THE ROLE OF SPATIAL LEXICON OF SOUTH AFRICAN ENGLISH-SPEAKING WORLD VIEW
Abstract
The article discusses the representation of the linguistic picture of the world by means of spatial vocabulary. It is generally accepted that language is a reflection of the worldview of speakers. Peculiarities of the worldview of the ethnos are verbalized by means of language, therefore the study of the development and formation of various lexical groups, in particular units for space designation, is relevant. Units that were formed as a result of establishing contacts of the English language with other languages of the world deserve special attention. The data were selected from dictionaries of the South African English. The data were analyzed by a set of methods including sampling and componential analysis, semantic analysis of dictionary definitions, comparative and conceptual analysis. The findings proved that that the vocabulary with spatial meaning has undergone significant changes and development in the South African English. The processes of lexical-semantic adaptation of the spatial vocabulary are caused by the uniqueness of the natural and social conditions of the South African Republic, language contacts, and the peculiarities of the modification of the English-speaking picture of the world. The rethinking of spatial designations and their adaptation to the value system of the inhabitants of the South African Republic contributed to the formation of metaphorical lexical-semantic options based on them. Spatial metaphors are formed by rethinking physical and cultural experience. The source of metaphorization is spatial concepts, which encode ideas about the location of objects, their properties and characteristics. In the South African English, spatial landmarks are projected onto other nonspatial components of the world view. The course of events in space, their movement and direction are reflected in various life spheres of speakers of the South African English: social, political, cultural, etc. Metaphorical expansion of cognitive image schemes (‘in – out’, ‘up – down’, ‘front – back’, ‘right – left’), formed on the basis of associations, allows abstract concepts to be coded in terms of physical space. Metaphors formed on the basis of spatial concepts turned out to be an effective means of cognition, formation and verbalization of the concept.
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