Conceptual semantics of the adjective ленивый and stereotypical image of a lazy person (according to the National Corpus of the Russian Language)

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to reconstruct the stereotypical image of a lazy person on the basis of a linguo-cognitive analysis of different contextual meanings of the adjective ленивый. Research objectives: to present a typology of contexts for the use of the adjective and the corresponding contextual meanings of the word ленивый, as well as to determine the parameters by which different contextual meanings of a polysemic word can be differentiated. The relevance of the chosen topic is determined by the methodological guidelines of modern cognitive linguistics, which continues the study of verbalized concepts that demonstrate the relationship between language, human thinking and culture.

After analyzing the nature of conceptualizations, we identified three subjects and took into account their cognitive activity: the first subject is an outside observer, and the perceptual meanings of the adjective lazy reflect the results of contemplative-sensory knowledge by native speakers of the appearance and behavior of a lazy person, the second subject is the subject-bearer of the state, in the contextual meanings of the adjective, the description and evaluation of the internal state experienced by him is conceptualized; the third subject is the subject of active rational cognition, its conclusions are conceptualized in the inferential meanings of the adjective ленивый. In accordance with the parameter the nature of conceptualization, we differentiated the contextual meanings of the adjective ленивый and proposed our own typology of contexts. The conducted linguocognitive analysis allows reconstructing a holistic stereotypical image of a lazy person. Our reconstruction is based both on the results of contemplative-sensory cognition and on the inferential conclusions of native speakers.