structural, lexico-semantic and lingvocultural characteristics of the thematic group insectophnes in the english and russian languages

Abstract

The article is devoted to the comparative analysis of the insects which are formed as an imitation of sounds made by motion and activity of insects in English and Russian. The content and structure of the thematic group which these names (called insectophones) constitute are defined. The research allowed classifying insectophones into seven groups according to the character of the sound insects produce. The analysis confirms that the most names of the insects are onomatopoetic by origin. The names of the twelve insects most frequently mentioned in both languages and sounds which were the basis of these names and the verbs which convey their motion are given in the table. Three types of imitation of sounds are described. As the research shows anthropocentric metaphor is a productive way of forming the thematic group in both languages (18 insectophones are formed in such a way in English and 12 in Russian). The thematic group includes a number of paroemias which are subdivided into five groups and a number of subgroups according to the meanings they convey. These groups and subgroups differ in number in English and Russian which they mean that a certain feature is more or less important for one or the other culture..