NON-VERBAL MEANS OF REPRESENTING THE CONCEPT OF FEAR (BASED ON THE NOVEL BY S. KING «THE OUTSIDER»)

Abstract

The article analyses the non-verbal means of representing the concept of FEAR on the basis of S. King’s novel «The Outsider». In the studied text, groups of words and phrases with the meanings of «facial expressions», «human appearance», «estures/movements of the human body», «various symptoms of human mental states accompanied by changes in skin characteristics» are identified.It has been established that the most productive textual structures for denoting facial expressions are those with the core words face (less often – expression) and eyes. The functional load of such constructions is related to the explication of one of the most important channels of non-verbal communicationcapable of conveying the emotional connotation of verbal messages, and to the artistic characterisation of the character’s inner state of mind. A similar phenomenon of explication of non-verbal communication, which conveys a certain expression in the character’s appearance as a manifestation of his state of excitement, anxiety, is inherent in the text structures looked startled, even alarmed, he was gory, agonised bewilderment. An individual author’s statement has been recorded in which a specific word use with an expressive associative and pragmatic meaning the bloodshot whites bulged, turning her into a horror-movie deathmask reflects the emotional state of the character caused by a feeling of fear and fright. Textual structures with the meaning «gestures/movements of the human body», «various symptoms of human mental states are accompanied by changes in skin characteristics» knees threatening to come unhinged, knees were unlocking and his arms pebbling with gooseflesh, both of them were still coated in fear-sweat similarly to the above expressions convey the character’s internal state caused by a feeling of fear. It has been observed that among the typical specifiers that express unpleasant emotions or thoughts caused by a person’s fear or anxiety about something dangerous or bad are the verbs fear/be afraid, shiver,shudder, shake, scared and the verb form frightened. It is concluded that the recorded groups of words with the meanings «facial expressions», «gestures/movements of the human body», «various symptoms of human mental states accompanied by changes in skin characteristics» are active representatives of the non-verbal sphere of explication of the concept FEAR.