Article

Name: Metaphorical features of the concepts FISH and 鱼 in Russian and Chinese worldviews on the material of dictionaries

Authors: Berendeeva M. S., Luo Wei

Novosibirsk State University, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Linguistics

Abstract:

This study focuses on the ichthyological vocabulary of the Russian and Chinese languages, based on a vivid image, a metaphor. The aims were to determine the volume of the nominative fields of the concepts FISH and 鱼, to identify metaphorical lexemes-representatives, and to carry out a comparative study of metaphorical models representing the ideas about fish in Russian and Chinese linguocultures. Russian and Chinese explanatory and phraseological dic-tionaries served as the material. In both languages, metaphors with the target area “fish” have been found to be constructed in the same way and to be based on the likeness of a fish to a person, an animal, or an instrument in terms of external similarity. However, each linguoculture has culturally specific metaphorical models with source area “fish” and unique symbolic features of the concepts FISH and 鱼. For example, the Russian linguistic picture of the world involves a productive metaphorical model revealing the likeness of a person to a fish, originating from the negatively assessed external similarity. The Chinese linguistic picture of the world proved to have a model showing the likeness of a country or army to a fish organism according to an internal structure. In addition, many symbolic features reflected in dictionaries have been found in the structure of the Chinese concept 鱼, with those features drawing on both historical and contemporary ideas.

Keywords: concept, metaphor, metaphorical model, zoonymous component, ichthyonym

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