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DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.61.01.3
How to Cite:
Gao, Y., Morugova, Y.A., & Duo, L. (2023). Research on the functional semantic field of spatial orientation in russian and chinese
languages. Amazonia Investiga, 12(61), 26-32. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.61.01.3
Research on the functional semantic field of spatial orientation in russian and
chinese languages
俄汉语空间方向功能语义场对比研究
Received: January 3, 2023 Accepted: January 30, 2023
Written by:
Gao Yanrong8
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5723-3348
Morugova Y.A.9
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5374-7744
Duo Li10
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0452-6715
Abstract
According to Bondarko's functional grammar
theory, combined with the corpus of the Russian
State Corpus and the BCC Corpus of Peking
University, this paper discusses the language
expression means of each subfield of the
functional semantic field of spatial orientational
category in Russian and Chinese Languages, and
constructs the structure of directional functional
semantic field. The research results of this paper
will help Chinese students better grasp the
grammatical structure of Russian spatial
direction prepositions. At the same time, This
paper systematically compares and analyzes the
characteristics of the expressions about the
directional functional semantic field in the two
languages, provides theoretical guidance for
Chinese college students to learn Russian, and
provides theoretical support for teachers engaged
in Russian teaching.
Key Words: functional semantic field,
orientation, Russian spatial preposition, Chinese
spatial preposition, semantic.
Introduction
The concept of "field" was originally used in
physics and has since been borrowed by many
scientific disciplines to describe the phenomena
they study. In recent years, the study of combined
structural fields composed of different language
8
Associate professor, Zhejiang Yuexiu University, Shaoxing, Zhejiang; PhD, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan,
Almaty.
9
College teacher, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Kazakhstan, Almaty.
10
Doctoral student, Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical University, Kazakhstan, Almaty. (Corresponding author)
units has become a research trend. These
language units can not only systematically
present the picture of the language world, but
also study language phenomena from the
perspectives of onomatics and semantics.
Gao, Y., Morugova, Y.A., Duo, L. / Volume 12 - Issue 61: 26-32 / January, 2023
Volume 12 - Issue 61
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Shchur (Щур Г. С.) devoted himself to the study
of the basic theory of field division of labor in
linguistics, with special attention to the
functional semantic field. He pointed out the use
of functional semantics for "field" research. The
advantages of studying with this method are:
firstly, the "field" is regarded as a spatial
phenomenon; secondly, not only the function of
language units, but also the common semantic
features of language units are considered
(Shchur, 1974:66). In other words, unlike other
fields, the functional semantic field is based on
two criteria—functionality and semantics.
Therefore, the functional semantic field is
defined as "a multi-level system of expressions
that reflects the unity of functions and the
interaction between functions in a language
based on a certain semantic category"
(Bondarko,1984:21-22).
The purpose of the paper is to identify the variety
of the spatial orientational category in modern
Russian and Chinese languages, to determine
similarities and differences in the expression of
this category, to classify the ways of expression
in methodological purposes for predicting and
preventing possible interference in the speech of
the Chinese students.
Literature review
According to Bondarko (Бондарко А.В.), there
are two main structural types of functional
semantic fields: monocentric fields with the same
grammaticalized structure and polycentric fields
without the same structure but with the same
specific characteristics. Among them, the core
structure of the polycentric field can be
composed of several linguistic structures. Any
functional semantic field is a subsystem in the
language structure, and each language unit in the
system has common semantic features and has
the characteristics of semantic commonality. The
structure of functional semantic field is divided
into core field, transition field and fringe field
(Popova et al., 1989: 6).
According to the characteristics of semantic
categories, Bondarko divided functional
semantic fields into four categories: predicate
functional semantic field, subject-object
functional semantic field, quality-quantitative
functional semantic field, and sparse functional
semantic field (Bondarko, 2002:35). The spatial
functional semantic field belongs to the predicate
functional semantic field. As a special language
system, it has a complex language structure, and
its constituent elements are connected by
semantic categories and syntactic relations. The
functional semantic field is a multi-dimensional,
huge and ordered aggregate of language units,
and one of its main characteristics is to
completely include language units into the
aggregate of language units through the same
semantic category. The spatial functional
semantic field is mainly composed of the
locational functional semantic field and the
directional functional semantic field. This paper
mainly studies the functional semantic field of
Russian-Chinese spatial orientation and its
composition, and compares and analyzes the
similarities and differences of language
expressions in each subfield of the two-language
spatial directional functional semantic fields.
