Expression, Thinking, and Cognition: Origins of Differences between the Russian and Chinese Languages

Abstract

Comparative study of languages reflects the coexistence of the universal and the particular in human languages. The development of both typological linguistics and contrastive linguistics is primarily associated with the study of structural similarities and differences between languages based on structural criteria for comparison. However, cognitive operations and forms of thinking that characterize the structural organization of expressed thoughts are fundamental mechanisms governing the functioning of various languages. In this study, a comparative analysis is presented as of the structural features of Russian subjectpredicate sentences and Chinese topic-comment sentences. Special attention is paid to different forms of thinking (rational and figurative) that underlie the differences in language structure between the two languages, as well as various cognitive processes (recognizing analogies and associations) that shape vertical and horizontal categorization, resulting in differences in thought patterns. As a result of the conducted study, the authors conclude that the form of thinking determines the form of language structure. The formation and functioning of different forms of language structure are operations and reflections of different forms of thinking in various language structures. Rational and figurative thinking, with their respective characteristics, limit and define the structural forms of Russian and Chinese languages. At the sentence level, it manifests basic structures both in Russian where the basic sentence structure is “subject-predicate,” while in Chinese it is “topic-comment.”.

Keywords

• sentence structure
• subject-predicate
• topic-comment
• rational thinking
• figurative thinking