch of the science of language studies the lexical meaning of a word?
What words perform a nominative function in speech? What does it consist of?
What words lack a nominative function?
What does the term "concept" mean?
What connection is established between the concept and the word?
What words do not denote concepts?
What types of lexical meanings of words are distinguished in modern Russian?
What is the literal and figurative meaning of the word?
What is the motivated and unmotivated meaning of words?
What is the difference between free and non-free meanings of words?
What are the features of phraseologically related and syntactically determined meanings of words?
What distinguishes the autonomous meanings of words?
What are correlative meanings of words?
What distinguishes the deterministic meanings of words?

Exercises

3. Select words in sentences that have free (nominative) and non-free (phraseologically related and syntactically determined) meanings.

1. It’s time for me to sort out your faults, puppy! (Kr.) 2. Now I have been given leisure forever. (Sim.) 3. The soldiers sleep, who have leisure. (TV). 4. Cranberry is a creeping marsh plant with red sour berries. 5. That's cranberry! 6. Rumors and speculation arose again, and this spreading cranberry was talked about everywhere. 7. The white birch tree under my window was covered with snow, like silver. (Es.) 8. White work is done by white, black work is done by black (M.). 9. He doesn’t live in this world. 10. The tenant came late and did not bother the landlady. 11. The girl fell asleep and lost weight. 12. The heat has subsided. 13. What a goose! 14. The caravan of noisy geese stretched to the south. (P.) 15. This is not the first time this clawed goose has been here. 16. Blue fog, snow expanse. (Es.). 17. She is a blue stocking, not a woman.

4. Highlight words in the text that have nominative, phraseologically related and syntactically determined meanings.

Senya was lying on the sofa, all gray, with wrinkles, time, it seemed, was already a burden to him. ... – I don’t believe it! No, I don't believe it! -What are you talking about? – asked Ryazantsev. – I don’t believe that in old age a person should reproach himself for what was wrong, for not living his youth like that. - Why? - Because! What right does an old man who seems to no longer live, what right does he have to judge a young man who is living?..

They agreed that they would write a book together, because Senya alone would not have time to finish it. When Senya was very ill, lay on his sofa and shouted that he was not being treated by doctors, veterinarians, Ryazantsev told him: “Listen, Senya, we need to finish the book this year.” And Senya’s thoughts came to full, sometimes even perfect order. ...When later consciousness began to come to him only from time to time, even then he cared most about the book. Nothing else could be expected from him, but suddenly Senya began to express judgments that were unusual for him. Said once:

– We don’t know each other very well.

-Who are we? – asked Ryazantsev.

– People... Radio, television, cinema – all this shows us in breadth. Quantitatively. Externally. But we are losing one primitive thing - an old, good, time-tested genre - the genre of friendly conversation. How can people not lose in this... Keep in mind.

You could say to Sena like this: “Keep in mind,” he left, Ryazantsev remained in this life.

(S. Zalygin.)

5. Indicate in the text the words that perform a nominative function and those that do not; words that denote and do not denote concepts, as well as those indicating single concepts. In addition, indicate words that have various types meanings: direct and figurative, motivated and unmotivated, free and unfree, nominative and expressive-synonymous. Highlight words with autonomous, correlative and deterministic meanings.

1. The book began to be printed. It was called “In Defense of the Disadvantaged.”

The typesetters tore the manuscript into pieces, and each typed only his own piece, which began with half a word and had no meaning. So, in the word “love” - “lu” remained with one, and “bove” went to the other, but this did not matter, since they never read what they were typing.

- Let him be empty, this scribbler! This is anathema handwriting! - said one and, wincing with anger and impatience, covered his eyes with his hand. The fingers of the hand were black with lead dust, dark leaden shadows lay on the young face, and when the worker coughed and spat, his saliva was painted the same dark and deathly color.

