EXAMPLES AS A COMPONENT OF A DICTIONARY ARTICLE AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE FOR A COMPLETE STUDY OF THE WORD SEMANTICS (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE WORD «НРАВСТВЕННОСТЬ»)
Authors: Бортновска П. 
Published: July 2024

Цель статьи — показать, как речения, составные части словарной статьи, могут служить материалом для полного и всестороннего изучения семантики слов. Объектом исследования является понятие «нравственность», которое является одним из ключевых понятий и фундаментом, на котором основана вся структура межчеловеческих отношений. Однако сущность этого понятия меняется в соответствии с изменениями в социальной и культурной жизни, что отражается в содержании словарных статей.

Examples as a component of a dictionary article have become a frequent object of research by linguists in recent years. Their importance is emphasized, in particular by lexicologists and lexicographers. However, there are still a number of issues that have not received sufficient coverage. The article deals with the special potential of examples as an important structural component of a dictionary article from the point of view of their linguistic and culturological significance. It is assumed that by fixing the samples of the normative use of specific words, the examples gain the ability to reflect the dynamics of social and cultural processes. The theoretical basis for this assumption is, among other things, the concept of the three-term structure of a dictionary article proposed by M.N. Epstein. According to this concept, examples are perceived as an integral structural component of a dictionary article, containing important information about the full semantic appearance of the word being defined. To prove the feasibility of such an approach to examples, a chronological analysis of dictionary articles for the concept of «нравственность» in the explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language is carried out. The analysis is conducted using the method of full component analysis of the meanings of words, proposed by Z.D. Popova and I.A. Sternin, adapted according to the material under study. The component analysis of articles for the concept of «нравственность» makes it possible to reveal a set of semantic aspects that make up semantic structure of this concept: individual, social, religious, political, and environmental. At the same time, it turns out that some aspects (religious and political), which certainly should be attributed to the semantic field of the concept of «нравственность», are not included by the authors-compilers of dictionaries in the definition zone but are placed only in the zone of examples. Thus, indicating the place 146 Сравнительное языкознание occupied by certain aspects in the structure of a dictionary entry, the author proves the special role of examples in the fixation and transmission of relevant, socially and culturally significant semes. In addition, the chronological analysis of dictionary entries allows to trace the dynamics of social and cultural changes reflected in the semantic structure of the concept of «нравственность» and to prove the leading role of examples as a means of displaying this dynamics in the structure of a dictionary entry.