Interlinguistic idiomaticity in the onomasiological aspect

Statement of the problem and purpose of the article. This article presents an onomasiological analysis of Russian and English idioms in order to ascertain the degree of their interlinguistic idiomaticity. The linguistic features found out in the analysis are a theoretical and practical contribution to understanding the mechanisms of transferring cultural knowledge by means of language. The research methodology of the current article includes the contrastive analysis conducted in order to define the degree of interlinguistic idiomaticity from top to zero. The analysis concerns the figurative, morphosyntactic and phonetic levels of idiom structure. Russian and English phraseological and phraseomatic units, proverbs and speech clichés, semantically isomorphous and formally homomorphous, were chosen for analysis. Onomasiological approach enables the researcher to conduct contrastive analysis at the semantic level. The results of the analysis are presented in the form of tables with subsequent description. The data obtained are aimed at comparing the structures of language units, revealing the cultural and psychological characteristics of the collective mind of English and Russian language speakers, using idiomatic expressions within the themes of “fate”, “God”, “good / bad luck”. The relevance of this work arises from the continuous need for cultural exchange and enrichment of cultures through understanding the systems of the native and foreign languages and the accompanying cultural background. Conclusion. The results obtained in the process of onomasiological analysis can be used for raising the efficiency of cross-cultural communication. They demonstrate ways of modelling reality in the semantic structures of images of Russian and English idioms, as well as the influence of the language system on the formation of mental attitudes.