Cognitive interpretation of lexical units

freedom ) someone (X) can think something like this:) if I want to do something, I can do it
c) when I do something, I don't have to think:
I can't do it the way I want
because some (other) people will do/say something) it makes X feel something good
The elementary meanings (semantic primitives) that make up the ECM are verbalizable in any language, self -understandable and indecomposable. It is such a metalanguage independent of any particular language that must be used to describe and compare all languages and cultures, because without it, according to A. Vezhbitskaya , people are “doomed to ethnocentrism ” and will describe other cultures and languages through the prism of their own language .
The concept is different from the notion. The concept, as is known, is understood as “a thought that reflects objects and phenomena of reality in a generalized form by fixing their properties and relations” (LES). The concept, in addition to descriptive-classifying, also includes figurative-empirical and sensory-volitional characteristics (Karasik, 2001). Unlike concepts, “concepts are not only thought, they are experienced. They are the subject of emotions, likes and dislikes…” (Stepanov, 2001(a):43). Delimiting the concept and concept, V.G. Zusman emphasizes the communicative nature of the concept, which "reflects the "continuity", the fluidity of the world, manifested in dialogue, communication", and the concept functions "regardless of communication"
The concept, being an ideal entity, does not have a clear organization. However, in its structure, with a certain degree of conventionality, one can single out a set of conceptual features that differ in their significance for representatives of a particular society, volume, degree of abstractness, the possibility of “activation”, etc. One of the most common ways of representing the internal structure of a concept is its description in terms of the core and periphery: as a rule, invariant features of the concept, as well as the most relevant images and associations for native speakers, are classified as core, and less significant and more abstract features are referred to as peripheral. characterized by variability.⁸
Of particular interest is the consideration of the structure of the concept from a cultural perspective. So, Yu.S. Stepanov, interpreting the concept primarily as "the collective property of the spiritual life of the people", notes that the concept has a "layered" structure; its layers are "the result, the "sediment" of the cultural life of different epochs". The structure of the concept includes both everything that belongs to the structure of the concept, and everything that “makes it a fact of culture - the original form (etymology); a history compressed to the main features of the content; contemporary associations, assessments, etc.” In the structure of the concept, the following are distinguished: 1) the main, actual sign, in which the concept acts as a means of communication and mutual understanding for all speakers of a given language and culture; 2) additional, "passive" features of the concept, relevant for members of certain social groups; 3) an etymological feature (internal form) that is not realized by native speakers and discovered only by researchers.
It is interesting to trace the process of concept formation in the public consciousness, the appearance of new layers (conceptual features) in it, the shift of peripheral features to the “near-nuclear” zone , etc., which naturally affects the methods and means of its linguistic and non-verbal objectification. As an example of expanding the content of the concept, one can cite the concept represented by the phrase "American patriotism", which has recently caused new associations and assessments.
The tragic events of September 11, 2001 (the attacks in New York and Washington) undoubtedly led to a rethinking of the concept of "patriotism" in the minds of Americans. Instant phrases are now actively used in their speech patriotism , new patriotism , fresh taste of patriotism, widespread feelingof patriotism , patriotic buying / cloth g / shirts / lapel pins , which today are associated with an unprecedented surge of patriotism in the country and a readiness to fight international terrorism: Pride , patriot is mand love of our country have been stronger since 9/11 since at any time since we wont her ace to them oon against the “ evil ” SovietUnionin 1969 (AP; Sep. 6, 2002), and to a large extent - with the ostentatious, “decorative” nature of patriotism in America (which, however, has always existed, but is now especially actualized):
Patriotism is suddenly in vogue. American flags are everywhere - on clothing, automobiles, storefronts… I believe I have seen more American flags in the past two months than in the previous two years. The same goes for the phrases "United We Stand" and "God Bless America." They are everywhere… The new patriotism… It is superficial. From somewhere I recall hearing a sarcastic, "Instant patriotism. Add water and stir ." Real patriotism is not simply worn on your lapel, or flown from your car . Real patriotism costs something ( Yates , 2001).
As can be seen from the above example, the condemnation by Americans of the immoderate manifestation of patriotic feelings and sentiments led to the fact that the concept of patriotism began to be correlated in their minds with such metaphorical concepts as "fashion" and "soluble substance".
There are various classifications of concepts. Depending on the presence or absence of a value element in the structure of the concept, i.e. importance, relevance of the corresponding concept for the bearers of culture, cultural concepts encoded in the "key words" of the language are allocated to a special group.
According to their content, concepts are divided into such knowledge representation structures as mental pictures, schemes, frames, scenarios, gestalts , etc., between which, however, there are no absolutely clear boundaries. In this classification, the concept is presented as a generic term that has a greater degree of generalization compared to its varieties. The variety of types of concepts is due to the fact of the heterogeneity of the surrounding world.
A mental picture (representation) is a generalized sensual image of objects or phenomena, more or less the same for speakers of the same language; mental picture can be represented by both objective realities ( apple) and mythems (angel).
The concept diagram is a kind of spatial-graphic scheme; such a concept is easy to draw (tree, river) .
