Linguistic Worldview Research Articles

Culinary lexicon in the dialects of Spanish language

This article discusses the peculiarities of linguistic consciousness of the representatives of ethnoses of Latin American countries through the modern dialects of Spanish language. Analysis is conducted on the lexicon of the national cuisine of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The article includes the analysis of linguistic zones of the Spanish language. The goal lies in examination of the lexicon of national cuisine of Latin American countries and, and creation of culinary dictionary of Spanish-speaking countries. The author aims to determine the national-specific gastronomic realities of Latin American countries through the prism of ethno-cultural space, and establish correlation between the uniqueness of gastronomic realities with the mentality and fragments of the linguistic worldview of Latin American countries. The conclusion is formulated on the impact of loanwords upon the national culinary lexicon of Latin American countries. The author draws a chart with the lexemes of national cuisines of Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. In accordance with the linguistic zones of Spanish language, the national culinary lexicon is divided into three groups of indigenisms; considering the influence of other languages on the formation of the vocabulary of the regional Spanish language, the national culinary lexicon is divided into the following loanwords (Africanisms, Arabisms, Gallicisms, Anglicisms, and Italianisms). Lexical units, which are widespread in the territory of two, three, or four national dialects of the Spanish language are referred to as regionalisms. Lexical units that are characteristic to one national dialect of the Spanish language are referred to as variantisms. The proper names are allocated into a separate group. The scientific novelty consists in examination of the poorly studied national culinary lexicon of such Latin American countries as Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

“Ugric text” as a cultural phenomenon: towards articulation of the problem

Leaning on the conceptual analysis, the article describes “Ugric text” as a special cultural phenomenon. Approximately fifty works by Ugric writers (both, poetic and prosaic) were analyzed using the Internet program, “Morpher”. Despite the obvious differences stylistic and thematic differences in their works, both poets and prose writers use a common set of basic concepts that comprise the backbone of cultural space of the region. The conclusion is made on the similarities that unite the texts of Ugric authors into a single cultural phenomenon. The goal of this research lies in the description of Ugric text as a unique cultural phenomenon. The article employs the results of the latest scientific developments in the field of philological regionalism and geopoetics, as well as literary works by the Ugric authors. The main result consists in elucidation of the concept of “Ugric text”, its differentiation with the concept of “literary school”. Having studied the texts of prominent Ugric writers – E. D. Aypin, S. S. Kozlov, O. B. Richter, P. A. Sukhanov, N. V. Sochikhin, Y. Shestalov and others –  the author concludes on the basic concepts that determine the common mental space of Ugra and ensure the semantic integrity of Ugric text as a cultural phenomenon. It is established that due to the common conceptual framework, Ugric text not only exists as a unified whole, but also evolves, remains contemporary, and meets the spiritual needs of the audience. Comprehensive analysis of the literary works indicates that the common concepts in the poetic and prosaic Ugric text evolve and refract within the framework of the authorial linguistic worldview. The scientific novelty consist sin the fact that this article is first to analyze Ugric texts as a cultural phenomenon from the perspective of conceptual approach.

Językowy obraz dźwięku (na materiale polsko- i rosyjskojęzycznych recenzji muzycznych)

The aim of the article is to present the ways of conceptualization of sound in Polish and Russian musical critical texts. For the purpose of the article 145 examples in Polish and 145 examples in Russian were analyzed. The material has been divided into three groups based on the type of sense: a visual approach to sound impressions, a tactile approach to sound impressions and a tastebased approach to sound impressions. The analyzed research material was presented with the use of the linguistic worldview methodology, and grouped into categories. The results of the comparative analysis showed a multiplicity of similarities in the types of categories, as well as in the types of synaesthetic metaphors. The largest groups of conceptualizations are those with Aristotelian origin: QUALITY, SUBSTANCE and SHAPE. Synaesthetic metaphors based on the visual approach to sound impressions proved to be the most widespread. The analyzed texts have provided a huge variety of conceptualizations and synaesthetic metaphors in Polish and Russian musical critical texts which constitute a part of the linguistic worldview of sound.

Flannel i beggar’s blanket: metafory czy amalgamaty? Analiza kognitywna wybranych potocznych nazw dziewanny w języku angielskim

The paper offers a cognitive analysis of selected common English names of mullein (Verbascum thapsus L.) motivated by the appearance of the plant. While analyzing such names as flannel and beggar’s blanket, the author strives to portray the way they are conceptualized by recalling Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Conceptual Integration Theory, in particular the Brandt and Brandt six-space model of conceptual integration, also known as a cognitive-semiotic approach to metaphor. In the course of the analysis, the author also makes reference to those aspects which seem indispensable from the standpoint of cognitive linguistics, viz. (i) the role of human experience and embodied thought in the conceptualization process, (ii) the dynamic and context-dependent meaning construction and (iii) the role of linguistic worldview in decoding meaning.

