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CONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE LEXEMES “WHITE, BLACK” AND
“AQ, QARA”.
Khudaybergenova Zuhra Orazbaevna
Karakalpak State University named after Berdak
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13999649
Abstract:
This article deals with the research of language units
representing color and their conceptualization. Basically, the article emphasizes
that the lexemes "white, black" in English and "aq, qara" in Karakalpak language
are used in other meanings besides the meaning of color. Moreover, the article
covers the analysis that represent worldviews of two comparing nations and the
views of linguists on conceptual map of the world.
Key words:
concept, cognitive linguistics, color world, color units
The linguist scientist Sh. Safarov said that the concept is a unique
phenomenon for individual and collective consciousness. Individual, that is, the
concepts that arise in the thinking activity of individuals are different and
comprehensive in terms of content and form compared to general ones, because
generality (community) is achieved through the generalization of the experience
and thinking of individuals. Undoubtedly, both types of concepts are formed as a
result of the reflection of the external world, reality image in the mind. But this
reality, in addition to having a real appearance, can also be an imagined reality. .
The view that the ontological foundations of the study of the linguistic map
of the world, which is widely used in cognitive linguistics, is related to language
comes to the fore. Ontology answers questions about the form and ways of
existence of the universe. Related to the semantics and structure of language,
ontology is concerned with language and the phenomena observed by its
speakers.
In the modern philosophy of language, the issue of the relationship between
ontological reality and language is approached as the results of linguistic
conceptualization of extralinguistic realities.
The use of real objects and linguistic means to support them is of great
importance in evaluating the world.
Usually, the relationship between the conceptual map of the world and the
linguistic means that make it visible is studied. In this case, the conceptual map
of the world is evaluated as a more universal phenomenon compared to the
linguistic image of the world. Because different scenes and similar approaches to
describing objects are involved in its formation. The conceptual image of the
world is understood not only as a result of mental reflection of reality, but also
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as a result of emotional cognition. The map of the linguistic world serves to
illuminate the linguistic basis of this knowledge, the manifestation of
experiences in different languages, the transfer to the plane of expression. This
is the essence of modern linguocognitive research. The linguistic map of the
world is a non-objective reality, a verbalized conceptual system that reflects the
categorization of human activity .
The linguistic map of the world and the conceptual map of the world form a
general conceptual system. Conceptual system includes people’s knowledge
about objects of objective reality, external and internal world. This knowledge
forms a system of concepts.
Yu. N. Karaulov notes that “the boundaries between the linguistic model of
the world and the conceptual model of the world seem unstable and unclear” .
The difference between the conceptual and linguistic image of the world can be
considered as the opposition of “concept – meaning”. The main element in the
content of the linguistic model of the world has a different content in languages,
and this content depends on the semantics of linguistic units. The conceptual
model of the world consists of the knowledge and imagination of the world in
the thinking of the people of different linguistic cultures and the linguistic units
that transfer them to the plan of expression.
It seems that the conceptual view of the world covers the analysis of the
language tools that reflect the ideas of the speakers of the studied language, the
national landscape of their inner and outer world, and the worldview of that
nation. It also serves to determine the boundaries of linguistic units that are
manifested within the national culture of this nation. As a result, the conceptual
image of the world reflects the spiritual and material wealth, knowledge,
experience, and national identity of people who speak a certain language. It
should be noted that in conceptual studies, along with concepts of the
conceptual image of the world, the linguistic map of the world, the term
scientific view of the world also appeared.
Individual semantic components reflect many properties of an object or
event in the real world. The reality reflected in the meanings of words is divided
differently in different languages according to the nature of expression.
When studying the connections between the meanings of words, it is
important to consider the connections between objects in reality. It should be
recognized that lexical and semantic changes may occur due to changes in life
circumstances, views of the individual or society.
