МИРОМОДЕЛИРУЮЩИЙ ПОТЕНЦИАЛ ИНДИВИДУАЛЬНО-АВТОРСКОЙ МЕТАФОРЫ

At the turn of XX-XXI centuries, in a new research paradigm of the linguistic science, a special place belongs to the communicative linguistics of the text. Its tasks are directly connected with the discourse analysis. Modern linguistics is often associated with the analysis and interpretation of the language worldview, which, in particular, according to E. Kubryakova, is «that part of the conceptual man’s world that is tied to language and refracted through the linguistic forms which are reflected in the structure of the discourse». [4, p. 22]

One of the main components of reality conceptualization is a metaphor. Its function is the artistic world-modelling. In this respect the relationship between the individual metaphor and the interdiscourse markedness of metaphors is of great interest. An ideal base with a tremendous potential of metaphorical structures includes short fiction. Thus, it determined the object of our attention - a novel by Alice Munro, a Canadian contemporary writer, the winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature.

In the cognitive-oriented paradigm a special place belongs to the analysis of text categories, one of which is the coherence (integrity) of the text. As rightly pointed out by I.R. Halperin, the integrity of the text «... is focused on the content of the plan, on the sense, it is largely pschycholinguistic and stipulated by the laws of the text perception, the reader’s desire to decode the text, combining all the components into a whole». [1, p. 130]

In our opinion, it is metaphor that can help the recipient to engage actively with text categories representing a particular text as a unity of these categories. To better understand this issue, we turn to Alice Munro’s short story «Dimensions». It contains many individual metaphorical structures, which are intertwined with each other, creating the finest psychological pattern. We analyzed about 70 metaphors and found it possible to group them thematically:

1. nature: «the sunlight was pouring down through naked branches»; «dazzling patches of water lay in the fields»; «here summer jumped almost directly into winter»; «Perhaps it was that most were meant not just to look out on but to open directly into the forest darkness, and that they displayed the heaven of home so artlessly»; «the fresh snow squeaked under my feet”; “the winter havoc which gave us distinction».  

In the context of this metaphorical field the reader is faced with personified metaphors that are inseparably linked with the characters’ lives, their mood and inner feelings. The metaphorical view, that is analyzed, is not only filled with colorful nature descriptions, but also carries a psychological and emotional burden. Examples of metaphorical units are put in order of appearance in the text, the protagonist’s inner world being revealed with the help of nature descriptions. Thus, initially, there were no signs of trouble (the sun was shining, magnificent streams spilled on the fields), but suddenly the whole picture of the nature changed (as if summer immediately poured into the winter) because the main character was going through tremendous emotional distress - her husband killed all their three children.

1. time: «It would take time, that things couldn’t be hurried»; «I tell him he is wasting his time»; «He was exaggerating how old Maggie was... But she was afraid that the kidding would seem overly friendly to Maggie, an intrusion, or at least a waste of time».

         Traditionally, the historical development of the society, the common cultural background, moral priorities influence the so-called time conceptualization. The central place here belongs to the concept of «cost». Concept analysis shows that the time measurement is interpreted as a unique dimension, and therefore it is preferably insufficient, it cannot be hastened, but if you use it properly, it is possible to increase its productivity.

1. emotional state: «Maggie had her own sharp no-nonsense way of looking at things»; «She just needed to walk something out of her system»;        «Her heart kept thumping»; «Something softened at her, but she fought against it»; «Her large, kind, impersonal sobriety drained all assaulting cheerfulness, all insult, out of her clothes»; «…she could think of Lloyd burning in Hell»; «It is not my right to go emotional in front of you».

                 George Lakoff in his book «Metaphors we live by» names such constructions orientational metaphors, "when there is no structural ordering of the concept in terms of another, but there is an organization of the whole system." Presented metaphorical units are associated with spatial orientation, with the opposition of the type «in-out», «up-down». Thus, orientational metaphors give the notion “spatial orientation”: «No. I do not close my eyes and get lifted up by any specific Higher Power»,« hat gave them a bit more to talk about, until she could not help herself»,«a feeling came over her». We consider it fair to link the conceptual nature of metaphorical units with human physical and cultural experience. These examples have physical and social foundation: a person's status is correlated with the figurative domination while physical domination metaphorically comes to the fore. [3, p. 126-172]

1. outlook, way of thinking: «his philosophy of life had changed»; «old ways of life»; «a humble way of trying to understand»; «he wanted them to be introduced to the world carefully»; «Lloyd had a certain way of looking at things», «There is some large conviviality and appetite he carries with him», «the idiocy in his book»; «the world was too ungenerous to give her the least credit», «a long bumpy ride through the sordid back alleys of life».
2. colour: «sensitive reddish  skin»; «raspberry or turquoise color»; «Maggie’s hair was pepper-and-salt»; «honey-colored hair»; «pewter-colored hair», «little gold sticker», «Her hair was not white but platinum blond».

         Thus, conducting a deep analysis of the metaphorical space in A. Munro’s story, we can say that one of the key concepts of the English-speaking (Canadian) mentality from the standpoint of the cognitive paradigm is the category of time. What is more, nature is something unshakable, as opposed to human existence because the heroine’s inner world is being revealed with the help of unusual nature descriptions. A separate place belongs to color visualization and ways of thinking allowing us to conclude that to understand the mentality of native English-speakers it is not enough to know the language. We have to understand the nature of the national consciousness and to know the peculiarities of reality conceptualization in their minds. So, it looks like next to impossible for a foreign reader to grasp the whole message of a text if they are far from cultural and ethnic awareness. The text will remain undeciphered or misunderstood until the reader is familiar to those peculiarities.