Linguosophy of time in modern ukrainian poetry

Abstract

Introduction. In the process of the development of Ukrainian linguistics, the scholars have demonstrated their persistent interest in the linguistic tools for describing time as a fundamental ideological and mental category. The structuralist approaches to the semantic means and expressions used to actualize time dominating at the end of the 20^th century, have been substituted by the scientific priorities with the emphasis on cognitive, linguo-cultural and, therefore, linguosophic facets of acquiring knowledge about time and its linguistic descriptors.

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to specify and describe the means of verbalizing the semantics of time in modern Ukrainian poetic texts.

Results. Modern Ukrainian poetic texts regularly demonstrate that the term time conveys not only the direct meaning recorded in lexicographical sources but also implies numerous concretizers which segment, correlate, and describe both the general concept of time and its various aspects.

In such a context, the observed regularity seems quite logical, as it is the poetic texts that verbalize the motif/theme of time flow whereas the verbs with the semantics of movement are the linguistic means of transmitting the main functional and aesthetic charge.

The analysis of large literary bulk gives us the reason to state that poetic description of the onset / completion and course of certain time periods is closely related to its verbal characteristics. Additionally, the vague temporal semantics of these texts is verbalized by the images that belong to the metaphorical models «time – space», «time – human being», «time – nature». These models are characterized by the high level of artistic anthropomorphism, yet with the radical occasional modernization of the stereotyped verbal formulas. The revealed trend to specify and actualize the vague semantics of time seems equally interesting and promising. Moreover, it is quite productively supported by the wide use of the metaphors related to the sphere of human everyday life, genitive metaphors and similes.

Conclusion. The linguistic cognitions of the authors of the analysed poetic texts confirm the compatibility of the traditional linguistic symbols used to denote time with the diverse artistic and figurative verbalizers of it. The most productive types of creating metaphors are found at the intersection of the following conceptual spheres time – human being, time – nature (bird, animal, plant, water, wind), time – space. A new reading of the modern poetic dictionary is a promising direction for the actualization of the linguistic and cultural identity of Ukrainians. In the poetry of the war period, modernization of the linguistic descriptors of the category of time becomes obvious, as the dominant models give way to the original author's aesthetic and representative time markers, which reflect deep existential shifts in the worldview of modern readers.