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Analysis of the lexico-semantic group "day/昼夜" in Russian and Chinese linguocultures

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
 

 

DOI:

10.25136/2409-8698.2022.6.38042

Received:

11-05-2022


Published:

19-05-2022


Abstract: The article is an analysis of the lexico-semantic group, which is an important part of the study of semantics. The relevance of the research topic is due to the great research significance and value of studying linguoculture in various national language pictures of the world. The day as a part of time is the main key concept for the study of time, and the study of time for the analysis of differences and similarities between the language and culture of different countries and peoples has become a hot topic for scientists of the linguistic community. The purpose of the work is to consider the specific differences and similarities between the lexemes "day" of the Russian and Chinese languages by highlighting the lexico-semantic group. The article also analyzes the term "day" in order to identify differences in the linguistic worldview of different nationalities.   As the main methods of analysis and research, the component method was used, which allows a deeper and more detailed interpretation of the lexeme "day" and its lexico-semantic group in two language pictures of the world. The scientific novelty of the work is to identify the differences and similarities between the Russian and Chinese languages and culture through the reflection of various details and a detailed analysis of the lexico-semantic group with the allocation of the "measurement of time", "movement of the sun and moon", "human activity" in it. The differences and similarities in the perception of time by a person in different linguistic pictures of the world are demonstrated.


Keywords:

lexico-semantic group, semantic field, Russian language, Chinese language, language picture of the world, time measurement, day, similarity, difference, linguocultures

This article is automatically translated. You can find original text of the article here.

In modern linguistics, the study of lexicology has become one of the priorities of many scientists in the study of linguoculture. As V. P. Abramov notes in his monograph, "the data of modern semantics show that consistency in vocabulary is manifested at all levels: at the level of lexico-semantic variants, a polysemantic word (as a system of interrelated LSV), lexico-semantic groups (LSG) and semantic field (SP)" [1, p. 24]. It follows from this that the study of lexico-semantic groups and their use in practice is of great importance for the study of lexicology and semantics. However, there is still no consensus on the nature of LSH. The first category understands LSG as a kind of semantic field, which is proposed by scientists F. P. Filin, L. M. Vasiliev and others. The second category is the category of equality of both word combinations in the language system, which is mainly adhered to by researchers such as A. A. Ufimtseva. The third category, proposed by linguists, mainly L. V. Bystrova, N. D. Kapatruk and V. V. Levitsky, believes that LSG exists in the properties of the lexico-semantic system of the language itself. [3, p. 75] In modern linguistics, when analyzing LSG in linguoculture, scientists mainly adhere to the point of view proposed by E. V. Kuznetsova, I. T. Vepreva, M. L. Kusova, T. V. Matveeva and L. M. Vasiliev that semantic fields are characterized by the coverage of more lexical units than LSG, including words different parts of speech, while LSG combines the vocabulary of one part of speech. Thus, LSG represents sections of the semantic field. [6, p. 127]

A large number of scientists have conducted a number of studies on the principles and methods of grouping and have come to various conclusions. However, most researchers generally agree that full LSH has a basic basic word. This basic word should have a categorical character (V. G. Gak) and have a low-content seminal structure (V. P. Abramov). All other elements of LSG are privatively associated with the base word.

As I. V. Buylenko summarizes, different researchers give different names to basic words in LSG. For example, identifier (V. P. Abramov, E. V. Kuznetsova); categorical archiseme (V. G. Gak); field name (Y. N. Karaulov); hyperseme (V. K. Andreeva); dominant (V. V. Bogdanov); nuclear unit (V. L. Ibragimova); integrating semantic multiplier (V. I. Suprun) et al . But opinions agree on one thing: this word should have a categorical character. [2, p. 90]

V. G. Gak, who developed a research structure for the practice of LSG, in the work "Comparative lexicology (based on the material of French and Russian languages)" indicates that "in LSG it is possible to distinguish the core, which includes words undoubtedly related to this general meaning, and peripheral elements consisting of words in which this meaning can be traced already not so clearly, because it is combined with other categorical meanings... The structure of the dictionary is formed by a set of LSGs, which are based on categorical archisemes... The structure of LSG is a set of words in their meanings, where the corresponding categorical seme is represented" [4, pp. 150-154]. This study is of great practical interest, since the demarcation of lexico-semantic groups of the studied vocabulary can be multiple and have blurred boundaries, therefore it is necessary to establish a core of words, that is, an archiseme, for a certain lexico-semantic group and expand its peripheral parts, and peripheral elements can be word cores (archisemes) for other lexical-semantic groups.semantic groups in other cases. The structure of LSG studied in this way is concise and clear.

