THE SEMANTIC SPACE OF THE ONYM «GOD» IN THE TEXT OF THE NOVEL «THE VOICE OF THE QUAIL» BY MARIIA TKACHIVSKA

Abstract

The article examines the unfolding of the semantic space of the onym God in the prose of Mariia Tkachivska. A linguocultural approach is employed to examine the verbalization of the concept of «God», and a method of analysing all the meanings and semantic nuances of the lexeme denoting the concept and all its connections with other words in context is applied. The study traces the paradigmatic relations of the theonym (the realization of its lexical-semantic structure in the text, synonymous and antonymous relations), its syntagmatic relations (its occurrence in phraseological units and free combinations), and its derivational dimension (the representation of semantics in derivatives). The lexeme God usually actualizes a direct sacred meaning and, together with the vocatives Bozhe and Bozhechku functioning as forms of address or desacralized interjections, reveals the Christian worldview of the characters. The text records an extension of the metonymic figurative meaning of the theonym, which is valuable for lexicography. The concept of «God» is also verbalized by synonyms that deepen its understanding. The essence of the Christian God is further revealed through phraseological units with the lexeme God (often transformed), which describe a person’s state, qualities, and actions; the state of nature; the unknown; and death. Interjectional phraseological units with a theonym as a component convey wishes, blessings, requests, warnings, gratitude, and assurances-oaths. No impolite imprecatory interjections containing the onym God, nor any antonyms to the lexeme God denoting evil forces, have been recorded, which is a distinctive feature of Mariia Tkachivska’s idiostyle and reflects Christian moral values. The free combinability of the theonym with verbs, adjectives, and particles actualizes new semes, often absent from dictionary definitions. The onym God reveals its semantics in relatively few derivatives. The study makes it possible to see the deep-rootedness of the concept of «God» in the linguistic worldview of Ukrainians and the living sacred stream in contemporary Ukrainian literature.