Idioconcepts WAR and GREAT BRITAIN in Winston Churchill’s nonfiction prose

Abstract

The article highlights idioconcepts WAR and GREAT BRITAIN and language means of their representation in Winston Churchill’s autobiography and memoirs. The conceptual features and the most frequent lexemes of their representing have been singled out. Concept WAR has negative evaluation while concept GREAT BRITAIN has positive evaluation. In this article concept is regarded as a mental formation, the unit of consciousness which is the result of human cognitive activity and is lexicalized through a variety of linguistic means; the analysis of the importance of linguistic units helps to distinguish the features of concept which form its structure. We define the analyzed concepts as individual, formed as a result of cognitive activity of the individual (Winston Churchill) which are realized in different genres of speech contexts (autobiography and memoirs by Winston Churchill). The analysis of the representation of concept WAR in speech contexts, such as the autobiography and memoirs by Winston Churchill helped to single out two conceptual features of this concept. The first of them is death which is verbalized by such lexical units as slaughter, massacre, butchery, bloodshed; destruction, extermination, obliteration. The second conceptual feature of WAR is suffering. The above feature is represented in the speech context by such lexical units as suffering, tribulation, disaster, loss, tragedy, catastrophe, misfortune, frustration, horror. Now let us consider the concept of Great Britain and the means of its linguistic verbalization in the autobiographies and memoirs by Winston Churchill. The analysis of these linguistic means helped to single out threel features of this concept - majesty, determination and unity. The first of the above conceptual features is represented by such lexical units as: great, greatness, powerful, glory, glorious, triumphant, superiority, supreme, mastery. The next conceptual feature determination is objectified in the speech contexts through such lexical units as resolute, resolved, resolve, determination, will-power. It should be noted that unlike concept WAR, idioconcept GREAT BRITAIN receives a positive evaluation by the subject of conceptualization, i.e. Winston Churchill. He juxtaposes these concepts as evil (WAR) and good (GREAT BRITAIN), and the victory was gained by the good, by his country and its people.