Information on the thesis

The thesis carries out a complex multiaspect analysis of referentially specialized
verbal predicates in Ukrainian, Polish, and English, with the analysis integrating
semasiological, functional-onomasiological and cognitive approaches.
Research materials are made up of referentially specialised verbs in modern
Ukrainian, Polish and English — selected from monolingual dictionaries and numbering
156, 145 and 152 units respectively. The identification of the units under study uses
lexicographic information of onomasiological type.
The dissertation studies the organisation of lexico-semantic space of verbs, and
describes lexico-semantic fields and groups (spatial movement of an object, absorption of
an object, overlap between two objects, circular overlap between two objects; pressure,
purification, digging, soaking an object, connection, disconnection, disturbance of a
stationary object; creation of an object through physical effort; physiological acts). Based
on the research, the most numerous lexico-semantic groups are those of spatial movement
of an object (14.7% of all units in Ukrainian, 15.9% in Polish, 19.1% in English), and
overlap between two objects (16%, 16.6% and 13.8% respectively). The least numerous lexico-semantic group has proved to be that of disturbance of a stationary object (3.2%,
2.1%, 2.6% respectively). The findings suggest that a peripheral position of referentially
specialized verbs in all lexico-semantic groups is determined by a differential object seme.
The thesis details specific conceptual spheres and their cognitive-propositional structures,
as well as typical situations within a process-and-event sphere. Based on the findings, a
polypropositional character of verbal predicates under analysis is rooted in their tendency
to reflect multiple situations, and in native speakers’ tendency to fix their understanding of
connections between these situations in as much detail as possible.
The thesis characterizes verbal metonymy types as a factor in seme dynamics and a
cause of shift in syntactic positions that show how detailed and deeply a certain event
rendered by verbal predicates as related to their arguments is fixed in Ukrainian, Polish
and English.
The functional-onomasiological analysis carried out in the study led to the
identification of the following spheres reflecting object-oriented verbal predicates: theo-,
homo-, phyto-, bestia-, nature-, psycho-, and sociodynamics. Reflecting living and non-
living matter, the verbs under study were proved to be a vivid example of an
anthropocentric worldview. The names primarily realized in the language are those of
objects directly related to human needs, gravitating towards home as the centerpiece of
human life. The research also characterizes verbal predicates based on referential-
taxonomic classes of object names where each class represents a certain physical property
of the matter. The analysis allows to identify such functional-onomasiological groups as
‘fluidity’, ‘hardness’, ‘gaseousness’, ‘flowability/ fineness/ granularity’, ‘viscosity’,
‘elasticity/ spinnability’, ‘softness’, ‘external shapes’, ‘weight parameters’. The research
has proved ‘fluidity’ to be the most numerous group (29.5 % of all units in Ukrainian,
24.1 % in Polish, 23 % in English). The lowest number of verbal predicates has been
registered in the ‘gaseousness’ group (2.6 %, 5.5 %, 4.6 %).
Drawing on Ukrainian, Polish, and English text corpora, the dissertation takes a look
at functional properties of referentially specialized verbal predicates. It reveals a
correlation of a reduced frequency of verbal predicates in text corpora with their more
pronounced functional differences in the languages under study — specifically, with the
differentiation of object names that they refer to. Establishing functional peculiarities of
verbal predicates requires a transition from interpreting the semantics of isolated units to
analysing multiple aspects of their use. The use of data provided by text corpora
contributes to the representativeness of research material and reliability of research results.
The practical significance of research results lies in developing semantic recording
that uses formalised language and is aimed at recording object properties.
Key words: verbal predicate, object, proposition, lexico-semantic group, functional-
onomasiological group, conceptual sphere, metonymy, text corpus of Ukrainian/ Polish/
English language.