A concept frame is a multicomponent concept, a set of stereotyped ideas about an object / phenomenon (restaurant, shop) .
The concept script (script) has a plot character, it is a clear sequence of episodes in time (visiting the theater, taking the subway).
The concept (logically constructed concept) is the structure of knowledge representation, devoid of the figurative factor; such a concept consists of the most general, essential characteristics of an object/ phenomenon (bird, fruit).
Concept insight [A.P. Babushkin for the first time uses the term of Gestalt psychology " insight " to refer to the structure of knowledge representation] contains information contained in the word (usually known to everyone) about the structure and purpose of the object (umbrella, scissors) .⁹
Gestalt is a complex mental structure ordering the variety of individual phenomena in the human mind; a holistic image that includes sensual and rational elements, as well as dynamic and static aspects of an object/phenomenon. Gestalt can include views, frames, scripts, and so on .
Kaleidoscopic concepts are concepts of abstract nominations (beauty, conscience); they can also be represented by one of the listed structures. Such concepts do not have a permanent mental image attached to them.
Classification of varieties of concepts developed by A.P. Babushkin and supplemented by I.A. Sternin and Z.D. Popova seems to be very convenient for understanding how various mental entities - from the simplest ones that do not have the status of a concept in linguoculturology , to extremely complex, abstract phenomena - are represented in our minds. However, it seems that it would be more accurate to speak of individual structures of knowledge representation (at least, schemes, frames and scenarios) not as types of a concept, but as ways "technical" representation of knowledge related to a particular concept in a person's head.
By function in the language, concepts are divided into lexical and grammatical (lexically and grammatically expressed). There is a point of view according to which the concepts central to the human psyche are objectified in the grammatical subsystem of the language: “...grammatical categorization creates that conceptual grid, that framework for the distribution of all conceptual material that is expressed lexically.”
According to their carriers, concepts are divided into national, group and individual (personal). The totality of concepts in individual and collective consciousness forms the concept sphere of a separate native speaker, group or whole people [the term " concept sphere " was introduced by D.S. Likhachev according to the type of terms V.I. Vernadsky "noosphere", "biosphere"; he understands the concept sphere as a set of potentialities contained in the vocabulary of both the entire language as a whole and the individual. Scientists also recognize the existence of a universal (civilizational, global) concept sphere , consisting of such constants of human existence as top - bottom, time - space, male - female, good - evil, movement - peace, earthly - heavenly, higher - lower, traditional - new, moral - immoral , etc.
Being the property of an individual, individual concepts are more original and diverse than collective ones, since they may contain unexpected associations, assessments that are not shared by a given culture or social group (for example, the concept spheres of writers, poets, scientists). This is explained by the fact that the collective consciousness and experience is nothing but a "derivative" of the consciousness and experience of individual individuals belonging to a given society. However, the commonality of the language is maintained and preserved due to the existence of a single concept sphere for the whole people , without which communication between members of one language community would be impossible.
The richness of the concept sphere of the national language is determined by the richness of the entire culture of the nation - its literature, folklore, science, fine arts, religion; it "helps to understand why language is not just a way of communication, but a kind of concentrate of culture."
Cognitivists believe that it is easiest to reveal the content of mental structures, concepts through language means, because the latter are directly observable results of the activity of the human cognitive system. The semantics of words, free phrases and phraseological units, structural and positional schemes of sentences, texts are an important and fairly complete source of information about concepts. Moreover, the texts are necessary to explain complex, abstract concepts (for example, "power", "beauty", "memory"), individual author's concepts (the concept of property in the novel by J. Galsworthy "The Forsyte Saga"), as well as the cultural specificity of concepts ( the concept of "moon" in the Arab cultural area, the concept of "sun" in Ancient Egypt, the Japanese concept of "tea ceremony").¹⁰
The name of the concept is not the only “key” that activates the mental entity it calls in consciousness. On the contrary, when studying cultural concepts, researchers proceed from the fact that one and the same concept can be appealed to with the help of language units of different levels (the concept is “scattered” in the content of lexical units, phraseology corpus, paremiological fund, in the system of stable comparisons that capture images). standards that are characteristic of a given language community.
Let us illustrate this position of cultural linguistics on the example of the concept under study. The concept of "ideology" can be appealed to through
1) Separate lexemes: Nikger , Chauvinist , Jingo , Ecofreak , Quaker , Ku Kluxism , dove , Shiite , emancipation , herstory , wimmin , Big brotherism ;
) individual morphemes : -ism, ultra-, anti-, pro-;
) free phrases : excessive patriotism, racial attitudes, black offenders and White victims;
) phraseological combinations : cold war, iron curtain, black radio, Aunt Tabby; big lie, true believer, New Dealer, war hawk ;
) propositions : Native Americans are “close to nature”; The white race is biologically superior to other races; A woman's natural role, the role for which she is best equipped biologically and psychologically, is wife and mother; Heterosexuality is normal and natural; homosexuality is abnormal and unnatural (M. Hurt);6) lyrics : program political party , sermon , manifesto :