Comparison of the concept of "winter" in Russian and Chinese linguistic cultures

Van Suyue Postgraduate student, Department of General and Comparative Historical Linguistics, Moscow State University 119991, Russia, Moskva oblast', g. Moscow, ul. Leninskie Gory, Gsp, 1, aud. 955 sudayue126@gmail.com Other publications by this author

1. The study of the concept in Russian and Chinese linguistic cultures.

1.1 Research of the concept in Russian linguoculture. The term "concept" has been studied in Russian science for a long time and many well-known scientists have been doing this. In the published article "The Conceptosphere of the Russian language", D. S. Likhachev argues that in the broadest sense concepts include words, including lexemes, the meanings of which constitute the content of the national linguistic consciousness and form a "naive picture of the world" of native speakers ^{[2, p. 4]}. D. S. Likhachev believes that the totality of these concepts forms the conceptual sphere of the language in which the culture of the nation is concentrated. The decisive factor in this is the way of conceptualizing the world in lexical semantics, and the main research tool is the conceptual model, with the help of which the main components of the semantics of the concept are distinguished and stable relations between their components are revealed ^{[14, pp. 280-287]}.

V. I. Karasik not only has a unique understanding of the concept, putting forward the idea that "concept = value + image + concept". From this point of view, according to the author, the interpretation of the concept is more specific and complete, since it not only reflects people's perception of the concept of a thing, but also contains associations, assessments and feelings of the subject about the outside world, etc. In addition, it is a linguistic unit that exists in the individual or collective consciousness, containing national and cultural information. At the same time, in his manual "Language Circle: personality, Concepts, discourse" he noted: "One of the ways to study concepts is to analyze the internal form of their names... Speaking about the internal form of the concept, we turn to the name of the concept, establish the etymology of the corresponding word." ^{[8, pp. 104-105]}. E. A. Kudinova believes that "the core of the concept best reflects the semantics of a keyword (lexeme) having a concept. The analysis of synonyms, antonyms of the key lexeme complements the content of the concept" ^{[13, p. 49]}. O. M. Burakova in her article "The methodology of linguistic description of the concept through the construction of a semantic field" writes that "the concept can be investigated by analyzing the meaning of a word, concept, semantic field with the corresponding core. The linguistic representation of the concept can be studied by analyzing the corresponding semantic field" ^{[5, p. 88]}.

Thus, the concept is inseparable from the mental world of a person, his history and culture. In this paper, the concept of winter is investigated by comparing lexical and lexico-semantic groups in Russian and Chinese in a microlinguistic perspective, and the value and image of the concept are described by examples in a macrolinguistic perspective.

1.2 Research of the concept in Chinese linguoculture. The study of the concept in China is mainly influenced by Russian academic circles, and since its appearance in China it has been hotly discussed. From the point of view of research results, the last two decades have been a fruitful period for concept research, and concept research in China mainly covers the fields of cognitive linguistics, cognitive semantics, linguoculture and psycholinguistics. Such Chinese scientists as He Chunying, Zhao Aiguo, Peng Wenzhao, Jiang Yaming and Yang Xujie contributed to the development of the discipline of linguoculture, making an important contribution to the study of the concept. In his article "Interpretation and Analysis of the "concept"" (2007), Jiang Yamin gives a systematic overview of the concept of "concept", related concepts and interpretations of the concept by various schools in Russian linguistics ^{[23, p. 10]}. In the works of Liu Juan "Review of linguistic studies of the concept" (2007) ^[19] and "Research of the term "concept" and its conceptual meaning" (2007) ^[18], Liu Zuoyang "About the concept" (2014)^[20] and Chen Menghua "Conceptual studies in the perspective of Russian linguoculture" (2014) ^[24] the authors present the history, current state and results of research by Russian scientists in the field of the concept, as well as put forward their own views. Russian Russian linguistics In recent years, in addition to studying the concept itself, many specific lexemes have also become the object of research, for example, Tang Yuxin "Comparative study of the linguocultural field of the Russian-Chinese concept of water" (2014) ^[21], and Fan Jiaqian "The concept of patience in Russian-Chinese linguoculture" (2017) ^[22] focus on the analysis of specific words expressing the corresponding concepts, thereby more fully reveal the similarities and differences of Russian and Chinese national cultures.