English Career Terms Synonymy

Synonymy is a linguistic phenomenon which reflects the complexity of reality representation in a linguistic worldview. Terminological synonymy poses certain difficulties for specialists who perform practical tasks in application areas such as translation and education. Career development , career advancement , career growth , career progression , career progress , career enhancement are among the most frequently used terms with similar semantics which indicates a certain degree of indefiniteness in the terminology in the correspondent professional field. The aim of this paper is to conduct comparative linguistic analysis of these terms. The material is presented by research article titles from eight scientific databases. Methods include quantitative and qualitative study of frequency, semantic fields by semantically related concepts, keywords, syntagmatic collocability and componential analysis. The results show that career development can be currently considered a hyperonym as it is the most frequent and time-proved term with the widest semantic coverage and indication to professional spheres in the dictionaries. Despite its obvious prevalence, career advancement , career progression , career growth and career progress are gaining momentum as alternative terms highlighting a lack of important semantic nuances in career development . Though the general number of career advancement and career progression across research papers is considerably lower, their presence in article titles is almost the same as that of career development . Title is arguably the most demonstrative part of a research paper; therefore, it can be presumed that the career terms might acquire lexical meanings which will clearly differentiate vertical career growth from horizontal organizational movement.

Ксеноним «лаобайсин» в сетевом диаспоральном дискурсе

The research aims to consider the semantic evolution of the xenonym “laobaixing”, to identify its main definitions, using the material of discursive practices of the Internet community “A Laowai’s Tales”. Scientific novelty of the research lies in analysing one of the central ethnonyms belonging to the linguistic worldview of the Russian-speaking diaspora of China, which has been little studied up to this point. The work resulted in the identification of the main lexical transformations of the xenonym in the Russian diaspora linguoculture, which is under the influence of the Chinese linguoculture and changing historical realities of Russia-China relations.

Культурно-языковой трансфер в условиях поликультурности (на примере Республики Башкортостан)

The research aims to characterise trends of cultural and linguistic transfer in a multicultural environment, using the example of a multiethnic region, namely the Republic of Bashkortostan. The paper describes the processes of crosscultural and crosslingual interaction in the setting of a multiethnic metropolis, the capital of the republic, which is the City of Ufa. Scientific novelty of the research lies in using modern approaches to the study of national linguistic worldviews and in conducting a comprehensive linguocultural analysis of the ways in which they overlap in the process of crosscultural communication. It is the first time that the analysis of the intercalation and interference processes in the course of crosslingual interaction in the setting of Russian-national bilingualism has been given, the linguistic landscape of the metropolis has been described from the perspective of its cultural component. As a result, it has been proved that in a multicultural environment, there is an inevitable mixing of languages in live colloquial speech and reinterpretation of concepts belonging to one culture by others. The extent to which linguistic transfer is realised and its direction (from the Russian language to a native one, from a native language to Russian) depend on the level of language proficiency, native speakers’ age, the general socio-cultural situation in the region.

Системные лексико-семантические связи прилагательного rich в английском языке

The purpose of this article is to describe the meaning of the adjective rich and its systemic connections in the linguocultural aspect. Tasks: 1) determine the lexicosemantic variants of the adjective rich; 2) identify its synonyms and antonyms; 3) compare the semes of the adjective rich presented in different dictionaries. The relevance of this paper lies in the fact that the English linguistic worldview includes a certain area associated with linguocultural ideas about wealth that is represented by the adjective rich and its synonyms and antonyms. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that for the first time the semes of the adjective rich are considered in terms of linguistic worldview and the theory of mentality. The research material was selected from modern authoritative English dictionaries. The main methods used here are the method of component analysis of vocabulary definitions, descriptive method using interpretation and generalization techniques, comparative method, and elements of the linguocultural method. The analysis showed that the adjective rich in the English language has 34 semes, which can be combined into 8 thematic groups: 1) person: ‘someone/person/people’, ‘endowed’, ‘have’, ‘possessions’, ‘contain’; ‘entertainment’, ‘(highly) amusing’, ‘(highly) developed’; 2) material wealth: ‘(a lot of) money/material wealth/property’, ‘(financially) profitable’, ‘remunerative’, ‘valuable/high value’; 3) abundance: ‘lush/abounding/abundant’, ‘a high standard of living’, ‘supplied’; 4) perception: ‘colour’, smell/fragrance’, ‘sound/tone’, ‘taste’; 5) something material: ‘(natural) substance’, ‘food (with fat/oil/eggs/sugar)’, ‘plant/nutrients’; 6) resources: ‘combustion’, ‘source’; 7) evaluation: ‘attractive/magnificently impressive/pleasant’, ‘beautiful’, ‘good’, ‘(highly) productive’, ‘(highly) varied’, ‘useful’; 8) quality: ‘complex’, ‘pure/nearly pure’, ‘percentage’, ‘quality’. In addition, 26 synonyms and 4 antonyms of the adjective rich were identified.

