IMAGINATIVE-EVALUATIVE CONSTITUENT OF THE CONCEPT FAMILY IN THE BRITISH PUBLICISTIC DISCOURSE

Abstract

The aim of the article is to study the metaphorization peculiarities of the concept FAMILY in the British publicistic discourse of the XVIII – XXI centuries. The question of a language segmenting, categorizing the surrounding reality and the experience of its speakers, which has always been in the center of attention of scholars is raised. The importance of lexical nomination as a means of fixing the changes that occur continuously and are understood by humans in their social practice is highlighted. The focus of the study is to trace the process of forming an image of ​​the world of English speakers using publicistic material in diachrony over the past four centuries and to identify the specifics of conceptualization and categorization of this segment of reality. The modifications of the imaginative-evaluative constituent, the loss of the existing and the acquirement of new meanings and their shades are bound with both the language development and with the extralinguistic factors such as the development of the community, social, political and historical events. Printed mass media have always been an important and influential part of social life. They take part in the creation and exchange of ideas and opinions as people receive knowledge about the world indirectly through mass media. These facts contribute to the analysis of a lingvocultural element of words both synchronically and diachronically. Comparing newspapers texts it becomes possible to highlight similarities and differences in the interpretation of the notion expressed by some lexeme. Moreover, the analysis of articles indicates social understanding of the notion. Since newspapers are affordable and available for all members of the society, they are the representatives of live language which unites knowledge and experience.