Russian Russian literature As a result, the understanding and analysis of the concept in Chinese humanities are mainly based on the framework of the corresponding interpretations of Russian literature, mainly in the context of comparing Chinese and Russian language worldviews in the analysis of concepts. There are few materials, and the relevant Chinese studies have certain gaps and limitations, but they have made a new contribution to the comparison of Russian and Chinese linguistic cultures, and many Chinese linguists have analyzed and expanded the research of Russian linguists, which allowed more scientists to focus on this perspective, develop it and give new strength to linguistic and cultural studies.

2. The concept of winter in Russian and Chinese linguistic cultures.

2.1 The concept of winter in etymological, semantic and ideographic dictionaries. In the Russian language, the word "winter" has appeared since the 10th century, having arisen in the Old Slavic language ^{[15, p.5]}. Winter as a common Slavic word of Indo—European nature goes back to the same basis as the Greek cheima - "winter, storm". The original meaning, apparently, is "rainy time", since there is a related Greek cheo — "lew" (about rain). The meaning of "snow" (Greek chion) developed subsequently, as did the meaning of "time of snowfall" in the word "winter" ^{[11, p.150]}. In the Russian semantic dictionary, winter is defined as "...the coldest time of the year, following autumn and preceding spring; the time when nature freezes ..." ^{[15, p.85]}. And in the Explanatory Dictionary of Dahl, the passage of winter time is more accurately described as "... astronomically, in the north. hemispheres, from the entry of the sun into the sign of Capricorn, on December 9, and before its entry into the sign of Aries, on March 8; in fact, from the beginning of frosts and the winter path to the spring thaw ..." ^[6].

In the Chinese ideographic dictionary "Big Dictionary of the Chinese Language", the lexeme "?/dong" (d?ng), translated as "winter" in Russian, is explained as follows: 1) ideogram. Indicates the end of the season and the beginning of the cold season. The fourth of the four seasons, i.e. from October to December according to the lunar calendar; 2) is between autumn and spring at all times of the year; 3) the general name of November according to the lunar calendar; 4) the end (little used in modern Chinese). ^[25]

2.2 Lexical and semantic groups as a means of analyzing the concept of winter in Russian and Chinese linguistic cultures. The most well-known approach in modern semantic research is the so-called field method, which, in fact, reveals the semantics of words. The term "field" usually refers to a group of words united by a common content, reflecting conceptual, thematic and substantive consistency or functional similarity ^{[9, p. 26]}. D. N. Shmelev believes that "groups of words distinguished on the basis of subject-logical generality, in many cases are characterized by some common to them proper language features". This concerns the relationship between the semantic field and the lexico-semantic group. Thus, the lexico-semantic group (hereinafter referred to as "LSG") is a linguistic paradigm, whereas the semantic field acts as a system of interrelated lexical sets of different ranks, a set of paradigms ^{[4, pp. 25-26]}. The choice of the LSG concept of "winter" for research is explained by its presence as a typical element in the linguistic pictures of the world.

In this article, the LSG of the concept of "winter" is distinguished by the semes of the lexeme "winter". According to D. N. Shmelev and A. A. Ufimtseva, a lexeme is a combination of all forms and meanings of a word in all its uses. It appears as a two–sided unit characterized by formal and semantic unity ^{[7, pp. 116-117]}. And sema (from the Greek "sign"), according to the definition of N. F. Alefirenko, acts as "the minimum distinguished semantic element of the meaningful structure of the word" ^{[1, p. 198]}. According to A. S. Kravets, "seminal analysis reveals the hierarchical structure of the meaning of the word." The most common, generic sema is called an archiseme: winter is time. The lexico-semantic subgroup of the archiseme "time" includes the words "century, year, season, season, winter, month, December..." ^{[10, p. 69]}. As in Chinese, the lexeme "?/dong" [d?ng] also has an archiseme: "/shijian" [sh?ji?n] (time). The lexico-semantic subgroup of the archiseme "/shijian" [sh?ji?n] includes the words "/shiji[sh?j?](century)/nian[ni?n](year)?//jijie[j?ji?](season)?//siji[s?j?](season)?//dong[d?ng](winter)?//yue[yu?](month)...".

