Theory of prototypes and the semantics of the verbs

Straipsnyje trumpai apibūdinama reikšmės samprata kognityvinėje lingvistikoje ir vieno iš reikšmės apibrėžimo instrumento - prototipo sąvoka. Reiškiama mintis, kad prototipo idėja galėtų būti vaisinga ir analizuojant veiksmažodžio semantiką. Kartu pabrėžiama veiksmažodžio (ir apskritai predikatinių žodžių) semantikos specifika ir tokių žodžių reikšmės definicijos ypatybės.The concept of the meaning in modem linguistics is noticeably changing. The major influence is made here by cognitive linguistics, the essence of which is that man's linguistic abilities are inseparably related to all other psychic activities, such as perception, imagination, thinking, and that the content of speaking is essentially identified with all contents of consciousness; the difference between the meaning and the cognitive concept is no longer distinguished. However, that idealised cognitive models, or the conventional meaning, which refers to a prototype, the most typical representative of a category, are acknowledged. The concept of the prototype is most frequently used to describe the meanings of the substantives. For example, in American culture the prototype of a bird is the blackbird, thus the definition of the word bird includes not only the features, wich are required and sufficient for all class of birds, such as 'living being', 'having wings', 'with feathers', but also such features as 'flies', 'lays eggs', 'has a beak", 'chirps, warbles', which are common not to all birds (e.g. ostrich). The main peculiarity of the verb results from its predicative function: the verb determines relations between the participants of a situation (performers), as well as the location of a situation in the axes of time and space. Both, from the point of view of the participants of a situation and in terms of typical features of the very action or state, the concept of prototype can be applied to the verb. For example, the Lithuanian verb "eiti" defines such prototypical situation, which is related only to one participant, namely, a man or any other living being, and the very action is movement with one's feet on the ground or any other firm foundation, though any other bodiless ghost can be going on the surface of water or tops of trees.[...