Being an important aspect of measuring time, the day also has its own unique expressions for human activity and various national linguistic cultures. In this paper, the word is chosen as a lexeme for the analysis of lexico-semantic groups, which can better reflect the importance of the theory of lexico-semantic groups in practice and the different expressions of the same lexico-semantic groups in different linguistic pictures of the world.

For a more detailed classification of lexico-semantic groups of the lexeme "day", it is necessary to define its concept in etymological, explanatory and semantic dictionaries in order to be able to make semantic distinctions and form other lexico-semantic groups. From an etymological point of view, various etymological dictionaries generally agree that "day" comes from the word "day", that is, "collision", which originally meant "something (in space) colliding" (something that touches each other in the spatial sphere), and later turned into "docking of the day and nights" (the conjunction of the sun and moon). [7, p. 382] However, in the Old Slavonic system of expression, since the general meaning of the day appeared later, the term "day and night" was often used to express the modern meaning of "around the clock", "whole day" (full day and night). Only after that the Russian word "day and night" began to be used in the same sense.

The main explanations of the meaning of the word "day" in many explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language are as follows: 1. A unit of time equal to 24 hours or a time interval of 24 hours without a break. [11] 2. The time interval from one midnight to another, that is, the duration of the day and night. Day and night together. [5][8] 3. 1/7 part of the week. [8] In Russian semantic dictionaries there are two main interpretations of the meaning of the word "day": 1. A unit of time equal to 24 hours counted from zero hours, one seventh of a week. 2. A period of time in 24 hours, counted from any hour's. [9, pp. 47-50] Thus, it can be seen from dictionaries that a day as a measurement of time is one seventh of a week, has 24 hours and is divided mainly into day and night.

In Chinese linguoculture, a Chinese character that can simply generalize the meaning of "day" is "a/zhi", but since there are many meanings represented by the Chinese character "A/zhi", such as the sun, a specific date in the calendar or day of the month, a specific date (for example, birthday, anniversary, anniversary), day (as opposed to night), every day (for example, diary), etc. [14], the meaning of "day" is relatively weaker and is not its main meaning, but is more often used as a derivative value and stands out in context. Therefore, in Chinese, to denote the true meaning of "day", a specific word consisting of two Chinese characters is most often used, namely "/zhou ye" or "?/zhi ye". In the Chinese lexicon, "?/zhou" means "day", as opposed to night, and "?/e" means "night", as opposed to day. [14] Due to the specifics of the ideogram, it is obvious that the Chinese character "?/zhou" (day) has in its composition the hieroglyph "?/zhi" (sun), symbolizing light, and the Chinese character "?/e" (night) contains the hieroglyph "?/yue" (moon), symbolizing darkness. Alternating cycles of the sun and moon together form day and night, reflecting the cyclicity of time.

This article analyzes the lexico-semantic group of the lexeme "day", where the basis of the invariant is the archiseme "measurement of time". As the archiseme "measurement of time", its lexico-semantic group can be divided into "century", "year", "month", "calendar", "season", "month", "day", "hour", etc. In Chinese, the lexeme "/zhou ye" (day) also has an archiseme: "//shijian dulyan" (measurement of time). The lexical and semantic group according to the archiseme "/shijian" [sh?ji?n] includes the words "/shiji" (century), "/nyan" (year), "//lived" (calendar), "/jijie" (season)" ?/yue" (month), "/zhou ye" (day), "?/shi" (hour), etc.

