Attributive Valence of the German verb GEHEN and the Russian Verb ИДТИ (Cognitive Aspect)

Tultseva Anastasia Eduardovna ORCID: 0000-0003-3013-9268 Teacher, Department of German Studies and Linguodidactics, Moscow City Pedagogical University 105064, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, ul. Maly Kazenniy Lane, 5b atultseva@mail.ru

Popova Larisa Georgievna ORCID: 0000-0001-9400-2469 Doctor of Philology Professor, Department of German Studies and Linguodidactics, Moscow City Pedagogical University 105064, Russia, Moscow region, Moscow, Maly Kazenny Lane, 5b larageorg5@gmail.com

For more than half a century of the history of valence theory, a huge number of studies have been devoted to this linguistic phenomenon. Valence is currently considered as the ability of a word or its parts to enter into certain connections with other elements at the syntactic, semantic, logical and even cognitive levels. But in this theory, there are still not fully studied moments, for example, the attributive valence of different parts of speech ^[1].

To define the concept of attributive valence more precisely, it is necessary to refer to the concept of a feature or attribute. 

From a linguistic point of view, a feature or attribute is a dependent syntactic position in the composition of a substantive phrase or a word form with a characteristic meaning that occupies this position ^{[4, p. 348]}. With the help of the attribute, attributive relations are carried out between the substance and the name of the attribute, meaning the type of relationship in which the attribute is not presented separately, but in unity with its carrier. A feature or attribute in linguistics can consist of a predicative and attributive type of relationship; the first type is observed, for example, in the sentence "the sun is yellow" (the feature correlates with the subject as relevant for a particular case), while attributive constructions are expressed in the agreement of the feature with the defined ("yellow sun"), while the attribute is an internal property of the object ^{[4, p. 349]}.

In relation to the defined word, the attribute performs two functions: firstly, its limitation, because the attribute distinguishes this particular object from a number of other similar or the same, individualizing it in this way. Secondly, the definition or attribute performs a descriptive and distributive function, and with the help of an attribute, an object can have an additional characteristic or assessment.

Despite almost a century of development of the linguistic theory of valence, studies on the functioning of an attribute as an actant expressing a trait have appeared in linguistics only in the last twenty years. This was largely facilitated by the study of linguistic phenomena from the point of view of cognitive linguistics as "deep semantics" ^{[5, p. 289]}, which many linguists consider from the point of view of the natural development of semantic ideas, looking deep into the linguistic meaning and seeing more general categories there. It can also be assumed that the ideas of neuro-linguistics and psycholinguistics, which explore language as the basis for cognition of an individual's mental activity, largely served the formation of this type of valence. In modern research on attributive valence, such issues as the definition of attribution, attributive valence, the study of attribution in cognitive and comparative aspects are investigated. For example, according to N. S. Shavkun, attribution, and more specifically, attributive phrases with the adjective + noun structure are considered as alternative forms of nomination ^[13]. S. V. Muratova studies attribution in the form of an attributive application to explicative syntagmas on the material of the German language ^[6]. The semantics of attributive phrases is studied by E. S. Peshekhonova together with the syntactic relations of the components of terminological combinations of the thematic sphere of education on the material of the English language ^[7]. T. V. Cherkasova studies the functional and semantic field of attribution in modern Russian and emphasizes that the structure of such a field includes constructions united on the basis of their expression of a single generalized meaning. Russian Russian, reflecting one typical situation ^[11]. Yu. A. Sutyrina studies the semantics of attributive phrases within the attributive valence of quantifier pronominal nouns of the Russian language ^[9]. Yu. S. Ivanova, investigating the attributive valence of synsemantic nouns in the Russian language, studies the problem of attributive distributors with the ability to distribute synsemantic nouns ^[3]. L. A. Romanova studies cognitive attributive-substantive complexes in the English language in diachronic and synchronic aspects ^[8].

The insufficiency of the study of the problem of verbs with attributive valence is also emphasized by N. I. Chubarova ^[12], explaining this by the fact of a large number of stylistically neutral and irregularly occurring verbs in the text, and N. A. Bondarenko, who managed to describe forty-two German stylistically neutral verbs with attributive valence in literary texts and identify the phenomenon of polyprosivity (ability represent several models at the same time) ^[2].

