Innovation in Language Learning

The lexeme soul has different interpretations in etymological dictionaries. Interpretations range from its literal meaning: soul – spirit (breath), to metaphorical images of the soul as life or life force. For us as a team of researchers, the lexeme soul is particularly interesting as a component in phraseological expressions that are part of the speakers' language in its referential form. In the Explanatory Dictionary of the Macedonian Standard Language (DMSL), the noun soul means: the totality of feelings, consciousness of character traits of a person, cf. spirit; the immaterial principle of man's life which leaves the body after death; person, family member, resident. Being aware that the lexeme soul in its universality is present in all languages (Slavic and non-Slavic), we set out to do research by drawing parallels between: Macedonian, German, Italian and English language. From the initially performed analyses, it is evident that the lexeme soul is quite frequent in the language corpora of the indicated languages. The questions that arose from the initial insight were: What is the frequency of the lexeme soul in the phraseological expressions of the indicated language? And: With what meaning is the lexeme soul used? To make a detailed analysis and give precise answers to the questions asked, we did some research. The students of the Faculty of Philology, Goce Delcev University, Stip, North Macedonia, were included in the research: Macedonian language and literature (20 students), German language and literature (9 students), Italian language and literature (5 students) and English language and literature (13 students).As part of the research, the students were given the task of looking into the phraseological dictionaries and detecting the phraseological expressions that contain the indicated lexeme. The second part of the research referred to the analysis of the meaning with which the lexeme soul was used in the given phraseological expression. Bearing in mind the Christian and ethical interpretation of the lexeme soul, in our analysis we approached its metaphorical meaning. In fact, the lexeme itself has a great capacity in creating metaphorical sequences, which in itself speaks of its semantic fullness. Observed through the prism of symbolism, the lexeme soul also creates space for a kind of synonymy: the soul as life, strength, love, goodness, but also death. And, in order to reach the final conclusion, but also to open up space for new research, we made a register of equivalents of phraseological expressions that contain the lexeme soul in the Macedonian, German, Italian and English. The table with language equivalents will be attached to the complete version of the paper. The contextual possibilities of the lexeme soul are great, as the research has actually showed.