ИСТИНА

This talk is based on a frame-based approach to typological study. It is argued that semantic comparison should rely on a set of conceptual frames that can be revealed through analysis of word combinability in natural texts. The frame method was developed and tested by the Moscow Lexical Typology Group and is currently used in all its projects. The core of the method is finding contexts in which a word cannot be replaced by a given near-synonym and determining which properties prevent the substitution. The methodology includes survey of Dictionaries, corpora, the analysis of literature (prose and poetry) and work with the questionnaires (checklists for collecting data filled in by native speakers). The talk covered two projects of the Moscow Lexical Typology Group which I participated in: ‘Aqua motion verbs in Western NIA’ and ‘Verbs of position in Hindi in comparison with Russian’