TOWARDS A STUDY OF THE TRUST CONCEPTUAL FIELD IN MIDDLE ENGLISH

This article considers the nuclear and cognitive features of the TRUST concept in Middle English using the corpus of Geoffrey Chaucer’s texts. The analysis was conducted within cognitive-semantic approach. The central features were identified by analysing lexicographic data. The cognitive features were described via analysing WordHoard corpora data. The central features identified are «faith», «loyalty», and «confidence». The cognitive features identified include «belief in God» and its variant «belief in the supernatural», «volume», «self-confidence», «confidence in others», «truthfulness» and «worthiness of expectations». The connection of the TRUST concept in Middle English with other concepts such as FAITH, FIDELITY, CONFIDENCE was identified