Semantics of Adjective 'radostny' and Conceptualization of the Emotional Evaluation

Abstract

The article deals with the development and modification of the emotional evaluation of the adjective radostny (English – joyful) in terms of conceptualisation of emotions. The paper includes the comparison of its dictionary definitions, etymological data and interpretation in terms of emotional evaluation. Special attention is paid to the processes of conceptualisation of emotional evaluation by means of the extension of the adjective denotation sphere, denotative shift from perceptible objects to invisible objects, from form to content. As a result, the adjective radostny receives intellectual and aesthetic shades of meaning. The denotative shift referring to negative denotation modifies the dominant category feature – a positive evaluation component. It leads to the weakening and neutralization of the positive evaluation. The analysis of use, as applied to the examples in the Russian National Corpus, verifies the basic characteristics of emotional evaluation (subjectivity and uncertainty) and helps to identify its important characteristics (communicativeness, efficiency, attractiveness). The study takes into account the forms of objectification of radostny evaluation, time factor and typical genres.