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Anastasiia Yeromina

Abstract Nouns with Evaluative Meaning: Semantics and Structure

Abstract: The present research addresses English abstract nouns with evaluative semantics, which are connected with emotional, intellectual and spiritual activities of a person. The role of abstract words as means of expressing evaluation is discussed. Trends and mechanisms of their formation in the language system are outlined. The analysis of the semantic attributes of the lexical units under analysis presupposes their classification into lexical-sematic groups.

Keywords: word-formation, abstract evaluative noun, lexical-sematic group, semantic derivation, affixation, conversion, word composition

Introduction

The research deals with the peculiarities of evaluative semantics of abstract nouns in the English language. A variety of concepts that reveal the nature of evaluation are touched upon in the literature belonging to different fields of knowledge: philosophy, logic, ethics, etc. (Andrew 1995; Ayer 1963; Hare 1967). The category of evaluation has become an important area of inquiry in recent years. In various areas of linguistics there is a constant interest in problems of abstract notions that had led to the occurrence of a number of significant works, covering this issue. According to L. Kvarcheliia the nouns that express abstract concepts represent the largest group in the language vocabulary (Kvarcheliia 1985). This group has constantly been updated with the new stock, thus revealing the results of the human activity which reflect extra-linguistic aspects of reality. However, the study of a word evaluative meaning and the types of...