PERSONAL PERCEPTION OF TIME EXPRESSED BY ENGLISH SET EXPRESSIONS IN MODERN LITERARY TEXTS
DOI: 10.23951/1609-624X-2017-10-96-102
The article considers individual aspect of time perception. Firstly, a brief theoretical review of problem studies goes. Depending on mood and activity, personal time proceeds either quickly or slowly and it can be either pleasant or not. Positive emotions bring a deceptive impression of a fast flow of time. Negative emotions, on the contrary, subjectively lengthen the time intervals. The practical part examines around 30 modern English set expressions denoting time as perceived by a person. The conclusion says that the perception of time as short/long or pleasant/unpleasant is expressed in speech through fixed collocations used by authors of modern fiction. Short time is described in dictionary English set expressions as “fun” and “it flies”. Long time “hangs heavily on one’s hands.” Unpleasant time is “bad, hard, dark, evil, rough, thin, lean and it is not one’s own. Pleasant time is “good, easy, the best of one’s life, the time of one’s life, high and there’s a lot of it”. Pleasant time “has its moments, it is one’s finest hour and it makes one’s day”. Fiction authors’ creative thinking depicts bad time as “poor, awful, dreadful, horrible, terrible, very uncomfortable, devil of a time and hell of a bloody time”. Pleasant time is “nice, lovely, great, excellent, delightful, smashing, terrific, fantastic, marvelous, riotous, and dead good”. The considered aspect of a writer’s individual style of personal, timerelated vocabulary is worth further research.
Keywords: idiom, set expression, subjective time, personal time, perception of time described by language units, English fiction, literary text
References:
1. Gak V. G. Prostranstvo vremeni [Time space]. Logicheskiy analiz yazyka. Yazyk i vremya [Logical analysis of the language. Language and time]. Ed. N. D. Arutyunova., T. E. Yanko. Moscow, Indrik Publ., 1997. 352 p. (in Russian).
2. El’kin D. G. Vospriyatiye vremeni [Time perception]. Moscow, APN RSFSR Publ., 1962. 310 p. (in Russian).
3. Zherebin V. M., Vershinskaya O. N., Makhrova O. N. The Modern Perception of Time and Acceleration of the Pace of Life. Sociological Research, 2015, vol. 54, iss. 3, pp. 189–202. DOI: 10.1080/10610154.2015.1098297.
4. Giovinazzo V., Novarese M. The Meaning of Happiness: Attention and Time Perception. Mind and Society, 2016, vol. 15, iss. 2, pp. 207–229. DOI: 10.1007/s11299-015-0180-1.
5. Nesterik E. V., Issina G. I., Pecherskikh T. F., Belikova O. V. Visual Images of Subjective Perception of Time in a Literary Text. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 2016, vol. 11, no. 9, pp. 2829–2839. DOI: 10.12973/ijese.2016.724a (in Russian).
6. Kudryavtseva I. P. Frazeologicheskiye edinitsy sovremennogo angliyskogo yazyka s komponentom, oboznachayushchim vremya: time, hour, minute, moment, second. Dis. kand. filol. nauk [Phraseological untis of modern English with components denoting time: time, hour, minute, moment, second. Diss. cand. philol. sci.]. Moscow, 2007. 178 p. (in Russian).
7. Worrall A. J. English Idioms for Foreign Students with Exercises. Lnd., Longman, 1972. 93 p.
8. Seidl J., McMordie W. English Idioms and How to Use them. OUP, 1978. 272 p.
9. Kunin A. V. English-Russian Phraseological Dictionary, Moscow, Living Language Publ., 1998. 944 p.
10. Siefring J. Oxford Dictionary of Idioms. OUP, 2004. 323 p.
11. Longman Idioms Dictionary. UK, Longman Ltd, 2000. 398 p.
12. Cambridge International Dictionary of Idioms. CUP, 1998. 608 p.
13. Cowie A. P., Mackin R., MacCaig I. R. Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms. OUP, 1993. 748 p.
14. Longman Dictionary of English Idioms. Lnd., Longman Ltd, 1979. 997 p.
15. Susann J. Valley of the Dolls. USA, Bantam books, 1967. 418 p.
16. Shaw I. Rich Man, Poor Man. GB, New English Library, 1969. 767 p.
17. Drabble M. The Millstone. GB, Penguin Books, 1978. 172 p.
18. Albee E. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? N.Y., Pocket Cardinal Edition, 1962. 242 p.
19. Shaw I. Nightwork. USA, Pan Books, 1976. 335 p.
20. Simak C. Why Call them Back from Heaven. UK, Pan Books, 1970. 191 p.
21. Grisham J. The Runaway Jury. N.Y., Island Books, 1996. 550 p.
22. Shaw I. The Young Lions. USA, Signet books, 1957. 910 p.
23. Salinger J. D. The Catcher in the Rye. Moscow, Art, 1998. 189 p.
24. Sillitoe A. Key To The Door. Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1969. 470 p.
25. Amis K. Lucky Jim. Lnd, Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1956. 256 p.
26. Leonard E. Maximum Bob. Dell Book, N.Y., 1992. 326 p.
27. Fowles J. The French Lieutenant’s Woman. GB, Panther Bks, 1970. 399 p.
28. O’Hara J. The Lockwood Concern. Popular Library, N.Y., 1967. 445 p.
29. Golding W. The Lord of the Flies. Lnd., Faber and Faber, 1962. 264 p.
30. Updike J. Marry Me. England, Peguin Books, 1978. 252 p.
31. Townsend S. The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole. Lnd., Methuen, 1985. 204 p.
32. Krantz J. Princess Daisy. USA, Bantam Books, 1983. 494 p.
Issue: 10, 2017
Series of issue: Issue 10
Rubric: GERMANIC LANGUAGES
Pages: 96 — 102
Downloads: 792