Basic Features of Conceptual Sphere “Geopolitics” in Modern English-Speaking Worldview

Abstract

The article focuses on analyzing verbalization means, which serve to represent the conceptual sphere “geopolitics” in the modern English-speaking worldview. While mastering a foreign language it is necessary to learn a huge bulk of vocabulary and other linguistic information. How lexical units are acquired, stored and arranged in our mind is a controversial issue for psychologists, linguists and educators. To facilitate this process, one should investigate the principles of a second language mental lexicon functioning. The research is aimed at revealing the connection between language means and knowledge representation structures and relies mostly on the ideas professed by Cognitive Semantics. Cognitive modeling and interpretation combined with traditional linguistic methods enabled us to identify the contexts of cognitive understanding the phenomenon of geopolitics in the modern English-speaking worldview. We identify the conceptual sphere “geopolitics” as a complex of interrelated concepts that structure the phenomenon of geopolitics in native speakers’ consciousness. The research presents two cognitive models of the conceptual sphere—the nuclear and peripheral one, and the hierarchical one. The conceptual sphere under study is a complex multidimensional mental formation, its content being formed by its notional, figurative and evaluative components. The verbalization of the conceptual sphere components becomes possible due to the action mechanisms of word formation such as affixation, compounding, blending and reduction. The figurative component of the conceptual sphere is realized by a number of cognitive metaphorical models.