English Phraseology: Cognitive, Symbolic and Terminological Aspects (Based on Idioms with Colour Adjectives Black/White/Red)

Abstract:

The authors focus on idioms as means of categorization of the world and means of keeping temporal and spatial cultural-historical data transmission. Special attention is given to the symbolic meaning of idiom components. Aspects of English phraseology are analyzed by emphasizing phraseological antonymy as an important linguistic universal that is pointed out as binary structures playing an important role in cognition by participating in cognitive and structural processes. The analysis considers explicit and implicit representation of the concept of ‘white’, its semiotic and symbolic meanings and its psychical effect on a human being. The article focuses on the process of phrase-forming as a language phenomenon and an efficient means of term-formation in the English language. The authors discusses possibility of using and reproducing idioms with the phraseological model adjective + noun and forecasts further term-formation according to the phraseological model. The article is aimed at showing interaction of linguistic and extra linguistic aspects within an idiom, as a linguistic unit, and the way the linguistic aspects transform into extra linguistic ones and vice versa.