Англомовний простір як локус ідіоматики

Abstract

У статті з’ясовано питання поєднання теорій англомовного простору та концептуальної інтеграції в дослідженні англійської ідіоматики, запропоновано модель концептуального аналізу ідіоматики в національних варі- антах англійської мови.

In the modern scientific worldview, space is regarded as “one of the principal objective forms of existence of matter, which describes the location of material objects relative to each other, expresses the length of bodies, and their coexistence” [Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary 2002, p. 529-530]. Social space is a combination and interchange of various human activities. However, as O. Kubriakova points out, resorting to a philosophical interpretation of space will be insufficient for determining the extent to which a person perceives it [Kubriakova 1997, p. 127]. Therefore,this category needs to be addressed from a linguistic standpoint. The present paper is a study of idioms based on the concentric model of World Englishes by Kachru (1986) and the theory of conceptual integration by Fauconnier and Turner (1997, 2002). The following hypothesis is put forth: idiomatic space is a combination of English language space and the conceptual space. Thus, idiomatic space can be described as a totality of mental spaces arising in the English language space and represented in the English idioms. The purpose of the study is the conceptual analysis of idioms in the national varieties of English. The combination of the concentric model of World Englishes and the theory of conceptual integration seems justified because it provides an insight into on-line meaning making process. The idiomatically conceptualized SOCIAL INTERACTION unfolds as a single-scope frame network, in which the input spaces are structured in two organizing frames (CHOIR and PARLIAMENT, respectively). Hence, the cognitive mechanisms of counterfactuals, metaphor and analogy, along with the relevant pragmatic and cultural information, give rise to the emergent structure PARLIAMENT IS A CHOIR (I am delighted that my hon. Friends have at least found the same page of the hymn book), which manifests itself in the creatively modified idiom have at least found the same page of the hymn book in British English. The study thus opens up avenues for further research into idioms and idiomaticity in the national varieties of English.