Sensorics of the category of physiological and mental deviations in English drolls
Автор: Ptashkin A.
Журнал: Вестник Волгоградского государственного университета. Серия 2: Языкознание @jvolsu-linguistics
Рубрика: Материалы и сообщения
Статья в выпуске: 1 т.24, 2025 года.
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The paper deals with sensory means of the expression within the semantic fields of the category of physiological and mental deviations in English old drolls. The source of material is folklore texts by T. Blount, W.C. Hazlitt, E.S. Hartland, G. Stephens, T. Sternerg, T. Wright, Ch. S. Burne, J. Jacobs. The semantic and contextual analyses of the sensory lexemes, collocations, phraseological units representing the semantic fields that form the category under study were considered as the main research methods. The semantic analysis showed that linguosensory lexical units in the folklore texts actualize different areas of semantic fields that reflect social views about physiological and mental deviations. It has been defined that the structure of such fields implies a core, consisting of lexical units of a neutral-bookish style, the near periphery, including the lexis of informal style with further differentiation, and the interpretative field. The distant periphery in the structure of these fields was not formed. The semantic features of the category of physiological and mental deviations defined in the boundaries of the contextual analysis is comprise into the semantic field of the dicteme as a result of the contextual analysis of lexical units. The material and findings of the study can be used to pursue the contrastive and comparative analyses of perceptional linguistic means in the boundaries of cognitive linguistics, linguosensorics.
Category, deviation, droll, dicteme, lexeme, collocation
Короткий адрес: https://sciup.org/149148695
IDR: 149148695 | УДК: 811.111’37 | DOI: 10.15688/jvolsu2.2025.1.9
Текст научной статьи Sensorics of the category of physiological and mental deviations in English drolls
DOI:
Nowadays the linguistic world-image is being considered and studied as the system of mental units: basic and subordinate categories, categories of higher abstraction, etc. [Petrochenko, Ptashkin, Andreeva, 2014; Dancygier, 2017]. The interpretation of categories is based on the principle of ontologism [Bondarko, 2013]. Categories are described on the basis of lexis acquired during one’s life [Cohen, Lefebvre, 2017]. They are depicted in personal linguistic world-image and are influenced by society and culture [Janda, 2018]. These are lexemes, collocations, phraseological units revealed in definite contexts, referring to a certain semantic field/category [Wang, 2020]. Even headings and the whole text can refer to a definite category [Allwood, Gardenfors, 1999].
The category of deviation presupposes the existence of physiological and mental components from the anthropocentric point of view, where the mental one prevails [Petrochenko, Ptashkin, Andreeva, 2014]. This semantic category is represented as the polycentric semantic field with its core and peripheries. The core of the mental component includes lexical units of neutral bookish style denoting: non-development of mental abilities ; mental illness ; genius . The core of the physiological component implies lexical units of neutral bookish style denoting traumas and acquired diseases and inborn pathologies . Both components also include medical terms with reference to brain and body pathologies. The peripheries of both components are represented by informal lexis and euphemisms that can also characterize other mental units [Croft, Cruse, 2004].
The semantic field of the category of physiological and mental deviations and categories that are connected with this phenomenon include sensory means of their expression with visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, gustatory signals, which were considered in accordance with the principles of classification of perceptional lexis in the boundaries of linguosensorics offered by V.K. Kharchenko [2012]. A.V. Nagornaya added outer, inner, kinaesthetic sensations to this classification [Nagornaya, 2017]. The relevance of the work is to define approaches to the analysis of the sensory means of expression within the semantic field of the category of physiological and mental deviations in English old drolls. The perception of physiological and mental deviations, depicted in the linguistic world-image of folklorists, is of significant interest. The category of physiological and mental deviations in English old drolls is considered in the framework of semantic analysis. The terms semantic space and semantic field are used as synonyms. The aim of the work is to define sensory means of expressing the semantic field of the category of physiological and mental deviations in English old drolls. Thus, the main task here is to reveal the semantic field of the above-mentioned category and consider linguosensory means of expressing this mental unit in English old drolls with the support of semantic and contextual methods.
