RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and SemanticsRUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and SemanticsВестник Российского университета дружбы народов. Серия: Теория языка. Семиотика. Семантика2313-22992411-1236Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia named after Patrice Lumumba (RUDN University)4516910.22363/2313-2299-2025-16-1-148-165EZRZXYFUNCTIONAL SEMANTICSФУНКЦИОНАЛЬНАЯ СЕМАНТИКАResearch ArticleA Corpus-Based Comparative Study of Animal Idioms Applied in Contemporary Journalistic TextsОсобенности использования идиом с компонентом животное в современном публицистическом текстеhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5784-752336508726100LackováMartaЛацковаМарта

PhD in Philology, Senior Lecturer Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities

кандидат филологических наук, старший преподаватель кафедры английского языка и литературы факультета гуманитарных наук

marta.lackova@fhv.uniza.skUniversity of ŽilinaЖилинский университет0307202516114816521072025Copyright ©; 2025, Lacková M.Copyright ©; 2025, Лацкова М.2025Lacková M.Лацкова М.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0https://journals.rudn.ru/semiotics-semantics/article/view/45169

The present paper deals with lexical and semantic features of selected animal idioms as reflected in the actual use in the journalistic style. They are investigated within the textual corpora English Web 2020 (enTenTen20) and Russian Web 2011 (ruTenTen11) with the help of the search tool Sketch Engine. The analysis of the semantic properties of the animal idioms demonstrates that they contain both positive and negative elements of meaning related to pragmatic tools of influence and persuasion, which are actually influential on the receiver´s understanding of the surrounding reality; the contexts where they appear are divided into several categories for each studied language showing their positive/negative connotations. The outcomes demonstrate that their contemporary extent includes not only their definitions from dictionaries of idioms; it is broadened and subsequently reflected in the modification in the receiver´s mental picture of the world. Moreover, the evaluative function of idioms together with their discourse roles are described in terms of strong adjectives, possessive pronouns, modal verbs, and imperatives utilization.

Настоящая работа посвящена лексическим и семантическим особенностям фразеологизмов с компонентом животное , использованным в публицистическом тексте. Материал исследования получен из текстовых корпусов English Web 2020 (enTenTen20) и Russian Web 2011 (ruTenTen11) с помощью инструмента поиска Sketch Engine. Анализ семантических свойств фразеологизмов с животными демонстрирует, что они содержат как положительные, так и отрицательные элементы значения, связанные с прагматическими инструментами воздействия и убеждения, которые оказывают реальное влияние на понимание получателем окружающей действительности. Контексты, в которых они появляются, делятся на несколько категорий для каждого изучаемого языка, это отражается в коннотации. Результаты исследования показывают, что современное использование фразеологизмов расширяет их семантику, отражая модификации в картине мира носителя языка. Оценочная функция фразеологизмов, а также их дискурсивные роли описываются с точки зрения использования прилагательных, притяжательных местоимений, модальных глаголов и императивов.

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