Дослідження ЛСГ “Cat” в поетичній збірці Т.С. Еліота “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats”

        Gus is the typical eccentric cat. In this poem we learn of a cat that has done many a thing and has many a tale to tell. He is theatrical, he is regal even in old age. The gin swilling, actor of the cat society. As we read the poem we can almost see Gus standing with his top hat and tails with a snooty look on his face. An entertaining poem.

‘Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town’

        Bustopher is the society cat that wines and dines in all the respectable places, he is the well fed, fat cat that puts your average tom cat to shame. He is well read & lives a life of culture. As you read the poem you can imagine that this cat would perfectly mirror the image of its owner. I picture an middle aged spinster with too much time and too much affection for a spoilt cat!

‘Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat’

        This particular poem is different from the others in that it makes the cat a more human character. The cat has a job and converses with humans and in fact keeps them  in order! It is a tale of ‘Skimbleshanks’ who is a railway guard and portrays the cat as a sensible stalwart of society.

‘The Addressing of Cats’

        Although this is not the final poem in the collection. It provides an overview of the whole collection by bringing to attention the many types of cats and tales of cats that we have read while journeying through the book. It explains perfectly that cats, just like humans are all individual, all different in so many ways.

‘You now have learned enough to see

That Cats are much like you and me

And other people whom we find

Possessed of various types of mind.’ 

This poem is like the conclusion of a long journey through the rich tapestry of the lives of cats (and humans!).

‘Cat Morgan Introduces Himself’

        The last poem in the collection feels oddly out of place having read the previous poem. The poem actually mentions ‘Faber & Faber’ who are the publishers of the book. It makes you wonder if this particular poem is about a cat that used to reside at the offices where ‘T.S. Eliot’ would have visited. It introduces you to a cat of character and culture who lazes at the door of these very offices.

‘So if you ‘ave business with Faber – or Faber –

I’ll give you this tip, and its worth a lot more:

You’ll save yourself time, and you’ll spare yourself labour

If jist you make friends with the Cat at the door’ 

        It is however more likely that it refers to a person who worked there such as a secretary/receptionist. After all in the previous poem we are reminded that cats are like people. By putting this poem last this memory and fact is etched in our brain.

2.3.Analysis of Lexical-semantic Fields of the Word Cat

Macavity: The Mystery Cat

Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw—

For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.

Macavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin;

You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.

His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly doomed;

His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.

He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;

And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake.

You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,

Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.

Bustopher Jones: The Cat About Town

Bustopher Jones is not skin and bones—

In fact, he's remarkably fat.

No commonplace mousers have such well-cut trousers

Or such an impreccable back.

Or, to put it in rhyme: “I shall last out my time”

Is the word of this stoutest of Cats.

Growltiger's Last Stand

Growltiger was a Bravo Cat, who travelled on a barge:

In fact he was the roughest cat that ever roamed at large.

Mungojerrie And Rumpelteazer

Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer were a very notorious couple of cats.

Gus: The Theatre Cat

Gus is the Cat at the Theatre Door.

His name, as I ought to have told you before,

His coat's very shabby, he's thin as a rake,

And he suffers from palsy that makes his paw shake.

Yet he was, in his youth, quite the smartest of Cats -

But no longer a terror to mice and to rats.

I'd extemporize back-chat, I knew how to gag,

And I knew how to let the cat out of the bag.

I knew how to act with my back and my tail;

With an hour of rehearsal, I never could fail.

Old Deuteronomy

Old Deuteronomy's lived a long time;

He's a Cat who has lived many lives in succession.

Ho! hi!

Oh, my eye!

My legs may be tottery, I must go slow

And be careful of Old Deuteronomy!"

Mr. Mistoffelees

You ought to know Mr. Mistoffelees!

The Original Conjuring Cat—

He is quiet and small, he is black

From his ears to the tip of his tail;

The Rum Tum Tugger

The Rum Tum Tugger is a Curious Cat:

If you offer him pheasant he would rather have grouse.

The Old Gumbie Cat

I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;

Her coat is of the tabby kind, with tiger stripes and leopard spots.

The Song Of The Jellicles

Jellicle Cats come out tonight,

Jellicle Cats come one come all:

Jellicle Cats are black and white,

Jellicle Cats are rather small;

Jellicle Cats have cheerful faces,

Jellicle Cats have bright black eyes;

Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat

There's a whisper down the line at 11.39

When the Night Mail's ready to depart,

He gives one flash of his glass-green eyes

And the signal goes "All Clear!"

