Verbalizing the Conceptual Opposition of “Us vs Them” in Proverbs: Comparative Paremias in Swedish and Russian

The paper highlights correlation of mental structures and their linguistic content in the comparative proverbs in Swedish and Russian that verbalize the opposition of "us vs them". The study was carried out using a cognitive-and-comparative approach as part of linguistic study of...

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Main Authors: Elena Zinovieva, Alexej Alyoshin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Volgograd State University 2022-10-01
Series:Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriâ 2. Âzykoznanie
Online Access:https://l.jvolsu.com/index.php/en/component/attachments/download/2652
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author Elena Zinovieva
Alexej Alyoshin
author_facet Elena Zinovieva
Alexej Alyoshin
author_sort Elena Zinovieva
collection DOAJ
description The paper highlights correlation of mental structures and their linguistic content in the comparative proverbs in Swedish and Russian that verbalize the opposition of "us vs them". The study was carried out using a cognitive-and-comparative approach as part of linguistic study of the relationship between language and culture, authoritative dictionaries of Swedish and Russian proverbs provided material for the analysis. A cognitive modeling of the units was carried out, which implied stating the structural-and-semantic models of Swedish and Russian proverbs, their identification and comparison. The study found that both Swedish and Russian proverbs, which express the opposition of "us vs them", have a common basic concept with a frame pattern associated with it. However, differences in the conceptual foundations of comparative proverbs in the Swedish and Russian languages derive from the discrepency between conceptual constituency of their domains that are reflected in the proverbs. Thus, Swedish proverbs verbalize the concept of "House" with the domain "Space", whereas Russian units convey the concept "Person" by the domain "Interpersonal relations". The Swedish proverbs are noted to be more categorical and didactic than the Russian proverbs. The study findings can be used in the analysis of similarities and differences in the traditional mentality of Swedes and Russians, as reflected in proverbs related to various fragments of the world.
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spelling doaj.art-097200119db546acb568db935035897a2023-06-25T20:04:42ZengVolgograd State UniversityVestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriâ 2. Âzykoznanie1998-99112022-10-015738210.15688/jvolsu2.2022.5.7Verbalizing the Conceptual Opposition of “Us vs Them” in Proverbs: Comparative Paremias in Swedish and RussianElena Zinovievahttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6253-9739Alexej Alyoshinhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6058-8844 The paper highlights correlation of mental structures and their linguistic content in the comparative proverbs in Swedish and Russian that verbalize the opposition of "us vs them". The study was carried out using a cognitive-and-comparative approach as part of linguistic study of the relationship between language and culture, authoritative dictionaries of Swedish and Russian proverbs provided material for the analysis. A cognitive modeling of the units was carried out, which implied stating the structural-and-semantic models of Swedish and Russian proverbs, their identification and comparison. The study found that both Swedish and Russian proverbs, which express the opposition of "us vs them", have a common basic concept with a frame pattern associated with it. However, differences in the conceptual foundations of comparative proverbs in the Swedish and Russian languages derive from the discrepency between conceptual constituency of their domains that are reflected in the proverbs. Thus, Swedish proverbs verbalize the concept of "House" with the domain "Space", whereas Russian units convey the concept "Person" by the domain "Interpersonal relations". The Swedish proverbs are noted to be more categorical and didactic than the Russian proverbs. The study findings can be used in the analysis of similarities and differences in the traditional mentality of Swedes and Russians, as reflected in proverbs related to various fragments of the world.https://l.jvolsu.com/index.php/en/component/attachments/download/2652
spellingShingle Elena Zinovieva
Alexej Alyoshin
Verbalizing the Conceptual Opposition of “Us vs Them” in Proverbs: Comparative Paremias in Swedish and Russian
Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriâ 2. Âzykoznanie
title Verbalizing the Conceptual Opposition of “Us vs Them” in Proverbs: Comparative Paremias in Swedish and Russian
title_full Verbalizing the Conceptual Opposition of “Us vs Them” in Proverbs: Comparative Paremias in Swedish and Russian
title_fullStr Verbalizing the Conceptual Opposition of “Us vs Them” in Proverbs: Comparative Paremias in Swedish and Russian
title_full_unstemmed Verbalizing the Conceptual Opposition of “Us vs Them” in Proverbs: Comparative Paremias in Swedish and Russian
title_short Verbalizing the Conceptual Opposition of “Us vs Them” in Proverbs: Comparative Paremias in Swedish and Russian
title_sort verbalizing the conceptual opposition of us vs them in proverbs comparative paremias in swedish and russian
url https://l.jvolsu.com/index.php/en/component/attachments/download/2652
work_keys_str_mv AT elenazinovieva verbalizingtheconceptualoppositionofusvstheminproverbscomparativeparemiasinswedishandrussian
AT alexejalyoshin verbalizingtheconceptualoppositionofusvstheminproverbscomparativeparemiasinswedishandrussian