Semantics of festivities in “Christmas Carol” by Ch. Dickens

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Abstract

The article concerns the language units, forming the semantics of festivities in one of the most popular works by Charles Dickens - the great English writer of Victorian Era, namely “A Christmas Carol” (1843). This work has been the subject for a lot of research, the story however is not investigated within the framework of some allied sciences. An attempt to use linguistic, linguistic culture and literary criticism approaches has been made to analyze the story. The eleven theme groups were found and the linguistic units were picked up. Those units create the unique picture of Christmas festivities. The examples from the text are analyzed. Around one thousand language units describing Christmas are analyzed. The conclusion is made that the writer created the morally important, educating work. At the same time, he attracted attention to Christmas in Britain, criticizing the drawbacks of the society as well as in Victorian England. The palette of stylistic and language means is rich and wonderful.

About the authors

Galina T. Bezkorovaynaya

Moscow Polytechnic University

Author for correspondence.
Email: begati1@yandex.ru

Ph.D. in Philology, Associate Professor of the Department of Foreign Languages of High School of Print and Media Industry

6 Sadovaya-Spasskaya St, Moscow, 107045, Russian Federation

Luiza N. Gishkaeva

Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University)

Email: gishkaeva-ln@rudn.ru

Ph.D. in Philology, Associate Professor of the Department of Foreign Languages of Philological Faculty

10 Miklukho-Maklaya St, bldg. 1, Moscow, 117198, Russian Federation

Natalia T. Pakhsarian

Lomonosov Moscow State University

Email: natapa@mail.ru

Doctor of Philology, Professor of the Department of Foreign Literature History of Philological Faculty

1 Leninskie Gory, bldg. 51, Moscow, 119991, Russian Federation

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Copyright (c) 2020 Bezkorovaynaya G.T., Gishkaeva L.N., Pakhsarian N.T.

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