Verbalization of the subconcept PRODIGY in the English biographies of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the investigation of the peculiarities of verbalization of the concept GENIUS in the English language and speech, namely its structural part – subconcept PRODIGY. The research presents main aspects of the study of the phenomenon of genius in philosophy and psychology; analyzes definitions of the lexical units “genius” and “prodigy” in the English dictionaries; singles out conceptual features of the analyzed concept in the popular-science biographies of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The following conceptual features of PRODIGY have been singled out on the basis of dictionary definitions: young age; intellectual power, talent, extraordinary / superior. The following conceptual features of the subconcept PRODIGY have been singled out on the basis of popular-science biographies of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: young age, extraordinary talent and creative power.

Keywords

• вербалізація
• концепт
• субконцепт
• концептуальна ознака
• геній