Idiomatic Space of Anthroposemic Substantival Bahuvrihi with a Zoonym Component and its Semantic Modelling in Modern English

Abstract

The article considers the versatility in perception of a person's appearance and streaks of character through the phenomenon of bakhuvrihi with a zoonym component according to conceptual pattern: OBJECT (ZOONYM) -> HUMAN / PART OF THE HUMAN BODY, where ZOONYM acts as a conception referred to by a word, and HUMAN / PART OF THE HUMAN BODY - a conception recognized as a target. This study focuses upon the new integrated approach to the anthroposemic substantival bahuvrihi with a zoonym component in the cognitive and semantic perspectives. The choice of such bahuvrihi is justified by the fact that the "zoonym-words" are perhaps the most proliferous lexical source of the items with positive or negative connotation, firmly based on traditions in specific cultural contexts and are traces of mythical thinking. Idiomatic space of anthroposemic substantival bahuvrihi with a zoonym component appears to be a complex structure of knowledge about humankind in biological, mental and social dimensions.

Keywords

• nominative space
• idiomatic formations
• metaphor
• metonymy
• synecdoche
• positive connotation
• negative connotation