Bifunctionality as a reflection of the dynamics of the development of the language system (on the data of modern german)

Abstract

The article is concerned with analyzing the semantic and functional variability of constituents of functional-semantic fields of adjectival vocabulary and comparison of substantive derivational models -ig, -en, -lich, -isch, etc., the noun derivatives with prefixoids erz-, super-, ur-, extra-, hyper-, ober-, ultra -, etc., as well as substantive and adjectival complex words. It aims at defining the features of this variability depending on communicative intentions of the speakers in the process of the speech act. The research bases on using the method of communicative and activity approach, which helps to determine the peripheral segments, capable of “migrating” from one field to another one. The above-listed units show a tendency to semantic and functional shift towards qualitative and evaluative characterization of the subject or the intensification of the marker under the influence of socially determined and linguistic factors. As a result, some of above-mentioned constituents are open to perform functions that are not typical for them, depending on the contextual environment and, first of all, on the situation of communication. This creates the possibility for the formation of “intermediate zones” between the microfields and the adjacent functional-semantic fields of comparison and intensity, which reflect the continuity of the corresponding structural formations and the language system as a whole, so are a special case of bifunctionality, which demonstrates the dynamic development of functional-semantic fields. The research might be usefull for the further investigation of similar peripheral segments of other functional-semantic fields.