Measure Constructions in Russian Based on Data from the Russian Constructicon

This thesis is dedicated to Russian constructions that are used to express quantitative evaluation, or MEASURE. This study presents a classification in form of a radial category of 112 MEASURE constructions from the database of the Russian Constructicon electronic resourse. The description of the radial category is followed by deeper analysis of a specific group of constructions with nominal quantifiers куча, груда, море, туча. I first examine quantitative properties of these constructions, and then proceed to cognitive analysis of certain figurative uses. By using quantitative methods to analyze entries of the Russian National Corpus, I determine the collocational tendencies of these constructions. During the cognitive analysis I focus on figurative uses of the four constructions from the perspective of cognitive mechanisms of metaphor and metonymy. The theoretical contribution involves the description of how some conceptual metaphors and metonymies function in MEASURE constructions with nominal quantifiers. The pedagogical contribution is connected to the implications of this study for teaching L2 Russian: first, the radial category model can potentially provide guidelines for ordering and grouping of language means that express the concept of MEASURE; second, the instruction of advanced learners can take into account the system of collocations established in this thesis.