Zinchenko A. Secondary Nomination of Indefinite Quantity in English Publicistic Discourse: Linguocognitive and Pragmastylistic Aspects

The thesis focuses on the identification of linguocognitive and pragma-stylistic features of secondary nominations of indefinite quantity. The paper provides a comprehensive study of secondary nominations of indefinite quantity produced by metaphoric, metonymic, and synecdochal transition types. The category of quantity as one of the universal categories is represented in corresponding philosophical, logical and linguistic categories. The linguistic category of indefinite quantity results from the lingualization of indefinite quantitative characteristics of objects. The study reveals that indefinite quantity linguistic subcategory is represented by microfields of plurality and indefinite quantity estimation. In the absence of an equivalent verbalizer for indefinite-quantitative relations, linguistic cognition goes beyond the terminological system, forming an indirect, secondary nomination of indefinite quantity. The paper defines the notion of “secondary nomination of indefinite quantity”, as well as presents the analysis of its scientific concepts. From the nomination theory perspective, secondary nominations of indefinite quantity are defined as indirect names of indefinitely large/small quantity, caused by absence of efficient primary nomination, formed by metaphoric, metonymic and synecdochal transfer. The study reveals that secondary nominations of indefinite quantity are created by metaphoric, metonymic and synecdochal transitions as the basic cognitive mechanisms. Invention of secondary nominations of indefinite quantity is possible due to the presence of connotative semes indefinite quantity characteristics in the semantics of the primary nomination. The study advanced the idea that secondary nominations of indefinite quantity objectify the basic concept INDEFINITE QUANTITY by means of conceptual metaphors, metonymies and synecdoches. The study suggested the lexical-semantic classification of indefinite quantity secondary nominations by semantic criterion according to the types of transition. The thesis characterizes the structural and grammatical features of secondary nominations of indefinite number. The functional and pragmatic potential of secondary nominations of indefinite number was outlined. The primary (expressive, evaluative and stylistic) and secondary (informative, nominative, visual, attractive, descriptive, euphemistic, aesthetic, expectation effect and cognitive) functions realized in the texts of the English-language journalistic discourse are identified.