This study is the first
attempt in the literature to define the semantic prosody (contextual properties)
of extended lexical units (ELUs) according to the psycholinguistic variables ‘valence’ (emotional positivity), ‘arousal’
(excitement, mood-enhancement), and ‘concreteness’.
The object of investigation are the
verbal phrases feel blue (unambiguous
idiomatic ELU, without a literal counterpart) and see red (ambiguous ELU, idiomatic or literal).