Material and methods
The methods of semantic and contextual analyses enabled defining structural characteristics of the category of physiological and mental deviations with the focus on sensory means of its expression in English old drolls. These methods help to reveal the interconnection between the category of deviation and other mental units located in the old drolls as folk categories that are expressed by lexemes, collocations, phraseological units with sensory signals. We also use the dictemic theory of the text in the semantic analysis of the category of physiological and mental deviations for the first time. The semantic features of the deviation category, like any other mental unit, are part of the picture, representing, according to Bloch, a semantic space with a set of meanings revealed in a certain context [Blokh, Kashtanova, 2011, p. 17]. The category of deviation is also analyzed from the standpoint of the dictemic theory of the text, where propositions are formed into discourses; they are dictemes at the level of the text [Asratyan, 2020]. Most of the texts in the old drolls under study are monologues, each of the paragraphs is considered as a dicteme, taking into account the ideas of the dictemic theory of language. Such dicteme is sensory due to propositions that include perceptional linguistic units [Ptashkin, 2024].
The semantic analysis of these lexical units with sensory signals presupposes the limited number of stages due to the specific nature of the folklore texts. Following the task of defining semantic fields that shape the category of physiological and mental deviations, the semantic analysis revealed sensory lexical units, which may be referred to the semantic field under study. The contextual analysis of English old drolls resulted in setting the list of sensory lexes that represent the core and the peripheries of the semantic field of the category of deviation. The analysis of lexical entries was carried out to refine the meanings identified in the contexts.
Results and discussion
The titles of English old drolls, as well as other folklore texts, are considered as the dictemic name of the text. English jokes and humoresques, despite the brevity of the form, often require a detailed study of the macro-text in order to understand the conceptual and content plan of the title and the features of the formation of an individual, linguistic world-image of the author-compiler of folklore texts. Titles often indicate physiological and mental deviations. For instance, Edwin Hartland represents such headlines as The Wise Fools of Gotham , Stupid’s Mistaken Cries, The Three Sillies , The History of Tom Thumb in his edition (Hartland, 1906). Most of the presented lexical units in the headlines for the old drolls indicate a non-development of mental abilities ( fool , stupid , silly ) or inborn pathologies in physiology ( thumb ). An exception is the title to the story The Wise Fools of Gotham , indicating the ingenuity of the inhabitants in the settlement of Gotham, who pretended to be mad to scare away the courtiers of King John. They were very afraid that the road along which the king would pass might become public, so they blocked the path to pastures.
The revealed headings present the perceptual lexis of vision – The Three Sillies , and hearing – Stupid’s Mistaken Cries . These lexical units are perceptual means of expressing the category of mental deviations in English old drolls. The heading of the story The History of Tom Thumb includes the vocabulary of vision – thumb . The semantics of the lexeme thumb indicates a form of physiological deviation – lacking in physical size. It refers to the semantic field inborn pathologies within the boundaries of the category of physiological deviations.
Residents defend their own territory, exposing themselves as crazy in the comic story The Wise Fools of Gotham, originally derived from the work by T. Blount, later supplemented by W.C. Hazlitt – Tenures of land & customs of manors (Blount, Hazlitt, 1874). When the king’s emissaries arrive in Gotham to find out why the settlers did not let the head of state into the pastures, they observe a strange situation. Some villagers are busy drowning an eel in a puddle, others are dragging carts up to the roof of a large barn to shade the forest from the sun, etc. In this case, a number of linguistic means indicate the “temporary madness” of the characters with reference to the semantic field non-development of mental abilities :
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(1) ...Drown an eel... drag carts upon a large barn/ draw up on high... shade the wood from the sun/keep a wood from browning... tumble their cheeses down a bill/shove down the hill... hedge in a cuckoo which had perched upon an old bush/a cuckoo sitting still, while it they hedged round... thither go... see the cuckoo bush... For such are seen both here and there... (Blount, Hazlitt, 1874, p. 133).
