Specificity of the Semantic Category of Graduality in Irish Folk Dance Terminology

I. INTRODUCTION

The approach developed in Russian terminology research over the past decades involves, in particular, the study of terms from the standpoint of cognitivism. The focus on cognitive aspects makes it possible to address the mental capabilities of native speakers to explore their professional field and the world in general associated with the ethnocultural traditions of society, the socio-historical characteristics of the time they are experiencing, and the national psychological traits of individuals.

According to Russian prominent scientist in cognitive linguistic studies, E.S. Kubryakova, "the purpose of language and its role in the human community are determined by the fact that, first of all, it serves cognition, that... is understood as both scientific and everyday knowledge of the world, operating in the processes of its conceptualization and categorization" [Kubryakova, 2009: 12].

Terminology develops within scientific or professional domains. Expert knowledge of professionals is generated at a certain level of abstract thinking. It is verbalized in communication and accumulated in profile editions. In some cases there is a need to use infographics as an additional support for non-verbal mental structures.

The purpose of this paper is to study the semantics of terminological graduality and to analyze terminological gradation in multicomponent terminological units functioning in the English-language discourse of Irish folk dance.

The analysis was based on terms extracted by continuous sampling from explanatory terminological dictionaries, glossaries, original choreographic manuals and monographs on the history of dance over about more than a hundred years.

The relevance of the discussed issues is seen in the fact that choreographic terminology as a whole is an under-studied area due to its uniqueness - the presence of French terms in classical ballet, the absence of a single generally accepted system of notation (visual drawing records of dancers' movements), as well as the diversity of the world folklore heritage, which is conceptualized by borrowed terminological units at the level of national dances' names.

In addition, the phenomenon of graduality in terminology has not been studied enough. However it is a fruitful material for research and series of graded terms in the fields of specific knowledge can be found in dictionaries and while functioning in the texts.

II. BRIEF LITERATURE REVIEW

Numerous studies show that language and cultural heritage of the countries can influence perceptual judgments. People construct the surrounding world with the associations, symbols and images based on the language. Mental categorization of objects in memory reveals some of their various characteristics and overlaps with the semantic frameworks of the language.

We plan to discuss essential ideas from the previous decades concerning graduality.

It's worth refreshing in the memory a few postulates of Edward Sapir on grading. The first one tells that grading is a psychological process (and, therefore, it lies in the scope of cognitive linguistics interests). Also, there is a need of measurement, counting and preliminary judgments of grading. Moreover, the judgements of "more than" and "less than" are based exceptionally on the human perceptions. Finally, even the idea of "many" is rather subjective and depends upon the point of departure [Sapir, 1973: 122, 123].

Russian scientists who studied the quantitative manifestations of grading processes in the semantics of general vocabulary units recognized the presence of unique means of expressing graduality in the language (S.M. Kolesnikova, A.E. Levitsky, A.A. Krishtalyuk, etc.)

Linguistic (language) grading, according to S.M. Kolesnikova, is an expression of the speaker's "measuring" attitude to the subject of speech by lexico-phraseological, word-formative, morphological and syntactic means [Kolesnikova, 2010: 31].

The essence of grading, according to S.M. Kolesnikova, is the continuous increase/decrease of graduated quantities, degrees of quality, located on a scale in the form of "degrees" (steps, grading steps) [Kolesnikova, 2011: 185].

A.E. Levitsky, in his study of the concept of "Graduality", notes that a person evaluates his understanding of the external world and its phenomena, events, and actions from the standpoint of a particular scale of assessment existing in his consciousness [Levitsky, 2015: 115]. Everyday life requires evaluating the signs (features) and qualities of objects in the surrounding reality. Therefore, a person applies his mental ability to carry out grading (revealing the essential properties of objects, phenomena and processes) based on his goals and aspirations. According to A.E. Levitsky, "graduality is designed to capture a certain quality, degree, measure of a feature, or property of an object, phenomenon, state, or action" [Levitsky, 2015: 116].