Of great interest for the study is also the attributive valence of verbs of movement, their ability to form models with a sign of a means of movement, the pace of movement, the character and even the direction of movement can also act as an attribute when interpreting the attribute in a broad sense.

We consider it necessary to make a number of explanations about the choice of our approach to the study in the cognitive aspect of the attributive valence of German and Russian verbs of movement. Attributive valence is understood by us in the broad sense of the word, namely as a sign of human movement. From a cognitive standpoint, we propose to distinguish between sectors that reflect different qualitative characteristics of the movement carried out in a person's mind.

According to the data of the explanatory dictionaries of German and Russian, it is possible to compile a list of similar sectors that reveal the attributive valence of the verbs of human movement gehen and go:

· Pace of movement

·                   Type of movement

·                   Driving time

·                   Method of movement

· Direction of movement

·                   Means of movement

·                   An accomplice of the movement

We consider it expedient to establish the valence of verbs of movement to use the following symbols to draw up schemes of attributive valence properties of verbs:

· S (Subjekt) – a person as a doer

· V (Verb) – a person's action in the form of his movement

· A (Art) – a characteristic of a person's action, his movements

· R (Richtung) – direction of human movement

· Mi (Mitglied) – an accomplice of the movement

· Z (Zeit) – driving time

· T (Tempo) – the pace of movement

It should be emphasized that the attributive valence of the verb "gehen" is not represented in the "Dictionary of valence and distribution of German Verbs" by V. Helbig and G. Schenkel ^[16], since during its writing the main attention was paid to the syntactic and only to a small extent to the semantic component of valence, therefore, to consider the filling of each sector of the core of the concept on the material of German and Russian languages were analyzed a number of examples from German explanatory dictionaries [14-15; 21] and the Mannheim Linguistic Corpus ^[17]. Russian Russian verb "to go" has been analyzed on the basis of explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language by V. I. Dahl, S. I. Ozhegov, D. N. Ushakov [18-20; 10].  

The analysis of the attributive valence of the German verb gehen based on the analyzed examples from the above-mentioned lexicographic sources showed the following variants of sectors revealing its attributive valence:

1. The pace of movement

This sector can be represented by the following scheme:

S – V – T

For example:

Da das Mittagessen gekocht ist, will ich schnell einkaufen gehen ^[17].

As this example shows, the specified verb of this sector has a two-term valence, one of which is attributive, showing the pace of movement produced by a person.

2.     Type of movement

Visually , this sector of attribute valence can be represented by the following scheme:

S – V – A

For example:

Sie gingen eingehakt ^{[14, S. 187]}.

As an example shows, the verb gehen in this case has a two-act valence, and its attributive valence, which reveals the sector characteristics of human movement, is one-act.

3. Direction of movement

This sector of the attribute valence is displayed in the following scheme:

S – V – R

For example:

Links geht es in die Altstadt ^[17].

 Thus, lexicographic sources show the direct presence of three sectors of the attributive valence of the verb gehen - the sectors of the Pace of movement, Type of movement and Direction of movement. The presence of mixed cases in dictionaries was not recorded, which does not exclude their presence in other sources, for example:

Der alte Mann konnte noch langsam am Stock von seinem Hausan viele Orte gehen, um etwas zu bekommen ^[17].

This example has the following schematic representation:

S – V – A – M – R.

The attributive valence in this example is represented by three actants – the sectors Type of movement, Means of movement and Direction of movement. In colloquial speech, different variants of the compatibility of certain sectors with each other are possible.

The quantitative representation of the variants of the attributive valence of the verb directed human movement gehen in lexicographic sources can be displayed in the form of the following diagram:

Diagram 1.Quantitative representation of examples of identified sectors of attributive valence of the verb gehen

Diagram 1.

Quantitative representation of examples of identified sectors of attributive valency of the verb gehen

As Figure 1 shows, the highest representation in German lexicographic sources is shown by the Type of Movement (Art) sector – 55%, the Direction of Movement (Richtung) sector – 35%, the low number of examples is the Pace of Movement (Temro) sector - 10%.