2. Books motley rows they stood on shelves, and you couldn’t see the walls behind them; books lay in high piles on the floor; and behind the store, two dark rooms, there were all the books, books. And it seemed that the human thought bound by them was silently shuddering and breaking out, and there had never been real silence and real peace in this kingdom of books.

A gray-bearded gentleman with a noble expression respectfully spoke to someone on the phone, cursed in a whisper: “idiots!”, and shouted.

- Bear! - and when the boy entered, he made his face ignoble and ferocious and shook his finger. - How many times do you have to scream? Scoundrel!

The boy blinked his eyes in fear, and the gray-bearded gentleman calmed down. With his foot and hand he pulled out a heavy bunch of books, he wanted to lift it with one hand - but he couldn’t immediately and threw it back on the floor.

- Take it to Yegor Ivanovich.

The boy took the bundle with both hands and did not lift it.

- Alive! - the gentleman shouted.

The boy picked it up and carried it.

- Why are you crying? - asked a passerby.

The bear was crying. Soon a crowd gathered, an angry policeman came with a saber and a pistol, took Mishka and the books and took them all together in a cab to the police station.

- What's there? - asked the guard on duty, looking up from the paper he was compiling.

“It’s an unbearable burden, your honor,” answered the angry policeman and pushed Mishka forward.

The police officer approached the bundle, still stretching as he walked, putting his legs back and sticking out his chest, sighed deeply and slightly lifted the books.

- Wow! – he said with pleasure.

The wrapping paper tore at the edge, the police officer peeled it back and read the title “In Defense of the Dispossessed.”

The lexical meaning of a word is the correlation of the sound complex of a linguistic unit with a particular phenomenon of reality, fixed in the minds of speakers.

Most words name objects, their characteristics, quantity, actions, processes and act as full-valued, independent words, performing a nominative function in the language (Latin nominatio - naming, naming). Having common grammatical and syntactic meanings and functions, these words are combined into the categories of nouns, adjectives, numerals, verbs, adverbs, words of the state category. Their lexical meaning is supplemented by grammatical ones. For example, the word newspaper denotes a specific item; the lexical meaning indicates that it is “a periodical publication in the form of large sheets, usually daily, dedicated to events of current political and public life.” The noun newspaper has grammatical meanings of gender (feminine), number (this object is thought of as one, not many) and case. The word read refers to the action - “to perceive what is written, pronouncing it out loud or reproducing it to oneself” and characterizes it as real, occurring at the moment of speech, performed by the speaker (and not by other persons).

Words name not only specific objects that can be seen, heard or touched at the moment, but also concepts about these objects that arise in our minds.

Concepts are formed and consolidated in our minds with the help of words. The connection of words with a concept (significative factor) makes the word an instrument of human thinking. Without the ability of a word to name a concept, there would be no language itself. Denoting concepts with words allows us to make do with a relatively small number of linguistic signs. So, in order to single out one person from many people and name anyone, we use the word person. To denote all the richness and variety of colors of living nature, there are words red, yellow, blue, green, etc. The movement of various objects in space is expressed by the word goes (person, train, bus, icebreaker, and even ice, rain, snow, etc. ).

However, not all words name a concept. They are not capable of being expressed by conjunctions, particles, prepositions, interjections, pronouns, and proper names. The latter deserve special mention.

There are proper names that name individual concepts. These are the names of prominent people (Shakespeare, Dante, Leo Tolstoy, Chaliapin, Rachmaninov), geographical names (Volga, Baikal, Alps, America). By their nature, they cannot be a generalization and evoke the idea of an object that is unique in its kind.

Personal names of people (Alexander, Dmitry), surnames (Golubev, Davydov), on the contrary, do not give rise to a certain idea about a person in our minds.

Common nouns (historian, engineer, son-in-law) based on the distinctive features of professions and degree of relationship allow us to get some idea about the people named by these words.

Types of lexical meanings of words in Russian

A comparison of various words and their meanings allows us to identify several types of lexical meanings of words in the Russian language.