The quality or property of the object must correspond to the internal psychological standard of the person. If it differs from what is expected, then the individual evaluates the object as a whole with a minus sign and rejects it as something unsuitable and unacceptable for himself. The internal rating scale is challenging to correct, even over time. On the contrary, "perfectionists" periodically convince others that "the water was wetter" because their internal standard has not been changed since their youth, and they are sensitive to changes.

The presence of identical features in objects allows them to be classified into a particular category. Their correlation with the standard simplify a value assessment, and a person characterizes them as desirable or undesirable. A personal category system may have "fine-tuning" and not coincide with the perception of others, with potential conflict possibility.

Psychologists are aware of the phenomenon called a "constancy of perception." This term describes the tendency of object constancy. "In general, a person perceives an object as relatively unchanged, despite changes in its illumination, position from which it is visible, or distance. It can be said that constancy makes it easier to locate and recognize objects" [Atkinson, Atkinson, 2000].

Proponents of the cognitive trend in psychology note: "The constancy of perception helps us to distract from insignificant, transient changes and perceive objects as something relatively unchangeable, and this, in turn, saves us from having to be a kind of weather vane, allows us to develop a certain line of behaviour (strategy and tactics) concerning various phenomena" [Druzhinin, Ushakov, 2002: 54].

The relative constancy of perception makes it possible to grade objects, phenomena and actions according to a scale of values, properties or qualities. According to the cognitive linguistics, "grading acts as an abstract operation, that is structured in an scaling image-scheme. The relations between referents in the aspect of "more" or "less" are organized and their intensity is determined" [Krishtalyuk 2011: 260].

In connection with the ideas of intensity that linguists have been interested in, the results of such linguists as Charles Bally and Jan Baudouin de Courtenay should be mentioned. Thus, according to Ch. Bally, intensity should include "all differences that come down to categories of quantity and magnitude [Bally, 1961: 202].

By comparing the categories of intensity and graduality, modern Russian researchers conclude that they are close but not identical. So, S.S. Kadyseva (2010) emphasizes that they "operate with the same units of language-speech and are linked with the degree of a grading manifestation assessing". At the same time, "the category of graduality is associated with the sequence of speech units in the order of increasing or decreasing degree of quality or property manifestation" [Kadyseva, 2010: 196].

Terminological gradation in this work is the embedding of a dimensional (measuring) scale that performs the function of characterizing object essential features in the lexical and syntactic structure of multicomponent terms.

Thus, having mentioned general information about linguistic graduality, we will examine the multicomponent terminological units that characterize Irish folk dances.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The scale of graduality is based on the principles of changing one of the parameters perceived by a person (qualities, properties or quantities).

Verbalization of a parameter change can be achieved through various linguistic means in multicomponent terminological units.

Graduality in terminology is a sequential increase or decrease of a specific essential feature in the object of a terminological nomination that unfolds in several multicomponent terms. Graded series of terms possess, as a rule, a common main word of a terminological phrase. The terms able to participate in grading lead to the formation of derivation series.

During the analysis we will consider graded series of terms by using examples of two- and three-component terminological units. Preliminary discussion of relevant information about the primary one-component terms is provided.

IV. INITIAL ONE - COMPONENT TERMS

The uniqueness of the Irish dance terminology and choreography terminology has been discussed earlier [Rosyanova, 2024]. A thematic group of terms, names of Irish folk dances, was chosen as the initial group of one-component terms.

The polysemy in these units is such that the name of the dance coincides with the folklore melodies or musical instruments. These are, for example, the terminological units Jig and Reel. Preliminary historical and cultural information about these two dances is provided before the further analysis on terminological graduality.

In the course of the research, not only modern sources were considered, but also diachronic explanatory dictionaries and monographs. The involvement of diachronic sources guarantees the embeddedness of the terminological unit and its rightful place in the terminological system of folk dances.

