On the role of visualisation in understanding phraseologisms on the example of commercials

Abstract

Phraseologisms are linguistic units characterised by figurativeness or usage of metaphors. But what exactly is figurativeness? In the case of a linguistic unit, it is a quality instigating visual imagery. So, the direct meaning of a great part of phraseologisms is so figurative that we can easily visualise it. It is obvious that these individual visualisations help us understand an unfamiliar expression. The fact that while interpreting phraseologisms, language users may consciously proceed from mental images, is also confirmed by psycholinguistic experiments. This article dwells upon visualisation of metaphorical expressions as a means of conveying messages in advertisements and their reception or interpretation.