"Mother's identification" subframe in English language

"Mother" is a fundamental category of human existence, and the concept "Mother" is the basic concept of culture and society. Motherhood is a social and cultural institution that is conceptualized as “vital” and “natural”. On the one hand, the universality of kinship systems puts forward "Mother" as a semantic and conceptual universal. On the other hand, motherhood has powerful symbolic meanings and includes customs, traditions, beliefs, points of view, stereotypes, moral principles, rules and a set of other rational and irrational norms that are associated with caring for and raising children, characteristic of each culture. In accordance with the categorical-cognitive classifiers, the following clusters are distinguished in the subframe structure:

• 1.    Mother's identity;

• 2.    Physical, psychoemotional, cognitive and functional identification of the mother;

• 3.    Attributive-evaluative nominees of the mother;

• 4.    Referential-relational identification of the mother;

• 5.    Metaphorical modifications and religious and mythological connotations.

Cluster 1 "Mother's Identity" captures the maternal 14 biological, bodily and social construct "Mother-image", "Mother-concept" as a conceptual-cognitive unity of the mother's representations within the framework of her belonging to a certain group, which marks her place in the structure of family and social relationships. Genetic-biological, bodily-reproductive, functional-role and social-status identity of the mother is manifested in the contexts of new reproductive technologies and social conditions in which a gradual transformation of the family institution and the redefinition of traditional forms of motherhood take place. The variety of forms of the birth of a child in modern conditions - from traditional conception to conception in vitro, socially conditioned changes in the roles of the mother, the creation of new forms of mothers are reflected in the English language in a number of nominations reflecting the biological, social and cultural-historical realities of motherhood, which acquire new content in our time, fueled by the values adopted in a particular culture. The following phrases, composites and words nominate various aspects of a mother's identity in terms of her actual contribution to the birth of a child - the supply of genetic material, participation in conception, as well as relationship to the child: Adj + N [natural, real, biological, genetic, (non ) gestational, etc.] mother, N + N [surrogate, birth] mother; gestation: Adj + N [pregnant, expectant] mother, Part I + N [livebearing, child-bearing, carrying] mother; N-to-Infinitive [mother-to-be], N-in-Gerund [mother-in-waiting]; childbearing: N in N [a woman in labor, girl in labor]; protection and care for him: V + N [foster mother], Part I + N [nursing, breastfeeding, nourishing; caring, nurturing, providing, pram-pushing, etc.] mother, etc. Terms that nominate a woman who gave birth to a child or delivered genetic material mark the necessary but not sufficient amount of maternal labor: natural mother, biological mother, bio-mum, real mother, gestational mother, genetic mother, birth mother. The phrase natural mother refers to the name of the woman who gave birth to a child, i.e. delivered genetic material and performed the act of childbirth; at the same time, the other 17-year-old girl kept up a regular correspondence with her natural mother and went to see her once or twice a year. The biological mother - it is the parent of the female sex , who participated in the conception of the child , and put him to the genetic material : Biological mother is a parent who has conceived (biological mother) or sired (biological father) rather than adopted a child and whose genes are therefore transmitted to the child. The phrase biological mother is in opposition to the word mother in everyday discourse. It is a marked member of the opposition, since all other functions of the mother, except reproductive, are outside the scope of consideration. The phrases gestational mother, or genetic mother, which arose in the nineties of the twentieth century, are synonymous with the expressions gestational carrier and surrogate mother and are the names of a woman whose maternal role is limited to bearing and giving birth to a child (often without using her genetic material). The surrogate mother can be the biological mother of the child (traditional surrogacy) or she can be implanted with someone's fertilized egg (gestational surrogacy).

The expression birth mother refers to a woman who has given birth to a child , as opposed to an adoptive mother : Two girls maintained a contact, one with her birth father and the other with her birth mother. The following phrases capture different aspects of socio - status identity of the mother : her participation in the education - Adj + N [social, adoptive , new] mother, V + N [foster mother], Num + N [second mother], etc., marital status - Adj + N [single, lone] mother, Part II + N [widowed, unmarried, divorced, married, never-married, deserted] mother, social employment , education , profession , etc .: Part I + N [working] mother, Part II + N [employed] mother , Part II + N [educated mother], N + N [actress mother] and others . It is worth noting that the use of different terms for the names of different types of mothers depends not only on the denotative filling of lexemes (i.e., the nomination of the mother's parental contribution, her resource costs), but also on the speaker's subjective relationship to the problem, the degree of political correctness demonstrated by him. So, the adoptive mother, adoptive mother, is called simply mother, and the biological mother is called birth mother, b-mother, or biological mother. Lesbian families use nominations such as bio-mom, nonbio-mom,

NGP (non-gestational parent). Such euphemistic expressions as “social mother” or “co-mother” blur the line between the woman who biologically gave birth to the child, and the second, who together with the first brings up the child. Social mother is a socially recognized mother. When using a pair of names - social mother and mother - it is understood that one of the mothers is true, real, and the second is less significant. To avoid this misunderstanding, the pair social mom and bio-mom, biological mother, is used.

