On the semantic diffusion between adjectives polyy ‘hollow’ and polnyy ‘full’ (based on Pskov dialects)
Abstract
The article analyses a sample linguistic anomaly of semantic nature, which is xed in the “Pskov Regional Dictionary with Historical Data”. In particular, the semantic structure of the adjective полый [polyy] ‘hollow’ accepts meanings of the adjective полный [polnyy] ‘full’, the latter being antonymous to the former. Once data from other Russian folk dialects had been addressed, it was found that semantic diffusion between adjectives полый [polyy] and полный [polnyy] can be traced not only in Pskov dialects. This article reveals the possible reason for this kind of semantic diffusion, which lies in the antonymic unity of words and the “inseparable connection of opposites”: in Russian, the antonyms полый [polyy] and полный [polnyy] express a single concept as they characterize an object as having a container (which can be empty or lled, open or closed with something, etc.). The author also determines parameters of the lexicographic description of the adjectives полый [polyy] and полный [polnyy] in the “Pskov Regional Dictionary with Historical Data”. The semantic diffusion between these adjectives will be lexicographically presented as lexical homonymy of the sound complex полый [polyy]. We cannot qualify this as polysemy, since there is lack of evidence proving semantic derivation of “diffuse” meanings from the main one. In this case, we face another way of lexical homonyms emergence in the language, namely: they result from semantic distribution of antonyms and the semantic in uence of one antonym onto another.
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