Spatial semantics of English phrasal and Russian prefixal verbs: comparative aspect

A special interest for man's perception of the surrounding reality and its reflection in a language is characteristic of modern linguistics. Language units that reflect perception of the basic categories can be regarded as an instrument for research of this vision of the world. Understanding by native speakers of the notion of space, one of the basic categories of cognition, can be expressed through verbal lexicon. Russian prefixal and English phrasal verbs are the special layers of verbal lexicon of these languages. The prefix and the postposition can add meanings to the semantics of a verb that are connected with primary spatial orientations (perceptions of space) in various ways. Regardless of a similar structure (main verb + spatial directing element), prefixal and phrasal verbs are not always identical in terms of conveying a meaning - they actualize ideas of space from the perspective of the native speaker. Despite the multiple works by Russian and foreign researchers in the field of primary (as a rule, spatial) and secondary (post-spatial) semantics, the issue of formation of the specified meanings in the sphere of the verb as well as the study of the nominative features of the Russian prefixal and English phrasal verbs is still of current importance. Studying the process of formation of meanings for these units allows one to give answers to questions about the principles of modeling the perception of spatial orientations by Russian and English native speakers and about further development of the units with spatial semantics. With the aid of the research materials about the category of space and the specifics of the Russian prefixal and English phrasal verbs, this article provides justification for the research of ways of semantics formation from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. An example to this is the analysis of the Russian prefixal verb pereubedit' (to change someone's mind) and of the similar English phrasal verb bring over. Divergences in the principles of interpretation of spatial characteristics of action and their reflection in the semantics of an English phrasal and a Russian prefixal verb show the distinction between Russian and English native speakers' understanding of the process of "overpersuasion", different cognitive bases for the nomination of the specified action and, therefore, the existence in these languages of different models of semantics formation of the units under consideration on the basis of primordial spatial values.

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