Alfred Nobel University Journal of Philology (Dec 2019)
PHRASEOLOGISMS WITH ORNITHONYMS IN THE LEXICAL SYSTEM OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Abstract
The article researched the semantics and structure of English phraseological units denoting birds as a part of the English lexical system. It has been noted that the scientific works of O.V. Kunin, A.M. Baranov, V.P. Zhukov, M. Johnson and M. Blek were the methodological and theoretical basis of our research. We have developed a semantic classification to analyze the features of phraseological units denoting birds. According to it they are divided into two groups with the following components, i.e. poultry and wild birds. The phraseological units denoting wild birds can be also divided into two groups, i.e. birds of prey and nonpredatory birds. As a result of the study, it was found that among all the phraseological units denoting birds there are 36 names of birds. Accordingly, the first analyzed group with the poultry component contained only 6 terms, birds of prey numbered 10 terms, and the last group with the nonpredatory birds component is the most numerous and contains 20 notions. According to the quantitative analysis of phraseological units denoting birds it should be noted that among phraseological units denoting birds the word goose is the most frequently used, there are 77 phraseological units containing it. Speaking about the word hen we should mention that there are 49 phraseological units containing it. There are 42 phraseological units containing the word cock. The phraseological units with crow dominate among wild birds. The given data testify to the significant quantitative advantage of English phraseological units with names of poultry in comparison with phraseological units with names of predatory birds. The phraseological units denoting birds have similar features as they describe the physical characteristics, behavior and habits of birds, signs related to the use of food, as well as subjective perceptions of humans about the birds and the tradition of the use of certain species of birds in human food, the diversity of zoomorphic metaphors. The phraseological units were analyzed considering their structure and semantics on the basis of their structural and semantic classification according to O.V. Kunin. As a result of the research, a semantic classification of phraseological units with a Birds component was developed, represented in the form of species and generic categories. The research has shown the quantitative unevenness of the species in English. It is caused by the different significance of some birds species for national consciousness.
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