According to the definitions of the 19th century, Jig and Reel belong to European dances that have gained popularity in different countries. For example:

• Jig. Gigue (Fr). Giga (It.) - A lively dance performed by one or more dancers. It is popular among many nations and has a certain amount of difference in the steps according to the habits and customs of the people. The Jig, Gigue, Gighe, or Giga, as it is variously spelt, was one of the instruments used by the musicians of the and centuries, and this is generally understood to have been a sort of fiddle [DMT, 1889: 244].

• Reel (Old Eng.) – A lively rustic dance, popularly supposed to be Scotch, but probably of Scandinavian origin [DMT, 1889: 376].

It follows from the given definitions that many European nations perform a Jig in their way and with a various number of dance steps. In the Middle Ages, a string musical instrument, a type of violin, was called a Jig.

Jigs are also mentioned either Irish or cosmopolitan dances in the descriptions of the early 20th century. For example:

• To the Jig must be awarded the honour of being our oldest national dance; and there cannot be any doubt that of all the dances known in Ireland at the present day the Jig has the best title to the description "traditional" [Sheehan, 1902: 3].

• Jigs are not specially Irish, but are cosmopolitan. Only within the last century or so have they been described as "Irish Jigs". The Jig (Gigue, Giga, Geige) can be traced back as far as 1300 [Urlin, 1912: 92].

Reels are defined as dances of several couples in the Harvard dictionary of music in the middle of the 20th century. For example:

• Reel. - A dance performed by two or more couples standing in a circle and describing a series of figures each in the time of eight measures. It is common in Ireland, Scotland and America, the American variety being known as the Virginia Reel [HDM, 1950: 632].

If we return to the 21 century, the term Jig in the electronic version of the Encyclopedia Britannica is defined as a popular dance of the the 16th and 17th centuries in Scotland and northern England (and in Ireland since the 18th century). Information on the Irish jig available in the Encyclopedia Britannica, reports that it is performed as a solo or pair dance, with varieties of musical sizes, also called Jigs [britannica.com].

Thus, having considered general cultural information about the one-component terms of Irish folk dances Jig and Reel, we will begin to explore multicomponent terminological units formed by the derivation on their basis.

V. GRADUALITY OF TERMS BASED ON NUMERICAL OR ORDINAL CHARACTERISTICS OF OBJECTS

The simplest way to express graduality is by numerical or ordinal characterization of objects. When analyzing the material of Irish folk dance terms, several cases of creating gradation using numerical features (quantifiers) in the terminological nomination of objects have been found.

VI. TWO-COMPONENT TERMS

Graded series or terms correlating with the names of traditional Irish dances based on musical rhythms and melodies are the following:

• Single Jig, Double Jig, Treble Jig

• Single Reel, Double Reel, Treble Reel

The three-term graduality of dependent components of terminological phrases (Single, Double, Treble) expresses categories of various musical rhythms and types of performers' shoes. So, in particular, The Single Jig is one of the uncomplicated dance melodies performed in soft shoes. The Double Jig is performed either in soft or rigid shoes, with a beat to the rhythm. The Treble Jig is performed also in rigid boots and the Treble Reel, too. The grading in this case is classificatory in nature and differentiates Jigs and Reels as dances from dance rhythms and melodies.

The functioning of the terms involved in the graded series in the context of special literature shows that they have been used for more than a century. The embeddedness of two-component terms in the terminological system of choreography can be seen from the fact that they have been functioning over a hundred years. For example:

• The Jig, the Reel and the Hornpipe of Ireland are at once the most difficult and highly elaborated dances of the clog and shuffle type that can be found. In them are passages in which the feet tap the floor seventy-five times in a quarter of a minute [Kinney, 1914: 174].

• All of the tunes are in ordinary jig time (single jigs and double jigs) or reel time, with one exception. [Burchenal, 1924: 3].

It should be noted that numerical gradation is quite often used for nomination in both musical and theatrical terminology. Here are dictionary examples of one- and two-component terms that include a numerical component: first violin/fiddle, prima donna, prima ballerina, septet, sextet (type of ensemble or musical composition), triple fuga (three-voice fugue), triplex (three-part size), etc. [Barchenkova, Osipenkova, 2014]. The ordinal component first or prima, refers to an evaluation characteristic, meaning the "best" sample of something.