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Yujie Su, in his work entitled “Color Conceptualization of AGE in English and
Chinese”, highlighted the representation of colors in English and Chinese based
on human age. He discusses and compares color categories before gaining
insight into the differences between the two languages. According to dictionaries
and collected sources, Chinese is more likely to combine age-related colors than
English .
Also, the cognitive level includes the analysis of the relationship between
the linguistic meaning and conceptual content expressed by words in the
language and speech system. Meaning represents a concept in a language system
by describing its essential features. Attitude to color has a special importance in
people's social lifestyle. Moreover, color plays an important role in the lifestyle
of every nation, and has a national cultural significance, a sign and a symbol.
Therefore, the social, political, and cultural characteristics of colors have
been the focus of attention of experts in various fields. The role of color in
human life, its social, political, and cultural significance is studied in many
disciplines, including philosophy, painting, physics, psychology, physiology,
chemistry, etc., in addition to linguistics. Cognitive linguistics maintains an
interest in color because color is represented in language as a distinct category
of the map of the world represented by color names. Due to the breadth of the
field of color studies, it is possible to observe the diversity of approaches to the
study of this phenomenon.
Color is the basis of the color map of the world, it has its own characteristics
(the difference between a person and a bee), individual (the difference between
an artist and a person who sees color), professional, cultural (color perception).
In addition, color has age-related (colors fade in old age) and time (for example,
related to duration) properties among different peoples. .
As a result of the research conducted by the researchers on the semantics of
idiomatic expressions related to color in the English language, idiomatic
expressions with a color naming component have been divided into four classes
of expressions according to their semantic content, and they are as follows: 1)
they mean objects; 2) procedural; 3) denoting characteristics; 4) quality and
attitude .
It is known that learning about the world from birth is done through
evaluation. This is related to color as well. Color plays an important role in the
formation of a conceptual system. Therefore, human evaluations, norms and
attitudes are mainly related to color. The conceptual process allows the
interpretation of colors. Linguistic expression of color exists in every nation and
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ethnic group, as well as in the individual. However, the role of the linguistic and
cultural concept of color varies among different nations, ethnic groups, and even
individuals.
In Karakalpak linguistics, I.M. Khojalepesova expressed her thoughts on the
expression of color units in her scientific work entitled “Антропоцентрик
хусусиятларни тафсифлашда ранг символизми”. According to her, language
units representing color were formed under the influence of linguistic (the
ability to reflect colors and various associations related to them) and non-
linguistic (the connection of color symbols with ethnic history and culture)
factors and have three main stages of evolutionary development: the first stage
(primitive people, the ancient world and antiquity) is mythological, the second
stage (Renaissance) - religious and the third stage (20th century) - social and
political processes of the modern world .
Moreover, G. Kdyrbaeva in her article “Мифологема ақ в каракалпакской
языковой картине мира”, noted that the white color in the Karakalpak
language is expressed as a symbol of purity, sanctity, light, happiness, luck, well-
being, honesty, innocence, caution, intelligence, experience. At the same time,
black color is defined as a symbol of darkness, darkness, evil spirits, evil, death,
cruelty. The author describes the concept of “aq” compounds used in Karakalpak
culture. According to her, the white color in the mythological map of the world
represents the concepts of time, man, woman, status, wealth/prosperity, food,
age, mind, god and spirits .
As part of the cognitive-discursive study of white and black adjectives, it is
expected to study their semantics, which will allow to objectively describe the
characteristics of the concepts of white and black in the compared languages.
Thus, on the basis of language data, it will be possible to determine the features
of these concepts as conceptual units. The most important stage of semantic-
cognitive research is the cognitive interpretation of the results of describing the
semantics of language units.
Conceptualization of the units representing black and white in the
Karakalpak language, the way of life and culture of the Karakalpak people is of
great importance in the active use of these color terms in the language.
According to the collected sources, we can see that the color “white” (aq) in the
Karakalpak language is a symbol of “farming” (planting), and the color “black”
(qara) is a symbol of “herding”. The research shows that the color “aq” in this
language is widely used to express the meaning of color change, plant, animal,
fish, bird, human character, land term, good wish, honesty and beauty. However,
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the most commonly used white color units are associated with plant terms.
