Concept Modern Woman as Cognitive and Semantic Universal in Related Languages

Abstract

This typological study presents the description of the concept Modern Woman as cognitive and semantic universal in related languages. This is carried out due to the description of the macrostructure of the concept that predetermines the distribution of selected characteristics according to structural macrocomponent of the concept – imaginative, informational component and interpretation field; categorical structure of the concept, which presents the cognitive hierarchy of the classification criteria, conceptualize the consequent subject or phenomenon; the field organization of the concept. There were analyzed the approaches to the definition of the term “concept” at first, including semantic, cognitive and cultural ones.Basing onto the typology of concepts suggested by Sternin, who identifies three main types of concepts: concepts-representations, concepts and gestalts, we decided to make an attempt to analyze the categorical structure of the concept-prototype, concept-frame, concept-scenario / script and concept-scheme in related languages, but we have done it on the example of fiction by the contemporary British writer Cecilia Ahern “The Time of my Life” and its translations into Russian and Ukrainian.Identification of cognitive classification features of the concept-prototype “Modern Woman” allowed us to note the following features in related languages: physiological features mark the conceptual features of biological sex, age, appearance; status-role features indicate social status, status and role in society; functional features indicate the type of activity or occupation; relational features position of a person in relation to other persons or groups of persons; mental and functional features that indicate emotional state, mental abilities, health status, etc.; axiological features that characterize the internal properties of a person, character traits, demeanor; affective and emotive signs indicate an emotional attitude to the subject: approval-condemnation / displeasure, acceptance-rejection, irritation, irony, etc. The main slots of the concept frame “Modern Woman” are beauty, fashion, love and sex, work and life, lifestyle, news and politics, career, psychology and relationships. Concepts-scenarios and concepts-schemes are also represented by the corresponding episodes and images. So, the concept is perceived as the basic unit of human memory, which structures the mental space of a person, it is cognitive and semantic universal onto the cognitive level in the formation of lexical meaning in such related languages as English, Ukrainian, Russian.