THE ROLE OF SEMANTIC DERIVATION IN THE FORMATION OF ENGLISH-LANGUAGE COMMERCIAL LEXICON

Abstract

The article is devoted to highlighting the role of semantic derivation in the formation of the vocabulary of the English-speaking commercial sphere. The material of the study was 75 units of English-language vocabulary in the field of trade, which were formed by means of semantic derivation, selected by the method of continuous sampling from the thesaurus of marketing. The conducted analysis was carried out by involving a number of linguistic methods, in particular the methods of semantic, conceptual analysis and the method of analysis of lexicographic definitions. The derivative potential of semantic derivation is determined by the cognitive nature of a person, which consists in the ability to generalize the phenomena of the surrounding reality in lexical units. The dominant mechanism of semantic derivation is metaphor, which reflects the principles of conceptualization of one sphere of reality relative to another. At the language level, this leads to the formation of new lexical and semantic variants, which occurs by reconsideration the original meaning and forming a derivative based on associative relationships that arise based on the principle of similarity of features, functions, properties or other parameters. Metaphorization is based on the interaction of two knowledge structures – the cognitive structure of the “source” (source domain) and the cognitive structure of the “goal” (target domain). In the process of metaphorization, some target ideas are structured according to the pattern of the source, which leads to the metaphorical projection of features of one area onto another. The conducted lexical and semantic analysis proved that the derived meanings of the lexemes, which constitute the English commercial lexicon, are based on a number of source domains, the main ones being COMPETITION, HUNTING and PHYSICAL OBJECT. In this way, the commercial sphere and the semantic simplicity of its vocabulary are conceptualized relative to simpler primary domains, the referents of which are objects and processes that constitute the basic life experience of a person. So, the semantic derivation is the implementation of the principle of cognitive efficiency and linguistic economy, which determines the conceptualization of the notions of the trade sphere relative to more basic and previously conceptualized ideas.