'Simple': Typology and Grammaticalization

The present work is a lexical typological study of the Russian qualitative adjective ‘prostoj’ (‘simple’) and its grammaticalized form ’prosto’ (‘simply’) on the sample of 9 languages including Russian. The study examines semantics of the adjective in typological perspective and suggests a classification of its meanings considering the distribution of the meanings which its equivalents can express in other languages. The study is carried out within the framework of the frame-based approach. The frame-based approach focuses on the word’s compatibility, or the ability of its meanings to be realized in certain contexts, namely in collocations with the other words. When it comes to adjectives, the nouns which an adjective can define are examined. Thus, the collocation with the adjective ‘prostoj’ are studied and classified. The novel peculiarity of the study of ‘prostoj’ in the context of other studies of Russian qualitative adjectives in typological perspective lies in the fact that ‘prostoj’ is an adjective of difficulty (Dixon, Aikhenvald 2006: 215), whereas the vast majority of adjectives previously examined are the adjectives of physical property (Ibid.).