Cat Morgan Introduces Himself

I once was a Pirate what sailed the 'igh seas –

        But now I've retired as a com-mission-aire:

Of The Awefull Battle Of The Pekes And The Pollicles

TOGETHER WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PARTICIPATION 
OF THE PUGS AND THE POMS, AND THE INTERVENTION OF THE GREAT RUMPUSCAT

 

Lexical - Semantic Fields:

1. Cat - synonyms

A domestic animal

tomcat, tom, kitten, feline, tabby, kitty, kit, puss, pussy, pussycat, grimalkin, mouser.

Tomcat

a male cat

Tom

the male of some animals, esp. of the cat

Kitten

a young cat: occasionally applied to the young of some other small animals

any animal of the cat family

Feline

• a light-colored cat with darker stripes, sometimes of another color
• any domestic cat, esp. a female

Tabby

a cat of any age

I have a Gumbie Cat in mind, her name is Jennyanydots;

Her coat is of the tabby kind, with tiger stripes and leopard spots.

 

Kitty, kit

cat, esp. a kitten: pet name or child's term

Puss, pussy, pussycat

a cat: pet name or child's term

TOGETHER WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE PARTICIPATION 
OF THE PUGS AND THE POMS, AND THE INTERVENTION OF THE GREAT RUMPUSCAT

 

Grimalkin

a cat; esp., an old female cat

Mouser

a cat, dog, etc., with reference to its ability to catch mice

Bustopher Jones is not skin and bones—

In fact, he's remarkably fat.

No commonplace mousers have such well-cut trousers

Or such an impreccable back.

 

2. Parts of cat’s body

Paw, eyes, brow, head, whiskers, thumb, bones, tail, legs, face.

        3. Cats’ Appearance

Ginger, tall, thin, dusty, fat, stout, shabby, shake, smatrt, quiet, small, black, white, stripes, spots, small.

 

Conclusion to part II

One of the long-established misconceptions about the lexicon is that it is neatly and rigidly divided into semantically related sets of words. In contrast, we claim that word meanings do not have clear boundaries. In this paper we tried to give proof of the fuzziness of meaning through an analysis of the lexical-semantic field of the word Cat in Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. We showed that many words belong not only to several subdomains within the field of Cat, but also to various semantic domains through metaphorical extension.

English language is organized in a myriad of lexical-semantic fields. Lexical-semantic fields are like family groups. They can be large, small, self-contained, extended, and, like people can be related to more than one family, so can words.

Semantic fields are not always clear-cut and coherent.

 

 

Conclusions

The cat is a metaphor for humans, while the names of the cat are a metaphor for our identity. Eliot explains that first cats have a name that humans call them. Metaphorically, this represents our identity in society. It can be our race, nationality, or social class. Next, the “cats” have the name that other cats call them. This is a metaphor for how we are seen in our community or among groups of friends or family. It is how those around us see us individually. Finally, there is the name that cats have for themselves. This is the most important name. This is how we see ourselves.

The meaning of a word is clarified when it i s analyzed within the lexical-semantic fields to which the different lexical entries of that word belong. In this sense, the lexical-semantic field seemed a suitable start for a subsequent study and analysis of each word within it, as it is the relationship between all the words of the whole field what shows the distinctive features of them and lets us determine the identity and the exact meaning of each word.

The first step is therefore choosing a lexical-semantic field and selecting 10 or 15 words belonging to it. The second step is classifying those words according to their frequency of use, and analysing the items included in the group formed by the most frequently used terms.

        The meaning of a given word or set of words is best understood as the contribution that word or phrase can make to the meaning or function of the whole sentence or linguistic utterance where that word or phrase occurs. The meaning of a given word is governed not only by the external object or idea that particular word is supposed to refer to, but also by the use of that particular word or phrase in a particular way, in a particular context, and to a particular effect.

Overall we have found this collection of poetry to be an enchanting read. We think it is ideal for children and adults alike. It washes away the image that is created in so many people’s minds that poetry is boring and inaccessible.  

 

Bibliography

1.Арнольд И.В. Эквивалентность как лингвистическое понятие // Семантика. Стилистика. Интертекстуальность : Спб.: Изд-во Санкт-Петербургск. Ун-та, 1999. – С.39-53.

 2.Вейнрейх У. Опыт семантической теории // НЗЛ. – Вып.10. Лингвистическая семантика. – М.: Прогресс, 1981. – С.50-176.

 3.Вилюман В.Г. Английская синонимика: (Введ. в теорию синонимии и методику изуч. синонимов). [Учеб. пособие для пед. институтов по спец. „иностр. яз.”]. – М.: Высшая школа, 1980.- С.16.

 4.Виноградов В.В. Основные типы лексических значений слова // ВЯ, 1953.- №5.- С.3-29.

