SEMANTIC FEATURES OF “REINTERPRETED” IDIOMS WITH A LAUGHTER COMPONENT IN MODERN SPANISH

The current research deals with the semantic peculiarities of the so-called “reinterpreted idioms” (the term was introduced by A. V. Kunin in 1970), which contain a component of laughter (the lexeme reír / risa), and their functioning in the Spanish language. The purpose of the study was to analyze a number of set expressions where the key component conveys the meaning of laughter or smile, but their general meaning has nothing in common with the corresponding semantic field. For example, the idiom caerse de risa (lit. “fall down from laughter”), although being metaphorical by nature, still describes the process of laughter and its intensity, while in such idioms as estar tentado a la risa (lit. “to be prone to laughter”), which means “to be amorous / lustful”, one does not come across anything connected with laughter at all. Thus, the meaning of the second idiom can be considered as “reinterpreted”. The list of units under investigation was formed with the help of monolingual explanatory, idiomatic and ideographic dictionaries of the Spanish language (Latin American variations included), and bilingual (Spanish-Russian and English-Spanish) dictionaries. The analysis of 20 reinterpreted idioms with the key laughter component gives way to a conclusion that many of the selected units reveal certain initial associations with laughter / smile: for example, boca de risa (lit. “mouth of laughter”) characterizes a friendly, polite person, as well as the qualities of friendliness and courtesy themselves. The component of laughter in such idioms can be a basis for describing the character of a person or their behavior, objects, or phenomena. Behind a reinterpreted expression there also can observe a whole situation, whose correct decoding depends on a certain level of background cultural knowledge. Thus, if we consider the Peruvian idiom quedarse riendo (lit. “to remain laughing”), it is impossible to find the motivation of its current meaning (“to be beheaded / executed”) in the modern Spanish language. We need to know its origin to understand the reason for such semantics, which involves immersion into the national culture of a particular Spanish-speaking country.

Keywords: Spanish language, “reinterpreted” idiom, laughter, semantics, (un)motivated meaning