Features of Conceptualization and Categorization of Verbal Synonyms for ‘Providing Medical Assistance’ in Contemporary Russian
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-5-68-87
Abstract
This article is dedicated to the exploration of the conceptualization of the process of providing medical assistance through an analysis of the synonyms лечить [lechit’] (‘to treat’), врачевать [vrachevat’] (‘to heal’), and исцелять [istselyat’] (‘to cure’) in order to identify the peculiarities of their categorization within a synchronic perspective of the Russian. The novelty of this study lies in the application of a cognitive-discursive approach to uncover the conceptual characteristics of these lexemes, allowing for a characterization of the verbs based on their cognitive and communicative functions. The relevance of this research is underscored by the inclusion of the examined verbs in an important lexical-semantic group of assistance verbs, as well as the insufficient informative nature of the descriptions provided in Russian explanatory dictionaries and synonym dictionaries. The authors delineate the boundaries of the synonymic group, analyzing situational, cognitive-semantic, stylistic, grammatical, and discursive features of the verbs, while modeling their cognitive scenarios. The categorization features of these verbs are as follows: lechit’ verbalizes the idea of physical healing, which may be subject to evaluation by an observer; vrachevat’ implies healing by an individual possessing a special gift through traditional methods; istselyat’ suggests the removal of physical and mental ailments by another subject with divine assistance or through inanimate objects, utilizing verbal and tactile means of influence in the former case.
About the Authors
A. A. Galiuk
Saint-Petersburg State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Alina A. Galiuk, degree seeker, Department of the Russian language as a foreign language and methods of teaching
St. Petersburg
E. I. Zinovieva
Saint-Petersburg State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Elena I. Zinovieva, Doctor of Philology, Professor, Professor of the Department of the Russian language as a foreign language and methods of teaching
St. Petersburg
References
1. Avdeeva, M. D. (2020). Cognitive-discursive aspect of the semantics of verbs of the lexicosemantic group “GLOW”. PhD Diss. Mytishchi. 189 p. (In Russ.).
2. Boldyrev, N. N. (2004). Conceptual space of cognitive linguistics. Questions of cognitive linguistics, 1: 18—36. (In Russ.).
3. Boldyrev, N. N. (2009). The processes of conceptualization and categorization in language and the role of names of abstract semantics in them. In: Horizons of modern linguistics: Traditions and innovation: A collection in honor of E. S. Kubryakova. Moscow: Languages of Slavic Cultures. 38—50. (In Russ.).
4. Galiuk, A. A. (2022). A study of Russian synonymous verbs from the perspective of a cognitive-discursive approach (based on the material of parenting verbs). Proceedings of the Volgograd State Pedagogical University, 3 (166): 153—161. (In Russ.).
5. Guo Lin, Kosova, V. A. (2018). The verb to feel: the experience of semantic and cognitive analysis. Bulletin of the TGGPU, 1 (51): 42—48. (In Russ.).
6. Kravchenko, A. V. (2011). What is “cognitive structure”, or about one common misconception. Cognitive language research. The interaction of cognitive and linguistic structures, 9: 96—104. (In Russ.).
7. Kubryakova, E. S. (2004). On the attitudes of cognitive science and current problems of cognitive linguistics. Questions of cognitive linguistics, 1: 6—17. (In Russ.).
8. Luria, A. R. (2022). Language and consciousness. St. Petersburg: Peter. 448 p. ISBN 978-5- 4461-1673-7. (In Russ.).
9. Nikonova, Zh. V. (2007). Frame analysis as a method of linguistic description of verbal structures. Bulletin of Tambov University. Series: Humanities, 6 (50): 229—234. (In Russ.).
10. Odintsovo, I. V. (2018). Cognitive lexicology and cognitive syntax in linguodidactics. The world of the Russian word, 2: 75—80. (In Russ.).
11. Plotnikova,A. M. (2009). Cognitive scenarios of behavior verbs (based on the material of the Russian language). Bulletin of SUSU. Series: Linguistics, 2 (135): 48—50. (In Russ.).
12. Popova, Z. D. (2006). Semantic and cognitive analysis of language. Voronezh: Istoki Publ. 226 p. (In Russ.).
13. Radbil, T. B. (2017). Language and the world: paradoxes of mutual reflection. Moscow: YASK Publishing House. 592 p. ISBN 978-5-9500226-4-7. (In Russ.).
14. Radbil, T. B. (2024). Semantic transformations of verbs of realization in the language of Russian poetry (on the example of the verb to take place). In: The third Fortunatov readings in Karelia: Collection of articles of the international scientific conference, Petrozavodsk, 05—06 June 2023. Petrozavodsk: Petrozavodsk State University. 89—92. (In Russ.).
15. Radbil, T. B. (2022). Russian Language without Borders: New opportunities for the development of a dialogue of cultures: Collection of articles of the international scientific and methodological conference organized within the framework of the International Pedagogical Forum, Republic of Belarus - Russia, November 21—24, 2022. In: Implicit evaluative value of the Russian word according to corpus analysis. International Pedagogical Forum “Russian language without borders: new opportunities for the development of a dialogue of cultures”: Collection of articles of the international scientific and methodological conference organized within the framework of the International Pedagogical Forum, Republic of Belarus — Russia, November 21—24, 2022. Nizhny Novgorod — Moscow: IP Markin A. O. 320-331. (In Russ.).
16. Rivelis, E. I. (2013). The subjective concept in dynamics and in the dictionary. In: Studia linguistica cognitiva: interuniversity collection of scientific papers. Moscow: FLINTA Limited Liability Company. 130—154. (In Russ.).
17. Skrebtsova, T. G. (2018). Cognitive linguistics: classical theories, new approaches. Moscow: YASK Publishing House. 392 p. ISBN 978-5-6040195-7-3. (In Russ.).
18. Sternin, I. A. (2004). Cognitive interpretation in linguocognitive research. Questions of cognitive Linguistics, 1: 65—69. (In Russ.).
19. Vu Ngoc Yen Khanh. (2024). Synonymous series of Russian verbs of interpersonal relations: a cognitive-discursive approach. PhD Diss. St. Petersburg. 161 p. (In Russ.).
20. Zinovieva, E. I., Vu Ngoc Yen Khanh. (2020). Description of Synonyms in Linguodidactics: Integrative Approach (based on the Synonymous Row of Verbs with a Common Meaning ‘do nothing’). Nauchnyi dialog, 6: 44—64. https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2020-6-44-64. (In Russ.).
Review
For citations:
Galiuk A.A., Zinovieva E.I. Features of Conceptualization and Categorization of Verbal Synonyms for ‘Providing Medical Assistance’ in Contemporary Russian. Nauchnyi dialog. 2025;14(5):68-87. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2025-14-5-68-87
Views:
42
Email this article 