Kravets in his article divides semes into nuclear and peripheral from the point of view of the dominance of signs in the sense of the word. Nuclear semes are distinguished by component analysis, performing differential functions [10. pp. 69-70]. For example, the nuclear semes "winter" — "season", "between autumn and spring in cyclic time", "cold", "snow", "chills"(some kind of painful feeling of cold). According to these semes, the following lexico-semantic subgroups are distinguished: "season" — "spring", "summer", "autumn", "winter" (here differential semes are considered as "weather", "temperature", "nature" and "month") (using examples of proverbs: In the spring there is no field, in the summer there are hard jobs, in the fall there is no road, in the winter the winter is cold; If there is winter, there will be summer; Do not scare, winter, spring will come.); "season" (as a synonym); "cold" - "frost", "cold" (here the differential sema of these three words is the seme "degree of cold"), "cold", "cold", "zazimok", "zazimye", "cold" (here "matinee" and "frost" also have the semes "cold", but the weather exists in spring or autumn, so it is not included in this lexico-semantic subgroup.) (using examples of proverbs: In the winter cold, everyone is young); "snow" — "snowfall", "snowstorm", "blizzard", "blizzard", "storm" (here only means a snowstorm), "blizzard" (snowstorm appears more often in Siberia), "blizzard", "snowdrift" (wind lifting a layer of snow from the ground), "ice", "ice" (frosty (without snow) weather), "ice" (a layer of ice forms on the surface of the earth), "ice" (Winter will pass, and the snow will come down, and what is sown will rise). This lexical and semantic group represents in the Russian language picture of the world many images of extreme weather, such as a storm, blizzard, blizzard, indicating that the winter climate in Russia is very harsh and frightening. In Chinese ideographic dictionaries, the lexeme "?"[d?ng] is divided into the following lexico-semantic subgroups of nuclear semes: "/siji"[s ? j ?] (season) — "?/chun"[ch ? n](spring), "?/xia"[xi ?](summer), "?/qiu"[qi ?](autumn), "?"[d ? ng]. Examples of proverbs: /qiushou dongtsang[qi ? sh ? u d ? ngc ? ng](Autumn stores, and winter saves)). In Chinese linguoculture, the lexeme "winter" has a special nuclear seme "the end of the whole year" or "the last season of the year" in the linear perception of time, which is little noted in Russian linguoculture. "/hanlen"[h ? nl ? ng] (cold) (in Chinese ideographic sign, ?/han[h ? n] like cold, ?/len[l - ng] as fever, together have a common value of "cold") — "?/Dun"[d?ng] (froze), "?/Jin"[jun] (cold), "?/Lin"[l?n] (severe frost), "?/Le"[li?] (frost), "/dungani"[d?ngh?n] (winter cold)"/Chandon"[h?nd?ng] (cold winter), "/ganizing"[h?njun] (chills) (/handun of Laue[h?nd?ngl?yu?] (cold winter days are in December according to the lunar calendar); /tangani of Didon[ti?nh?ndud?ng] (cold weather, frozen ground)). In the Chinese language picture of the world, the difference between low temperature and human feelings is not obvious; hanlen (cold) can mean both low temperature and human sensations, whereas in Russian these are two separate concepts, that is, cold means low temperature, and chills — a human sensation. Due to the specifics of the geographical location of Russia, the lexico-semantic subgroup denoting cold is much richer than in Chinese. "?/bin"[b ? ng] (ice) — "?/xue"[xu a] (snow), "?/shuang"[shu a ng] (frost) (/bingtian huedi[b ? ngti a n xu a d a] (icy sky, snow-covered land); /lenzho bingshuang[l ? ngru a b ? ngshu ? ng] (cold as ice and frost, peren. "inexorable perfection")). Due to the specifics of the climate in China, there is more ice than snow in most of the country, hence the choice of snow as winter semes in Russian and ice as winter semes in Chinese. "/jieci"[ji ? qi] (Chinese special season as 1/24 part of the agricultural year) - —/Dongzhi"[d ? ngzh ?] (winter solstice (from December 21-22)), "/Xiaoxue"[xi ? oxu ?] (small snows (from November 22-23)), "/daxue"[d ? xu ?] (big snows (from December 6-8)), "/lidong"[l ? d ? ng] (beginning of winter (from November 7-8)), "/xiaohan"[xi ? oh ? n] (small cold weather (from January 5-7)), "/dahan"[d ? h ? n] (big cold weather (from January 20-21)). The main difference is that in the Russian linguoculture winter is divided by months: December, January and February, and in the Chinese linguoculture the seasons of the agricultural year are distinguished in winter.

