On the means and mechanisms of lexical nomination in the lexical semantic group “crime” (based on Russian and English languages)

The article addresses the issue of nominative units forming lexical-semantic group “Crime” in Russian and English. The names of crimes are analyzed from the standpoint of nominative means and mechanisms of nomination employed. It is established that complex nomination of crimes is typical of statutory documents such as the Criminal Code. The structural scheme represented in terms of metalinguistic notation as (Adj +) N + (pr +) (Adj) + N is elicited as the basic and the most frequent one for the Russian nominative units. A more frequent model in the English language is N + pr + N which can and is often extended, typically, by non-finite forms of the verb. Specification of the significative meaning by adding a lexical item to a nominative unit, metonymy, analogy, extention of meaning, narrowing of meaning and conversion are among the nomination mechanisms which have been inferred from the analysis of the lexical items.