Levels of categorization in animal idiomatic expressions

Abstract

The departure point for the considerations presented below is Lakoff’s (1982, 1987) remark about the “greater cultural significance” of categories of the basic level of cognition, which can be recognized by a variety of criteria, among others – the criterion of their lexical labels functioning as basic terms in language. To verify that idea and to apply it to the important aspect of the cognized world constituted by the fauna, it is assumed that cultural significance should be confirmed by the occurrence of images of animals representing a certain level of classification in pictorial art and, also, by the occurrence of basic animal terms referring to basic animal categories in some kinds of literary works of art and, above all, in idiomatic expressions typically representing metaphorical meaning. The survey of a sample of English idioms provided by a selected dictionary largely confirms Lakoff’s statement as, indeed, basic category terms are the most common ones functioning in established idiomatic English animal expressions, although more specific subcategory names, especially as regards the class of birds, also appear in them in a significant number. What can also be concluded from the analyzed material is the fact that the basic level of categorization, termed by Lakoff the folk generic level only very loosely corresponds to the scientific generic level, which is basic in the Linnaean taxonomy. The scientific levels corresponding to the folk basic one can range from those of class (birds), through order (bats), family (hares), genus (rats), to species (dogs, cats, horses). The reason seems to be the fact that folk animal categories are determined by properties which are relevant in casual, practical-use-oriented cognition, which, nevertheless, need not be significant for establishing scientific taxonomies.