Representation of the Concept of War in English Language Culture

Abstract

The features of verbalization and structuring of the concept war on the material of the artistic discourse in English language culture are revealed in the article. It is found out how the conceptualization has led to its development. At the beginning of the 20th century, international relations have dramatically changed in the world. There is a risk that people of different worldviews may interpret certain military notions (in particular the linguocultural concept WAR) otherwise. The solution of this complex problem of ambiguity must be sought in the etymology of the linguocultural concept WAR and its lexical field. The concept of WAR is vividly expressed in the English-language picture of the world, and its expression has a deep national and cultural specificity. Subject-image, conceptual and value components can be distinguished in the structure of this concept. The semantic field of the WAR concept consists of the kernel (the "State of Armed Conflict" microfield) and the semantic periphery objectified by the "Situation of Antagonism" and "Art of War" microfields. The main lexical verbalizers of the WAR concept were also identified. These include the war token itself, as well as the corresponding synonymous tokens and lexical associations. A new understanding of the concept of WAR is observed within the English-language artistic and journalistic discourses, which is realized in the system of conceptual metaphors. The concept war in the artistic discourse of participants is a multidimensional mental formation, very complex, encompassing radically opposite meanings. It is clear that the sense of the concept includes components that are associated with death, agitation, pain, horror, depression and more. At the same time the structure of the concept includes extremely positive meanings that can be verbalized in such words as life, love, honesty, help, heroism. For each war, it carries something personal, but always war is when the heart aches.