NOMINALIZED NOUNS IN UKRAINIAN AND ENGLISH LANGUAGES: SEMANTICS AND FUNCTIONING

The article is dedicated to the analysis of semantics of verbal nouns as a consequence of nominalization processes in language. The notion of nominalization leads to the reduction of traditional verbal semantics – verbal features, functions or elements related to implementation of process and points to development and flow of phenomena, facts and events localized in time and space. Nominalized unit acquires signs of static semantics, the main function of which is naming and fixing of certain phenomena, facts and events, as well as identification of these facts, phenomena and events without taking into account their possible development in time and space. The difference between the phenomena of substantivation and nominalization is established. Nominalized verbal nouns replace the predicate and take the position of the subject of the subordinate clause, acting as a means of secondary nomination, performing an anaphorical function. Verbal nouns in the sentence structure act as a means of condensation and are semantic equivalents of sentences. They form a specific stratum of vocabulary both in Ukrainian and English languages which is characterized, on the one hand, by a close connection with the original verbs and, as a consequence, the preservation of lexical and even grammatical semantics of original verbs – semantics of action, process or dynamic state, and, on the other hand, belongs to the lexical-grammatical class of nouns, which causes not only significant semantic modifications of the original semantics, but also the emergence of various semantic components and connotations. Both English and Ukrainian verbal nouns can transmit the meaning of state, process, the result of action, although their interpretation is modified by the context. The peculiarities of the transformation of sentences or similar units with predicative nature in English and Ukrainian languages are revealed.