Abstract:
According to the Explanatory Dictionary of the Georgian Language, the
adjective დიდი big has 14 different meanings, and the adjective პატარა small
has 5 meanings. Since these words are antonyms, such a large difference in the
number of meanings prompted us to look for phrases in the Georgian National
Corpus, where big and small would play the role of a post-positional delimiter,
to see if the noun really changes the semantics of the word. The data were obtained in a qualitatively sufficient quantity and grouped according to the
semantic groups presented in the dictionary.
The study of phrases showed that, by analogy with the meanings of the
adjective big, two lexical meanings have to be added to the adjective small: less
than usual, less than its physical strength (პატარა დარტყმა - small blow) and
less than usual, less than its mental impact. (პატარა სევდა - a little
melancholy). It should be noted that in cases of semantic incompatibility, when
the meaning of the noun in itself is opposite to the meaning of the adjective,
adjectives in colloquia are used metaphorically, and the phrase acquires an
ironic, oxymoronic meaning (პატარა ქარიშხალი - little storm).
It’s possible to combine different meanings of the adjective big. The three
meanings of big – “outstanding”, “an epithet for special respect”, and “adjectives
used in the rank title”—may be combined under the meaning of დიადი
great. The dictionary should combine the following meanings – “more” and
“long, many”. Some meanings are derived from other meanings, in particular
from the meaning – “larger than usual” comes from “adjacent - some place,
geographical name”; From the meaning – “strong, very” – “more than usual, with
its own features”; From the meaning – “with a distinctive meaning” – “having a
special historical or political significance”.
The paper will present a linguistic analysis of the selected material during
the study.