A piece of furniture in the form of a wide horizontal board on high supports or legs.
The colors of soot, coal.
To seethe, bubble, evaporate from strong heat (about liquids). These values are stable, although they may change historically. For example, the word stol in the Old Russian language meant throne, reign, capital.

So, the word table has several figurative meanings:

A piece of special equipment or a piece of machine of a similar shape: operating table, raise the machine table.
Meals, food: rent a room with a table.
A department in an institution in charge of some special range of matters: information desk.

The word black has the following figurative meanings:

Dark, as opposed to something lighter called white: brown bread.

Has taken on a dark color, darkened: black from tanning.
Kurnoy (long form only, obsolete): black hut.
Gloomy, desolate, heavy: black thoughts.
Criminal, malicious: black treason.
Not main, auxiliary (long form only): back door in the house.
Physically difficult and unskilled (long form only): menial work, etc.

The word boil has the following figurative meanings: 1. “Manifest to a strong degree”: work is in full swing. 2. “To show something with force, to a strong degree”: seethe with indignation.

As we see, indirect meanings appear in words that are not directly correlated with the concept, but are closer to it through various associations that are obvious to speakers.

In their reproducibility and stability, figurative meanings differ from metaphors that are created by writers, poets, publicists and are of an individual nature.

Direct and figurative meanings are distinguished within one word.

For some words, the motivation of the meaning is somewhat obscured, since in modern Russian it is not always possible to identify their historical root. However, etymological analysis establishes the ancient family connections of the word with other words and makes it possible to explain the origin of its meaning. For example, etymological analysis makes it possible to identify the historical roots in the words fat, feast, window, cloth, pillow, cloud and establish their connection with the words live, drink, eye, knot, ear, drag (envelop) Thus, the degree of motivation of a particular meaning words may not be the same. In addition, the meaning may seem motivated to a person with philological training, while to a non-specialist the semantic connections of this word seem lost.

The syntactically determined meanings of a word are realized only if it performs an unusual syntactic function in a sentence. Thus, the words log, oak, hat, acting as a nominal part of a compound predicate, receive the meaning “stupid person”; "stupid, insensitive person"; "a sluggish, uninitiative person, a bungler." V.V. Vinogradov, who first identified this type of meaning, called them functionally-syntactically conditioned. These meanings are always figurative and, according to the method of nomination, are classified as figurative meanings.

As part of the syntactically determined meanings of words, there are also structurally limited meanings, which are realized only under the conditions of a certain syntactic structure. For example, the word whirlwind with the direct meaning of “gusty circular movement of the wind” in a construction with a noun in the form of the genitive case receives a figurative meaning: whirlwind of events - “rapid development of events.”

4. According to the nature of the functions performed, lexical meanings are divided into two types: nominative, the purpose of which is nomination, naming of phenomena, objects, their qualities, and expressive-synonymous, in which the predominant is the emotional-evaluative (connotative) feature. For example, in the phrase tall man, the word tall indicates great height; this is its nominative meaning. And the words lanky, long in combination with the word man not only indicate great growth, but also contain a negative, disapproving assessment of such growth. These words have an expressive-synonymous meaning and are among the expressive synonyms for the neutral word high.

5. Based on the nature of connections between one meaning and another in the lexical system of a language, the following can be distinguished:

autonomous meanings possessed by words that are relatively independent in the linguistic system and denote primarily specific objects: table, theater, flower;
correlative meanings that are inherent in words opposed to each other according to some characteristics: close - far, good - bad, youth - old age;
deterministic meanings, i.e. those “which are, as it were, determined by the meanings of other words, since they represent their stylistic or expressive variants...” For example: nag (cf. stylistically neutral synonyms: horse, horse); wonderful, wonderful, magnificent (cf. good).

