АНАЛИЗ АНГЛИЙСКИХ ФРАЗЕОCОЧЕТАНИЙ, ВЫРАЖАЮЩИХ ИНТЕНСИВНОЕ ДЕЙСТВИЕ С ОТРИЦАТЕЛЬНЫМ РЕЗУЛЬТАТОМ

The main task of phraseology is a comprehensive study of the phraseological fund of a language. Such aspects as the system nature of phraseology, the semantic structure of phraseological units, phraseological stability, the main functions of phraseological units have attracted the closest attention of linguists

Despite the steady interest of linguists in phraseology in general

The purpose of the study is to identify and describe the semantic features of English phraseological combinations expressing the meaning "to act intensively with a negative result" considering their emotionally evaluative component and culturally specific load.

Achieving this goal involves solving a number of specific tasks: to define the term "phraseological combinations" via contrasting broad/narrow approaches; to compile a corpus of English PCs meaning «to act intensively with a negative result» (using lexicographical sources), to classify PCs into groups; to analyze semantic characteristics; to identify emotional and culture‑specific connotations; to map synonymous PC series.

The object of the study is a group of English phraseological units that express intensive action with a negative result. The subject of the study is the semantic features of the phraseological units under consideration.

It seems appropriate to give a definition of the term "phraseological unit". Supporters of a broad approach understand phraseological units to include not only idioms, but also free combinations and refer to them as phraseological combinations

This work analyzes phraseological combinations, following the representatives of a broad approach to phraseology. Even though the broader conception of phraseology sometimes encompasses proverbs (paroemias) as part of phraseological units, the present work follows a more restrictive interpretation, concentrating solely on those phraseological combinations that serve nominative or expressive functions. Paroemias are "sentences, i.e., units with a closed structure, proverbs and sayings possessing semantic and intonational completeness, as well as categories of predicativity and modality, which distinguish them from phraseological units, which are most often expressed by a word or a phrase" 

Many years of practice in teaching phraseology demonstrate that focusing on the analysis of specific PCs related to human description, their daily activities, and emotional responses leads to deeper understanding and better mastery of English phraseological expressions.

The relationship between emotions, language, and consciousness is the subject of many interdisciplinary studies, as emotions accompany humans in all aspects of their lives. Emotions were initially studied philosophically. According to Aristotle, Kant and Spinoza emotional acceptance or rejection plays a crucial role in knowledge acquisition

In the course of our research, phraseological combinations, their descriptions and literary illustrations have been obtained from lexicographical sources

I) moral and ethical activity;

II) psycho-physiological activity;

III) intellectual and psychological activity;

IV) physical activity have been singled out.

The criteria for grouping phraseological combinations are outlined during the detailed description of each group’s semantics.

Due to our analysis, 26 English phraseological combinations under consideration out of 100 ones pertain to the first group, 14 — to the second, 33 — to the third and 27 — to the fourth. The characteristic feature of emotive-actional phraseological combinations is that their semantics is negative.

I. Let's consider emotive-actional phraseological combinations with an assessment of the subject's moral and ethical activities. We can distinguish two types among these PCs:

1) PCs that denote actions aimed at emotional and psychological influencing a person;

2) PCs denoting actions whose purpose is to have a moral and psychological effect on a person.

While the former are directed at emotions and feelings, the latter focus more on the moral and ethical aspects of a person's intellectual and psychological sphere.

Let's focus on the characteristics of the group of PCs, which refers to the emotional and psychological impact on a person. For example, "to anger": MAKE SMB SEE RED become extremely angry: The mere thought of Piers with Nicole made her see red.

The emotional and evaluative component contained in the meaning of the PCs of this group reflects the unseemly purpose (and method) of implementing the verbal action.

