Basic Social Values Reflection: Concept ‘Honor’ in English, German and Russian Linguocultures

Abstract

The subject of this paper is to present the results of the study detailing the essence of the value concept ‘honor’ within the framework of English, German and Russian language cultures as a reflection of the basic values of society in the today’s linguistic world. The methods of the research were theoretical analysis of the works of philologists and pedagogues on the structure and essence of the value concept ‘honor’ as a synergetic unity of the two notions. The component analysis of dictionary definitions and their subsequent step-by-step identification is given. A review of various treatments of ‘honor’ is suggested, ranging from ‘respect’, ‘reputation’, ‘faith’, ‘mark of approval’, ‘creditable’ to ‘dishonor’, ‘discredit’, ‘shame’, ‘ill repute’ and so on. An attempt is made to characterize ‘honor’ as one of the axiological concepts and a socially and culturally conditional pattern of approval/disapproval.