Metaphorical Models of Phraseological Units with Motion Verbs in Altai and Khakas (Comparative Aspect)

Abstract

In the following article, we analyse the Altai and Khakas phraseological units based on the dead metaphor of motion. They describe a person’s state within some kind of everyday situation or environment, as well as interpersonal relations and one’s intellectual and social achievements. These units contain the following verbs of motion: tüš= ~ tüs= ‘to come down; to fall’, kir= ‘to enter’, čïq= ~ sïx= ‘to come out; to raise’. These verbs form the semantics of the phraseological units and denote the formation, beginning, or end of a person’s state or action, as well as its intensity. The verb tüš= ~ tüs= is shown to be the most frequent component; it is found in most phraseological units describing a person’s state. Kir= is chiefly found in units describing interpersonal relationships, while units with čïq= ~ sïx= are very rare. In our article, we build models and analyze these units in contrast with other Turkic and non-Turkic languages. We distinguish 7 models that can be categorized into 4 types according to their structure and semantics: ‘motion – state’, ‘motion – event’, ‘motion – interpersonal relations’, and ‘motion – achievement’. Each type excluding the last one are represented by 2 antonymous models for a number of phraseological units with antonymous verbs tüš= ~ tüs= ‘to come down; to fall’, kir= ‘to enter’ (denoting the formation of one’s state or relationship, as well as the starting point of action) and čïq= ~ sïx= ‘to come out; to raise’ (denoting the termination of state or relationship. These metaphorical models of motion found in Altai and Khakas are also typical for Russian, French, and English, where phraseological units are numerous. It is possible that such basic concepts of space and their representations via metaphors of motion are similar in various linguistic world images. In Altai and Khakas, correlations of specific phraseological units are also observed.