According to Bondarko's functional semantic
field theory, we divide the directional functional
semantic field into core field, transition field and
fringe field.
The materials and methods
We selected the corpus from the Russian State
Corpus and the BCC Corpus of Peking
University. According to the sampling method,
we extracted 1000 corpora from the two corpora
respectively, searched for the corpus expressing
the structure of the spatial direction functional
semantic field in these 1000 corpora, analyzed
the proportion of each expression type in the
field, and then based on these corpora. The
proportion of the corpus in the 1000 corpus is
calculated to calculate the number of entries for
each expression means in each functional
semantic field in the corpus. To this end, we use
data analysis and comparative methods to
explore the functional semantic field of Russian-
Chinese spatial orientation.
Results and Discussion
Functional Semantic Field of Russian Spatial
Orientation
Guided by Bondarko's functional semantic field
theory, we constructed a functional semantic
field of Russian spatial orientation. Its core field,
transition field and fringe field are as follows:
1. Core field
The expression means of the core field in
functional semantic field of Russian spatial
orientation is the spatial preposition structure that
expresses the orientational meaning. Among
them, "в", "на", "под", "за", "к", "из", "с", "от",
"до", "по" and other prepositions are the most
typical symbolic words for orientation.
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There are three types of spatial preposition
structures that express the meaning of orientation:
Verb + Spatial Preposition + the accusative N.,
Verb + Spatial Preposition + the dative N., Verb
+ Spatial Preposition + the genitive N.
1) Verb + Spatial Preposition + the accusative
N.: Verb + в, на, под, за + the accusative N.,
For example:
(a) Вышел на улицу, походил ― ничего не
нашёл.
I went to the street to look for something and
found nothing.
(b) Он садился на поезд, ехал в Москву.
He took the train to Moscow.
(c) Я осел на пол и полез под кровать.
I fell to the ground and crawled under the bed.
2) Verb + spatial preposition + the dative N.:
verb + к, по + the dative N., for example:
(a) Когда она первый раз пришла ко мне и
зашла в мою комнату.
The first time she came to my place, she walked
into my room.
(b) А Кэт любила ходить с Аськой по
магазинам.
Kate likes to go shopping with Aska.
3) Verb + spatial preposition + the genitive N.:
verb + из, с, от, до + the genitive N., for
example:
(a) Я отдал ему замок и вышел из дома.
I gave him the lock and left the house.
(b) Никто не прокрался с улицы, что очень
сомнительно.
No one sneaked in from the street, it is suspicious.
(c) И нам приятно узнавать от вас самые
разные подробности о нашем городе.
We are delighted to have learned various details
about our city from you.
(d) За пять минут Таня добежала до дома.
Five minutes later Tanya ran into the house.
2. Transition field
The expression types of the transition field in the
functional semantic field of Russian orientation
are mainly adverbs (туда, сюда, отсюда,
вперёд, etc.), prepositional combinations
(от...до..., с...до..., etc.).
1) Adverbs indicating the meaning of
orientation
(a) Очень давно не был в цирке － по-моему,
даже в детстве ходил туда только один раз.
It's been a long time since I've been to a circus -
in my opinion, even as a kid, I've only been there
once.
(b) Я узнал про этих железнодорожников,
что они ездят туда и сюда.
I heard that these railway workers travel by car.
2) prepositional combinations: от...до...,
из...в/на...etc.
(a) Александр Терехов сопровождает
недаром учителя от университета до
дома － темным и льдистым арбатским
переулкам.
No wonder Alexander Terekhov accompanied
the teacher from school to home, because the
alley of Arbat is dark and gloomy.
