Functioning of English genderly marked phraseologisms in the belle-lettre style literature

The present article is devoted to investigation of functioning of English genderly marked phraseological units in the texts of belle-lettre style literature. The subject of investigation - English phraseological units, characterizing men and women, i.e. genderly marked phraseologisms of the English language. The aim of the research is analysis and classification of English genderly marked phraseological units in the original texts of belle-lettre style literature, classifying them into definite groups, characterizing age, appearance, marital and social status, traits of character, professional sphere and nationality of men and women. This investigation was done with the help of method of overall selection from English phraseological (idiomatic) dictionaries, method of classification of genderly marked phraseologisms and componential analysis, making out gender component in the structure of genderly marked phraseological units. As the result, there were presented separate semantic groups of genderly marked phraseological units, characterizing age categories, peculiarities of appearance, professional and personal qualities, marital and social status of men and women. Theoretical part of the article is proved by short extracts from English belle-lettre literature texts. The results of the research can be used not only in practical learning of English phraseological units, but in the process of interpretation of belle-lettre literature texts, in working over idiomatic dictionaries and linguistic analysis of characters of belle-lettre literature as well.