ENGLISH NOMINATIONS FOR CHILDREN

Abstract: The article considers units of children’s nomination based on various types of assessment. According to the classification obtained, children’s nominations can indicate age and natural-physiological characteristics, character, behavior, emotions, mental abilities, moral standards, the social status of the child in society, family. This allows you to penetrate into the culture of the people, in the traditions of family education, to understand national and cultural values.

Keywords: units of nomination, child, thematic block, assessment, concept

Nomination units play a special role in creating a linguistic picture of the world. The nature of their significance is closely connected with the cultural and historical traditions of the people, the background knowledge of native speakers. The study of units of nomination in the context of culture is fertile ground for identifying and describing those language means and methods that embody culturally significant meanings in them. Acting as signs of cultural concepts, units of nomination contribute to the formation of the cultural identity of the people.

In our work, we consider the national-cultural features of the concept of ‘child’ in English. The units of the nomination are most transparent for linguistic and cultural concepts, since they display the characterological features of the worldview, reflectively correlated by native speakers with this language.

We examined the designations of children in the English language, realizing one or another category of assessment. Words nominating children were taken from Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary, The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Great English-Russian Dictionary.

Thus, the implementation of various types of assessment in the nominations of children allows us to distinguish the following thematic blocks in the conceptual field ‘child’:

1. The child is a living creature (age and natural physiological characteristics).

2. The inner world of the child (character, behavior, emotions, mental abilities).

3. The child as a social being (the social status of the child in society, moral standards).

4. The child in the system of social relations (family, school, religion).

Some categories, for example, sneak, slander, candy hound (sneak, sweet tooth), contain a general rating and can be used to refer to adults. We tried to avoid such words and did not use them as language material. Thus, in total, we identified more than 50 nominations for children.

— small (by age): babe, baby, infant — a child in the earliest period of life, especially before he or she can walk, bairn — a child: son or daughter, lad — a boy, a youth, a stripling, lass — a girl or young woman, little one — a child, nipper — a small child, toddler — a young child, usually one between the ages of one and two and a half, especially a young child learning to walk, stripling — аn adolescent youth, a juvenile between the onset of puberty and maturity, youngster — a young person; child or youth;

— small (in height) ankle-biter — a child, chit — a child or babe, kid — a young child or infant, kiddie — a kid, child, infant, bairn or whelp, mite — a tiny person or child, moppet — a little girl (usually one you are fond of), tiny tot, tot — a small child.

This group includes stylistically marked names such as small fry — small children, bambino — a young child, bundle of joy — a baby, rug rat (r.) — a small child, especially an infant or toddler, kinchen (r.) — a child, toto — a child, sunbeam — a cheerful child, fledgling — a young or inexperienced person.

Nominations of newborns, breast-fed infants (6 units) can be classified as neonate — and newborn infant, especially one less than four weeks old, new arrival, newborn — very recently born, nursling — one who, or that which, is nursed; an infant; fondling, suckling — a young child nursed at the breast, weanling — a child or recently weaned. A relevant sign is also an indication of the period of their birth and their complete dependence on adults: pronatis, premature newborn — an infant that is born prior to 37 weeks of gestation.

The analysis showed that the largest number of examples is recorded in thematic groups that describe the inner world of a child, a child in a system of social relations, his behavior. We believe that this is due to the fact that in England the process of education is based on restraint. The British believe that the immoderate manifestation of parental love and tenderness harms the children’s character. The disciplining effect on children is from a very young age, this teaches them their independence and responsibility for their actions. They become adults early, and they do not need to be specially prepared for adulthood. Thus, the study of the features of language nominations of children allows you to penetrate the culture of the people, the traditions of family education, to understand national and cultural values.

LITERATURE:

1. Trusova Tatyana Sergeevna Synonymous analysis of English lexicological unit CHILD // Филологический аспект. 2018. № 4 (36).