(b) Все бегали из дома на улицу, таскали
вещи...
Everyone ran from home to the street, dragging
things...
3. Fringe field
The fringe field in the functional semantic field
of Russian orientation is an infinitely vast space
system that intersects with other semantic
categories. The main types of expressions are:
adverbs, verbs that express the meaning of
departure (покинуть/покидать, etc.), main-
subordinate compound sentences (откуда-led
main-subordinate compound sentences) and so
on.
1) Adverbs
(a) Это издали он казался всё таким же
слонёнком, как при первой встрече.
From a distance, he appears to be the same baby
elephant as when they first met.
2) Verbs (покинуть etc. that express the
meaning of departure)
(a) Четверть века прошло, как навсегда, я
покинул этот город.
Twenty-five years passed away, I have left the
city forever.
3) Мain-subordinate compound sentences
(...оттуда, откуда... or adjective + N. +
откуда clause, etc.)
(a) Очевидно, кто-то там вышел оттуда,
откуда она звонила.
Obviously, someone over there went out from
where she called.
(b) Та самая комната, откуда мы ушли утром.
Exactly the room left we in the morning.
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Functional Semantic Field of Chinese Spatial
Orientation
1. Core field
The expression means of the core field in the
functional semantic field of Chinese spatial
orientation are spatial prepositional phrases and
directional verb structures. Among them, the
prepositions "cóng
从
", "xiàng
向
", "wǎng
往
",
"dào
到
", "cháo
朝
" and other words express the
meaning of orientation. According to statistics,
there are six types of spatial prepositional phrases
that express orientational meaning: spatial
preposition + noun + orientational word, spatial
preposition + locational word, spatial preposition
+ locational word + directional verb, spatial
preposition + locational word + verb +
directional verb, Spatial preposition + locational
noun, spatial preposition + demonstrative
pronoun. There are four types of directional verb
structures that express the meaning of orientation:
directional verb + locational noun, directional
verb + common noun, directional verb, verb +
directional verb.
Orientational words refer to words that express
the names of orientation and relative positional
relationship (Yuehua, 2017: 50), such as "shàng
上、
xià
下、
zuǒ
左、
yòu
右、
qián
前、
hòu
后、
nèi
内、
wai4
外
" and so on. This paper adopts
Wu Jiadi’s definition and identification of
orientational words, locational words and
locational nouns from the perspective of
semantic grammar. orientational words are
spatial positional words that express the
directional and positional relationship based on
reference objects. A total of 123 orientational
words are screened ①, of which There are 83
human body orientational words and 40 natural
orientational words (Jiadi, 2008: 21-22).
Locational words are spatial locational words
that represent places based on buildings (Jiadi,
2009). A total of 115 locational words have been
screened ②. For example, the basic semantics
are teaching units, place names, administrative
divisions, etc., which are classified as "locational
nouns", such as Beijing, Shanghai, Harbin, etc.
The directional verb is a special relatively closed
part of speech, and it is also the most important
means of expressing direction (Jing, 2020). Its
characteristic is that it can be used as a
complement after the verb. We screened out 26
directional verbs in total: shàng
上、
xià
下、
jìn
进、
chū
出、
kāi
开、
huí
回、
guò
过、
qǐ
起、
dào
到、
lái
来、
shànglái
上来、
xiàlái
下来、
jìnlái
进来、
chūlái
出来、开来、
huílái
回来、
guòlái
过来、
qǐlái
起来、
dàolái
到来、
qù
去、
shàngqù
上去、
xiàqù
下去、
jìnqù
进去、
chūqù
出去、
kāiqù
开去、
huíqù
回去、
guòqù
过去
.
1) Spatial preposition + common noun +
orientational word
a) ...说着赶紧
从房间里
拿出一叠发票来，
一副悔过自新的神色。
...Then he quickly took out a stack of invoices
from the room with a repentant look.
b) 马希山狠狠地咬了咬牙，拳头
向桌子上
一拍，震得杯盘当当响。
Ma Xishan gritted his teeth fiercely and slapped
his fist on the table, making the cups and plates
rattle.