The standard of the length of the daily unit as a unit of time indicating a cycle and division into 24 hours in a day can be called both clear and vague. On the one hand, the internationally accepted standard, according to which "day" consists of a fixed number of hours, minutes and seconds, makes the duration of the day indisputable, so that the seme that serves to separate day and night time is a "standard time scale", according to this seme, such a lexico-semantic subgroup as "hour" is allocated, "minutes s", "seconds s". In Chinese, the lexical and semantic subgroup of the seme "/Biaozhong Shijian Chidu" (standard time scale) is expressed as "?/shi" (cha s), "?/fen" (minute), "?/miao" (second). A day is divided into 24 hours, an hour into 60 minutes, and a minute into 60 seconds, forming a continuous and unified unit of time. This method of division is common all over the world and is used in both Russian and Chinese language pictures of the world for a uniform calculation of time. Another way of dividing units of time in traditional Chinese culture is to divide the day into twelve segments, each of which is called "?//shichen" and is equal to two modern hours. "?//shichen" is named after the earth branch of the Chinese unique chronological system and is counted from eleven o'clock at night. Thus, the sema for the special separation of day and night time is "?//shichen". Its lexical and semantic subgroup is divided into the following series: "/JisHi" (from 23 o'clock to 1 o'clock), "/Chou Shi" (from 1 o'clock to 3 o'clock), "/Yin Shi" (from 3 o'clock to 5 o'clock), " Mao Shi" (from 5 o'clock to 7 o'clock), "/Chen Shi" (from 7 o'clock to 9 o'clock), "/Si Shi" (from 9 o'clock to 11 o'clock), "/Wu Shi" (from 11 o'clock to 13 o'clock), "/Wei Shi" (from 13 o'clock to 15 o'clock), "/Shen Shi" (from 15 o'clock to 17 o'clock), " Yu Shi" (from 17 o'clock to 19 o'clock), "/Xu Shi" (from 19 o'clock to 21 o'clock) and "/Hai Shi" (from 21 o'clock to 23 o'clock), each of which can be divided into "?/Chu" (the first hour) and "?/Zheng" (the second hour), and then into "?/Ke", quarters of an hour, so each "?//shichen" has two periods of four "?/Ke": four upper quarters and four lower. For example, "/Yushi Sanke" means 17:45, which can also be called "/Yuchu Sanke". If it is now 18:45, this time can be called "/Yuzheng Sanke". [13, pp. 116-124]

On the other hand, the day is also divided into periods of day and night, and day and night are a constant community, together making up a day. As F. P. Filin describes in his work, "the words day and night are to a certain extent contrasting in their meanings, but they are hardly antonyms in the full sense, since they act as particular quantities in relation to the word day. Along with the semantic contrast, there are the relations of the species to the generic, which have an essential character in this lexico-semantic group, due to the limited composition of its components." Like the year, the month and the day as the basic unit of time are based on the cycles of celestial bodies, and therefore the method of measuring time is associated with the movement of the sun and the alternation of the sun and moon. In the Russian language picture of the world, the day is divided mainly by the movement of the sun, so we can consider the "movement of the sun" a seme in this lexical-semantic subgroup, divided into "day" and "night". Also, within the framework of these two main divisions, time can be divided according to the specific position of the sun into small lexical and semantic subgroups: "morning", "day", "evening", "night", including "morning" can also be divided into "sunrise", "dawn", "dawn", "dawn", and "evening" - for "sunset", "sunset", "twilight", etc.

In the Chinese language picture of the world, some scientists believe that the dichotomy between day and night, represented by the sun and moon, was the earliest concept of time for primitive man. [12] Within the field of view of people, the sun was visible during the day, and the moon was visible at night. If the phases of the sun and moon in the sky are taken as the cause of the corresponding concept of time, then "day —night" should be the original semantics of the sun and moon as units of time. "Sun" and "moon" themselves can be linguistic forms of day and night. The alternation of the sun and moon has also become the standard for dividing the rhythm of ancestral life into a "four-time system". Using the sema "?//Zhiyue jiaoti" (alternation of the suns a and the moon) as a lexical element, lexico-semantic subgroups can be distinguished according to the four time parts of the day: "?/Zhao"(morning), "?/Zhou"(day), "?/Chi"(evening), "?/E"(night), which represent sunrise, sunset and moonrise respectively. "?/Zhao" means the morning when the sun rises and the moon sets when a new day begins. "?/Zhao" can be divided into a subgroup of synonyms: "?/Xiao", "?/Chen", "?/tribute", "?/Hao", "?/Bao", "?/Mei", they all have the form and etymology of sunrise and sunset. "?/Zhou" is the usual meaning of the lexeme "day", which represents the period of time when the sun rises, passes to the middle of the sky, and then sets. In accordance with the different positions of the sun when observing and measuring time with a division into different time ranges for the sema "?/Zhou", a subgroup of "?//shang wu", "/xia wu", "?/xiang" can be distinguished, all depend on the position of the sun and the shape of the solar shadow. The lexico-semantic subgroup "?/chi" is the same as "?/mu" and "?/wan", both derived from sunset, which means the period from sunset to nightfall or before going to bed. The Chinese character "?/chi" is half of the moon, which means that the moon is seen as a symbol of the night. In Chinese, the juxtaposition of "?/chi" and "?/Zhao" is similar to the juxtaposition of "night" and "day", both of these concepts come from the image of the rotation of the sun and moon in time. Thus, the time period of the sun and the time period of the moon form a complete cycle of day and night. In traditional Chinese linguoculture, "/shichen" is also called alternately according to the alternation of the sun and moon. The same "?//shichen" is also used as a sema and can be grouped as "/Ye ban"(from 23 o'clock to 1 o'clock), also known as midnight; "/Zimin", also known as the desert rooster; "/Pingdan", also known as dawn, morning, sunset, etc., is the alternation of the sun and moon; "?//Zhichu", also known as dawn, rising sun, etc.; "/Shishi", also known as the morning eclipse, etc. The time of the "morning eclipse" is also the time of breakfast; "/Yuzhong", also known as "k pol u d nu", etc.; "/Zhizhong", also known as sunrise, noon, etc.; "?//Zhi yi", "the sun is moving west"; "/Pushi", also known as dinner; "/Zhizhu", also known as sunset, evening, that is, when the sun sets; "?//Huanghuen", also known as sunset, twilight, etc. At this time, the sun has already set, and the sky will soon darken, so this time is called twilight. "?//Rending" is the time when people stop moving and sleep. [13, pp. 116-124]

