Edited by Ekaterina Rakhilina, Tatiana Reznikova and Daria Ryzhova
What is it like? – This is often the first question we ask about any object, and it is typically answered with adjectives: old, smooth, pointed, narrow, etc. Characteristics of things around us is a fundamental aspect of how we conceptualize the physical world, regardless of when or where we live –… read more
The chapter illustrates the frame-based methodology of lexical typological analysis through the comparison of the qualities sharp and blunt in 21 languages. We show that these qualities tend to be asymmetrical, with bluntness being negatively defined through sharpness. The two main oppositions… read more
The paper presents a methodology for automatic construction of lexical typological questionnaires for qualitative semantic domains (e.g. sharp, straight, thick, or smooth). Our algorithm is based on data from a monolingual corpus; it constructs a list of collocations for the corresponding… read more
The paper examines the properties of heavy as a perceptual concept, based on evidence from 11 languages. We demonstrate that the semantics of this concept is heterogeneous; lexemes of this field can be used in situations of at least three types: Lifting, Shifting and Weighing. These situations… read more
The paper presents a research tool for studying semantic change and polysemy patterns in Russian adjectives and adverbs. It is based on a corpus analysis of high-freqency polysemous units. For each of them we describe the meanings it can have, assign to each meaning a corresponding taxonomic class,… read more
