Binominal constructions with metaphorical quantifiers in Russian: “vsplesk ėmocij i volna pozitiva”

Abstract

The paper provides a usage-based description of left-headed Russian binominals of the type [N1[_{metaphorical quantifier}]N2_GEN] (e.g. vsplesk ėmocij ‘a surge of emotions’, volna pozitiva ‘a wave of positivity’), where N1 is used metaphorically and tends to ‘grammaticalize’ into a quantifier and/or intensifier, denoting a large quantity or a sudden increase of N2. The analysis presents two case studies based on complex upward/forward-oriented movements: vsplesk ‘surge’ and volna ‘wave’. The study, set in the framework of cognitive linguistics, adopts a usage-based approach in order to identify the classes of N2-collocates for the two quantifiers/intensifiers and determine which semantic (intensity, arrangement, shape), actional (inchoativity, iterativity and multiactionality) and pragmatic features (i.e., connotation, evaluation, speaker’s attitude towards increasing processes and large quantities) are mapped from N1 onto N2.