Cluster 2. Physical, psychoemotional, cognitive and functional identifications of the mother are verbalized by phrases in which the lexeme "mother" has 88 adjuncts according to the list, which is 15% of the total number of modifiers. In the 16th Russian correlative cluster, the lexeme “mother” has 30 modifiers (8.4%). Typical structures verbalizing the physical parameters and external physical characteristics of the mother, her appearance: Adj + N [little mother], Part II + N [red-haired, harshboned, etc.] mother and the mother's identification by her physical states: Adj + N [dead, sick, etc.] mother, Part II + N [exhausted, infected, etc.] mother, Part I + N [ailing, dying, etc.] mother, etc. Psycho-emotional states are mainly realized in the structures: Adj + N [proud, reasonable] mother, Part II + N [worried, excited, contented] mother, Part I + N [loving, grieving, etc.] mother. Cognitive states are objectified in the structures: Part II + N [devoted, committed, etc.] mother. An important place in the "Mother" frame is occupied by a group of expressions characterizing the mother by her emotional states and feelings. Most of them objectify states of anxiety and excitement (worried mother, excited mother, etc.), frustration and confusion (distracted mother, confused mother), frightened mother, disappointment (disappointed mother, frustrated mother), surprise (surprised mother ), exasperated mother, outraged mother, etc. Positive emotions such as feelings of satisfaction and contentment (delighted, contented mother) are less represented. Let's give a text example : “William's got a rash on his face!” exclaimed his worried mother. The character of the mother is conveyed by the phrases [domineering, demanding, manipulating, overpowering, prohibiting, etc.] mother and [good-humored] mother. One of the prototypical traits of the mother's character is domination, the exercise of power using conventional hierarchical family resources: He had that really overpowering mother.

Cluster 3 "Attributive-evaluative nominations of the mother" represents the idealized model of the mother, her standard or contains information of an attributive-value nature, fixing ethical, aesthetic, pragmatic and other evaluations of the mother, which are represented by the phrases: Adj + N [poor, good, great, dear, bad, beautiful, wonderful, perfect, proper, etc. mother, Part II + N [beloved] mother. The BNC presents a list of 15 adjuncts (2.5% of the total), compare: 15 (4.2%) adjuncts in the correlative fragment of the subframe on the material. Idealized models of mothers represent phrases that nominate women whose qualities correspond to ideal ideas about mothers and their roles in the family: The mother may identify as a good mother and wife if she continually feeds her family.

Cluster 4. Referential-relational identification of the mother. Semantic-nominative subgroups record the referential identification of the mother according to the following categorical-cognitive classifiers: by the number of children: [mother of three]; by the name of the children: mother of [Mary, etc.]; on intra-family relations: mother of [a family]; by age of children: mother of [the four-year-old, the teen, the newborn, etc.]; by gender of children: mother of [a boy], etc. In the BNC corpus, we noted 56 modifiers of the lexeme mother, which was 9.5% of the total list of this slot. Cluster 5. The following structural-semantic constructions objectify metaphorical modifications of the lexeme mother and its religious and mythological connotations: Adj + N [Great Mother, primal mother], N + of + N [mother of battles, mother of all ..., etc.], N + N [Mother Church, Mother Nature, den mother, etc.], Part I + N [Weaving Mother], Part II + N [Blessed Mother]. In this matrix, the word mother has 85 modifiers (14.5%), and the word “mother” has only 16 (4.4%). Metaphors are formed from everyday experience and go back to ideas about the physical components of being. The concept Mother is noted both in its primary nomination, using the terminology of Yu. Lotman, serving a certain range of specific social needs, and metaphorically, with the transfer of features to a number of social facts and phenomena, “of which it becomes a model” [see. Lotman, 1999, p. 377]. The concept of the mother and her initial characteristics and properties turns out to be a filter through which information about the world seeps through, a way of interpreting things, phenomena, facts, events. In one interval of consideration, the mother is the initial matrix, this is a biological being with certain functions of procreation, feeding and caring for the child intended by nature, in the other - a social object with characteristics that allow her to exercise control, management and protection of the child, in addition, she is involved into the system of psychoemotional relationships with the child. The original category "Mother" is comprehended in such domains of purpose as church, homeland, nature, etc., to which the attributes are transferred: reproduction, life support, love, control, attention, protection. Thus, mother nature as an object is concretized as a protector, a punisher, a producer of life, a symbol of fertility. "Mother" gives rise to a number of metaphorical nominations in the following models: mother - other people, mother -nature, mother - plant, mother - Madonna, mother - sovereign, power, mother -source, mother - love, etc.: The Great Mother is more than a blind force of Nature. A number of expressions with the pivot word mother refer to religious nominations: I have founded monasteries, supported Holy Mother Church ... In the following groups, the lexeme mother with the preposition of forms metaphorical expressions in which the transfer of meanings from the source area to the target area carried out based on such initial functional zones of motherhood as the priority of the mother, her generative power, her power, control and management and care: the expression of the highest degree of something, something unsurpassed: mother of pearl, mother of love, mother of parliament (s), etc .; source, origin, creator: mother of invention, mother of the nation, mother of poetry, mother of life, etc .; patroness, steward, protector, mistress: mother of the country, mother of Glasgow, mother of the church, mother of the world, mother of heaven, mother of health, etc .; main figure in a certain period of time: mother of the 21st century. The mother of all expression has the following postpositive adjuncts : lobsters, traffic jams, battles, laser printers, waves, markets, etc.

Here are examples , which are characterized by the scale of      some events , phenomena , processes , concepts,facilities and etc. , fixing their importance magnitude , superiority : You've a grip like the father and mother of all lobsters! China remains the mother of all markets. Parallel to the reference of respect (the noun mother adds the second component ): Mother Nature, Mother Church, Mother Earth, Motherland, Mother Superior, etc.