ERCEPTION AND COGNITION IN THE SEMANTICS OF POSTURE VERBS

It is suggested that an analysis of the meaning of posture verbs in Russian should take into account the perceptual-cognitive factors in the observer's interactions with the world of material objects. Some peculiarities in the conceptualization of spatial entities are pointed out; these are reflected in a system of verbal classifiers and include the anthropomorphic nature of spatial dimensions, structural asymmetry, canonical situation, perceptual salience and pragmatic functions. The suggested approach to explicating the meaning of posture verbs in their standard and non-standard uses may facilitate the solution of applied tasks in teaching Russian as a foreign language.