CONCEPTOLOGY OF NATURAL ELEMENTS COMPARED TO THE “BREXIT” CONCEPT

Abstract

The article deals with the concepts of natural elements in comparison with the concept of “Brexit” from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. Metaphorical models of “Brexit – The Element of Earth”, “Brexit – The Element of Water”, “Brexit – The Element of Air” and “Brexit – The Element of Fire” have been developed and the structure of each of them has been considered. The structure of the metaphorical model has been represented by such frames and their slots: the metaphoric model “Brexit – The Element of Earth” (Frame: Earth Movements; Slots: “Earthquake”, “Landlide”; Frame: State of the Earth; Slot: “Drought”), the metaphoric model “Brexit – The Element of Water” (Frame: State of the Water; Slots: Ice, Boiling Water, Clouds; Frame: Water Motion; Slots: Water Stream, Storm, Waves, Murky Waters), the metaphoric model “Brexit – The Element of Air (Frame: Speed of movement of air masses; slots: “Wind”, “Hurricane”, “Tornado”) and the metaphoric model “Brexit – the Element of Fire” (Frames: Flame, Light; Fire; Volcano). It has been established that the latest metaphorical blend of “Brexit – The Element of Fire” is not subdivided into slots. The peculiarities of the usage of verbal means in the examples of contemporary English political journals, which illustrate the above structure of the research, have been regarded.