The <i>eye</i> lexeme conceptual sphere in differently structured languages: Based on paroemias

Abstract

The article is devoted to the comparative typological analysis of Russian, English and Japanese paroemias with the eye lexeme глаз /eye /目[me] in terms of cognitive linguoculturology as one of the most dynamically developing areas in modern linguistics. We focus on the issues of the formation mechanism of the conceptual models within the framework of paremias in differently structured languages. The purpose of the study is to identify and describe paremias with the eye lexeme глаз /eye /目[me] as a micromodel of reality, reflecting the way of understanding, perception and conceptualization of the world by native speakers of Russian, English and Japanese. The subject of the study is the semantics and structure of paremiological units, such as proverbs, sayings and signs reflecting a certain nationally oriented way of the surrounding reality encoding. The comparative analysis, considering the paradigmatic and syntagmatic combinations of the eye lexeme глаз /eye /目[me] in differently structured languages, allows us to conclude that the paremiological units’ analysis contributes to the reconstruction of the so-called naive world picture, referring to earlier, ancient life periods of the particular people. The core of the national concept is the referential lexeme meaning, the peripheral layer is characterized by variability, since it reflects not only the territorial conditions, but also ancient traditions, customs, beliefs of the particular people. To achieve the goal of the undertaken research, we used the traditional descriptive and lexicographic methods, in addition to the comparative linguistic and cultural methods.