SEMANTIC CLASSIFICATION OF ENGLISH PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS DENOTING HUMAN CHARACTER

Abstract

Abstract. This article provides a semantic analysis of English phraseological units expressing human character and identifies their primary semantic groups. The study examines phraseological units expressing positive, negative, and neutral-evaluative character traits, highlighting their semantic motivation, imagery, and evaluative possibilities. Using phraseological units such as a heart of gold, a cold fish, a dark horse, a big mouth, a tough cookie, a wet blanket, a loose cannon and an open book, the expression of human qualities such as kindness, coldness, secrecy, talkativeness, persistence, dampening other’s enthusiasm, lack of control, and openness is analyzed. As a result, it is revealed that in English phraseology, human character is often expressed through evaluative, figurative, and metaphorical semantics.