The STUPIDITY concept demonstrated by pejorative phraseological units in the Avar and Russian languages from the perspective of cognitive and emotive principles

The aim of this study is to differentiate the distinctive features and connotative characteristics of pejoratives in the Avar and Russian languages through a comparative analysis of phraseological units in the Avar and Russian languages, actualized when denoting a negative assessment (denigration) of human stupidity. The article examines the characteristic features of the use of pejoratives in speech, journalism, and fiction. Differences in the ways of verbalizing the same phenomena and actions by means of both languages are identified. The scientific novelty of the research lies in identifying the frequency of lexemes with neutral and negative linguistic connotation based on a study of the lexicographic material of the STUPIDITY concept. As a result of the study, a high number of phraseological units directly containing the meaning “stupidity”, “short-sightedness”, “feeblemindedness” in the semantic core were identified in the Avar language, while in the Russian language, along with the indicated meanings, such semes as “naivety” and “recklessness” are also manifested. In Russian, examples of the use of emotively unmarked phraseological units (speech pejoratives) are more common than in Avar, which shows a more frequent use of fixed expressions bearing a negative linguistic connotation.