Conceptualization of upper area expression in Russian

Abstract

This paper deals with Russian verbs, word combinations and phraseological units (khmurit’sya, nasupit’sya /to frown/, vzmetnut’ brovi /raise eyebrows/, pripodnyat’ odnu brov’ / raise an eyebrow/, morshchit’ lob /wrinkle forehead/, etc.) representing the concept of upper area expression (forehead, eyebrows). The concept of upper area expression (forehead, eyebrows) is considered as a component of the facial expression matrix that also includes the concepts of middle area expression (eyes, nose), lower area expression (mouth chin). The authors analyze the meaning of words and phraseological units through dictionary articles, the lexical combinatory of verbs and nouns that refer to the forehead and eyebrows, with other words to determine the characteristics of the investigated concept. The authors reveal the characteristics of the upper area expression concept, which mentally represent the information about the perceptual acquisition of the upper area expression, and interpretive characteristics. The characteristics of the upper area expression concept, which mentally represent the information about the perceptual acquisition of the upper area expression, are ‘forehead muscle movement’ and ‘wrinkle formation’, ‘eyebrow (near-brow zone) movement’, ‘forehead and eyebrow movement’ and ‘wrinkle formation’. The interpretive characteristics of the upper area expression concept are ‘emotional state’, ‘physiological state’ and ‘sign of communicative intention’. It is shown that some analyzed linguistic units can represent only one interpretative characteristic, which can be considered as dominant, other linguistic units are able to represent several interpretative characteristics. All analyzed linguistic units are able to represent the interpretative characteristics in a particular linguistic context.

Keywords

• nomination of facial movements
• conceptualization
• matrix facial expression
• concept upper area expression
• concept dominant meanings
• perception
• interpretative characteristic