Thus, the division of time into day and night is closely related to the daily lives of people who are more active during the day than at night, and therefore are more concerned about the passage of time during this period and need a more accurate time scale to regulate the rhythm of their productive lives. From this point of view, the concept of time follows from the adaptation of human activity to a specific moment in time and the duration of the period, which varies depending on human behavior. Russian Russian language picture of the world, for example, the corresponding expressions in modern Russian actually inherit the Old Slavic and Old Russian understanding of day and night and the rules of the organization of activities, i.e. the division of day and night periods according to the tasks performed. It should be said that in the usual Russian understanding, the division of the time of day and night largely depended on what people did and said at the appropriate time periods. Thus, unlike most Western languages, which consider the morning as the period before noon, for the Russian language, morning is the time when people get up early and prepare for the next day's business, i.e. refresh themselves, have breakfast. By analogy with the morning, Russians understand day as the time when they finish their daily activities, and night as the time when they finish work and go to bed. The "transactional meaning" of Russians blurs the boundaries between day, morning, evening, night and does not have an exact instant separation, while morning is often used as a marker for "the end of the night and the beginning of the day/new day". [10, pp. 57-67] In this regard, the system of daily periods in Russia and China has there is a certain similarity in its connotation, i.e., although it is a reflection of the changing rhythms of the external world in a person's mind, it is full of the influence of subjective human activity and has a pronounced artificial volitional and everyday character.

Conclusion

This article analyzes the definition and scope of lexico-semantic groups of the lexeme "day". The similarities and differences between three different forms of the day in the Chinese and Russian language pictures of the world are presented, using the measurement of time as the main archiseme, and the standard time scale, the movement of the sun or the alternation of the sun and moon, and daily human activity as semes. It is obvious that in modern Russian and Chinese linguistic cultures, the measurement of time on a standard scale coincides, although in traditional Chinese culture there is its own system of measuring time, which differs significantly from other cultures. As for the second point, the division into day and night in Russian is based on the movement of the sun, the periods of which are divided into morning, afternoon, evening and night. In Chinese, the division of day and night is based on the alternation of the sun and moon, but it is also divided into four time periods, which roughly coincide with those in Russian linguoculture. However, due to the uniqueness of its own time measurement system, there is a complete 24-hour system of dividing time into day and night according to the alternating solar-lunar standard, which is significantly different from the Russian language. Analyzing the measurement of time in Chinese, it can be seen that there is a certain similarity in the nature of the system of daily time in the daily activities of a person, both Chinese and Russian. By comparing and analyzing different ways of grouping and thinking about the measurement of time, as well as their prerequisites in linguoculture, it is possible to improve understanding of the deeper reasons underlying the forms of language development and object perception in various linguocultures. This makes it possible to better understand the different influences on LSH and JV in different countries in different linguistic and cultural contexts.