Therefore, we can consider the color “aq” in the Karakalpak language as a
symbol of “farming” (planting). Based on the analysis, we witnessed that most of
the language units in the Karakalpak language where the color “qara” is used are
animal terms.
Plant terms: aq bas, aq biyday, aq egin, aq porıq, aq tal, aqterek, aqtiken.
Animal terms: qarabayır, qara jal, qara jorǵa, qaraker, qara quyrıq, qaraqulaq,
qaramal.
Examples:
1) Aqbiydayı turıp sulı sepkennen,
Taza salı turıp shigin ekkennen,
Den sawlıqta bir kún shadlıq jaqsıraq. (Berdaq).
2) Al basqaları aq egindi egip, eginin piskennen keyin orıp jıynap túyeklep,
qırmanda qızıllap atırǵan waqıtta... (K. Ayımbetov).
3) Astıma mingen atım sur qara jal,
Kókiregime kirdi bir bólek kirdi shamal (Ájiniyaz).
4) Qasında qara mallarına qarap júrip te: «qayda júrsiz?» dep soramadı kempir.
(Sh. Seytov «Shırashılar» 89)
In English language both colors represent a specific physical phenomenon
in real life. For example, they can describe a dress: black dress means that the
dress is black and a white dress defines the color of the dress as the color of
snow and means beauty. However, we can see that in the culture of the English
people, wearing black is associated with mourning. At the same time, black
clothes, i.e. a suit and trousers, worn in an official office, have been shown to
have a positive meaning. Therefore, black clothing can be mourning or formal
clothing. For example:
So for my interview, I selected a long, chunky wool skirt that I bought at the
thrift store and a polyester white blouse with puffy sleeves. (Freida Mcfadden,
The Housemaid,13 p)
I’ve only squeezed out a single tear the entire day, and that was when I saw
Cecelia dressed in a simple black dress I bought her for the funeral. (Freida
Mcfadden, The Housemaid, 279 p)
When she was younger, Reggie had hoped that one day she would have a
life that involved a black suit. Her mentor and employer at that time, Joanna
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Hunter, had gone to work every day as a GP in a black suit. (Kate Atkinson, Big
sky)
A white dress is commonly worn by young girls in both cultures as a symbol
of innocence and wedding dress.
In English, the combination of the words black and white with the word
“man” deserves special attention. The socio-cultural conditionality of the
expression “white man” in this language is manifested in its own way. White
man is not just a white man, he is a representative of the white race..
The English language (which reflects the culture and social consciousness of
the speaking community) is usually characterized by the traditional meaning of
black as something bad and white as something good. Therefore, the compound
nominative groups with the black adjective have a negative meaning, and the
adjective white is part of the nominative groups, which, as a rule, have a positive
meaning. For example: black sheep - a member of a family or group who is
regarded as a disgrace to it; black market – an illegal traffic or trade in officially
controlled or scarce commodities; blackmail – the action, treated as a criminal
offence, of demanding payment or another benefit from someone in return for
not revealing compromising or damaging information about them; black soul –
people who lack empathy, compassion or heartless. These expressions are
considered to be associated with evil. In addition, it is the color of mourning, the
color of death.
The semantic structure of the lexemes “white, black” and “aq, qara” in the
English and Karakalpak languages are similar in the subjective characteristics,
mainly in terms of race, beauty, anger, or types of human character. The
productive meanings of the aq lexeme in the Karakalpak language are mainly
reflected in honesty, correctness, happiness, innocence, clean, light, beauty, spot,
dirt, dairy product, senior, human age, nutrition, raw, unripe, mourning, etc. And
the lexeme white in the English language reflects the meanings of human
appearance, purity, beauty, fear, supernatural, emptiness, racial symbol, war,
intensity, surrender, law-based, human character, drink.
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