Naturmorphic Images in Slavic and Turkic Emotive Phraseology: Parallels and Contrasts

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comparative study of the naturmorphic images underlying the internal form of emotive phraseological units in Slavic and Turkic languages (Russian, Bulgarian, Polish, Czech, Tatar). These images are noted to correlate with the corresponding code of culture, which assumes a figurative interpretation of the realia of the world with consideration of knowledge about both living and inanimate nature. The revealed images of animals, birds, insects, plants, natural objects and phenomena, elements constitute a well-arranged system, the components of which are analyzed in terms of both frequency and universality/ethnospecificity. These images are actualized when describing a wide range of emotions (joy, sadness, love, resentment, shame, excitement, etc.), but most of them relate to negative states, primarily fear and anger. The most productive are zoomorphic images, as well as images of natural objects, phenomena and elements (such as the sky, thunder, fire, water, etc.), which often reveal universality due to external factors. The inner form of many emotive phraseological units is based on the metonymic principle, according to which emotions are described by referring to their bodily symptoms (chills, tears, facial expressions, etc.). The universality and ethnospecificity of images are proved to have linguistic and extralinguistic reasons.