2) Spatial preposition + locational word
(a) 林玉辉凭着一身好水性，把渡船渐渐
往
岸边
拉。
With his good swimming skill, Lin Yuhui
gradually pulled the ferry to the shore.
(b) 日本人把它们带
到城外
一块空地上。
The Japanese took them to a vacant area outside
the city.
3) Spatial preposition + locational word +
directional verb
(a) 这时刘勃卡坐
到
邬丽亚
身边来
。
At this time, Liu Boka sat down beside Wu Liya.
(b) 韩飞飞沉吟了一下道：“你从哪儿来？”
那黑衣壮汉道：“属下刚
从城外来
。”
Han Fei pondered for a moment and said, "Where
are you from?" The strong man in black said: "I
have just come from outside the city.
4) Spatial preposition + locational word + verb
+ directional verb
(a) 两个戴眼镜的姑娘
从身旁走过
。
Two girls with glasses passed by.
(b) 她睁大了眼睛，吃惊地
向窗外看去
。
She opened her eyes wide and looked out of the
window in surprise.
5) Spatial preposition + locational noun
(a) 班长吴猛明天一早，就要离开这前沿阵
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地，
到北京
—毛主席的身边去上社会主
义的大学了。
Wu Meng, the monitor, will leave this frontline
early tomorrow morning and go to Beijing—
Chairman Mao's side to attend a socialist
university.
(b) 我们
从哈尔滨
乘夜间火车，一早起来即
已到达鸡西市。
We took the night train from Harbin and arrived
in Jixi City early in the morning.
6) Spatial Prepositions + Demonstrative
Pronouns
(a) 为了那个微笑的女孩，人们从全世界走
到这里
—普林森格拉赫特街 263 号。
People come from all over the world for that
smiling girl - 263 Prinsengracht Street.
(b) 这边有一个地方的坡度较小，我们
从这
儿
下去。
There is a place with a small slope here, let's go
down from here.
7) Directional verb + locational noun
(a) “祺尔，我明天要跟你
去上海
。”
"Qi Er, I want to go to Shanghai with you
tomorrow."
(b) 1981 年，老赖带着他的部分书画作品
来
杭州
举行画展。
In 1981, the old Lai brought some of his
calligraphy and painting works to Hangzhou for
an exhibition.
8) Directional verb + common noun
(a) 她笑着背起筐子，就跟我
上山
。
She carried the basket with a smile and followed
me up the mountain.
(b) 小燕子刷完了屋顶，飞身
下地
。
Xiaoyanzi finished painting the roof and flew
down to the ground.
9) Directional Verbs
(a) 初霞看了看那“单薄”的滑竿，说什么也
不肯
上去
。
Chuxia looked at the "thin" sliding pole and
refused to go up.
(b) 我走到博物馆门口，忽然不想
进去
了。
I walked to the entrance of the museum and
suddenly didn't want to go in.
10) Verb + directional Verb
(a) 巴纳斯山回答说：“从这烟囱里
爬上去
”。
Banas Hill replied: "Climb up from this
chimney".
(b) 为了找到我生命的意义，我一定要
走出
去
！
In order to find the meaning of my life, I must go
out!
2. Transition field
The expressions of transition field in Chinese
directional functional semantic field mainly
include: locational word + verb + directional verb,
demonstrative pronoun, idiom, orientational
word + directional verb, directional verb +
orientational word, etc.
1) locational word + verb + directional verb
(a)
街上传来
一辆马车的声音，泰伊番先生
家一个穿号衣的当差神色慌张的冲进来
，古的太太一眼便认出了。
There was the sound of a carriage coming from
the street, a Mr. Taifan’s waiter in a coat rushed
in with a flustered look, Mrs. Gu recognized him
at a glance.
(b) 忽然
天上飞过
一片黑云，把月亮遮了个
严丝合缝。
Suddenly a black cloud flew across the sky,
covering the moon tightly.
2) Demonstrative pronouns
(a) 我们一直在找，就是找不到
哪里
发出来。
We have been looking for it, but we can't find
where it was from.
