Achromatic colour terms in ideomatic expressions: a comparative survey of russian, english and german
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17308/lic/1680-5755/2023/3/57-67Keywords:
colour term, idiom, connotation, achromatic, comparativeAbstract
Idiomatic expressions containing a color component in their structure are widely represented in the phraseological funds of many languages and clearly reflect the culture of their speakers. The semantic analysis of idioms with the core components "black", "white" and "gray" in Russian in comparison with English and German was intended to confirm or refute the conventional ideas about the positive, negative or neutral connotations of achromatic color terms in the structure of the idiom in the corresponding linguocultures. For the analysis of idiomatic expressions selected by continuous sampling from a number of dictionaries, a comparative method was used. Idioms classified according to the meaning of color terms were assigned to one of three semantic groups: idioms in which an achromatic color term has a negative connotation, idioms in which an achromatic color term has a positive connotation, or idioms with a neutral meaning. It was concluded that in the linguocultures under consideration, idiomatic expressions with achromatic color terms are widely represented. Semantic fields "The achromatic color terms as part of idioms" coincide partially. The universal idea of the positive value of “white” and light colors of the spectrum and the negative value of “black” and dark colors of the spectrum is not always confirmed. In general, the conventional meaning of the basic achromatic color terms “black” and “white” is retained to a greater extent in German. Almost all idioms containing the color term "gray" in their structure carry a neutral semantic load.
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