Cognitive modeling of actual meaning in the field of phraseology

The paper presents a cognitive model of ‘actual’ meaning of idioms. It is shown that the actual meaning of idioms can be described as derived from specific cognitive structures, i.e. frames and scripts. In the process of semantic derivation of actual meaning many conceptual operations take part. The typology of such operations is outlined in the paper. In opposition to the traditional theory of semantic derivation, the cognitive model of meaning is based not on the literal meaning of words forming the idiom, but on the corresponding cognitive structure: on the frame of a typical situation or the script of a typical action. Therefore an adequate metalanguage for semantic description of idioms ought to be considered within the framework of cognitive paradigm.