RUDN Journal of Language Studies, Semiotics and Semantics (Dec 2018)

THE SEMANTICS OF YELLOW COLOR TERMS IN CHINESE AND RUSSIAN LINGUOCULTURES

  • Peihua Wu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.22363/2313-2299-2018-9-3-729-746
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9, no. 3
pp. 729 – 746

Abstract

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The article considers the importance of yellow color in Chinese and Russian linguocultures. It is known that the vocabulary of color designations as elements of a specific language dictionary is a special microsystem, its description has a significant cultural value. In a comparative study of vocabulary, which denotes color, it is possible to see the fixation of a special kind of sign memory of each linguoculture to be compared. Unlike comparing the grammatical structure of languages, the lexical comparative description of this group of units allows us to see a significant number of coinciding or convergent elements characterizing universal cognitive processes. The relevance of the proposed article is determined by a comparative analysis of the lexical class of color markings by the example of a specific primary color of two unrelated languages. The aim of the study is to compare the semantic volume of color identification in yellow in Chinese and Russian linguocultures. The method of research was the work of Russian linguists N.B. Bakhilina, Т.М. Vasilyeva, T.I. Vendina, 1. Guriev, I.V. Dvoretsky, V.G. Kulpina, F.N. Novikov, S.G. Ter-Minasova, T.Yu. Svetlichnaya. The novelty of the work is the reference to the vocabulary of color designation in Russian and Chinese in a comparative aspect. In the work a complex method of investigation is used, methods such as dexryptic, contextual, statistical, comparative are used. The sources of the research were the work of Russian and Chinese linguists, Russian and Chinese dictionaries, art and journalistic texts in Russian and Chinese. The results and material of the research can be used in reading lecture courses on the lexicology of Russian and Chinese languages, as well as in special courses on the problems of the relationship between language and thinking, and the cultural peculiarities of Russian and Chinese color lexicon.

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