Kalyuzhna A. Linguocognitive characteristics of the key concepts of English detective discourse

The paper focuses on the verbalized key concepts MYSTERY, CRIME, DETECTIVE, CRIMINAL of the English detective discourse. The object of the research is the linguocognitive characteristics of the key concepts and the types of these concepts correlation within the discourse of British classic detective fiction. The main objective is to identify the key concepts, their verbalization means and content, and to study the interaction of the key concepts. The analysis of data employs linguistic findings of the cognitive-discursive and cognitive-semantic studies, the theories of field and valency. The major scientific methods are definitional, componential, etymological, valency, discursive analysis, field modeling. The scientific novelty of the research is determined by the interpretation of detective discourse as institutional, identification of its key concepts correlating with the plot elements, description of lexical means verbalizing the key concepts and determination of these lexemes semantic links, elaboration of analysis algorithm of studying the key concepts interaction on the basis of valency links. The theoretical significance of the paper is determined by its contribution to cognitive semantics and valency theory. The practical value of the obtained results lies in the possibility to apply them in teaching lexicology of the English language, general linguistics, special courses in cognitive linguistics, as well as in the process of writing research papers of different levels.