Development of Colour Meaning of Phraseological Units With “White” Component

Purpose: The paper presents development of colour semantics of Russian phraseological units with the “white” component studied from a cognitive and discursive point of view. Methodology: Phraseological units with the “white” component are considered as linguistic means manifesting the achromatic concept proper both in language and discourse. The analysis of language meanings is based on explanatory dictionaries and dictionaries of symbols. The speech semantics is studied on the basis of the National Corpus of the Russian Language using the methods of contextual and conceptual analyses. Results: In terms of semantic development of phraseological units preserving the colour meaning of the adjective white, cases of semantic shift and transfer are found. Potential semes of the “white” component are considered, making it possible to determine white concept attributes on distant periphery. The conclusion is made about importance of varying semantics as a means of conceptualizing both collective and individual knowledge. Practical implications : The paper contributes to the study of an achromatic fragment of the colour picture of the world offering new material for further speculations on the role of the language in forming and objectivizing the world picture. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2013-9-63