Образ Китая в лингвоинформационной модели современного медиадискурса (на материале русских и китайских СМИ)

This article analyses the linguistic-informational model of the representation of the image of China in Russian and Chinese media discourse today. When screening Russian and Chinese sources, the authors applied contextual analysis (with an emphasis on the implicit content of the country’s media image), descriptive method, method of cultural interpretation, and content analysis. In the current situation of information and psychological wars (term by A.P. Skovorodnikov), using the image of a country becomes the starting point in the mass media matrix of the onomastic concept for accentuating the perception of the geopolitical toponym (geopolitonym). For the first time, the authors propose the notion of a mass media matrix of an onomastic concept for understanding the cognitive side of media images of geopolitonymic objects. The geopolitonym China does not just form a virtual image of the country in media discourse, but also acts as a multidimensional construct of the linguistic worldview in the producer–recipient system. In onomastics, the geopolitonym traditionally denotes names of countries, regions, and significant historical areas that have an impact on human awareness in a civilizational context. The media image of a country is a topologically-oriented multi-layer model of the territory for the recipients of the media discourse. The authors clarify O.N. Sorokina’s concept of the information model, highlighting the linguistic component that was and remains the leading one in media discourse. Furthermore, the authors introduce the concepts of linguoinforneme and linguistic-informational step from the point of view of the structure of the linguistic-informational model. The linguistic-informational model, according to the authors’ suggestion, is implemented in linguoinfornemes using the strategy of linguistic-informational steps. The linguoinforneme constructs a media image of the country in a certain accentological assessment, based on social demand. We found that china’s media image is presented in Russian media discourse in a variety of ways, being implemented in evaluative linguoinfornemes. The country’s media image in Chinese media is constructed based on the traditions of hieroglyphic writing. The authors show what the mythologized/realistic perception of the image of China is based on, how it is conditioned by the tasks of the Communist Party of China, how it is related to the strategies of Russian-Chinese cooperation, and how it affects intercultural communication.

Специфика функционирования концепта «автомобиль» в российских рекламных радиотекстах

Advertising is known to successfully combine elite and popular culture. It reflects the attitudes and values characteristic of modern society as well as participates in the formation of new views, beliefs and priorities, thus indirectly controlling the recipients’ actions. Radio advertising is specific due to the absence of visual images. In this respect, the text itself and the images it generates in the minds of listeners acquire special significance. Information is provided to recipients through the system of expressive language means only, attracting the audience’s attention and forming certain values. This article aimed to reveal the specifics of the CAR concept in radio advertisements, which had not been sufficiently studied before. The research material included 800 spot commercials obtained by means of continuous sampling. The following words were selected: avtomobil’, avto, mashina, kar (‘car’), mark (‘brand’), model’nyj ryad (‘model range’). The conceptual analysis allowed the author to identify the main and additional semantic components of the concept under study as well as to describe its value components. The research showed that the CAR concept in radio advertisements is special in terms of its ability to generate new meanings that go far beyond the dictionary definitions of the lexeme car. Value dominants of the Russian linguistic worldview are transformed in radio advertisements to meet the needs of the audience.

Концепт МИР в русской и китайской языковых картинах мира

The study aims to identify semantic, linguocultural, associative components that are a part of the semantic structure of the concept WORLD in the Russian and Chinese linguistic worldviews. The study is novel in that it is the first to consider components of the concept WORLD in the Russian and Chinese linguistic worldviews at the semantic, cultural-semantic and associative-semantic levels in the comparative aspect. The article presents results of analysing set expressions, proverbs, sayings of the two languages compared, as well as reactions of the Russian and Chinese respondents to the stimulus word “world” obtained during free associative experiments, on the basis of which specificity of the concept associative-semantic perception by the Russian and Chinese native speakers was described.

