Temperatūros būdvardžių semantika, arba kas karšta lietuvių kalboje

LTStraipsnyje analizuojami mūsų kūno, liečiamų objektų ir aplinkos šilumos ar šalčio pojūtį įvardijantys temperatūros būdvardžiai, kuriems, kaip ir kitas fizines ypatybes pavadinantiems būdvardžiams, būdingas daugiareikšmiškumas. Atskleidžiama temperatūros būdvardžių semantikos specifika (inherentiškumas, subjektyvumas, vertinimas pagal implicitišką vidutinę normą), jų vaidmuo konceptualiųjų metaforų raiškoje, detaliau aptariamos lietuvių kalbos būdvardžio karštas, -a reikšmės. Tiriamoji medžiaga – būdvardžio formų vartosenos Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos tekstyne atvejai. Analizuojant leksinį junglumą, žiūrima, kam priskiriama tiriamu būdvardžiu žymima ypatybė, t. y. kas gali būti karštas, -a lietuvių kalboje. Aiškinant fizinių temperatūros ypatybių perkėlimą į abstrakčias sritis, remiamasi kognityvinės lingvistikos principais. [Iš leidinio]Reikšminiai žodžiai: Daugiareikšmiškumas; Karščio konceptas; Kognityvinė lingvistika; Konceptualios metaforos; Semantinė analizė; Temperatūros būdvardžiai; Temperatūros būdvardžių semantika; Cognitive linguistics; Conceptual metaphors; Polysemy; Semantic analysis; Temerature adjectives; Temperature adjective; The concept of heat; The semantics of temperature adjectives.

ENTemperature adjectives, i. e. adjectives denoting tactile, ambient or experiencer- based temperature, are very frequent in use and highly polysemous. Linguistic evidence as well as cross-cultural data show that temperature scale is projected on a variety of entities that are classified as hot or cold: people are described as having hot or cold dispositions, food is seen as cooling, neutral or hot (e. g., spicy food is labelled as hot), emotions are also perceived on the hot to cold scale (intense emotions like anger, lust are characterized as hot in many cultures, while sadness, depression, apathy are associated with cold), etc. The conceptualization of temperature sensation is based on a complex interplay between external reality, physical experience and subjective evaluation of entities, whose temperature is perceived, all of which should be taken into account when dealing with the semantics of temperature adjectives. As cognitive linguists claim, the focus of semantic investigation should be the conventionalized conceptual structures, because semantic structure reflects mental categories formed on the basis of our experience. Specificity of the semantics of temperature adjectives lies in their inherent, subjective nature and the presence of tacit typical temperature scale. Evaluation of thermal properties of an object always depends on the implied typical temperature scale of that object (c. f. cold coffee – cold beer), the experiencer and the context (c. f. hot tea for an adult and hot tea for a baby, a warm day in winter and a warm day in summer, etc.). As well as other adjectives denoting physical properties, temperature adjectives extend their meaning – physical thermal sensation is mapped onto other perception modalities (šilta spalva, šaltas balsas, šilta melodija) or abstract domains such as intensity of emotions, activity, etc. (šilti jausmai, karšti ginčai, šaltas protas).Conceptual metaphors are grounded in physical experience. Since the concept of temperature is one of the most basic, closest to us, we use it to metaphorize abstract concepts. As the works of cognitive linguists have shown, temperature sensations are usually mapped on the domain of emotions: heat, as the highest degree of temperature, metaphorizes emotions whose intensity is high – anger and passion, warmth is associated with affection, while cold conceptualizes lack of emotions. A usage-based semantic analysis of the Lithuanian adjective karštas,-a (hot) performed on the basis of the material drawn from Corpus of the Contemporary Lithuanian language (8735 concordance lines) has revealed the collocability of the adjective – a huge variety of entities that can be described as hot in Lithuanian. The prototypical, central meaning of karštas, -a is the property of things such as boiling water, fire or summer sun causing an unpleasant burning sensation. It is manifested when the adjective collocates with nouns denoting: 1) physical objects such as food and drinks, items in the household or natural environment, the human body, its parts (tactile temperature); 2) weather, climate, particular periods of time or places (ambient temperature). Metaphoric uses of the adjective karštas, -a reveal three major features of the concept of heat mapped onto abstract domains: intensity, danger and freshness. These conceptual projections are grounded in our experience – what we know about heat and how it affects our body: increase in body temperature stands for emotion (we experience heat when excited), heat stands for danger (touching fire or something hot is dangerous, strong increase in body temperature is dangerous for health and life), heat stands for freshness (a dish which is just cooked is hot).Intensity appears to be the most prominent feature of heat in the worldview of Lithuanian – intense emotions (anger, passion or excitement in general), activities and other abstracts whose intensity is high are conventionally described as hot, e. g.: karšta meilė, karšti troškimai, karštos diskusijos. Metaphoric uses manifesting the meanings of danger and freshness are not frequent, their metaphoricity and unconventionality are perceived, as indicated by the use of quotation-marks, e. g.: <...>Naujamiesčio miške pasidarė „karšta“, nes po išdavystės pradėjo siausti Krekenavos stribai ir rusų kareiviai; <...>dar „karštomis“ mintimis apie šį renginį sutiko pasidalyti <...>. The appearance of expressions such as karščiausi pasiūlymai, karščiausios nuolaidos, karščiausios mados in the Lithuanian language is probably due to the influence of English, where hot means ‘exciting and interesting, especially because of being new’, e. g.: hot news about impending changes in Cabinet, the hot new look in women’s fashions (Macmillan Dictionary). Further research into adjectives denoting temperature sensations in Lithuanian as well as cross-linguistic analysis could better reveal the specificity of temperature terms in the Lithuanian language as well as universal tendencies of semantic extension. [From the publication]