Peripheral sema, according to N. F. Alefirenko, is considered non-basic, probabilistic, dispositional and hidden ^{[2, p. 202]}. For example, peripheral semes from the lexeme "winter" are considered as "degree of cold" — "severe", "strict", "canine", "fierce", "prickly", "burning" (After a large harvest, a strict winter); "nature" — "wind", "rain", "frost"; "color" — "white", "silver" (Whiter winter – greener summer); "animal" — "wolf", "bear", "owl", "fox" (Winter is told to the wolf) and so on. And in the Chinese language, peripheral semes from the lexeme "?/dong" are divided into the following lexical and semantic subgroups: "/hanleng chengdu"[h ?nl ? ng ch ? ngd ?] (degree of cold) - "/yanhan"[y ? nh ? n] (severe frost), "/kuhan"[k ? h ? n] (burning frost), "/jihan"[j ? h ? n] (extremely cold); "/yanse"[y ? ns ?] (color) — "/bayse"[b ? is e] (white color), "/yinse"[y ? ns e] (silver color) (/bayse ayay[b ? ixu ? ? i ? i] (snow-white (mainly to describe landscapes with snow)) /Yanzhuang sugo[y ? nzhu ? ng s ? gu ?] (in silver attire (about the ground under the snow))). In both Russian and Chinese linguoculture, winter is depicted as a scene covered with ice or snow, and therefore is most often perceived as white and silver. "?//dong wu"[d ? ngw ?] (animal) — "/matsue"[m ? qu?] (sparrow), "?/she"[sh ?] (snake), "/baihe"[b ? ih ?] (sterkh (metaphor)). From the point of view of topographical features, there are many forests in Russia, therefore, a lexico-semantic subgroup denoting animals living in forests is developed, while in China there are many plains and agriculture is widely developed, therefore, a lexico-semantic subgroup denoting animals living on plains is more diverse, among which the sterkh has its metaphorical meaning, i.e. a person of high moral purity. "/zhi u"[zh-w- w](plant) — "/meihua"[m ? ihu ?] (plum blossoms), "/sunshu"[s ? ngsh ?] (pine) (metaphor, mostly found in works of art). In traditional Chinese Confucianism, plum and pine embody the spirit of endurance and endless vitality in the cold winter, expressing the value of the efforts of the Chinese people to survive despite difficult circumstances. Images of plums and pines are also often used in Chinese literature to denote winter. "/renlei walker"[r ? nl ? i hu ? d ? ng] (human activity) — "/donggen"[d ? ngg ? ng] (winter plowing), "/dongguan"[d ? nggu ? n] (winter watering, flood fields in winter to keep water in the soil and avoid spring drought). Since the winter climate in southern and central China is not so cold and harsh, people can engage in agriculture in winter.

Conclusion

Analysis of the LSG concept of "winter" on the example of nuclear and peripheral families in two linguistic cultures, it is noticeable that the concept of winter is very richly represented in both Russian and Chinese language pictures of the world. Obviously, the concept of "winter" in two language pictures of the world has a similar part. That is, they have a single basic meaning. Their archeseme "time" and the semes "season of the year", "cold", "color", "degree of cold" also have one-side values. The comparison of lexico-semantic groups shows that there are differences in the classification of semantic elements of winter due to different climatic characteristics, geographical location, temperature differences and historical and cultural traditions of Russia and China. The main meaning of winter in Russian — the coldest of the four seasons with snow and ice - implies a harsh winter, wind and wolves. The image of winter for Russian people is an image of severe weather, long, cold, snowy and silent, and it is more negative than positive. All these elements create a holistic winter Russian language picture of the world. In the Chinese language picture of the world, due to the special climate, season and topography, the seme of the lexeme "winter" is ice, unlike the seme of "snow" in the Russian language picture of the world. From the point of view of peripheral families, agricultural work is characteristic of the Chinese winter. Typical images of winter in Chinese works of art are accompanied by images of a sturgeon, plum and pine flowers. And the meaning of winter in Chinese indicates the end of the season with a linear perception of time and the period with ice between autumn and spring with a cyclic perception of time.

In this article, using the winter concept as an example, the differences and similarities of understanding the concept of "winter" in different national cultures are analyzed by analyzing the specific representation of the concept in the dictionaries of two languages, which allows for a deeper study of the life and understanding of peoples in different national cultures and linguistic worldviews.