This paper is concerned with the reconstruction of the primary motivation of imitative words
with the root morpheme bur-/pur- in the Mongolian languages. In the examples, trill sound r in
the final acts as a generalizing semantic element (the main motivating sound), and the consonants
b/p in the initial complement and expand the visual spectrum of the final. The imitative potential
of the initial complex of sounds in a word is capable of reflecting a rich spectrum of meanings up
to the abstract notions. To reconstruct the ways of semantic development of the Mongolian roots
bur-, pur-, bor-, por- lexical-semantic groups of the imitative lexis and their correlation with each
other are determined. The examples in this paper come from the following two groups of words:
1) sounds and images of animated nature and 2) sounds and images of inanimate nature.
The first group contains lexical units denoting loud sounds (‘to growl, to roar, to scream, to
grumble’) and hoarse sounds (‘to snort, to croak; snub-nosed; stupid’). The second group is more
complicated. A broad range of meanings represents it: ‘to bobble, to seethe, to boil, to curl, to
spin; to bristle (to flurry, to fuss); to babble; a flurry; to rain or snow, blizzard, snowstorm’. This
chain of meanings acts as the main one when denoting other phenomena, figurative rethinking,
and nomination of various actions. For example, based on the meaning ‘to bobble, to run high’ it
is possible to expand the semantics by analyzing a group of words with the meaning: ‘to turn
sour, to rot, mold, to stink, dirty’. The action with the meaning ‘to spin’ allowed grouping of the
lexemes with the meaning: ‘to rotate, to drill, curly, crimpy, wizened, coarse’. Denotations of
atmospheric phenomena, such as precipitation, are considered from the standpoint of both audio
(hearing) and visual perception with the dominance of the latter. Replenishment of the second
group occurs at the expense of the semantics based on the visual modus of perception during the
nomination of real phenomena, with the following meanings: 1) ‘twilight, overcast, unclear, short,
sighted, to cover’, obscure and 2) ‘to tighten, to become whole, to shape’ and 3) ‘to fatten, to
swell, to spate, to bulge, to protrude’.
The examples from other languages of the Altaic language family allow us to take into account
phonetic-semantic correlates as a basis for further typological research and etymologization
of words in related languages.
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