Language actualization of the deep semantics of German ethnonym-based adjectives

Abstract

Based on text corpora analysis, the research aims to identify the language means using which the addressee can actualize the deep semantics of the German ethnonym-based adjectives ‘deutsch’ and ‘russisch’ encoded by the author of the utterance. The scientific novelty of the research lies in taking a comprehensive approach to the identification of hidden semantic meanings, which combines traditional approaches to the analysis of the internal structure of the word and J. Pustejovsky’s generative lexicon theory, aimed at detecting various attributes of qualia structure. As a result of the research, it was found that the German ethnonym-based adjectives ‘deutsch’ and ‘russisch’ represent a qualia structure with the four attributes combined: agentive, constitutive, formal and telic. Lexicographic sources present only surface meanings corresponding to the agentive attributes of the qualia structure. The remaining attributes manifest themselves only in a contextual environment, building associative links between the ethnonym-based adjective and its adherent noun with the help of other elements of the utterance.