Representation of “Wealth” Concept in the Novel “Humiliated and Insulted” by F.M. Dostoevsky

Abstract

The article is devoted to systematization of language units that represent the "wealth" concept in the novel "Humiliated and Insulted" by F.M. Dostoevsky. The variability of their lexical meanings is discovered and defined with the context-and-interpretation method of linguistic analysis. The "wealth" concept representation in the novel is modelled in the shape of the field structure with the core and close / distant periphery zones included. The core zone of the concept is nominated with the words that deliver a common meaning 'possess some material values': bogatstvo (wealth) and its antonym bednost' (poverty), the following contextual synonyms kapital (capital), sostoyanije (fortune) and an adjective bogatiy (rich). The close periphery zone is filled with cardinal numerals, that characterize the amount of money or property, coupled with adjectives bedniy (poor), razorivshiysya (bankrupt), nischiy (begger), obednevshiy (impoverished) that point to 'insufficient amount of income'. The distant periphery zone is made of a set expression with a metaphorical meaning (gold rain), nouns nasledstvo (inheritance), sokrovische (treasure) that with their secondary meanings nominate non-material values which the author of the novel interprets as real values. It is stated in the article that the distant periphery zone discovers specificity of the "wealth" concept as an artistic picture of human world in the novel and emphasizes the individual perception of it by F.M. Dostoevsky. The method of concept analysis in the novel makes the reconstruction of the artistic picture of the world possible.

Keywords

• concept
• "wealth"
• cultural linguistics
• language map of the world
• artistic picture of the world
• Fyodor Dostoevsky
• "Humiliated and Insulted"