References
1. Abramov V.P. Semantic fields of the Russian language: Monograph.-M.; Krasnodar: Acad. ped. and social Sciences of the Russian Federation, Kuban. state un-t, 2003. p. 338.
2. Buylenko I. V. Lexico-semantic combinations of words // Electronic scientific and educational journal of VGSPU "Edges of knowledge". No. 5(19). December 2012, p. 89 – 92.
3. Bystrova L. V., Kapatruk N. D., Levitsky V. V. On the issue of principles and methods of singling out lexico-semantic groups of words // Philol. Sciences. 1980. No. 6. p. 75-78.
4. Gak VG Comparative lexicology (based on the French and Russian languages). M. : Intern. relations, 1977.
5. Dal V.I. Dahl's Explanatory Dictionary. 1863-1866.
6. Denisov P.N. Vocabulary of the Russian language and principles of its description. M. : Rus. lang., 1980.
7. Krylov G. A. Etymological dictionary of the Russian language.-St. Petersburg: Polygraph Services LLC, 2005. p. 432.
8. Ozhegov S. I., Shvedova N. Yu. Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary. 1949-1992.
9. Shvedova N. Yu. Russian semantic dictionary. Explanatory dictionary, systematized by classes of words and meanings // RAS. In-t rus. lang. M.: Azbukovnik, 1998.
10. Shmelev AD Russian language model of the world: materials for the dictionary. [M]. M., Languages ​​of Slavic Culture, 2002. p. 224
11. Ushakov D. N. Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov. 1935-1940.
12. Liu Wenying, The Concept of Time and Space in Ancient China. Tianjin, Nankai University Press, 2000.
13. Chen Jiujin Yang Yi. Astronomy and calendar in ancient China. // Updated Edition, Beijing: Commercial Press, 1998. p. 190.
14. Editorial Committee of the Great Chinese Dictionary. Big Chinese Dictionary. // ed. Sichuan dictionary publishing house. Sichuan, 2010

Peer Review

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Russian Russian and Chinese linguocultures The article "Analysis of the lexico-semantic group "day/??", proposed for publication in the journal "Litera", is undoubtedly relevant, since the author considers the analysis of the LSG "day" on the material of two unrelated languages: Russian and Chinese. Undoubtedly, the work has great scientific potential, makes a significant contribution to the development of both the theory of linguoculturology and the comparative study of Russian and Chinese languages. The article under review analyzes the lexical and semantic group of the lexeme "day", where the basis of the invariant is recognized as the archiseme "measurement of time". The main results of the study are the similarities and differences between three different forms of the day in the Chinese and Russian language pictures of the world, using the measurement of time as the main archiseme, and the standard time scale, the movement of the sun or the alternation of the sun and moon and daily human activity as semes. The focus of the reviewed work is on issues of lexicological and linguocultural character. However, the paper does not provide data on the practical basis of the study, namely, how much of the corpus / sample was taken for analysis, what is the principle of selecting factual material? The present study is carried out in line with the tradition of studying advertising texts that has been formed in Russian linguistics. The author conducted an analysis of domestic research in the field of linguoculturology and lexicology, as well as his own observations on empirical material. In his research, the author resorts to scientific generalization of literature and statistical data on a selected topic and analysis of factual data. Of particular interest are the examples in Russian and Chinese, which the author analyzes. It should be noted that in the study the author considers both the theoretical basis of the problem field concerned and the practical problems. The research was carried out in line with modern scientific approaches, the work consists of an introduction containing the formulation of the problem, the main part, traditionally beginning with a review of theoretical sources and scientific directions, a research and final one, which presents the conclusions obtained by the author. The article presents a research methodology, the choice of which is quite adequate to the goals and objectives of the work. This work was done professionally, in compliance with the basic canons of scientific research. Like any large-scale work, the work in question is not without drawbacks. So, we believe that there is an inaccuracy in the first sentence: "In modern linguistics, the study of lexicology has become one of the priorities of many scientists in the study of linguistic culture." Let's assume that by the word "lexicology" the author means "vocabulary", since lexicology is a complex linguistic discipline and cannot be a priority in the study of linguistic culture. The bibliography of the article contains 14 sources, which include both domestic and foreign works (by Chinese researchers). However, the lack of references to foreign English-language works limits the work, isolating it from the achievements of global science. There are also doubts that the works of Chinese linguists were published in Chinese journals in Russian. Most likely, this article presents the author's translation of the Chinese titles of the articles. According to the analysis of relevance and modernity, we note that the works of the 20th century are given, the most recent edition is dated 2012, which does not allow the work to reflect the latest achievements and approaches to the study of the stated topic. However, the comments made are not critical and do not affect the overall impression of the work read. The article will undoubtedly be useful to a wide range of people, philologists, orientalists, undergraduates and graduate students of specialized universities. Punctuation and spelling errors that significantly complicate the understanding of the text were not found, The overall impression after reading the reviewed article is positive, it can be recommended for publication in a scientific journal from the list of the Higher Attestation Commission.