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CONCEPT “DESTINY”: FEATURES OF REPRESENTATION IN POLISH LINGVOCULTURE // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2016. Issue 2 (167). P. 31-37

Concept “los” (“destiny”) as a key in the Polish culture has many lexical representation. “Destiny” in Polish is the life, the existence of someone or something; future, sequence of events; the supreme regulatory beginning. Destiny is thought of as contradictory, ambivalent beginning. It is able to help or hinder. Carriers of the Polish language are ambivalent in their relation to the destiny. Presence of the destiny may either be approved or denied. Poles have different views on the nature of destiny. On the one hand, destiny is presented as unchangeable and predefined from above. On the other, there is a view that it is created during the life (existence), and, for example, a person can have a significant influence on it. Metaphorically in Polish destiny is represented by the signs of person, connecting or disconnecting, gracious or formidable beginning.

Keywords: concept, lingvoculture, Polish language, lexical representation, conceptual metaphor

ASSOCIATE CONNECTIONS OF THE CONCEPT “ŚMIERĆ” // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2017. Issue 11 (188). P. 104-109

The article deals with the results of the experiment and the interview which were directed at revealing the associative links of the Polish concept “śmierć” / “death”. A study of such kind of links can help in modeling the structure of the concept. The resulting verbal associations reflect the conceptual signs of the concept “śmierć” (‘end’, ‘departure’), indicate a deep rootedness in the consciousness of the Poles of cultural stereotypes which are a figurative representation of death (in the image of a woman with a scythe, skeleton). Words that call objects, realities connected with the rite of the burial (cemetery, funeral, etc.) are few in the associative line. The attitude toward death, its evaluation are found in the words-reactions, which call the feelings or conditions that a person experiences when faced with death. Most often these are heavy, unpleasant feelings or conditions (yearning, sadness, fear, etc.). Negative attitude towards death is represented in its associations with cold, darkness, ruins, etc. Individual associations which represent the personal experience of understanding death are diverse: from completely traditional (wieczny spokój / eternal peace) to very unexpected (śmietana / sour cream). The full spectrum of obtained associations allows to speak not only about the peculiarities of the structure of Polish concept “śmierć” (its signs), but also about the specifics of the conceptual connections in the consciousness of Polish-speakers.

Keywords: concept, representation of concept, verbal associations, Polish linguoculture

CONCEPT “RUSSIAN CHARACTER” IN THE REPRESENTATION OF RUSSIAN-SPEAKING REPRESENTATIVES OF CHINESE LINGUOCULTURE // Tomsk State Pedagogical University Bulletin. 2020. Issue 4 (210). P. 63-69

Introduction. The purpose of the article is to describe the model of the concept “Russian character”, presented in the mind of Chinese youth who speak Russian, by analyzing its lexical representatives identified by dint of a psycholinguistic experiment. Material and methods. The material of the study was the language reactions received during free associative experiment, which was held with 60 Chinese students. The analysis of the signs that form the structure of the concept “Russian character”, which exists in the consciousness of representatives of Chinese linguoculture, through its verbal objectivization, allows us to see the specifics of perception of representatives of Russian culture by representatives of Chinese, to evaluate the general direction of assessment of Russian by members of another ethnic group. Results and discussion. During the associative experiment representatives of Chinese culture were asked to answer the questions: “What kind of associations do you have when you hear the phrase “Russian character?”, “What kind is a Russian character?”. The analysis of the data obtained through this experiment allowed to pick out 22 character traits attributed by Chinese to Russian people. According to respondents, the key features of the Russian character are openness, cheerfulness, boldness, sincerity, etc. A smaller percentage of respondents (46.7 and 20, respectively) indicated that hardiness and responsibility are typical traits of a Russian person. 1.6 % of respondents think that straightforwardness, dexterity, enthusiasm are characteristics of Russians. Respondents also noted negative character traits of the Russian person. 26.6% of respondents call Russians selfish, 20 % – rude, 13.4 % – irresponsible, 6.7 % – lazy, greedy, etc. Thus, the model of the concept “Russian character”, existing in the consciousness of Chinese students who speak Russian, is a field structure (with nuclear and peripheral zones). The nuclear zone of the concept “Russian character” is formed by only positive qualities and character traits of Russian people, such as openness, patience, independence, etc., and the zones of the near and far periphery are presented as positive (friendliness, responsibility, activity), as well as negative qualities and character traits (selfishness, rudeness, pessimism). Conclusion. In general, the highlighted signs and their redistribution in the structure of the concept “Russian character” allow to conclude that the image of Russian people and their character in the consciousness of students from China are formed in a positive way.

Keywords: concept, national character, stereotype, associative experiment