Grammatical Parameters of the Notional Modus of Empathy Concept Lexicalised in Modern English Discourse

Abstract

The article provides a comprehensive consideration of the notional modus frame of EMPATHY concept embodied in modern English discourse. It is aimed at analysing the grammatical parameters of the frame which encode semantic characteristics of EMPATHY concept (lexicalised by literal linguistic means) and their organisation in discourse. The grammatical parameters represent different slots of the frame: empathy (n)-INSTRUMENT/AGENT, empathiser (n)-AGENT/PATIENT, empathisee (occasionalism) (n)-PATIENT/AGENT, empathise (v)-ACTION, empathetic/empathic (adj), empathising (adj)-SUCH, empathetically/empathically (adv), empathisingly (adv)-SO. These slots speak for the diversity of the ways in which they have fixed the-grounding‖ of EMPATHY concept on a communicative situation. Applying corpus methodology, the research proves that in the human epistemic space the notional modus of EMPATHY concept exists as an abstract entity or idea about empathy rather than a specific event represented by the verb. Context analysis shows that at present the noun empathy has lost its original meaning of the ability to enter into emotional harmony with a certain work of art. The analysis of the British national corpus (BNC) allows making a conclusion that in the frame of the notional modus slots empathiser and empathisee are mostly irrelevant. In the semantics of the frame slots, there are numerous shifts of the prototype meaning based on extension, narrowing, metaphorical and metonymical transitions. However, they do not lead to the disintegration of the standard norm which is stored in the memory of the individual.

Queries Structuring for Solving Grammar and Lexical Semantic Problems by Means of Corpus Tools

“…Though this issue rather concerns researches than practical usage, it can be used by journalists or other authors who try to find out the ways of representing, treating or describing a particular concept, notion or theme. For example, Tatsenko (2018) performs a successful research of grammatical parameters of the concept "EMPATHY" by analysing the noun and the verb "empathise" along with their grammar paradigms, adjectives "empathetic", "empathic", "empathising" in correspondence with respective slots ("agent", "patient", "instrument" etc.) (p. 148-152).…”

Prosodic organization of formulaic expressions of sympathy in English

“…For instance, in the research of Meiners (2013), issues related to verbal means of sympathy expression have acquired some degree of elaboration, whereas in the work of Sugiharto (2008), we can find data connected with the functional and pragmatic loading of sympathy in speech. Dolia (2013) analysed the gender aspect of sympathy realization in communication, while Tatsenko (2017) focused attention on defining common and distinctive features of utterances of sympathy. According to the fundamental principles of the communicative-andfunctional paradigm justified in the works of Pierhambert (1993) and Tatham (1987) and more recently by Ukrainian scholars (Kalyta & Taranenko, 2006;Taranenko and Schaefer (2018), the researcher should take into account the human factor.…”

“…Within the third stage, we identified formulaic realizations of sympathy utterances and, taking into consideration the results of the experimental utterances' auditory and acoustic analyses, described the specificity of their prosodic organization. Within the first stage of our research, we analysed existing views on the notion of sympathy (Debes, 2017;Tatsenko, 2017), which allowed us to work out the definition of a sympathy utterance. Thus, a sympathy utterance is an expressive unit of speech actualised either orally or in writing as an emotional reaction to any negative or difficult situation of one of the interlocutors (Kutsenko & Taranenko, 2020).…”

Stylistic Means of Empathy in CNN News

“…The study of political discourse is of interest to many scholars; the theoretical basis of this research was the works of such linguists as Milliken J. (1999), , N. Tatsenko (2017), I. Butova (2009), O.…”