The collocations drown an eel , hedge in a cuckoo which had perched upon an old bush и a cuckoo sitting still , while it they hedged round can also be referred to the perceptual lexis of hearing: drown , hedge in , a cuckoo , perch upon , sit still , hedge round .
The text also provides an example of a dicteme with a sensory shift from a visual signal to an auditory one, indicating the mental deviation ( nondevelopment of mental abilities ) of anyone who sees logic in the actions of the inhabitants of Gotham:
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(2) ... And passed by without a sneer... By all but errant fools (Blount, Hazlitt, 1874, p. 133),
where the phrase errant fool actualizes the meaning of “true fool” and refers to nondevelopment of mental abilities .
The following part of the dicteme is about drinking bouts, during which the story of the madmen from the village of Gotham is recalled:
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(3) ...In drunken circles crowned (Blount, Hazlitt, 1874, p. 133).
The semantics of the collocation drunken circles indicates a severe intoxication. It refers to mental illness and traumas and acquired diseases .
The lexemes fool and foolish in the collocations, phraseological units in this story actualize their direct meanings, for example, in the old saying “The wise men,” or “The fools of Gotham.”
Comparing the similarities in the plots of English, Irish and German fairy tales, folklorist Thomas Sternberg gives an example of a droll about “The three wishes” (Sternberg, 1851). The following dicteme shows that the lumberjack, upon returning home, did not even remember the unexpected meeting:
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(4) Whether from natural forgetfulness, or fairy illusion... (Sternberg, 1851, p. 135).
The collocation natural forgetfulness in this context actualizes the meaning “inborn absentmindedness” and refers to non-development of mental abilities .
This part of the dicteme deals with the fact that the lumberjack got hungry and wished aloud for himself a piece of pork pudding:
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(5) ...The old fellow waxed hungry, and audibly wished for a link of hog’s pudding (Sternberg, 1851, p. 135).
The collocation waxed hungry indicates the physiological deviation of the character, marks a temporary lack of food. We attributed it to the means of the expression of the semantic field traumas and acquired diseases. It refers to the inner sensations of the character. The collocation audibly wished implies an auditory signal as the adverb audibly actualizes the meaning “loudly.” The character imaged a link of hog’s pudding and he saw it at once. The collocation a link of hog’s pudding in the whole dicteme includes the visual signal in its semantics. This collocation was included into lexes with visual signals, following the idea of V.K. Kharchenko that such lexical units conjure up visual images [Kharchenko, 2012].
The lumberjack wanted to pronounce his wish loudly but didn’t manage to do it as a bunch of sausages rolled out of the chimney in the next part of the dicteme:
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(6) ...And down came a bunch of the wished-for delicacies (Sternberg, 1851, p. 135).
His wife got angry because he didn’t come up with a better wish and called him a fool:
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(7) Thou bist a fool, Jan (Sternberg, 1851, p. 135).
The lexeme fool actualizes its direct meaning and refers to non-development of mental abilities .
The woman wished for the sausage to stick to his nose. And so it happened. He could no longer remove the meat delicacy from his nose. The sprouts looked so ugly that he prayed aloud and asked to get rid of the sausage on his face immediately:
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(8) ...Finding no amount of force would remove these unsightly appendages from his proboscis... (Sternberg, 1851, p. 135).
The elf counted this request as a third wish. The lexeme unsightly in the collocation unsightly appendages actualizes the meaning of “ugly,” indicates traumas and acquired diseases . This lexeme is included in nominations of vision.
