The concept of MONEY/ДЕНЬГИ in English and Russian idioms and proverbs: the conceptual feature of "means of communication"

The aim of this research is to identify the conceptual feature of "means of communication" in the semantic structure of the concept MONEY/ДЕНЬГИ in English and Russian linguistic cultures. The concept MONEY/ДЕНЬГИ is one of the basic concepts of English and Russian linguistic culture and is an ambivalent symbolic entity that includes various conceptual features. The article provides an overview of the nominative density, value and figurative aspects of the chosen concept, analyzes English and Russian idioms and proverbs about money, which present the conceptual feature "means of communication". The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time, such a cognitive feature as "means of communication" is highlighted in the configuration of the semantic field of the concept MONEY/ДЕНЬГИ, its semantic elements are defined and described. As a result of the study, it was found that this conceptual meaning is represented by three main components characterizing money, firstly, as a "participant in social communication" (money is a sign system that plays a large role in communication in society); secondly, as a "means of nonverbal communication" (money is a carrier of information, a kind of message about a person's personality and social status, a universal language understood by everyone); thirdly, as a "criterion of truth of one's opinion in verbal communication" (money acts as an indicator that shows the reliability of the expressed opinion and confirms its compliance with reality). In addition, it was concluded that the investigated feature of the concept MONEY/ДЕНЬГИ is represented both in the English and in the Russian linguistic picture of the world, but it is more pronounced in English.