Semantic dominant “Man” at french police argot

Author(s):  N.N. Mertsalov, Orel State University named after I.S. Turgenev,, Orel, Russia, merz.nic@yandex.ru

Issue:  Volume 38, № 1

Rubric:  Linguistics

Annotation:  This paper presents the semantic characteristics of the argot lexemes recorded in Pierre Perret’s “Dictionary of French dialects”. The description of semantic fields as one of the elements of a polyaspect analysis of professional argot is a key stage in studying an unconventional vocabulary. Special attention is paid to the inventory of nuclear argot lexemes, which are formed around argoreceptual concepts, and the selection of semantic dominants. 845 lexical units, typical of the French police argot, were used in this study. Argotic word-making in this professional sublanguage focuses on the argot-speakers’ attitude to the activity, emphasizing the presence of positive or negative qualities and expressing different emotions. At the same time, the semantic dominant “Man” is the most developed, and it includes semantic fields “Weapon and Uniform”, “Policeman”, “Individuals who are studied in operational-search activities”, “Object of operational-search activities”. The selected dominant semantic macrosystem incorporates such conceptual fields as “Status / position”, “Asocial elements”, “Physical strength”, “Evaluation characteristics”. The largest number of lexemes refers to the semantic field “Policeman” and the conceptual field “Asocial elements”. The semantic field “Weapon and Uniform” and the conceptual field “Evaluation characteristics” are less representative.

Keywords:  Pierre Perret, police argot, semantic dominant, semantic field, conceptual field.

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