The semantics of linguistic means expressing the category of mental deviations refers to negative ( non-development of mental abilities ) and positive (for example, genius ) forms of anomaly in the brain of characters in English old drolls. Characters from birth are either stupid or incredibly smart. Thus, the following droll, The Miller at the Professor’s Examination , included by Thomas Wright in his collection of tales in the Folk-lore Record of 1879, is about an eminent foreign professor who comes to Cambridge to examine students. The students were very frightened:
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(9) ...And great also were the fears of the students, who dreaded the time when they must prove
their acquirements before one so famous for his learning (Wright, 1879, p. 173).
Semantics of the verb “prove” in the collocation “prove one’s acquirements” actualizes one of its sensory meanings – “demonstrate.” This collocation refers to the visual-auditory signals of perception. The visual-auditory signals are also represented in the final part of the dicteme one so famous for his learning , where the genius of the professor is highlighted. Thus, this collocation is included into mental deviations, actualizing the meaning of positive form of deviation – genius .
Students of Cambridge decided to amaze the professor with their knowledge. They changed into clothes of workers and pretended to be working somewhere near the road, along which the professor was supposed to pass. The professor was impressed by this group and the second one, who spoke Greek:
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(10) ...Even the common laborers on the roads talk Latin and Greek... (Wright, 1879, p. 173).
The laborers turned out to be well-educated people; they talked Latin and Greek. Thecollocation talk Latin and Greek includes the auditory signal and refers to the semantic field genius in the sense of positive anomaly within the boundaries of hyperdicteme, taking into account the whole sentence.
The next dicteme shows that one of the students is afraid of passing the exam. The miller is eager to help him without a moment’s hesitation. This student is physically challenged, he is one-eyed:
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(11) ...Everybody knows that I have but one eye (Wright, 1879, p. 173).
The collocation have but one eye actualizes its direct meaning “single eyed,” it includes visual signal and refers to inborn pathologies, traumas and acquired diseases . This context does not indicate whether the anomaly was inborn one or it was acquires. Thus, we can include this collocation into two semantic fields: inborn pathologies , traumas and acquired diseases .
The miller decides to cover his eye with a bandage and go to the exam instead of this student. He managed to pass the exam but did it with an unexpected result. The professor understood him in a different way. He was sure that the student was dealing with highly metaphorical phenomena, meaning signs of religious nature but in reality, the miller was as simple as possible. The following dicteme explains intentions and emotions the miller used:
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(12) Then he looked still more fiercely, and held out his one finger... he would poke my one eye out, and I held two fingers... if he poked out my one eye I would poke out his two, and then be held out three of his fingers, as though he would scratch my face, and I clenched my fist and shook it at him... if he did I would knock him down (Wright, 1879, p. 173).
The visual signal is included into the whole dicteme, where the shifting from the visual signal ( look still more fiercely , hold out one finger , hold two fingers , be held out three of one’s fingers , clench one’s fist , shake it at smb , knock smb down ) to the visual-tactile one ( poke one’s eye out , smb pokes out smb’s one eye smb would poke out smb’s two , scratch one’s face ) is observed. Some of the lexical units have the meanings of possible traumas: poke out one’s eyes , scratch one’s face , knock smb down . Thus, they are included into the core of the semantic field traumas and acquired diseases in accordance with their neutral-bookish style.
The story Stupid’s Mistaken Twice by G. Stephens is devoted to the boy, who was so awkward when he was getting over a fence:
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(13) ...Fell and hurt himself, and, beginning to blubber, forgot what he was sent for (Stephens, 1880, p. 153).
This example includes perceptual tension of visual ( ...fall and hurt oneself , forget what smb was sent for ) and auditory ( begin to blubber ) signals in terms of V.K. Kharchenko [2012]. The verb hurt defines the semantic space of traumas and acquired diseases within the category of deviations. Further narration will indicate that these lexical units of neutral-bookish style in the part of the dicteme forgot what he was sent for refer to non-development of mental abilities because the character had some serious problems with memory. He thought that he remembered what he needed to buy in the store, but he was mistaken. He met a sick man who heard the boy repeat the words liver , lights , gall .
