INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO THE PROBLEMS OF SEMANTICS AND PRAGMATICS. BOOK REVIEW: KASEVICH V. B. PROBLEMS OF SEMANTICS. ST PETERSBURG: ST PETERSBURG UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2019, 304 P

Abstract

The review provides a scientific analysis of the book by V. B. Kasevich, a prominent contemporary scholar of the St Petersburg Linguistic School, devoted to the main problems of semantics and pragmatics. V. B. Kasevich’s authoritative expert analysis of various aspects of the general semantic thesaurus, including a detailed examination of all scientific concepts related to semantics, from basic elements to philosophical components, enriches semantics as a branch of linguistics. V. B. Kasevich’s concept of semantic predicates as an analogue of parts of speech is of significant interest to linguists, and the author proposes a five-element structure of an utterance. Considering the methods of linguistic analysis, the author insists on the need to take into account not only the formal data of language units, but also the cognitive and pragmatic aspects of their use, ensuring the completeness of the study. V. B Kasevich’s combination of cognitive and integrative approaches to semantics is characterized by its originality and deep understanding of the problem. The review highly appreciates this monograph, noting its innovative nature, originality, and non-trivial interpretations of such pressing issues as the system of language and meaning, the semantics of language and the semantics of grammar, semantics in philo- and ontogenesis, and others.