Semantic Reconstruction of the Borrowed Word Park in the Russian Language

The article introduces a new methodology of semasiological analysis. The method traces lexical-semantic groups for changes in their nuclear semes by exploiting the dynamics of semantic changes at the level of elementary semantic components, which further affects the conceptual profile of the word. Semantic reconstruction is the first step to understanding the semantic route that a linguistic borrowing follows from its first records through all its adaptations. The authors constructed a methodological frame for a comprehensive semasiological analysis of English-language borrowings using the word park that entered the Russian language during the reign of Peter the Great. The method took into account such parameters as frequency and prevalence; it proved effective in explicating the adaptation processes through the external semantic reconstruction of the word and its typology. The word park entered the Russian language system in the first half of the 18th century. Its reconstruction was described in this article stage by stage. First, the authors compared the meanings of the original word park with the semantic composition of the borrowed word park to determine its semantic volume and function range during the early adaptation. The nuclear semes of the lexical-semantic group of the borrowed word and its English language etymon demonstrated a certain discrepancy between the original and borrowed meanings. Second, the authors traced the semantic development in dynamics. As the semantic emphasis shifted from the nuclear component of the original lexical-semantic group to the clarifying component in the borrowed word, it triggered a change in the conceptual basis of the borrowed word. The component analysis of the borrowing was supplemented with contextual examples from the Petrine era in order to prevent distorted perception and asynchrony.