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INTERPRETATION OF THE CONCEPT
“MONEY” IN COGNITIVE
LINGUISTICS
Erdanova Sevara Anvarovna
senior teacher, Foreign languages department, Tashkent Institute of Finance
The analysis of works on the structure of the concept allows us to conclude that
researchers from different scientific schools single out some similar basic components
in its composition: image, concept and additional features (value component
(V.I. Karasik), significance component (S.G. Vorkachev), cognitive and pragmatic
implicational (M.V. Nikitin), interpretive field (Z.D. Popova, I.A. Sternin), etc.).
In our study, we will consider the concept of
“money” in the Russian national
consciousness and, following Z.D. Popova and I.A. Sternin, we will try to single out
figurative, informational and interpretive concepts in the structure of the concept.
According to Z.D. Popova and I.A. Sternin, the presence of a figurative
component in the concept is determined by the very neurolinguistic nature of the
universal subject code: the sensory image encodes the concept, forming a unit of the
universal subject code [Popova, Sternin 2007: 106]. The authors single out
perceptual and cognitive components in a sensual image. A perceptual image is
formed in the mind of a native speaker as a result of his reflection of the surrounding
reality with the help of the senses (tactile, taste, sound, olfactory images). The
cognitive image is formed by metaphorical comprehension of the corresponding
object or phenomenon. Despite the fact that cognitive images are usually more
numerous, both components in equally reflect the figurative characteristics of the
conceptualized object or phenomenon.
The information content of the concept is similar to the dictionary definition of
the keyword of the concept, it includes only the features that differentiate the
denotation of the concept and excludes random, optional, evaluative ones.
The interpretive field includes cognitive features that interpret, evaluate the
concept and represent some kind of inferential knowledge. Z.D. Popova, I.A. Sternin
distinguish the following zones in the composition of the interpretation field:
evaluation zone, encyclopedic zone, utilitarian zone, regulatory zone, socio-cultural
zone, paremiological zone. In our work the paremiological zone of the concept is not
considered, since at this stage we do not aim to analyze national proverbs.
In the form for conducting an associative experiment, it was necessary to
indicate age, gender and specialty. The experiment consisted of 3 parts: 1) a free
association experiment in which the informants were asked to write the first thing that
comes to mind when they hear the word
“money”; 2) an experiment on subjective
definitions, in which the subjects it was proposed to finish the phrase
“money is...”;
3) directed associative experiment, in which respondents were asked to write 5
adjectives and verbs that they associate with the word
“money”.
Summarizing the data of free and directed experiments, we identified those
associative reactions that explicate the figurative layer in the content of the concept.
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The perceptual image of the concept
“money” can be represented by visual
images: green 19, paper 10, large 8, small 5, different 3, gold 3, new 2, iron 2, old,
foreign, wrinkled, money bag with $ sign, bank card, bank 1; sound images: crispy 5,
rustling 4, ringing 1; rustle, rattle 2; tactile images: rough 1.
Next to the word, we indicate the number of reactions, which determines the
brightness of the corresponding features in the structure of the concept. The sensory
image in the mind of a native speaker is individual, and here we can only speak of a
figurative
“loading” of different sense organs. The most interesting in the perceptual
image of the concept
“money” is a cognitive feature – green, identified during directed
associative experiment. This sign, of course, is included in the core of the concept
on the basis of brightness. Here we find that native speakers of Russian language,
money
is associated primarily with American
dollars
, since in a colloquial familiar
style the word
“green”, “ko‘kat”
is used as a synonym for dollars. Another reason for
the brightness of this sign may be green. Russian banknote with a face value of one
thousand rubles.
The cognitive image of the concept
“money” is the assignment of human
qualities to money, such as moral qualities: honest 2, omnipotent, influential,
insidious 1; mental qualities: crazy 8, funny, unpredictable 1; physical qualities: big
25, dirty 17, light 8, bloody 2, heavy, pleasant, unpleasant, lively 1.
A feature of the results of the directed associative experiment, where the
subjects were asked to write 5 adjectives that they associate with the word
“money”
(what?), Was that some informants answered the question
“what?” (big, prosperous,
independent, smart, cunning, greedy, generous, carefree), describing the signs of a
rich person.
We can also fix that in the cognitive features of the concept
“money” there is a
phenomenon of ambivalence, including such contradictory features as pleasant
–
unpleasant, dirty; light
– heavy. At the third stage experiment, a similar contradiction
is traced pleasant (to allow, relax, win, acquire, travel, rejoice, be happy, enjoy, do
not deny yourself anything; honestly earned)
– unpleasant, dirty (launder, drain, steal;
fake); easy (find, win, snatch, cut down, money does not smell, laugh; left,
superfluous, free)
– heavy (work, earn, work, plow, work hard, suffer; hard-to-get,
last, hard-earned). It can be assumed that the carriers
Russian language traces a negative attitude towards money. The experimental
data are also confirmed by the data of phraseological dictionaries and dictionaries
proverbs and sayings, where in most Russian phraseological units, proverbs and
sayings there is a negative connotation of the lexeme
“money”, although there is no
doubt the fact that money is still an important component of people's lives and gives
comfort, opportunities, freedom. Contradiction light
– heavy, probably possible
explain how the money was made.
During the experiment on subjective definitions, it was revealed that the
information content of the concept
“money” is formed by the following cognitive
features: coins and banknotes, wealth, means of subsistence, wealth, means of
circulation, universal equivalent, financial unit, universal payment method, currency,
medium of exchange.
Thus, the data obtained during the experiment are similar to the dictionary
interpretations of the lexeme and highlight some additional features of the concept
under study: currency, means of circulation, means of subsistence. The interpretive
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field of the concept
“money” was revealed on the basis of the analysis of the results
of free and directed associative experiments. The interpretative field is quite large,
and we will try to distribute cognitive features in the appropriate zones.
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