Algorithms of analogy-based metaphorical coinages in Modern English

Moscow State Linguistic University, Russian Federation, 38, Ostozhenka St, Moscow, 119034, Russian Federation

^* Corresponding author: phraseologinya@mail.ru

Abstract

The research looks into the phenomenon of analogy as a key cognitive-linguistic mechanism that provides the systematic quality of the creative functioning of linguistic units. Specifically, the study examines analogy-based English metaphorical neologisms. Apart from sampling, semantic and conceptual analyses, the research also applies methods and techniques proposed by corpus linguistics and construction grammar. The work proceeds from the assumption that, while creating novel expressions by analogy with a conventional one, the speaker relies on a relative similarity of two concepts, which makes it possible to represent one of them through the other by modifying and adjusting the latter in accordance with the speaker’s intent. At the linguistic level, this kind of modification is reflected in the variation of the lexical components of the linguistic prototype used by the speaker as a model for forming new units. However, a corpus-based study into the functioning of the selected units shows that the construction of the prototype normally remains intact throughout the whole range of lexical change the initial expression undergoes. The constancy of the prototype’s construction and clear algorithm-like patterns involved in creating analogical units account for the fact that new coinages are easily recognized and their meaning adequately deciphered.