 5.Каверина О.Н. Семантическое поле „погода” в современном английском языке: Автореф. дис. … канд. филол. наук. – М., 1992. – 16с.

6.Кузнецова А.И. Понятие семантической системы и методы ее исследования. – Москва, 1963. – 57с.

7.Левицький В.В., Огуй О.Д., Кійко Ю.С., Кійко С.В.Апроксимативні методи вивчення лексичного складу. – Чернівці: Рута. 2000. – 136с.

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 9.Макколи Дж. О месте семантики в грамматике языка // НЗЛ. – Вып. Х. Лингвистическая семантика. – М.: Прогресс, 1981. – С.235-301.

 10.Новиков Л.А. Избранные труды. – М.: РУДН, Т.1: Проблемы языкового значения.- 2001.- С. 148.

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Попова З.Д., Стернин И.А. Лексическая система языка. Воронеж, 1984. – С.39.

 12.Уфимцева А.А. Опыт изучения лексики как системы. – М.: Изд-во АН СССР, 1962.- 287с.

13.Филин Ф. П. Очерки по теорииязыкознания. М., 1982, с. 225, 226.

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Supplement

Idioms with the word CAT

alley cat

A promiscuous woman; also, a person of loose morals. For example, She's constantly picking up men in bars—a real alley cat. This idiom transfers a stray cat that frequents alleys in search of food to a woman of easy virtue, especially a prostitute seeking customers.

let the cat out of the bag

Give away a secret, as in Mom let the cat out of the bag and told us Karen was engaged. This expression alludes to the dishonest practice of a merchant substituting a worthless cat for a valuable pig, which is discovered only when the buyer gets home and opens the bag.

bell the cat, who will

        Who has enough courage to do a dangerous job?

curiosity killed the cat

        It's best to mind one's own business. This cautionary expression sounds like the moral of some fable or folktale, but any such origin for it has been lost. The first recorded use was in O. Henry's Schools and Schools

fat cat

        A wealthy and privileged person, as in This neighborhood, with its million-dollar estates, is full of fat cats. This term originally meant “a rich contributor to a political campaign,” and while this usage persists, it now is often applied more broadly, as in the example.

grin like a Cheshire cat

        Smile broadly, especially in a self-satisfied way. For example, John ended the set with a beautiful serve, an ace, and couldn't help grinning like a Cheshire cat. The ultimate origin of this expression, appearing in print since the late 1700s, is disputed, but its most famous exponent was Lewis Carroll, in whose Alice's Adventures in Wonderland the grinning cat gradually vanished from view, with its grin the last part to vanish.

like a cat on hot bricks

         Also, like a cat on a hot tin roof. Restless or skittish, unable to remain still, as in Nervous about the lecture he had to give, David was like a cat on hot bricks.

look like something the cat dragged in

        Appear completely bedraggled, as in After running around in the rain for hours, I looked like something the cat dragged in. This expression alludes to a cat's bringing home birds or mice it has killed or savaged.

more than one way to skin a cat

        More than one method to reach the same end, as in We can get around that by renting instead of buying a computer—there's more than one way to skin a cat. This expression may be an American version of the earlier British more ways of killing a cat, but why the death of a cat should be alluded to at all is not clear.

not enough room to swing a cat

        Very little space, cramped quarters, as in There's not enough room to swing a cat in this tent. This expression, first recorded in 1771, is thought to allude to the cat-o'-nine-tails, or “cat,” a whip with nine lashes widely used to punish offenders in the British military.

play cat and mouse

        Amuse oneself or trifle with, toy with, as in She loved to play cat and mouse with an admirer, acting by turns friendly, indifferent, and jealous.

rain cats and dogs

        Also, rain buckets. Rain very heavily, as in It was raining cats and dogs so I couldn't walk to the store, or It's been raining buckets all day. The precise allusion in the first term, which dates from the mid-1600s, has been lost, but it probably refers to gutters overflowing with debris that included sewage, garbage, and dead animals.

when the cat's away, the mice will play

        Without supervision, people will do as they please, especially in disregarding or breaking rules. For example, As soon as their parents left, the children invited all their friends over—when the cat's away, you know.

 

 

 

 

 

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1.Кузнецова  А.И. Понятие семантической системы и методы ее исследования. – Москва, 1963. – 57с.

2.Левицький  В.В., Огуй О.Д., Кійко Ю.С., Кійко  С.В.Апроксимативні методи вивчення  лексичного складу. – Чернівці: Рута. 2000. – 136с.

3.Уфимцева А.А. Опыт изучения лексики как  системы. – М.: Изд-во АН ССС, 1962. – 287с.