Conceptual reconsideration of nominations of limbs in the paremiological fund of the Chinese language

This article is dedicated to reconsideration of nominations of limbs reflected in the phraseological fund of the Chinese language. The goal of this work consist in determination of the conceptual attributes of nominations of human limbs in the Chinese linguistic worldview by analyzing their linguistic representation in the paremiological fund of the language. The author leans on the vast theoretical material, gradually describing the key approaches towards the analysis of “bodily concepts” and the study of phraseologisms of the Chinese language in the conceptual paradigm. The author reveals several primary and secondary meanings of words that represent limbs in the Chinese language, demonstrating the interrelation between the origin of the word and the number of its secondary conceptual meanings. For example, the hieroglyph 脚 (foot) is the “youngest” and most commonly denominates part of the body. The article also proves the possibility of actualization of cognitive meanings of particular linguistic concepts through the analysis of paremias. Namely, the concept “arm” implies the meanings of “mastery”, “distance”, “tool” and “weapon”, while the concept  “foot” – the meanings of “foundation”, “motion”, “prosperity”. The author comes to the conclusion that the ways of reconsideration of human body and its parts in descriptive and comparative terms of different cultures is one of the most effective instruments for cognizing the fundamental of the linguistic worldview.

Межподсистемные фразеологические лакунарные единицы в диалектах российских немцев

The purpose of the research is to determine the level of influence that the Russian language has on phraseology of the Russian Germans’ island dialects in order to identify features of the Russian Germans’ linguistic worldview. The article compares phraseological units belonging to the Russian Germans’ dialects and the German literary language. Scientific novelty lies in conducting a study at the junction of lacunology and phraseology, using the material of the schwanks written in the Russian Germans’ dialects. As a result of the research, the author has found phraseological lacunary units in the Russian Germans’ dialects, i.e. unique phraseological units that are absent in the German literary language. Uniqueness of dialectal phraseological units is accounted for by traces of interfering influence of the surrounding language, i.e. Russian.

Traditional Worldviews of the Slavs and the Balts: Towards Cognitive Comparative Research

Since the 1980s, research on linguistic worldview and collective identity, practised by anthropological, cultural, and cognitive linguists, has focused on identifying and defining the basic values of European culture against a possibly broad comparative background. If standard languages and national traditions have been under scrutiny in the project EUROJOS since 2009 (see the partial results in the five volumes of the “Axiological Lexicon of Slavs and Their Neighbours” and several other publications), value systems of folk cultures have not been studied systematically so far. I therefore propose to revive the idea of an ETNOEUROJOS project, parallel to EUROJOS. In an article published in 2013 in the journal Etnolingwistyka, I postulated that values in folk languages and cultures be investigated within the methodology of the Lublin-based “Dictionary of Folk Stereotypes and Symbols”, whose aim is to reconstruct the folk Polish view of the world and of humans. I now propose, by analogy to the project EUROJOS, to extend the scope of this new program onto the Baltic peoples. A survey conducted among distinguished researchers of Slavic and Baltic traditions has revealed a set of values important for the Slavs (life and health, fam ily and kinship, home, lan d, work and diligence, love, beauty, happiness, wisdom, can didness, honesty, faithfulness, justice, freedom, honour, faith/religion, and God) and for the Balts (lan d, bread, work, fam ily, home). The first stage of the project will be designed to reconstruct the four values common to both the Slavs and the Balts (lan d, work, fam ily, home), to propose parallel descriptions of these values, and to compare these cultural concepts for their semantic invariants. The descriptions obtained in the two projects, EUROJOS and ETNOEUROJOS, will help corroborate or refute the prevalent view that at the level of folk cultures, Slavic and Baltic communities are much closer than at the level of national, elite-shaped cultures.

Концепты МУЖЧИНА и ЖЕНЩИНА в калмыцкой языковой картине мира

The study aims to determine which gender stereotypes actualise the concepts of MAN and WOMAN in the Kalmyk linguistic worldview. The article analyses paroemias of the Kalmyk language and a number of modern poetic works in order to find out how the studied stereotypes are reflected in modern texts. Since concepts can change, one ought to ascertain whether there are such changes. The study is novel in that it is the first to carry out a comparative analysis of these concepts in the proverbial stock of the language and in the modern Kalmyk literature. The results of the study have shown that the gender stereotypes actualised by proverbs exist, with minor changes, in modern texts as well.

Концепты ДОМ и HOME/HOUSE в концептосферах русского и английского языков в 2001-2020 гг.