Let us turn to the analysis of the models of the attributive valence of the Russian verb to go. In dictionary sources , this type of valence is reflected in the following models:

1. Driving time

This sector of the attribute valence can be displayed using the following scheme:

S – V – Z

For example:

That our guests are not coming for a long time? ^[20]

This example displays the two-act valence of the verb to go, where its attributive valence, expressing the sector of the Time of movement, is one-act.

2. Partner of the movement

Schematically , this sector of the attributive valence of the verb to go can be represented as follows:

S – V – Mi

For example:

Are you coming with me, are we going together? ^[20]

The example also shows the two-actant valence of the Russian verb to go, where the attributive valence representing the sector of the Accomplice of the movement is represented by one actant.

3.     Type of movement

This sector of the attribute valence can be displayed by the following scheme:

S – V – A

For example:

Go barefoot ^{[10, p. 289]}.

This example demonstrates the two-act valence of the verb to go with a one-act attributive component expressing a sector Type of movement.

4. The pace of movement

Schematically , this sector can be represented as follows:

S – V – T

For example:

Go at a speed of 6 kilometers per hour ^[19].

The example also expresses the two-act valence of the verb to go, where the attributive valence expressing the sector of the Pace of movement is one-act.

5. Direction of movement

This sector of the attributive valence of the verb to go can be schematically depicted as follows:

S – V – R

For example:

Go straight, straight ahead ^[20].

In this example, the verb to go has a two-actant valence, where its attributive part is represented by one actant expressing the sector Direction of movement.

In addition to the one-act attributive valence, explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language, in contrast to the analyzed German lexicographic sources, demonstrate mixed cases of the use of attributive valence, for example:

Always go ahead ^[18].

This example can be schematically displayed as follows:

S – V – Z – R

In this case, the verb to go has a three-actant valence, where the attributive actants express the sectors of the Time of movement and the Direction of movement.The analysis of examples from lexicographic sources can be presented in the form of a diagram.

Diagram 2.Quantitative representation of examples of identified sectors of the attributive valence of the verb to go

Diagram 2.

Quantitative representation of examples of identified sectors of the attributive valency of the verb to go

.

According to the calculation data, the largest number of examples are the sectors Direction of movement (Richtung) – 39%, Type of movement (Art) – 39%, mixed cases are also presented - examples with two attributive valence components (10%), and the smallest number of examples are the sectors Time of movement (Zeit) – 4%, Accomplice of movement (Mitglied) – 4%, the pace of movement (Tempo) - 4%.

It is advisable to turn to a comparative analysis of the identified sectors of human movement of the verbs gehen and go, demonstrating their attributive valence. The results obtained can be presented in the form of a summary table demonstrating the presence and quantitative representation of the sectors of attributive valence identified in the above-mentioned verbs.

Table 1. Summary table of the attribute valence sectors of the verbs gehen and goTable 1. Summary table of sectors of attributive valency of the verbs gehen and to go

Sectors of attributive valence of verbs of directed human movement

Comparative analysis showed the presence of similar sectors of human movement in the verbs compared: Direction of movement, Type of movement and Pace of movement, with a significant predominance of the first two sectors among the analyzed examples from lexicographic sources. The German verb gehen, unlike the Russian verb to go, demonstrates a quantitatively greater presence of the Tempo of Movement sector, although this sector unites a small number of analyzed cases. As for the Russian verb to go, unlike the verb gehen, it has sectors such as Movement Time, Movement Accomplice and Mixed Cases. These sectors combine a small number of examples. The qualitative characteristic of human movement, presented in the form of the attributive valence of the verbs gehen and go, mainly has specifics that demonstrate the importance of indicating the pace, type and direction of movement in German speakers, and in Russian speakers there is also a mention of time and an accomplice of movement. It is also worth noting that only in Russian there are cases of combining the mentioned sectors, and in German there are no such cases. This circumstance underlines once again the national peculiarity of the perception of the nature of the movement carried out by a person in the form of directed walking.

Thus, attributive valence in linguistics, as a relatively "young" type of linguistic compatibility, offers great scientific potential for further research, since it is studied not only at the syntactic, but also at the logical-semantic and cognitive levels. The verbs of directed human movement, being poorly studied in terms of their attributive valence, are an extremely interesting object of scientific research in comparative linguistics, since at the cognitive level they can reflect the linguistic representation of the world picture of different peoples.