See Ulukhanov I. S. Word-formation semantics in the Russian language and the principles of its description M., 1977 P. 100–101
Shmelev D. N The meaning of the word // Russian language: Encyclopedia. M., 1979. P. 89.

*****************************************************************************
Self-test questions

What is the lexical meaning of a word?
What branch of the science of language studies the lexical meaning of a word?
What words perform a nominative function in speech? What does it consist of?
What words lack a nominative function?
What does the term "concept" mean?
What connection is established between the concept and the word?
What words do not denote concepts?
What types of lexical meanings of words are distinguished in modern Russian?
What is the literal and figurative meaning of the word?
What is the motivated and unmotivated meaning of words?
What is the difference between free and non-free meanings of words?
What are the features of phraseologically related and syntactically determined meanings of words?
What distinguishes the autonomous meanings of words?
What are correlative meanings of words?
What distinguishes the deterministic meanings of words?

Exercises

3. Select words in sentences that have free (nominative) and non-free (phraseologically related and syntactically determined) meanings.

4. Highlight words in the text that have nominative, phraseologically related and syntactically determined meanings.

They agreed that they would write a book together, because Senya alone would not have time to finish it. When Senya was very ill, lay on his sofa and shouted that he was not being treated by doctors, veterinarians, Ryazantsev told him: “Listen, Senya, we need to finish the book this year.” And Senya’s thoughts came into complete, sometimes even perfect order. ...When later consciousness began to come to him only from time to time, even then he cared most about the book. Nothing else could be expected from him, but suddenly Senya began to express judgments that were unusual for him. Said once:

– We don’t know each other very well.

-Who are we? – asked Ryazantsev.

You could say to Sena like this: “Keep in mind,” he left, Ryazantsev remained in this life.

(S. Zalygin.)

5. Indicate in the text the words that perform a nominative function and those that do not; words that denote and do not denote concepts, as well as those indicating single concepts. In addition, indicate words that have different types of meanings: direct and figurative, motivated and unmotivated, free and unfree, nominative and expressive-synonymous. Highlight words with autonomous, correlative and deterministic meanings.

1. The book began to be printed. It was called “In Defense of the Disadvantaged.”

2. Books stood in motley rows on the shelves, and the walls were not visible behind them; books lay in high piles on the floor; and behind the store, in two dark rooms, lay all the books, books. And it seemed that the human thought bound by them was silently shuddering and breaking out, and there had never been real silence and real peace in this kingdom of books.

A gray-bearded gentleman with a noble expression respectfully spoke to someone on the phone, cursed in a whisper: “idiots!”, and shouted.

- Bear! - and when the boy entered, he made his face ignoble and ferocious and shook his finger. - How many times do you have to scream? Scoundrel!

- Take it to Yegor Ivanovich.

The boy took the bundle with both hands and did not lift it.

- Alive! - the gentleman shouted.

The boy picked it up and carried it.

- Why are you crying? - asked a passerby.

The bear was crying. Soon a crowd gathered, an angry policeman came with a saber and a pistol, took Mishka and the books and took them all together in a cab to the police station.

- What's there? - asked the guard on duty, looking up from the paper he was compiling.

“It’s an unbearable burden, your honor,” answered the angry policeman and pushed Mishka forward.

The police officer approached the bundle, still stretching as he walked, putting his legs back and sticking out his chest, sighed deeply and slightly lifted the books.

- Wow! – he said with pleasure.

The wrapping paper tore at the edge, the police officer peeled it back and read the title “In Defense of the Dispossessed.”

Lexical meaning of the word

Nominative (direct) meaning with l 6-v a. Lexical meaning directly related to the reflection in consciousness of objects, phenomena, relations of objective reality. Knife (name of the item), beautiful (name of the quality), read (name of the action), ten (name of the number), quickly (name of the attribute of the action). Words that have a nominative meaning form free phrases.

