Exploratory task 2.7

Tick off athe features that are typical of your own frame of Christmas holiday. More than one feature can be ticked off. Share your results with the peers.

(Adapted from BBC World Service Internet Page, Talking Point and showing mostly the associations of the people from the U.K. and the USA)

An interesting issue is the idiomatic language. The basis for the research were the data that human mind normally takes the language beyond the reality. It is a feature of the human mind and shows itself in the language metaphors and idioms. The reason for metaphorical language is that people do not simply denote the reality with the help of language signs but also seek elaborate ways to express their attitudes, beliefs and opinions, which takes the language beyond the immediate denotation of reality. Language users add their imagery, which makes the message richer and more expressive. The process of turning the plain language into metaphors starts at the early age metaphors. This phenomenon in children is called “ over-extension ”, which means spreading the use of one word to naming other living beings, objects and processes. “Moon” can be used to denote “cakes”, letter “O”, “round postcards”. “Ball” can mean “apples”, “grapes”, “eggs”, “anything round”. “Horse” can be used to refer to “cow”, “pig”, “all four-legged animals”. “Sound of train” can apply to a “steaming coffee pot” and “anything that makes noise” (Clark, H., and Clark, E. 1977. Psychology and language: An Introduction to Psycholinguistics. N.Y.). Adults create metaphorical language in the similar way. E.g. “time” is inseparable from the concept of “money”. Hence, the metaphor “to waste time”. One’s “mind” is perceived as a “machine”. The metaphor is “my wheels are working OK.” A “girl” is associated with a “flower” and the metaphor nicknames her “late bloomer”. Human characters can be associated with a geometric shape in the metaphor “a round peg in a square hole”. This process further leads to the production of idioms that are hard to translate without knowing the meaning,such as “for the birds” (uninteresting and meaningless), “fishy” (strange and suspicious), “straight from the horses mouth” (from a reliable source), “tongue-in-cheek” (not serious), “snow job” (insincere talk), “cough up” (give unwillingly), “dressed to kill” (wearing one’s finest clothes) etc (Collis, H. 1997. 101 American English Idioms. Passport Books). Another area of idiomatic language is the use of phrasal verbs. E.g. “duck down” (bend down quickly), “duck into” (hide quickly in a place), “duck out” (escape one’s responsibility) etc (Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. 1986. Special Edition. Moscow).