The article aims to study the concept ДОМ (HOME/HOUSE) in the Russian and English languages, to identify interrelation of the concept under review with other fundamental concepts in the Russian and English cognitive worldviews. The research objectives are as follows: to identify specificity of the ДОМ (HOME/HOUSE) concept representation in the Russian and English linguistic worldviews, to reveal specificity of the ДОМ concept representation in linguistic consciousness of the Russian speakers - Nizhny Novgorod region residents. The authors identify the structure of the concept ДОМ in linguistic consciousness of Nizhny Novgorod region residents, compare approaches of the modern Russian linguists to interpreting the concept ДОМ (HOME/HOUSE), and herein lies scientific originality of the research. The following conclusions are justified: the concepts ДОМ and HOME/HOUSE are similar in meaning, they have a multi-layer structure.

Picture of MOTHER Based on Selected Writings of Vanda Juknaitė

The article provides the analysis of the linguistic picture of mother in contemporary Lithuanian literature. The analysis is based on the writings of contemporary Lithuanian writer Vanda Juknaitė, namely on her novella Stiklo šalis (‘Land of Glass’) and novel Šermenys (‘Funeral’). The research is carried out using cognitive linguistics methodology and the description of linguistic worldview in texts. Through multiple aspects and meanings, fragility, the author shows the real view of mother, with all her weaknesses and dark sides. mother is called using a very general word woman , which probably highlights the importance of maternity in each woman’s life. mother takes no care of her appearance: looks tired, dark, and sad. Her psychological world is full of contrasts; she is strong and weak, decisive and reluctant, brave and timid at the same time. However, she features very strong relations (both physical and psychological) with her child. The analysis of Juknaitė’s idiolect has shown that the author provides no idealised picture of mother.

Семантические преобразования лексемы менталитет в метафорических моделях субъектно-предикатных отношений

This article presents a new stage of the research project on the frontal analysis of conditions and results of contextual actualization of lexemes representing the Russian concept MENTALITET/MENTAL’NOST’ (‘MENTALITY’). Here, the author studied the word mentalitet (‘mentality’) in non-usual subject-predicate combinations. The aim was to analyse semantic transformations of the lexeme mentalitet in the conceptual metaphorical models of reification and animation. L.O. Cherneiko’s method of cognitive interpretation of abstract words and the method of conceptual analysis elaborated by Nizhny Novgorod Conceptological School were applied in the paper. For material the author turned to the Russian National Corpus. The scientific value of the article consists in introducing a new aspect of conceptual analysis, i.e. conceptual metaphorical transformations of the word mentalitet in subject-predicate combinations. The key findings are as follows: 1) in the contexts of conceptual metaphorical reification, the lexeme mentalitet is interpreted as a sensually perceived object: a concrete thing, device, mechanism, material (substance); 2) in the contexts of conceptual metaphorical animation, mentalitet is perceived as a living, rationally and efficiently acting being endowed with consciousness, emotions and will. The author comes to the conclusion that this borrowed abstract concept has been to a large extent appropriated by the Russian linguistic worldview. The paper makes a sufficient contribution to contemporary cognitively oriented linguoculturological research strategies as well as to the theory and practice of conceptual analysis. The practical value of the article lies in the opportunity to use its main results in journalism and PR projects, as well as in compiling a new type of concept dictionaries and in linguistic examination of media texts.

PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS OF ROLE TAKING IN CROSS-CULTURAL MEDIATION IN TRANSLATION

In the context of cross-cultural mediation in translation the problem of switching between different conceptual and linguistic worldviews is of particular interest. The present paper suggests that this switching should be seen as switching between different linguacultural roles, i.e. the roles of members of the source and target cultures. The aim of this article is to identify and describe the psychological resources, processes and mechanisms involved in taking the role of a member of a different culture. Based on the analysis of relevant literature the following psychological resources required for taking a different linguacultural role have been identified: a) empathy; b) agency; c) creativity; d) reflection; e) willingness to invest in taking a new role. The practical value of the present paper is determined by the fact that a better understanding of the above-mentioned psychological resources, processes and mechanisms can enable improvements in teaching translation and foreign languages to trainee translators by making students’ learning activity more conscious, purposeful and professionally-oriented. Practical recommendations for implementing the proposed ideas are provided.

Имена исторических личностей в письменных источниках татарского языка (на материале XVII-XVIII вв.)

The research aims to identify the features characterising the functioning of historical figures’ personal names in written sources of the Tatar language of the XVII-XVIII centuries. The paper is novel in that it is the first to give a lexical description and classification of historical figures’ personal names belonging to the Tatar anthroponymicon of the XVII-XVIII centuries. Historical proper names in written artifacts of the Tatar language contribute to artistic images creation in those works, reflect a historical era. As a result of the analysis, it was found that historical proper names are a means of transmitting ethnocultural information in the Tatar people’s views, a reflection of a writer’s linguistic worldview, as well as a source of studying the Tatar language vocabulary.