Meaning of prepositions in cognitive approach

Doklady Bashkirskogo Universiteta. 2023. Volume 8. No. 3. pp. 114-129.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33184/dokbsu-2023.3.14

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The paper contains the results of the research aimed at determining the principle and mechanism of the development of meaning in German prepositions (in the cases of an). Prepositions as a lexico- grammatical language category are treated as a mixed type (according to N. N. Boldyrev) which, on the one hand, have characteristics of lexical language categories: in case of prepositions, this is the relationship between reality objects and, on the other hand, have characteristics of grammatical language categories. The study dwells upon one of the fundamental emphases of the cognitive approach to language and its units: the recognition of their semantic motivation through their usage by the following key factors: cognitive and communicative. The analysis of prepositions’ meanings was performed with the method of primary meaning projection defined as prototypical on all the other variants. The study has proved that every semantic variant of the prepositions is the product of conceptual derivation. The primary meaning development proceeds through the mechanism of semantic derivation. The primary meaning acquires the status of prototype in every subsequent semantic variant, which ensures explicability of a preposition being used in another function with no exception, including semantic and grammatical features of the relatum and referent.