Representations of Jewelry as a Source of Metaphorization in the Modern Russian Linguistic Picture of the World

Abstract

Purpose. The article describes the linguocultural specifics of metaphorization of general representations of jewelry in the Russian linguistic picture of the world. The relevance of the topic is related to the use of lexemes with the root jewel- in various contexts based on metaphorization and figurative representation of heterogeneous phenomena. The purpose of the research is to determine main directions of metaphorization in the semantic field «Jewelry» based on lexicographic data and contexts from the «National Corpus of the Russian Language». The sample consists of 144 examples with metaphorical meaning of the lexemes jeweler, jeweled and jewelry selected from the National Corpus of the Russian Language.Results. Contextual analysis and analysis of conceptual metaphor identified 6 main slots representing the basis for metaphorization.Conclusion. The metaphorization with the source jewel- in the Russian linguistic picture of the world describes not only qualities of a jeweler, but also the process and the result of jewelry work. The signs associated with the process and the results of jewelry work are the basis for metaphorization in most cases. Metaphorical contexts of «General representations of jewelry» predominantly reflect a positive evaluation, even while describing a criminal act, the emphasis is on accuracy and invisibility taken as positive aspects of this activity.