Animalisms in Russian and English linguistic cultures

This article analyzes the actualization of the animalistic code in phraseological units and paremias of the Russian and English languages. The term "paremia" is used as a generic name for proverbs, sayings, and other verbal signs, presented in the form of various reproduced microtexts of a folklore nature. Phraseologisms and paremias represent extremely interesting and rich material for research in the field of ethnolinguistics, comparative phraseology, linguoculturology, intercultural communication. The cultural component of any language is zoonyms, or zoolexems, representing the representatives of the animal world. These include, in particular, animalisms - words formed from animal names, and zoomorphisms - animal designations in a metaphorical sense to characterize a person and his behavior. The meanings of these words exist as part of phraseological units. When learning about the world a person uses methods of observation and comparison. That is why when observing animals a person compares his behavior, character traits with the behavior of animals, and draws the corresponding associative connections. A zoomorphic or animalistic code of culture is a combination of ideas about the animal world, nominomes of animals and other living creatures, designating them as a whole or their parts and specific characteristics that complement their natural properties with meanings significant for the culture. Zoonyms as units of an animalistic code help in revealing the specifics of a particular culture and language. In the course of the study a comparative and linguocultural analysis of the selected English units of the phraseological foundation with similar units of Russian linguistic culture was undertaken.