English idioms describing a person’s character!
Aiman Sarsembayeva − Nazigul Tulenbergenova − Gulnar Assanova − Tolkyn Kalibekuly − Zhanar Esenalieva
DOI: 10.18355/XL.2018.11.03.16
Abstract
The article is concerned with the study of English idioms describing a person’s character. Comprehensive analysis of an emotive evaluative component of idioms indicating on the person's character traits has been performed. As the material of the study, 752 idioms of English language were used.
In this paper, we analyzed the positive, negative and neutral evaluative connotations within the semantic meanings of idioms that indicate a person's character. Phraseological units with zoonym component were classified.
The study found that sub-groups “rudeness”, “cruelty”, “impudence”, “meanness” and “haughtiness” exceed in the number of English phraseological units. The research has also shown idioms expressing negative traits of human character dominate the positive or neutral evaluation.
Key words: phraseological units, emotive evaluative connotations, idioms-zoonyms, English language, semantic analysis, anthropocentricity