The terms duo, trio, quartet, etc., describe numerically the type of musical ensemble or composition. On their basis, as a result of derivation, two-component terms are formed, and they specify the musical instruments that are used: piano duet, trio of accordion players, violin trio, or related to singing: vocal duet. In this case, the initial single-component terms act as the top of the terminological nest, and further derivation stages diverge from this top.

VII. THREE-COMPONENT TERMS

Graded series or terms correlating with the names of traditional Irish dances based on the number of dancers are the following:

• Four Hand Reel, Six Hand Reel, Eight Hand Reel, Twelve Hand Reel, Sixteen Hand Reel.

In this case, the principle of creating graded terms series is based on the number of participating performers. The number of hands (Four, Six, Eight, Twelve, Sixteen Hand) is taken as the counting measure. Since this grading applies to pair dancing, the number of participants is always even.

Rare sources from the early twentieth century have examples of the functioning of such terminological units, confirming their embeddedness in the terminological system of dance. For example:

• The Reel is of Celtic origin, and a gliding, graceful movement is practised in the foursome, sixsome and eightsome reels, danced respectively by two, three and four couples [Urlin, 1912: 90].

• The Twelve-hand Reel is danced in precisely the same manner as the Sixteen-hand Reel. The leading couples dance hands round with couples on left, the other couples arranging themselves accordingly [O'Keeffe, 1902: 38].

The dependent components of the terms in question (Four Hand, Six Hand, Eight Hand, Twelve Hand, Sixteen Hand) contain a direct quantitative indication of the mutual dependence between terminological units having the identical main component, Reel. In addition, they verbalize a measure, a particular step that creates a "distance" between the terms. It is reasonable to call such dependent components as quantifiers since they objectify precisely the numerical feature of the terminological nomination.

It should also be noted that the french terminology of classical ballet to this day is characterized by the creation of graded series of terms with quantifiers based on the number of dancers. Such quantifiers do not contain evaluability or intensity. For example:

• Pas de deux is a dance between two performers, a classical duet, usually a dancer and a ballerina.

• Pas de trois is a dance of three performers, a classical trio, most often two ballerinas and one dancer.

• Pas de quatre – dance of four performers, classical quartet [Babich, 2019].

According to the interpretation of the Short Dictionary of Dance terms and concepts, these types of dances are ballet forms with a specific structure, formed in the ballets of the XIX century. For example:

• Pas de deux - (French lit. step of two, dance together) is a ballet form. Originally, pas de deux was a dance that demonstrated the skill and grace of the performers. The final structure of the pas de deux — entrée, adagio, variation (solo) of the dancer, variation (solo) of the ballerina and the coda — was formed in the second half of the XIX century [Alexandrova, 2011: 593].

Choreographic compositions containing names that include quantifiers (for example, "Step of Two" or "Step of Four") are widely used in classical ballets performed on the modern stages.

VIII. CONCLUSION

Thus, the conducted study of multicomponent English terms of Irish folk dance containing graded scales of various types allows us to identify the following specificity of the category of graduality:

• The creation of graduality in two- and three-component terms is carried out by numerical ordering of dependent components with the identity of the main components.

• The grading scale of objects revealed in choreographic terminological nomination is based on dependent components-quantifiers. Such quantifiers do not contain evaluative or intensity semantics.

• The main quantifiers in terminology of Irish folk dance are various musical rhythms (such as Single Jig, Double Jig, Treble Jig) or the number of dancing performers (for example, Six Hand Reel, Eight Hand Reel).

• Grading quantifying term components explicate the progressive increase (decrease) of object characteristic features, the quantified "distance" during the transition from one specific feature to another. The sequence of essential features of the terminological nomination fixes the hierarchy of graded terms.

The research on terminological gradation issues based on the terminology of Irish folk dance will serve to the further development of cognitive approach in the study of terminology. The accumulating of facts on graded series of terms in various professional domains is necessary to create a typology of graduality in English terminology.