Phraseologically related meaning of words a. Lexical meaning that exists or is acquired only as part of a phraseological unit. The adjective fraught with the meaning “capable of causing, giving rise to something” realizes this meaning in the phraseological unit fraught with consequences. In the phraseological phrase us fire and fire, both nouns acquire the meaning “trouble”

Syntactically determined meaning of a word. Lexical meaning acquired by a word only in a certain syntactic function. The noun ukaz, in the function of a predicate with negation, does not acquire meaning; it cannot serve as an authority, a basis, or an instruction for anyone. The Samodur is always trying to prove that no one has ukaz for him and that he will do whatever he wants (Dobrolyubov).

Lexical meaning consists of a real meaning, the bearer of which is the root of the word (non-derivative stem), and a derivational meaning expressed by word-forming affixes. Meaning " small house"in the word house consists of a real (objective) meaning contained in the root house-, and a derivational meaning expressed by the real reduction suffix -ik. In words with a non-derivative base, the lexical and real meanings coincide. cm. , .

Dictionary of linguistic terms

Lexical meaning of the word

Reflection in a word of one or another phenomenon of reality (object, event, quality, action, relationship).

(neologisms);

professional words (professionalisms);

dialect words (dialects, dialectisms);

slang words

professional jargon;
thieves' jargon (argo).

There are also other groups, the study of which goes beyond the scope of the school curriculum. On our website there is an article about the Russian language and collections of words on various topics.

Single and polysemous words

The same words in the Russian language can name different objects, signs, actions. In this case, the word has several lexical meanings and is called polysemantic. A word that denotes one object, sign, action and, accordingly, has only one lexical meaning is called unambiguous. Polysemantic words are found in all independent parts of speech, except numerals. Examples of polysemous words: chain and ice the pond, a leaf of wood and a sheet of paper, a silver tray and a silver age.

Direct and figurative meanings of words

Words in Russian can have literal and figurative meanings. The direct meaning of the word serves to designate a specific object, attribute, action or quantity of an object. The figurative meaning of the word, in addition to the existing main meaning (direct), means new item, sign, action. For example: gold bars (literal meaning) and golden hands/words/hair (figurative meaning). The figurative meaning is sometimes called indirect; it is one of the meanings of a polysemantic word. There are words in the Russian language whose figurative meaning has become the main one. For example: the nose of a person (direct meaning) and the bow of a boat (figurative → direct meaning).

Homonyms

Russian words of the same part of speech, identical in sound and spelling, but different in lexical meaning, are called homonyms. Examples of homonyms: crane (lifting and water supply), environment (habitat and day of the week), forest (pine forest and chemical element). Classification, types of homonyms, as well as examples of words are given in a separate article - homonyms.

Synonyms

Russian words of the same part of speech, meaning the same thing, but having different shades of lexical meaning and use in speech, are called synonyms. For a polysemantic word, synonyms can refer to different lexical meanings. Examples of words that are synonyms: large and large (adjectives), build and construct (verbs), land and territory (nouns), boldly and bravely (adverbs). Good and understandable material about synonyms and examples of differences in their lexical meaning are given on the synonym dictionary website.

Antonyms

Russian words of the same part of speech with opposite lexical meanings are called antonyms. For polysemantic words, antonyms can refer to different lexical meanings. Examples of words that are antonyms: war - peace (nouns), white - black (adjectives), high - low (adverbs), run - stand (verbs). Materials with examples and explanations are available on the website of the antonym dictionary.

Paronyms

Words in the Russian language that are similar in spelling and sound, but have different semantic meanings, are called paronyms. Paronyms have a morphological division and a lexical-semantic division. Examples of words that are paronyms: dress - put on (verbs), ignoramus - ignoramus (nouns), economic - economical (adjectives). Definition, classification and examples are given in the dictionary of paronyms.

Comparison of groups

* The lexical meaning of words from the paronymic series is different. It can be similar, opposite, or simply different (neither similar nor opposite).

