Microsoft Word 81843-1179932786- mstyblo thesis0516

Data

There is no simple and objective way to determine synonyms in a language, evenwhen there are no loanwords involved.Looking in dictionaries for synonyms sometimesleads to inconsistent results, as each dictionary can list a slightly different definition. Ihave therefore used a collection of both printed and online dictionaries to select the bestRussian counterparts for the loanwords to use in my analysis (Ozhegov 2005), (Romanov2000), (Semeneva 2003), (Val'ter 2004) and (Free Russian - English Dictionary andEnglishtoRussianOnlineTranslation).TheEnglishloanwordsandtheirRussiancounterparts that were selected from the Russian National Corpus for the purpose of thisanalysis are located in Table 3.Detailed statistical data for each or these words as can befoundin Table5 oftheAppendix.

Loanword Equivalent


и и
killer killer;murderer;assasin

и
boss;master boss;chief;commander;director

и
manager manager;director


manager;seniormanager;executive

и ии

businessman businessman;entrepreneur

и ии
business business;enterprise

и
consensus consensus;consent;agreement

и ии

confrontation confrontation;opposition;resistance
и
confrontation;conflict;encounter


ии и
ambition ambition;self-esteem
и
ambition;aspiration

и
speaker,chairman speaker;chairman

и
speaker;spokesman;representative


и
rating rating;estimate;evaluation

и и
preference preference

и
preference;privilege;advantage

Table3–SelectedLoanwordsandCounterparts

Assumptions

English loanwords are continuing to enter the Russian language at an increasingrate.Sometimes Soviet-era words are replaced, even when the objects or concepts theyrefer to remain essentially the same.In other cases new cultural concepts are introducedintosocietyalongwithnewloanwordstodescribethem.SometimesnewEnglishloanwords that are introduced into the Russian language have to compete with alreadyexisting Russian counterparts.If semantic concretization or semantic narrowing of theoriginalloanwordmeaningoccurs,thenthereisagreaterchancethattheloanwordwillbeassimilatedand beused concurrentlywith itscounterpart, usuallyin anichemeaning.

Analysis

Killer:(Puzzep,Убuŭцa)

Figure2–Killer

According to the data collected, the most frequent adjectives occurring with theloanword киллep include the relational adjectives haeмhый ‘hired’, пpeдпoлaгaeмый‘alleged’ and пpoфeccиohaльhый ‘professional’.The Russian counterpart of y6ийцa isalsofoundwithadditionalrelationaladjectivesincludingcepийhый‘serial’andxлaдhoкpobhый ‘cold-blooded’.Because the English loanword does not appear with theadjective cepийhый, it has narrower uses than the Russian counterpart.It is apparentfromthedatathattheloanwordкиллepisusuallyusedwhenreferringtohired,
professional killers, such as hitmen and assassins.In contrast, other types of killers andmurderers, such as serial killers, are not described by the English loanword.The Russiancounterpart is used instead.It can therefore be assumed that the adopted meaning ofкиллep is the result of semantic narrowing of the original meaning of English loanword.The new meaning could be related to historically recent concepts from the world oforganized crime, such as murderers-for-hire and professional killers, for which there wereno established Russian counterparts.It is therefore possible that this English loanwordtook on a meaning that would otherwise have to be communicated by a phrase.Becauseof these circumstances,киллephasan increasedpossibility of remaining withintheRussianlanguage, albeitin itsnarrowed meaning.
Boss:(Бocc,Hauazbнuк)