As the man suffered from diseases, he got angry and beat the boy:
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(14) ...A man was sick, bawling out: “Liver and lights and gall and all!” Whereon the man laid hold of him and beat him... (Stephens, 1880, p. 153).
The lexeme sick actualizes the meaning “in bad physical condition” and refers to traumas and acquired diseases . The visual signal is supported by somatisms referring to the inner organs in the following part of the dicteme – Liver and lights and gall and all! The phraseological unit bawl out actualizes the meaning “to shout in a loud voice” and includes the visual-auditory signal.
The following dicteme demonstrates the “synchronicity of perception” [Kharchenko, 2012]:
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(15) Whereon the man laid hold of him and beat him (Stephens, 1880, p. 153).
Both actions develop rapidly and take seconds. The verb beat has its direct meaning “hit somebody hard,” it represents the core of the semantic field of traumas and acquired diseases in this dicteme.
The man made the boy say:
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(16) Pray God send no more up! (Stephens, 1880, p. 154).
The sower in the field thought that the boy wished him a bad harvest and he beat him:
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(17) “So the sower began to thrash him, and charged him to repeat: “Pray God send plenty more!” (Stephens, 1880, p. 153).
This dicteme includes visual ( thrash ) and auditory ( Pray God... ) signals. The verb thrash actualizes the meaning “to hit someone several times.” Its neutral-bookish style let us include it into traumas and acquired diseases .
Then the character of this story looked into the churchyard:
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(18) ...he met a funeral, but he went on with his “Pray God send plenty more! (Stephens, 1880, p. 153).
The collocation meet a funeral includes the visual signal. The second part of the dicteme he went on... actualizes a new meaning “wishing for more death” under this context. The boy had no wish to do bad things, he simply repeated the words that the sower ordered him to pronounce, but one of the relatives of the deceased person caught and beat him:
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(19) ...Seized and punished him... (Stephens, 1880, p. 153).
This mourner forced him to repeat the words that were related to the funeral:
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(20) “Pray God send the soul to heaven!” (Stephens, 1880, p. 153).
This part of the dicteme includes the visual signal. The semantics of the verbs seize and punish refers to traumas and acquired diseases .
The boy repeated the phrase Pray God , seeing the execution:
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(21) ...And met a dog and a bitch going to be hung, but his cry rang out... (Stephens, 1880, p. 153).
This dicteme shows the correlation between perception and ethics because the boy asks God for the soul of a woman to go to heaven. Of course, people got angry. The visual signal is shown in the first part of the dicteme: met a dog and a bitch going to be hung ; it also includes the verb hang as a synonym of the verb kill in this context. This verb characterizes the semantic field traumas and acquired diseases . The lexeme bitch actualizes the meaning “witch”. The second part of the dicteme is represented by the auditory signal ( his cry rang out ).
As mentioned above, people became angry and beat the boy:
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(22) The good folk nearly were furious, seized and struck him... (Stephens, 1880, p. 155).
These people made him say:
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(23) A dog and a bitch agoing to be hung! (Stephens, 1880, p. 155).
The first dicteme is supported by the visual-tactile signals (furious, seize, strike) where the verb strike actualizes the meaning “make an assault against somebody.” Due to the contextual conditions, it can be referred to traumas and acquired diseases. The dicteme A dog and a bitch... is repeated by the boy twice. The stylistic device of repetition is used during the whole narration by the boy to emphasize sensory signals of vision and audition.
These words were heard by a man and a woman, who were going to get married. The man beat him again:
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(24) ...Gave him many a thump... (Stephens, 1880, p. 155).
The idiom give someone a thump belongs to the semantic field considered above – the core in the semantic field traumas and acquired diseases . This category includes the semantic features of the mental unit traumas and acquired diseases within the context of Stupid’s Mistaken Cries . For instance, the boy left this couple and came to two employees, sitting in the ditch:
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(25) ...Two laborers who had fallen into a ditch (Stephens, 1880, p. 155).