Words in Russian have 2 meanings: lexical and grammatical. If the second type is abstract, then the first is individual in nature. In this article we will present the main types of lexical meanings of the word.

Lexical meaning, or, as it is sometimes called, the meaning of a word, shows how the sound shell of a word relates to objects or phenomena of the world around us. It is worth noting that it does not contain the entire complex of features characteristic of a particular object.

What is the lexical meaning of a word?

Meaning of the word reflects only features that allow one to distinguish one object from another. Its center is the base of the word.

All types of lexical meanings of a word can be divided into 5 groups depending on:

correlation;
origin;
compatibility;
functions;
nature of the connection.

This classification was proposed by the Soviet scientist Viktor Vladimirovich Vinogradov in the article “Basic types of lexical meanings of a word” (1977). Below we will consider this classification in detail.

Types by correlation

From a nominative point of view (that is, by correlation), all meanings of a word are divided into direct and figurative. Direct meaning is basic. It is directly related to how this or that letter and sound form relates to the concept that has developed in the minds of native speakers.

So, the word “cat” means a predatory animal small sizes from the cat family, belonging to the order of mammals that exterminate rodents. A "knife" is a tool that is used for cutting; consists of a blade and a handle. Adjective "green" denotes the color of growing foliage.

Over time, the meaning of a word can change, subject to trends characteristic of a particular time in the life of a people. So, back in the 18th century, the word “wife” was used in the sense of “woman”. It came into use much later to mean “wife” or “a woman who is married to a man.” Similar changes occurred with the word “husband”.

figurative meaning the word is derived from the main one. With its help, one lexical unit is endowed with the properties of another based on common or similar characteristics. Thus, the adjective “dark” is used to describe a space that is immersed in darkness or in which there is no light.

But at the same time, this lexeme is quite often used in a figurative meaning. Thus, the adjective “dark” can describe something unclear (for example, manuscripts). It can also be used in relation to a person. In this context, the adjective “dark” would indicate that a person in question, uneducated or ignorant.

As a rule, value transfer occurs due to one of the following signs:

As can be seen from the above examples, the figurative meanings that have developed in words are in one way or another connected with the main one. Unlike author's metaphors, which are widely used in fiction, figurative lexical meanings are stable and occur much more often in the language.

It is worth noting that in the Russian language there is often a phenomenon when figurative meanings lose their imagery. Thus, the combinations “teapot spout” or “teapot handle” have become closely integrated into the Russian language and are familiar to its speakers.

Lexical meanings by origin

All lexical units existing in a language have their own etymology. However, upon careful consideration, you will notice that the meaning of some units is easy to deduce, while in the case of others it is quite difficult to understand what a particular word means. Based on this difference, a second group of lexical meanings is distinguished - by origin.

From the point of view of origin, there are two types of meanings:

Motivated;
Unmotivated.

In the first case we are talking about lexical units ah, formed by adding affixes. The meaning of a word is derived from the meaning of the stem and affixes. In the second case, the meaning of the lexeme does not depend on the meaning of its individual components, that is, it is non-derivative.

Thus, the words “running”, “red” are classified as unmotivated. Their derivatives are motivated: “to run”, “to escape”, “to blush”. Knowing the meaning of the lexical units underlying them, we can easily deduce the meaning of derivatives. However, the meaning of motivated words is not always so easy to deduce. Sometimes an etymological analysis is required.

Lexical meanings depending on compatibility

Each language imposes certain restrictions on the use of lexical units. Some units can only be used in a certain context. In this case, we are talking about the compatibility of lexical units. From the point of view of compatibility, there are two types of meanings:

free;
not free.

In the first case, we are talking about units that can be freely combined with each other. However, such freedom cannot be absolute. It is very conditional. Thus, nouns such as “door”, “window”, “lid” can be freely used with the verb “open”. At the same time, you cannot use the words “packaging” or “crime” with it. Thus, the meaning of the lexeme “open” dictates the rules for us, according to which certain concepts may or may not be combined with it.

