Colour idioms: phraseological units with the colour designation component

Abstract

This research aims at studying phraseological units (idioms) that contain in their semantics an element of colour designation. Emphasis is done on the analysis of theoretical data on the subject; determining the role and meaning of phraseological units in the English language. The author has considered colour as a component of the cultural connotation of phraseological units, has classified and disclosed the meaning of phraseological units with a colour designation component. Undoubtedly, colour is of great importance in the life of a modern person. It is difficult to imagine a person's life without colour. It can be viewed from various perspectives: artistic and aesthetic, psychological, physical, social, environmental and many others. Colour opens up a special world to us, filling it with an amazing opportunity to admire the beauty of everything that surrounds us. It helps us to get additional information about various people, objects, surroundings; evokes special feelings, influences our consciousness, leads to reflections. Human beings are characterized by constant desire to name the objects and phenomena that surround them, acquiring individual, historical and cultural experience. The colour perception of the world is reflected in the lexical and phraseological systems of the language. The emergence of phraseological units is directly related to the formation of metaphorical meanings for colour designations, and the symbolism of colour had a decisive influence on the emergence of metaphorical meanings of adjectives - colour designations. Therefore, for linguists colour designation is one of the most popular lexical groups. Different attitudes to this or that shade are reflected in figurative expressions, idioms and sayings existing in the language. After all, they accumulate socio-historical, intellectual, emotional information of a specific national character. Phraseological units are quite common means of expressing images. They help to perceive information in a different way, influencing the human imagination.