ONYMIC SECTOR OF THE CONCEPTUAL SPHERE OF THE YOUNG-ADULT DYSTOPIAN NOVEL (case study S. COLLINS’ TRILOGY «THE HUNGER GAMES»

Abstract

Introduction. The article examines the onymic parcel of the English young-adult dystopian novel conceptosphere based on the material of S. Collins’ trilogy «The Hunger Games». The theory of generations has proved the dominance of the main archetype of the hero for a circle of potential readers of the analyzed works, so the leading concept of dystopian novels is the concept of the hero around whom events take place, catalyst and initiator of which he acts. These protagonists are nominated by their own names, which serve as organizers of the artistic space. In the literary work onyms become the pillars of memory, the organizers of the mental lexicon, the coordinators of the mental world picture, the compact repository of significant information in a small form.
 The purpose. The purpose of the article is to analyze the onymic parcel of the English young-adult dystopian novel conceptosphere based on the material of S. Collins’ trilogy «The Hunger Games». The object is the onymic sector of the conceptosphere of the studied trilogy. The subject is the specifics of its structure and organization.
 Materials and methods. The analysis of the onymic parcel of the conceptosphere of the studied works was carried out in several stages: the cognitive features of the dominant onymic concept nominating the main character were established; a free associative experiment was conducted; systematized and described the reactions with the selection of their types; the most frequent associates are singled out, which are grouped into associative semantic gestalts. The material of the study was a trilogy «The Hunger Games» («The Hunger Games», «Catching Fire», «Mockingjay»), with a total volume of 1160 conditional pages.
 Results. An associative experiment with stimuli to denote the protagonists was conducted, which made it possible to establish the conceptualization and categorization of these anthroponyms in the mental lexicon of English speakers, detection of reflection in the received associations of hierarchical conceptual structures in the minds of respondents.
 Сonclusions. Summarizing the above, we can emphasize that the artistic onymic concept KATNISS of the onymic parcel of the conceptosphere of the trilogy «The Hunger Games» has cognitive features SACRIFICE, FEMININITY, HOPE, DEFENDER, VENGEANCE, WINNER and forms semantic associative gestalts THE MAIN CHARACTER OF THE NOVEL / FILM and NOVEL / FILM.