Categories of Immaterial Objects in Mind and Language

Abstract

Study of major ontological categories as a form of knowledge and finding the characteristics of their objectivation in language is one of the most promising areas of cognitive linguistics. It is related to the functions of categories in cognitive processes in general: their role in structuring and organizing knowledge, as well as in reflecting the significance of summarizing categorical concepts for the disclosure of the structure of the linguistic world view. The set of these categories is still not worked out, some of them must be first preliminary researched. Categories of immaterial objects, represented in German by the nouns «Eigenschaft» - «property», «Qualität»- «quality», «Merkmal» - «attribute», «feature», «sign», «Erscheinung» – «event» and «Zustand» - «state», which are dialectically interconnected and described in detail in the philosophical literature, are of interest to linguists, because the study of word combination nominating these categories enables the scientist to understand the problem of intercategorial relations in linguistic thinking.