Unlike free ones, the compatibility of units with a non-free meaning is very limited. As a rule, such lexemes are part of phraseological units or are syntactically determined.

In the first case, the units are connected phraseological meaning. For example, the words “play” and “nerves,” taken separately, lack the semantic component “deliberately irritate.” And only when these lexemes are combined in the phraseological unit “play on your nerves” do they acquire this meaning. The adjective “sidekick” cannot be used together with the word “enemy” or “comrade”. According to the norms of the Russian language, this adjective can only be combined with the noun “friend”.

Syntactically determined meaning is acquired by a word only when it performs a function unusual for it in a sentence. Thus, a noun can sometimes act as a predicate in a sentence: “And you are a hat!”

Functional types of lexical meanings

Each lexical meaning carries a specific function. Using some units of language, we simply name objects or phenomena. We use others to express some kind of assessment. There are two types of functional values:

nominative;
expressive-semantic.

Tokens of the first type do not carry additional (evaluative) characteristics. As an example, we can cite such linguistic units as “look”, “man”, “drink”, “make noise”, etc.

Tokens belonging to the second type, on the contrary, contain an evaluative attribute. They are separate linguistic units, separated into a separate dictionary entry and act as expressively colored synonyms for their neutral equivalents: “look” - “stare”, “drink” - “thump”.

Lexical meanings by nature of connection

Another important aspect of the meaning of a word is its connection with other lexical units of the language. From this point of view, the following are distinguished: types of lexical meanings:

correlative (lexemes that are opposed to each other based on some attribute: “big” - “small”);
autonomous (lexical units independent of each other: “hammer”, “saw”, “table”);
determiners (lexemes with an expressive meaning, determined by the meaning of other lexical units: “huge” and “hefty” are determiners for the adjective “big”).

Cited by V.V. Vinogradov’s classification quite fully reflects the system of lexical meanings in the Russian language. However, the scientist does not mention another no less important aspect. In any language there are words that have more than one meaning. In this case, we are talking about single-valued and polysemantic words.

Single and polysemous words

As mentioned above, all words can be divided into two large groups:

unambiguous;
multi-valued.

Single-valued lexemes are used to designate only one specific object or phenomenon. The term “monosemantic” is often used to denote them. The category of unambiguous words includes:

However, there are not many such lexemes in the Russian language. Much greater distribution received polysemantic or polysemantic words.

It is important to note that the term “polysemy” should in no case be confused with “homonymy”. The difference between these linguistic phenomena lies in the existence of a connection between the meanings of words.

For example, the word "escape" can mean:

leaving the place of serving a sentence (imprisonment) at one's own request, thanks to a well-developed plan or by chance.
young plant stem with buds and leaves.

As can be seen from this example, the given values are not related to each other. Thus, we are talking about homonyms.

Let's give another example - “paper”:

material made from cellulose;
document ( trans.).

Both meanings have one semantic component, so this lexeme belongs to the category of polysemantic ones.

Where can I find the lexical meaning of a word?

In order to find out what a particular word means, you need to consult a dictionary. They give the exact definition of the word. By turning to an explanatory dictionary, you can not only find out the meaning of the lexical unit of interest, but also find examples of its use. In addition, describing the meaning of a word helps to understand the difference between synonyms. All vocabulary in explanatory dictionary arranged alphabetically.

Such dictionaries are usually intended for native speakers. However, foreigners learning Russian can also use them.

As an example you can provide the following dictionaries:

“Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language” - V.I. Dahl;
“Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language” - S.I. Ozhegov;
“Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language” - D.N. Ushakov;
“Dictionary of Russian onomastic terminology” - A.V. Superanskaya.

As mentioned above, in the explanatory dictionary you can find the lexical meanings of words in the Russian language and examples of their use. However, this is not all the information that this type of dictionary provides. They also provide information about grammar and stylistic features lexical units.