VERBALIZATION OF THE CONCEPT HAIR IN THE ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGICAL DICTIONARIES

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the consideration of the semantic, structural and motivational peculiarities of English idioms with the component hair and singling out the foregrounded features of the corresponding concept. The English concept HAIR is a fragment of the conceptual image of the world, which is reflected in the linguistic picture of the world, namely in its three fragments verbalized by the constituents of the following lexical semantic groups, distinguished according to the somatic feature: head hair, facial hair, body hair. The study is based on the material of phraseological dictionaries of the English language. The analysis of semantic, structural and motivational features of English idioms with the component hair shows that they are represented by phraseological combinations, units and fusions according to their semantics; according to their structure by nominative (a head of hair), adjectival (Judas hair), adverbial (in one’s hair) and verbal (get by the short hairs) types. The most representative is the lexical semantic group head hair. The lexical semantic group of facial hair is also presented in the selection, for example, old moustache, to raise one’s eyebrows, while idioms with the body hair component have not been recorded. The analysis of motivation of the given idioms has allowed to single out the foregrounded features of the concept HAIR in the English language, namely, age (gray hairs), thinness of hair (by a hair, in a hair, to a hair), the reaction to emotions (curl somebody’s hair, make one’s hair stand on end) and its value (the very hairs of your head are all numbered).

Keywords

• концепт
• фразеологізм
• лексико-семантична група
• hair