The portable meaning of a word, or its second life

One of the notable properties of the Russian language is its ability to use words in a figurative sense. The transfer is a direct consequence of the many-valuedness. Words in the language can be single-valued and multivalued. Multivalence refers to the ability of one word to designate various objects or phenomena. Values of multivalued words have a common semantic core and a connection between themselves. In many-valued words there is an initial, or primary, meaning, and a series of derivatives formed later.

The formation of new values becomes possible due to the phenomenon of transfer. Linguists have established 2 types of transfer of names. The first is transfer by contiguity, or metonymy. Metonymy is characterized by transfers of names, replacement of parts by whole or vice versa. Let's consider examples.

The second type is a transfer by similarity, or metaphor. Two objects or phenomena have a common feature. Such a sign can be color, size, shape, human perception, functional purpose. Imagine the direct and figurative meaning of the word. Examples for comparison are given in the table below.

In colloquial speech, people often use the figurative meaning of a word to enhance expressiveness, the brightness of communication. The names of animals can be used: the fox is cunning, the ram is stubborn, the elephant is clumsy, the ant is hardworking, the eagle is proud. It is not uncommon for portable values to lose their imagery over time and become perceived as direct. The portable meaning of the word has already been lost in phrases like: the mushroom's head, the nail head, the bow of the boat, the leg of the chair. In modern dictionaries, these values are assigned to words and are indicated as functional direct values.

Perhaps in the appearance of the transfer a certain role was played by the saving factor - it is natural for a person to facilitate his own life, and, taking as a basis the already existing word, he sought in the surrounding world a new phenomenon that could describe this word. Perhaps in this phenomenon the human imagination is to blame. Once received a round piece of cheese from sheep's milk, the landlady rightly remarked that its shape is extremely similar to the head.

The portable meaning of a word is peculiar not only to the Russian language. This phenomenon is inherent in many European languages. In English, for example, this language feature presents a real challenge for students beginning to learn it. Often to understand the meaning of the word is possible only in context, because the word can act as different parts of speech. Nevertheless, transfer enriches any language, makes it imaginative, lively and juicy.