Semantic shifts in the sphere of evaluative units

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to trace some semantic processes occurring in the sphere of evaluative units – lexemes with “good” or “bad” element of meaning. The article is aimed at proving that evaluative units display a semantic shift from more concrete to more abstract meaning. Evaluative lexemes are known to include a denotative (more concrete) seme and an evaluative (abstract) seme. In the process of usage, the denotative seme is suppressed and the lexeme acquires purely evaluative meaning. In the process of “name calling”, “bad” words lose their denotative element and become pure invectives. The denotative seme may not even be known to the speaker. The loss of denotative meaning may occur in the process of word borrowing. Latin “paganus” – a rural dweller – came to mean “pagan” in European languages and the word “поганый” in Russian means just “bad”.