Phrasemes Expressing Emotions in Children's SF novels

Abstract

Phrasemes are combinations of words whose meaning does not derive from the meaning of their individual components. They have the following characteristics: polylexicality, stability and idiomaticity (cf. Burger 2015: 11ff.). They may express different functions: (1) indicators of social relations, (2) emotional attitude of the speaker, (3) ironic or humorous distance, (4) euphemistic action, (5) argumentation, and (6) clichés (cf. Fleischer 1997: 218ff.). The aforementioned functions of the phrasemes highlight their ability to evaluate. According to Du Bois (2007: 139), taking a stance, i.e. evaluation, is one of the most important language characteristics. Within the evaluation theory, Martin and White (2005) distinguish attitude, engagement and gradation. Attitude can further be divided into affect, judgment and appreciation. In this paper, the emphasis is placed on affect, i.e. the emotional meaning of phrasemes. The aim of this paper is to show the way emotions are expressed by phrasemes in selected children’s SF novels. In addition, the following research questions will be answered: Are phrasemes used to express emotions? Which emotions are present? Which category of expressing emotions is the most common?