Семантика війни і миру в сучасних слов’янських мовах: історико-типологічний аспект

Abstract

У статті розглянуто особливості мовної репрезентації понять війни і миру в лексиці слов’янських мов. Через застосування ретроспективного підходу (від фактів сучасних мов до етимологічних реконструкцій первісних значень досліджуваних лексем) визначено основні моделі семантичних мотивацій у формуванні семантики війни і миру на матеріалі споріднених слов’янських мов. Виявлено роль перформативного компонента в семантиці досліджених концептів.

The article’s subject matter is specific features of linguistic representation of the concepts of WAR and PEACE in the lexis of the Slavic languages. The semantics of lexemes referring to social reality as well as physical and mental spheres belongs to the basic dimensions of human existence. Social concepts present peculiar difficulties for cognitive analysis since they combine features of both mental and physical reality. The relationship between WAR and PEACE concepts, antonymous in many modern languages, is not symmetrical: it is a privative opposition with «war» the unmarked member. However, at the conceptual level the asymmetry of war and peace is different, WAR being a civilizational concept and PEACE an axiological one referring to ideas of positive values. Due to its positive significance, the notion of peace is extra sensitive to ideological discourse influence. In historical-typological description, the synchronous state is considered initial and a projection of diachronic development. The authors use the retrospective approach, proceeding from modern languages data to the etymological reconstruction of the original meaning of Slavic lexemes denoting war and peace (Common Slavic *vojь, *ortь, *mirъ,*pokoj etc.) They establish motivation models of the forming of semantics of war («warrior», «pursui», «wild animal», «to strike») and peace («calm», «pleasant») in closely related languages, using examples of typological parallelism to demonstrate the projection of their conceptual expansion and giving particular attention to crosslinguistic variation in representation of these concepts. Among the semantic typological parallels discovered by them, the most illustrative and reliably evidenced as well as the most widespread and constant in time is the relation of war and peace semantics to performatives. Being a set of events occurring in physical space, war is intrinsically linked with verbal actions. Similarly, peace both as a physical and social phenomenon comes into effect by using linguistic means. The role of performatives merits further study in the framework of the semantics and pragmatics of the WAR and PEACE concepts.