Conceptual sphere of phraseologisms of monetary relations in Ukrainian and Polish language cultures

Abstract

The article examines the features of verbalization and the ways of conceptualizing cross-language phraseological equivalents and analogs in the field of monetary relations based on the material of Polish and Ukrainian lexicographic sources. Both structural and linguosemiotic methods of finding cross-linguistic phraseological parallels – „from meaning to form“ and „from form to meaning“ used in this research proved their effectiveness. The first method helped collect linguistic material and analyze phraseological equivalents and analogues of the conceptual sphere of monetary relations, which acquire additional attribution in translation, are metaphorically reinterpreted in the code of intangible values or material low-level values, form synonymous series with variant-characteristics and reflect common Slavic traditional folk imagery. By employing the method of correlation of the worldview and lexical semantics, the method of the thematic principle of language material distribution I built a linguistic and cultural model of the conceptual sphere of monetary relations of closely related ethnic groups. The core of the conceptual sphere contains the folk-poetic proto-concept wealth, the generic concept pieniądze / money, the related species concept small payment means and the historical concepts gold, silver, metal. The main space of the conceptual sphere of monetary relations is occupied by the anthropic sphere (the conceptualization of national character traits, extra-national anthropic types, a person’s appearance and biological characteristics, the most necessary physical and material things, such as food, clothing, housing, work, and spiritual ones, such as beliefs. On the periphery of the conceptual sphere of monetary relations there are linguistic and cultural concepts which designate economic phenomena and cosmocentric characteristics of existence. The linguosemiotic method of searching for linguistic material “from form to meaning”, helped describe a special type of cross-language phraseological units, which demonstrate “non-monetary” semantics, but receive such a formal expression that in one language is associated with the sphere of monetary relations, and in the other one causes lacunarity.