Adjectives with the Meanings ‘Long’ and ‘Short’ in Horizontal and Vertical Dimensions: a Case Study of the Buryat Language and Dictionaries

The paper examines adjectives denoting horizontal and vertical size (‘long’ and ‘short’) in the Buryat language and Russian-Buryat dictionaries. The analysis shows that adjectives to define objects in horizontal orientation are fewer than those dealing with vertical orientation. At the same time, adjectives of vertical orientation (oodon and ohor) are distinguished by exclusive compatibility characteristics. The adjective oodon characterizes objects hanging down, such as tails, lower hems, bottom edges of trousers, shoulder weapons, etc.; and the word ohor defines vertical, upwardsdirected
objects, e.g., grass, rocks, etc. The dominant adjectives in synonymic chains of both orientations coincide and serve as general definitions of certain qualities or characteristics of an object (uta and bogony). For deeper understanding of peculiarities inherent to these adjectives, the paper examines no pictorial, stylistically loaded adjectives since those are often essentially evaluative and do not act as object definers directly; the single exception examined being the somewhat evaluative adjective unzhagar ‘long’ containing semes of both horizontal and vertical orientations. It defines objects stretched in perspective, as well as ones that hang down or face upwards. As for the analyzed adjectives, in both the synonymic chains the adjectives bogony and oodon ‘short’ are not used in a figurative sense, while uta and ohor are active enough in this function. This fact, apparently, attests to that those are basically used in their direct, utilitarian function ― determination of physical parameters of an object used in practice and economic activities. So, a different story is that of the word ohor which, when combined with ukhaan, bodol, naγan, express figurative meanings (ohor ukhaan ‘dull mind’, ohor γanaan ‘short-sighted’, ohor naγan ‘short life / short century’). Some of these adjectives are used to form compound nouns and adjectives, e.g., uta honshoor ‘bittern’, ohor γüül ‘tailbone’, oodon buu ‘carbine’, oodon terge ‘uniaxial cart’, oodon ümden ‘shorts’, etc. Distinction between Buryat (and other Mongolic) synonyms in vertical orientation requires a deeper analysis based on their etymologies, and in lexicographical practice – accompaniments in the form of semantic explanations.

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