Somatic Terms of the Buryat Language as Loci

Abstract

The article deals with the development of locus meanings in the somatic terms of the Buryat language. Anatomical terminology refers to the basic, most ancient part of the vocabulary in all languages. Despite this, the names of body parts have not received an exhaustive semantic description. It is noted that in general Buryat lexicology and lexicography are less studied than the grammatical structure. This necessitates a comprehensive linguistic study of this lexical group of words. Based on the analysis of field materials collected in 2014-2019 in Ust-Ordynskiy Buryat District of the Irkutsk region, and information from published works, it is concluded that as a result of the development of polysemy, the names of body parts acquire the meaning of certain parts of the territory, which allows them to move into proper names. The considered examples show that this process is based on a metaphor. A comparison lying within a metaphor reveals the similarity between two objects, thereby indicating some important feature of the second. Metaphor generates or implies a certain view of the subject, and does not express it openly. Thus, the metaphor generates additional, secondary meanings of somatic terms. Sometimes completely unexpected “associative” meanings are ethnically determined. The transfer of the meaning of words based on associations also contributes to the formation of locus meanings in somatic vocabulary.