Fixed Collocations with Epitheta Ornantia in the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle in Terms of Historical Pragmalinguistics

Abstract

Introduction . The paper considers Middle High German poetic nominations of a warrior such as helt ‘hero’, ritter ‘knight’ and degen ‘warrior’ combined with epitheta ornantia. The aim of this paper is to find out the most characteristic contexts for these lexemes. Methodology and sources . The research is based on methodology of historical pragmalinguistics and cognitive linguistics, in particular on the frames’ theory by Ch. Fillmore. As material for the research serves the Livonian Rhymed Chronicle (late XIII th cent.), written in the East Middle German dialect. The text’s linguistic features are scarcely studied by historical linguists in Russia. The Chronicle was written under the influence of courtly epics, which fact was discussed by U. Arnold, M. Fischer, H. Kugler, A. Murray and others. Results and discussion . In the Chronicle’s text there were selected 10 frames that include the analyzed nouns with epitheta ornantia. The noun helt can also be found in parts including and introducing direct speech. Each of the three nouns was analyzed as to in which frames it is attested and which epitheta are more common in each frame. Conclusion . A conclusion was drawn that the noun helt ‘hero’ appears in almost all the frames, ritter ‘knight’ appears mostly in frames that refer to static situations and degen ‘warrior’ – in frames that refer to dynamic situations. Moreover, the lexeme helt ‘hero’ has a wider distribution range in the Chronicle than the other two nouns.