(b) 不久，我们听到
那儿
传来一声枪响。
Soon, we heard a gunshot coming from there.
3) Idioms
(a) 于是我们这个小姑娘就要
东奔西走
。
So our little girl will move out and run away.
(b)
南来北往
无数次，有一件事我迄今记得
清清楚楚。
I have traveled from south to north countless
times, and there is one thing I remember clearly
so far.
4) orientational words (east, south, west, north,
etc.) + directional verbs (up, down, etc.)
(a) 他闭上眼，不愿告知更多，包括他即将
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北上
，不告而别。
He closed his eyes and was reluctant to tell more,
including that he was about to go north, left
without saying goodbye.
(b) 有人称之为“人流
南下
，广货
北上
”。
Some people call it "the flow of people goes
south, the goods from Guangzhou go north".
5) directional verb + orientational word
(a) 风清扬一听端木雪是来报信的，急忙
上
前
。
Feng Qingyang hurried forward when he heard
that Duanmuxue was here to report.
3. Fringe field
It should be pointed out that the fringe field of the
functional semantic field is an infinitely vast
space system. The fringe field of one functional
semantic field may intersect with another
functional semantic field. The fringe field of the
functional semantic field of Chinese spatial
orientation mainly includes locational words,
locational nouns and phrases that express the
meaning of time.
1) locational word
(a) — “去哪？”— “
书房
” 。
— "Where to go?" — "Study room".
2) locational noun
(a) — “走？往哪儿走？”— “
南京
，
上海
，
最末不成就是台湾了。”
— "Go? Where to go?" — "Nanjing, Shanghai,
Taiwan will be the last."
3) Phrases that express the meaning of time
(a) 自女儿从国外
求学回来至今
，他们两老
等他这个动作可久了。
Since their daughter came back from studying
abroad, the old couples have been waiting for his
such action for a long time.
(b)
待到出口前
，导游让我们回头观望，但见远
处水面浮着一弯新月，皎洁可人。
At the exit, the tour guide asked us to look back,
but we saw a crescent moon floating on the water
in the distance, which was bright and pleasant.
Conclusion
It is well known that any concept expressed in
human consciousness can be conveyed through
language. Some concepts are systematically
reflected in language, while others can only be
expressed under specific circumstances, and
sometimes these concepts have no difference or
connection with other concepts with similar
content, which shows that language can
distinguish relatively more essential concepts.
According to the above research on the
functional semantic field of Russian-Chinese
spatial orientation, the expression means of
functional semantic field of Russian spatial
orientation are morphological, lexical and
syntactic means, while the expression means of
Chinese are lexical and syntactic means. In
Chinese, the expression means of core field,
transition field and fringe field are much more
than those in Russian.
From the perspective of functional semantic
fields, we study the set of fields representing
directional meaning in Russian and Chinese. We
present the similarities and differences of the two
language expressions more systematically,
realize the integrity of the two language units in
the interaction, show the function of the units
from the different languages, especially the
unmarked way of expressing spatial relationships,
it ensures the clarity of the grammatical
phenomena we study. The realization of the
above goals is based on the theory of functional
grammar, that is, the two methods of analyzing
language are "from semantics to form" ("from
function to means") and "from form to
semantics" ("from means to function"), it
systematically forms the semantic functions of
aggregates of language units.
This paper presents the spatial orientational
functional semantic field as a system composed
of three subfields: core field, transition field and
fringe field, whose basic semantics include the
meaning of "path starting point" and "path ending
point". The linguistic units in the core field have
stronger semantic category functions, and the
category meaning in the fringe field intersects
with the semantic categories of other fields.
Considering the characteristics of the
communicative function method, when we teach
Chinese university students the structure of
expressing Russian spatial orientation, we can
optimize Chinese students to construct the
functional semantic field structure of Russian
spatial orientation and improve their learning
efficiency. The research of this paper will have
certain theoretical value in translation studies,
speech communication, etc., and will have a
certain enlightenment effect for Chinese students
to learn Russian grammar, especially the
grammatical knowledge of Russian spatial
prepositions.
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