Res Humanitariae

The article presents the analysis of onomasiological system of one group of infixed and sta-stem verbs attested in the old Lithuanian scripts, denominative verbs in particular, derived from adjectives and nouns. The analysed verbs belong to the type of fientive word formation: their derivational meaning is ‘to become or to acquire/experience something which is denoted by the primary word’. The primary words are specific and abstract adjectives and nouns which by the means of affixal nomination – paradigmation – are used to form fientives or, more rarely, stative verbs. What is more, in the process of verbalization, additional means of derivation, namely, the infix and affix sta, play a significant role in attributing the verb to the derivational model of fientives. The centre of fientive derivational type is comprised of deadjectives, while desubstantives stand in the periphery of this type. The semantics of the denominatives analyzed is determined explicitly (in rarer cases, implicitly) by semantics of primary adjectives and nouns. According to properties/objects denoted by the lexical motivator, seven motivational models of denominative verbs have been established: colourative, morphological, physiomorphological, psychomorphological, the model of possession and social relationship, gustatory, and thermal one.

The article analyses synchronically motivated Lithuanian common names of animals whose lexical motivators explicitly represents the fur colour characteristics. The main source of empirical material is the LKŽe. The purpose of research is to study the formal and semantic structure of animal names, to establish the features of the colours which are selected during the process of nomination, to determine the inventory of colorative lexical motivators. The methodological practice is based by the complex linguistic research when semasiological and onomasiological aspects are combined.

According to the semasiological aspect the names of Head Domain used by North Samogitians comprise a numerous subgroup of the thematic group of somatonyms, as on the basis of written resources and live spoken samples approximately 300 invariant lexemes of the mentioned semantics have been identified. The onomasiological research of the North Samogitian Head Domain thematic subgroup somatonyms, considering them as the results of the nomination process, i. e. the so called nominathemes, allowed us to establish a diversity of the characteristic nomination types, kinds, modes, and means, alongside with the distinguished dominant elements. Within the nomination system of the researched somatonyms the most productive two motivated nomination kinds have been identified, such as: affixational and semantic. The systematic analysis of the nomination types, modes, and means makes it possible to differentiate particular conceptualized (both cognitive and axiological) features of human body parts, as well as to draw their hierarchical categorization within the traditional (‘naïve’) world conception.

Methodological practice is based on complex linguistic research when semasiological and onomasiological aspects are combined. The article analyses the Lithuanian words for cow, bull and calf, in order to determine what conceptual features of animals semasiological and onomasiological lexical studies help to highlight. The main source of empirical material is the dictionary of the Lithuanian language. The analysis of complex semasiological and onomasiological lexemes shows that the language system identifies various conceptual features of cow, bull and calf. At the top of the animal hierarchy is the cow. The categorisation that emerges from the language system reflects the anthropocentric evaluation of the animals discussed.

This article presents an analysis of the nicknames of the residents of the eastern part of Šilalė district, mainly Kaltinėnai, Bijotai and Upyna country-side districts. The nicknames are being classified according to some motivational personal features. The motivation groups of the nicknames are reviewed and described in details; moreover, it is established which personal features are mostly paid attention to by people from the Šilalė district. Specific cases of the nicknames’ formal structure are noticed and being discussed as well. After reviewing statistics of the examined districts nicknames motivation, it is compared to other nickname motivation of the whole Lithuania or separate ethnographic regions.