Shvets K. Structure and semantics of rhetorical terminology of Cicero (based on materials of M. Tullius Cicero’s tractates)

Thesis is dedicated to the complex research of the structure and semantics of Latin rhetorical terminology as a subsystem of the lexicon of the common language. The main aspects of the terminological research emphasising the problems of Latin rhetorical terminology have been discussed in the paper. Theoretical and methodological research framework has been presented. Lexico-semantic relations and lexico-semantic processes have been investigated in rhetorical terminology. Synonymy and antonymy are attributed to lexico-semantic relations in the Cicero rhetorics, metaphorical and metonymic transfers of the meanings, greek borrowings – to lexico-semantic processes. The method of semantic oppositions allowed to single out antonymic pairs in the rhetorical terminology which are connected by the contradictory relations, contrast relations and complementary relations. The most numerous was the group of antonyms built on the contradictory relations. It is noted that synonymy and antonymy are not limited to lexico-semantic level, but are intertwined with word formation, syntax and stylistics. For instance, the role of antonymy in the formation of antithesis is vital. The role of metaphor in the formation of rhetorical terminology is also examined. The classification of rhetorical terminological metaphors has been made, the basis of which contains genetic criteria supplemented with thematic and grammatical criteria. It is revealed that the source of rhetorical terms-metaphors was the anthroposphere, more rarely – other phenomena and subjects of nature. If talking about affiliation of the object or subject to the parts of speech, terms-metaphors are divided into substantival, attributive and verbal. It is noted that the highest productivity is natural for substantival metaphors, attributive and verbal metaphors are less often met. It is noted that metonymic formations in the rhetorics of Cicero are rare and as a rule the plexus of metaphor and metonymy is observed in the same lexeme. In the rhetoric of Cicero we find phraseological phrases which have idiomatic character, which are characterised by semantic indivisibility, non-derivation of the meaning of the whole. The analysis of those has shown that they are formed by the same models as folding terms do. The research has shown that rhetorical terminology doesn’t form some separate system, isolated from the common language, but some minor deviations are conditioned by categorical specifications of the denotative field with which it is correlated.