THE VERB TO SAVE AS A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE RESCUE SITUATION FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS

Abstract

The paper deals with the cognitive and discursive analysis of the verb to save in aim to construct a cognitive model of the rescue situation in modern Russian. The choice of a verbal lexical unit is determined since the situation is based on a proposition, which is most often represented by the verb. Addressing the analysis of data from explanatory dictionaries, contexts presented in “The Russian National Corpus” and other Internet sources, typical situations verbalized by the word to save are identified, then, taking into account the highlighted situations, with a cognitive and discursive approach, the relevant properties of the lexeme are revealed. The data obtained is the basis for modeling the rescue situation, represented at the cognitive level in the form of a script. It is concluded that the verb to save verbalizes the situation of saving life, helping in a difficult situation, solving psychological problems. The cognitive scripts of the determined situations may alter on the type of discourse, cognitive and semantic hallmarks of the actants. It is also defined that salvation is often based on factors that do not depend on the will of a person, including also magical origins.