A Semantic and Pragmatic Analysis of English Colour Idioms.

Abstract

Idioms have been vastly researched in the last years from various perspectives (psychological, cognitive and linguistic). The present contribution sets out to explore the semantic and pragmatic dimensions of idiomatic expressions through the analysis of a small corpus of colour idioms in the English language. First, we will examine the motivation underlying idioms. Colour words are frequently used to mean something other than a sensory property. They have developed figurative meanings grounded on conceptual structure or on culture. Secondly, we will discuss the usage of idioms with data drawn from The Times. Our ultimate aim is to demonstrate that the use of idioms in context shows their communicative purpose, as is shown through their occurrence in headlines and through idiom modification and creation. Our focus will be on the effect of idiomatic variation on the semantic motivation of idioms.