Ethnocultural Component in the Semantics of the Relief Elements Names (as based on the Ukrainian and English Paroemias).

Abstract

The thesis focuses on the research of the ethnocultural component in the semantic structure of Ukrainian and English paroemias with the names of relief elements in their structure. The ethnocultural component of meaning is studied by means of conceptual analysis of words-concepts for landscape space. The ethnocultural component of meaning is interpreted as information encoded in the semantics of the word, which reflects the material and spiritual values of the people, their way of life, character and mentality, as well as associative and figurative conceptions of native speakers. Paroemias, which are a part of culture, a reflection of the people's thinking, their worldview, character, history, way of life, etc., are an effective means of tracing national identity. By the term «paroemia» we mean folk expressions of instructive content, constructed as syntactically and semantically complete, reproducible sentences that in a concise form, literally or figuratively express certain rules of life or truth.

The thesis offers a five-stage comparative analysis of paroemic verbalization of concepts denoting relief elements on the basis of generally accepted methods of concept analysis. In particular, an integrated approach to conceptual analysis is applied, which is a combination of linguistic cognitive, cultural and discursive approaches. The notional, figurative and evaluative components of the analyzed concepts in the collective consciousness of Ukrainian and English speakers are determined.