УСТОЙЧИВЫЕ ЕДИНИЦЫ, ОТРАЖАЮЩИЕ ИНТЕЛЛЕКТУАЛЬНЫЕ СПОСОБНОСТИ ЧЕЛОВЕКА
SET PHRASES REFLECTING MAN`S INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY

Summary/Abstract: Set Phrases Reflecting Man`s Intellectual Capacity. The way of thinking, the mental sphere are reflected both in the vocabulary and phraseology of a language. In the present work I have submitted to analysis two aspects of the way of thinking, precisely the achievement of the mental activity and the features of the mental abilities, emphasizing the latter one by settling the contrast between the concept of ‘clever’–‘silly’ and by grouping the idioms according to criteria that allow the materialisation of the above mentioned contrast. The frequency of lexemes like head, brain, forehead, mind, memory, thought, idea in the structure of idioms as well as the presence of the metaphorical substitutes of the lexeme ‘head’ offer a high level of expressiveness to the idioms. Analysing the structure of the idioms we notice that in the idioms which represent mental activity (with the meaning of ‘to think’, ‘to realize’, ‘to understand’) the verbs would prevail (держать в голове, быть на уме, не выходить из головы). In the idioms that describe intellectual ability from the point of view of quality, we remark the preponderant use of adjectival structures (пустая голова, светлая голова, чугунная голова). To highlight these aspects proves to be important not only in order to illustrate intellectual abilities but also to reflect the outlook on the world through idioms.

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