The final part of the dicteme is represented by the visual signal ( fall into a ditch ). It also refers to traumas and acquired disease .
The repeated dictemes are always used to reflect different ideas, most of which are of perceptual nature here. One of the laborers, so vexed by the words of the boy, beat him and told him to say:
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(26) The one is out, I wish the other was! (Stephens, 1880, p. 155).
So he did but he pronounced this phrase, meeting a single-eyed man:
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(27) ...He found a fellow with only one eye; but he kept up his song: “The one is out, I wish the other was!” (Stephens, 1880, p. 155).
The collocation a fellow with only one eye has a visual signal, which shifts to the auditory one kept up his song. The collocation of neutralbookish style a fellow with only one eye refers to both inborn pathologies or traumas and acquired diseases because it is not contextually evident about the nature of the revealed deviation. The dicteme The one is out... is defined as the representative of the interpretative field of the physiological component: traumas and acquired diseases; it also actualizes the meaning “wishing someone to have no eyes.”
The next dicteme shows the furious reaction of the one-eyed man:
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(28) ... Master One-eye, who grabbed him and chastised him... The one side gives good light, I wish the other did! (Stephens, 1880, p. 155).
The collocation Master One-eye actualizes its main meaning and refers to inborn pathologies or traumas and acquired diseases . The reasons for including this lexical unit into both semantic fields were given above. It has a visual signal, which is also supported by the visual-tactile verbs grab , chastise . The verb chastise represents the semantic field traumas and acquired diseases . The second part of the dicteme The one side... includes the visual signal ( give good light , the other did ). It changes its meaning in the final scene. People decided that he was guilty of the fire. He was sent to prison and sentenced to death:
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(29) The end was, the judge put on his black cap, and condemned him to die (Stephens, 1880, p. 155).
The visual signal is supported by the collocations the judge put on his black cap , condemned him to die. The part of the dicteme condemned him to die also highlights the auditory signal. The verb die in this context actualizes the meaning “leading to the fatal injury” and represents traumas and acquired diseases . This context helps to refer the verb die to the semantic field of the category of physiological deviations.
Non-development of mental abilities and mental illness in the folklore texts do not necessarily mean a mental deviation. It is more connected with prejudices and omens. For instance, the characters of the story The Three Sillies , the farmer, his wife and their daughter noticed an axe, which was stuck in the beam of the cellar. They considered it to be a bad sign. They even imaged that the future son of their daughter will go down and die of this axe:
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(30) ...The axe was to fall on his head and kill him... (Hartland, 1906, p. 261).
The lexical units within this dicteme have the visual signal. The phraseological unit fall on also includes the tactile signal. The verb kill actualizes it direct meaning and refers to traumas and acquired diseases. This story is also presented in the version of Charlotte S. Burne Variant of the Three Noodles in the Folk-lore Journal 1884. The lexemes silly and noodle, which are presented in the titles of these works, belong to informal style with further differentiation. Thus, they refer to the near periphery of the semantic field non-development of mental abilities but they characterize different parts of this semantic space. The lexeme silly characterizes the conversational style, the lexeme noodle is included into the British slang.
One of the characters, a gentleman, who was the groom of the young lady of this family, decided not to join this strange company. They wept for their son, who might die in the future because of the axe. He promised them to find people, who are bigger sillies than these ones. At first, he met a strange old woman:
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(31) ...He came to an old woman’s cottage that had some grass growing on the roof... the old woman was trying get her cow to go up a ladder to the grass... (Burne, 1884, p. 43),
where the visual signal is supported by the actions of the characters and the objects used by the folklorist in the narration. The collocation old woman refers to non-development of mental abilities in the boundaries of this context .