Figure3– Boss

The most relevant relational adjectives associated with the English loanword 6occare:пaptийhый‘(political)party’пpoфcoюзhый‘(trade)union’andпoлиtичecкий‘political’.OftheseadjectivestheonlyonefoundwiththeRussiancounterparthaчaльhик with significant frequency is пaptийhый .The qualitative adjective 6oльшoй‘large’ and relational adjective hobый ‘new’ are present with both the Russian loanwordand the English counterpart.By looking atadjectives thatappear with the EnglishloanwordandtheRussiancounterpart,wecanconcludethatthesewordshaveasignificant overlap in meaning, but nevertheless there are areas where the loanword ismuch more likely to be used.Like киллep, the loanword 6occ has undergone semanticconcretizationandismuchmorelikelytobeusedwhenreferringtoaleaderinthefield

of politics or political parties and other representative institutions.In these same areas,the Russian counterpart is used with significantly less frequency, perhaps as a result of anintentionalbreakwithSoviet-erapoliticalvocabulary.Thisapparentideologicaladvantage gives the English loanword a good chance to successfully compete and surviveintheRussian language.
Manager:(Meнeджep,Дupeкmop, Уnpaвzeнeц)

Figure4–Manager

The usage of мeheджep ‘manager’ and its Russian counterparts is similar inconcept to the usage of 6occ above. Much like 6occ, мeheджep is a post-Soviet loanwordthatisattemptingtoreplaceitsSoviet-eraRussiancounterpartдиpeкtop‘director,manager’.After examining the adjectives associated with the loanword, we see thatгehepaльhый ‘general’ appears by far the most frequently.Given such high frequency,wecanconcludethatгehepaльhыймeheджep‘generalmanager’isafixedexpressionthat represents the title of a position.This is further supported by the fact that the mostfrequentadjectiveassociatedwithдиpeкtopisalsoгehepaльhый.Thereissomeevidence that these words are perhaps not the best synonyms, for example the absence ofthe relative adjective иcпoлhиteльhый ‘executive’ with мeheджep.But then perhapsиcпoлhиteльhыйдиpeкtopisafixedphrasethatisnotformedwithмeheджep.
Even in post-Soviet data the relational adjective cobetcкий ‘Soviet’ appears withboth диpeкtop and yпpabлeheц, but not with the loanword мeheджep.This suggests thateventhepresent-dayusageofдиpeкtopcoulddescribeanexecutiveormanagerialposition in an organization that has not changed much from Soviet times.In contrast,cobetcкий is not used with мeheджep, and so it is more likely that this word describes aposition that is progressive and does not reflect the Soviet past.Nevertheless, the overlapin meanings is significant and there appears to be little semantic concretization, as thereare only minor differences in the collocation of adjectives between the loanword and itscounterparts. The only distinction of мeheджep seems to be that it has no apparentSovietassociations.
Businessman:(Бuзнecмeн,Пpeдnpuнuмamezb)

Figure5– Businessman

The word 6изhecмeh ‘businessman’, much like 6occ, was used even during theSoviettimes,thoughusuallyonlywiththenegativeideologicalconnotationofthecapitalistworld.TheRussiancounterpartпpeдпpиhимateль‘entrepreneur’enteredmainstreamusearoundthetimeofperestroikaandbeganfullycompetingwith6изhecмeh after the fall of the Soviet Union.The distribution of adjectives collocatedwithпpeдпpиhимateльispartiallysimilartothatof6изhecмeh,withthemostsignificantexceptionsbeingthequalitativeadjectiveкpyпhый‘large’andrelationaladjectiveчacthый‘private’.
The adjective кpyпhый is much more common with 6изhecмeh than withпpeдпpиhимateль,signalingthattheloanwordismorelikelytodescribelarge-scaleorsuccessful entrepreneurs.The qualitative adjective пpeycпebaющий ‘successful’ followsa similar trend supporting this inference.The adjective чacthый ‘private’ is the adjectivemost frequently collocated with пpeдпpиhимateль, but it never appears with 6изhecмeh.One possible explanation for this is that the phrase чacthый пpeдпpиhимateль is relatedto a чacthoe пpeдпpиhимateльctbo ‘private enterprise’ which is an alternative toгocyдapctbehhoe пpeдпpиhимateльctbo ‘government enterprise’.And 6изhecмeh isrelated to 6изhec ‘business’, which is by definition private or чacthый, because it has noestablishedgovernmentcounterpart.