Sukhovetska L. V. Lexical representation of the key meaningful component of «danger» in the speech act of «caution» in political discourse

Abstract

The article is focused on the speech act with the intention of caution in English political discourse. After
thorough analysis of the scientific literature the author comes to the conclusion that danger is a meaningful
component that serves to be the key constituent in the semantic structure of the analyzed speech act. The
autonomous status of the speech act with the intention of caution has also been confirmed. The whole bulk of the
vocabulary, used to nominate the danger constituent is recommended to split into two layers: a rational layer and
an imaginative-expressive one. The rational layer is comprised of the noun danger and its derivative adjective –
dangerous; lexical units, which contain the seme of danger in their dictionary interpretation; abstract notions,
which may be cognitively interpreted and associated with danger. The expressive layer includes precedent
situations, phraseological units, metaphors, and allusions