Attributive and predicative functions of adjectives in English and Russian paroemiology

Abstract

The purpose of this article is a comparative analysis of the attributive and predicative functions of the adjective in the paroemias of the English and Russian languages. The relevance of the work is determined by the need to study grammatical semantics in fixed linguistic units that reflect the fundamental laws of language and the national worldview. Proverbs represent a unique linguistic material in which syntactic structures crystallize, governed not only by grammatical norms but also by the laws of rhythm, rhyme, and mnemonic expediency. The research objectives included: identifying and classifying structural models with attributive and predicative adjectives in English and Russian proverbs; analyzing the semantic and pragmatic features of adjectives in each function within the proverbial context; determining the degree and nature of interaction between attributive and predicative relations within paroemiological statements. The research material consisted of proverbs from authoritative dictionaries of both languages, including The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs and V. I. Dahl's collection Proverbs of the Russian People, which ensures the representativeness of the results obtained. The methodology is based on the integrated application of comparative, contextual, and semantic-syntactic analysis methods, as well as a functional-pragmatic approach. The results show that, despite the commonality of basic grammatical functions, proverbs demonstrate specific patterns of adjective use determined by the nominative and communicative specificity of the genre. The novelty of the work lies in identifying the correlation between the grammatical function of the adjective and its pragmatic role in the structure of the paroemiological utterance. It has been shown that the predicative function, being genetically primary, often serves to assert universal truths and value orientations in proverbs, while the attributive function is used to create concise nominative complexes that fix a typified feature of an object. Both universal features (the predominance of qualitative adjectives, active use of antonymic oppositions) and specific characteristics have been identified: Russian proverbs more frequently contain short forms of predicative adjectives and ethically marked vocabulary, whereas English proverbs are dominated by adjectives with pragmatic evaluation. The results can be applied in courses on theoretical grammar, cultural linguistics, intercultural communication, and lexicographic practice.