PCs that denote a person's moral and psychological state are distinguished into the following semantic series:

a) "torture, exhaust": TIRE SMB. OUT to cause to become completely tired, exhaust: The children have really tired me out;

b) "humiliate": DRAG A PERSON'S NAME THROUGH THE MUD (THE MIRE) to talk about publicly in a way that brought shame on a person: His name was dragged through the mire.

II. Among the emotive-actional phraseological combinations with an assessment of the subject's psycho-physiological activity the following PCs have been marked emotionally evaluative PCs with an evaluation of the way of a) seeing, b) speaking, c) laughing, d) crying, as well as e) PCs that characterize the intrusiveness of someone or something.

а) This group includes PCs with the meaning of "looking motionless in one direction" and "concentrating on a specific detail". KEEP ONE’S EYES OPEN/ PEELED/ SKINNED to watch carefully: The thieves kept their eyes peeled for the police.

b) Emotional and evaluative phraseological combinations with an evaluation of the way of speaking: TILL ONE IS BLUE IN THE FACE unsuccessful for ever: You can call that dog till you’re blue in the face but he’ll never come.

c) The PCs of this subgroup characterize the intensity of laughter: BUST A GUT to laugh very hard: I thought I’d bust a gut when he fell off the wall.

d) This subgroup of PCs explicates the degree of intensity of crying that denotes an action as a process: CRY ONE'S EYES (HEART) OUT to cry very sadly and usually for a long time, to the point where one can cry no more: When his dog died he cried his eyes out.

e) The meaning of most English PCs of this type contains the seme "obtrusiveness, annoyance": BE FED UP WITH SMB unhappy, tired, and not satisfied, especially about smth uninteresting, annoying: I’m rather fed up with your complaints.

III. Examples of English phraseological units with an assessment of the subject's intellectual and psychological activity are the following, meaning "to cheat, to rob": CLEAN SMB. OUT infml a) to take all the money of: If we have to get our car repaired, we’ll be completely cleaned out; b) to steal everything from (a place): The thieves cleaned out the store.

Along with reflecting the intellectual feature, the emotional-evaluative component characterizes the unethical purpose of these PCs.

IV. Phraseological units with an assessment of the subject's physical activity are very diverse in their semantic composition and include PCs with the following meanings:

a) "physical destruction": BEAT/SMASH SMB. (IN)TO A PULP: I’ll beat/mash him (in)to a pulp if I catch him;

b) "physical fatigue": WORK ONE'S FINGERS TO THE BONE to work very hard: Farmers often work their fingers to the bone during the harvest season;

c) "filling" EAT ONESELF SICK (ON SMTH) (informal) eat too much so that one either feels sick: She’d eat herself sick on icecream if I let her;

d) "physical condition" caused by weather conditions: CHILLED/FROZEN TO THE BONE infml feeling cold right through the body: Come sit by the fire-you must be chilled to the bone.

As can be seen from the above examples, phraseological combinations of the analyzed class can denote different degrees of manifestation of an action or feature – from low to the highest. It should be noted that English phraseological combinations have numerous synonyms.

Based on the analysis of four thematic groups of English phraseological combinations with the meaning "to act intensively with a negative result, it can be concluded that the analyzed PCs have the following semantic features:

1) There is a constant indicator of negative evaluation, and thus they can be called absolute phraseological pejoratives.

2) There are synonymous series of PCs associated with the gradation of the feature. Intensity is revealed from the contextual analysis, which emphasizes the presence of the seme "very" in the semantics of the PCs under consideration.

3) The speaker usually associates the analyzed PCs with the process, as well as with the result.

4) Based on the system of dictionary definitions, it is also possible to analyze the correspondence between the stylistic reduction of the PCs.

The study has also found out that human behavior is part of a person's evaluative activities. The thematic groups under consideration demonstrate the negative attitude of the English people towards certain aspects of life. In particular, according to the study, the unreasonable expenditure of a large amount of effort and energy on work is criticized, which can be harmful to health. Negative evaluations are given to unattractive personality traits such as stinginess, self-interest, annoyance and anger.