Abstract: The subject of this research is the symbolism in the English and Russian fairytale tradition. The object is the texts of the Russian and English fairy tales. Analysis of the texts reveals the typical functions performed by symbols in both folklore traditions. The author provides the examples of symbols and offers the interpretation of objects-symbols, symbols-zoonyms, color and number symbols, time and space symbols. Comparative study of folklore heritage of non-cognate languages reveals the fundamental commonness of a particular folk genre of different peoples in their perspective upon reality, methods of depiction, and ideological interpretations. The scientific novelty consists in conclusions obtained in the comparative study of the symbolism of fairy tale texts in the Russian and British folklore, which is important for determination of linguistic, semiological and cultural universals. The comparative study of folklore material of two traditions in the sphere of the poetics of folklore reveals the traditional universals and unique features on the level of symbolism of the fairy tale genre. Within the framework of the article, the author analyzes the functionality of thematic, animalistic, color, spatial-temporal, and numerical symbols. The acquired results are underpinned by a large number of text examples.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the symbols characteristic to the genre of folk ballade. The object of this research is lyrics of the Russian folk ballads. The following compilations of ballads served as the material for this research: “Russian Ballad” (edited By V. I. Chernyshev, N. p. Andreev, 1936), “Folk Ballads” (edited by D. M. Balashov, A. M. Astakhova, 1963), “Russian Folk Ballad” (edited by D. M. Balashov, 1983), “Ballads” (edited by B. P. Kirdan, 2001), “Epics. Historical Song. Ballads” (edited by A. V. Kulagina, V. A. Kovpaka, 2008). The author carefully examines the peculiarities of ballad symbolism and its functions. In the course of research, the following conclusions were formulated: consistency of the genre order depends on the presence of the system of artistic visual means; central in the poetics of ballad belongs to symbolism, parallelism, antithesis, epithets, and metaphors; symbolism in the romantic ballads is presented quite extensively; often a symbolic situation becomes a part of psychological parallelism presented in many ballad concepts; syntactic parallelism can be placed in any thematic link and amplifies by antithesis. In certain instances, antithesis appears an important technique for creating a tragic effect. Ballad poetics is subordinated to explication of the overall genre trend, including the reflection of fundamental universals and principles. The novelty of this work consists in the attempt of textual analysis of the major compilations of ballads, as well as in selection of the symbols for their further analysis within the framework of implementation of genre characteristics.

Abstract: This article explores the phraseological units with the elements – cosmonyms that have anthropocentric characteristics in the English language. Within the framework of the research, the author selected 49 phraseologisms with the elements – cosmonyms resolved into semantic components. Phraseological units of the English and French language with the elements-cosmonyms that have anthropocentric characteristics serve as the object for this research. The subject is the semantic specificities of these phraseological units. The selected phraseological units carry the characteristics of a person and their activity. The goal lies in the analysis of the English and French phraseological units with the elements – cosmonyms. The works aims to determine the use of cognitive approach indicating the orientation of language towards the description of a person and their activity. The following methods were used in the course of research: continuous sampling from phraseological dictionaries; analysis and synthesis in revealing the semantic peculiarities of phraseological units; classification for arranging the analyzed idioms in due sequence; quantitative method for comparing quantitative data and processing the results of sampling from English dictionaries; observation and generalization. The author suggests the ideographic classification of the selected phraseological; units; analyzes the semantics of phraseological units of the English language with the elements – cosmonyms. Practical relevance consists in the fact that the research result give a systemic representation on the use of phraseological units with the elements – cosmonyms for describing the person’s character in English.