The gentleman advised the old woman to cut the grass and throw it off the roof. She did not follow his advice and both the cow and the old woman died because the animal fell down off the roof and the string strangled it:
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(32) ...The cow tumbled off the roof, and hung by the string tied round her neck, and it strangled her... the weight of the cow tied to her wrist pulled the old woman up the chimney and she stuck fast half-way, and was smothered in the soot (Burne, 1884, p. 43).
The visual signal ( tumble off the roof , pull smb up the chimney , stick fast half-way ) is combined with visual-tactile signal ( hang by the string tied round one’s neck , strangle smb , tie to one’s wrist , be smothered in the soot ). All that lexical means help to actualize the meanings within the semantic field non-development of mental abilities .
In English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs the same story includes another visual signal of the tool. Instead of the axe, we observe the mallet:
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(33) ...The mallet was to fall on... (Jacobs, 2005, p. 13).
The old drolls depicted by E.S. Hartland, Ch.S. Burne and J. Jacobs have a lot of visual and tactile signals in common.
The second phase of the story The Three Sillies starts with the dicteme, where we find out that the young gentleman continued his journey. He decided to visit the inn to stop the night. He had to sleep in a double-bedded room. In the morning he found a stranger, who was trying to jump into his trousers:
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(34) ...The gentleman was surprised to see the other hang his trousers on the knobs of the chest of drawers and run across the room and try to jump into them... (Hartland, 1906, p. 263).
The visual signal is supported by the verbs see , hang , run across , jump into . The whole dicteme refers to the semantic space of the interpretative field of non-development of mental abilities within the category of deviation.
The gentleman helped him to put the trousers on in the right way and the stranger was so obliged to him:
The context of this dicteme supports the idea of the above-mentioned example. It represents the semantic space of the interpretative field of the mental unit non-development of mental abilities . The auditory signal is reflected in the use of the verb say .
The next dicteme shows that the character would meet other awkward people on his way:
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(36) ...They had got rakes, and brooms, and pikels (pitchforks), reaching into the pond... (Hartland, 1906, p. 263).
This example with visual signals was also included into the interpretative field of the mental unit non-development of mental abilities by us. The auditory signals ( ask, say ) were revealed in the following part of the dicteme:
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(37) ...The gentleman asked what was the matter. “Why,” they says, “matter enough! Moon’s tumbled into the pond, and we can’t get her out anyhow!” (Hartland, 1906, p. 263)
This dicteme also characterizes the condition of people, living in the village, which was struggling with the shadow of the moon in the water. The gentleman called them big sillies and went home to get married with his bride as was not so stupid in comparison with those people he met on his way. This part of the dicteme can be referred to the interpretative field of nondevelopment of mental abilities . The collocation big sillies actualizes the meaning “complete fools.”
Thus, the semantic space of the category of physiological and mental deviations also includes the interpretative field in the boundaries of English old drolls, where perceptual signals are observed.
Conclusion
The revealed meanings of sensory lexes, denoting physiological and mental deviations in old English drolls showed that this mental unit is ambivalent. It implies the existence of positive and negative aberrations.
The semantic field of the category of physiological and mental deviations consists of the core, near periphery, and interpretative semantic space represented by the sensory lexical units of neutral-bookish and informal styles in English old drolls. These lexical units refer to the semantic fields: mental illness , genius , non-development of mental abilities , inborn pathologies , traumas and acquired diseases .
Most of the linguistic units that actualize the meanings with reference to the semantic fields mentioned above presuppose sensory signals within the analyzed dictemes and hyperdictemes. They are visual, auditory, tactile ones. Some of them include sensory tension or shifting. Olfactory and gustatory signals were not defined in the context of English old drolls. These specific features of the structure and the linguistic means of the expression of the category of physiological and mental deviations were considered with the help of semantic and contextual methods.
Further study presupposes the contrastive and corpus analysis of old English drolls, fairy- tales, myths and legends with the purpose of revealing differences in presenting sensory means of expressing various mental units.
NOTE
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1 The research is carried out at National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University within the framework of Tomsk Polytechnic University Competitiveness Enhancement Program.