Семантика как продукт оперирования ментальными моделями (на примере показателей направления вовне в русском и китайском языках)

Abstract

The article critically evaluates the postulate about «semantic shifts» and puts forward a hypothesis about the mechanism of generating semantics as a manifestation of the brain’s ability to create mental models and operate with them. The hypothesis is based on a number of modern concepts about human cognition and aims to explain the non-equivalence of indicators for the same direction of movement from different languages and the causality of the «congruence» of inference in individuals when they use a certain indicator of direction in their native language. The hypothesis is tested on the example of direction indicators OUTWARD 出 (chu) and вы-. Dictionary definitions, existing research on semantics description for both indicators, data from the Russian National Corpus, and data from Beijing University’s Center for Chinese Linguistics Corpus serve as the materials of research. The main methods are comparative analysis and deduction. Three criteria of contraposition of spatial closedness/ openness are distinguished in the OUTWARD movement model: OBSERVER criterion, based on visual perception; EXPERIENCER criterion, based on the environment’s impact on the self as passive recipient; and DOER criterion, based on the perception of obstacles to freedom of movement. The results demonstrate that the semantics of both indicators depend on the corresponding modifications of the model. The nonequivalence of the two indicators is caused by a clear cognitive preference in the choice of the initial position. The modifications of the model for 出 fall under the category of SUPEROBSERVER emphasizing the change or contrast in “location” or “condition.” The modifications of the model for вы-, in contrast, fall under the category of SUPERDOER, and focus on overcoming “limitation” in the path of movement. It is also shown that across different cultures, there is consensus in the interpretation of what is perceived when actualizing a certain position of cognition. An OBSERVER position interprets INSIDE as “imperceptible” - a “source”, “resource” and “potential”, and OUTSIDE as “perceptible”; an EXPERIENCER position builds correlation that INSIDE denotes SELF and OUTSIDE denotes NON-SELF; a DOER position is prone to associate negative connotations with INSIDE and positive connotations with OUTSIDE. This result allows us to conclude that the "congruence" of the understanding of semantics in individuals within one language group is achieved by synchronizing the initial position of cognition in the course of their interaction.