Comparative Analysis of Arabic, Russian, and English idioms of Semantic Field “fear”

About the authors:

Bekirov Rustem A., Cand. Sci. (Philol.), Associate Professor, Department of Crimean Tatar and Oriental Philology, Taurida Academy, V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University (Simferopol); rbekirov@mail.ru
Rublyova Viktoriya V., Postgraduate Student, Department of Crimean Tatar and Oriental Philology, Taurida Academy, V. I. Vernadsky Crimean Federal University (Simferopol); fikturiya@rambler.ru; ORCID: 0000-0002-0448-5207

Abstract:

The authors analyse the idioms of semantic field “fear” in the Arabic, Russian, and English languages, considering the psychological display of this emotion as a foundation for metaphorical models creating the idioms under the discussion. The authors study “emotional concepts” in linguistics and describe psychological characteristics of the emotion, provided with the model of the anger and the list of its displays. The following methods were applied during the investigation: comparative and descriptive, as well as componential analysis and complete sample method.
Using complete sample method, the authors collected and classified the idioms due to the following groups: ‘dysfunction/hyperfunction of body’s part’, ‘shiver’, ‘cold’, ‘eyes’, and ‘scream’. Two displays of the fear denoting two opposite stimuli emerging when a person experiences this emotion, were described in different groups: ‘escape’ and ‘consternation’. All groups are illustrated with collected data from the three languages, as well as with examples from literary works that allow speaking about its usage in speech and natural performance in language. The authors come to conclusion that the biological roots of “fear” explain the “universal validity” of definite psychological displays of this emotion, which is proved by the examined idioms (in Arabic, Russian, and English) that are built with the same metaphorical models. In general, the representation of fear by idioms can be divided into two big groups: idioms built on psychological displays and idioms built on imaginative associations under cultural, historical, social, and other factors.

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