Colour-based phrases in Romanian, Russian and English [articol]

Abstract

The use of phrases is a linguistic as well as a cognitive act. Phrases contribute to structuring discourse, thus aiding, at a general level, in the conceptualization of essential parts of the world surrounding us. At a more specific level, they play a vital role in understanding the moral and mental behavior of a particular linguistic community and could, therefore, be investigated from the point of view of cognitive linguistics. In this paper, in an attempt to validate this point of view, we will analyze a small corpus of colour-based idiomatic/ metaphorical phrases in Romanian, Russian and English.