Cultural Microconcept “Festive Food” as a Component of the Conceptual Field of the Holiday in the Russian Language Picture of the World

Aim. To analyse the microconcept FESTIVE FOOD as a structural component of the conceptual field HOLIDAY in cognitive and linguistic and culturological aspects.

Methodology. Methods of cognitive, component, descriptive and seminal analyses of language units were used in this study. Cognitive analysis is used to investigate the concept – the components of festive food – and the relationship between the language structures and cognitive processes associated with them. With the help of seminal analysis of linguistic units, definitions of lexemes related to festive food and phraseological units representing the microconcept FESTIVE FOOD are analyzed. Based on the method of component analysis, the microfield FESTIVE FOOD is defined as a set of food groups based on a common semantic feature – a HOLIDAY, and dishes presented on different holidays have different differential features. Using the above methods of analysis, linguistic consciousness establishes the influence of cultural traditions of the Russian picture of the world and determines the place of the microconcept FESTIVE FOOD in the conceptual field HOLIDAY: different types of festive dishes and food have become elements of linguistic and cultural coding, cf.: white bread, roll, baranok, gingerbread, kulich, sochivo, dumplings, etc. Based on research materials, data from etymological, explanatory dictionaries, paremiological and phraseological fund with the meaning of “festive food”, the specificity of the lexical corpus, its diversity and place in the structure of the conceptual field HOLIDAY are determined, and the main cultural attitudes and stereotypes of the Russian language picture of the world are revealed. The microconcept FESTIVE FOOD is understood as a unit of collective knowledge, which has the peculiarities of linguistic expression and national culture and reflects the main interrelated units.

Results. The lexical and semantic group of words FESTIVE FOOD is an important cultural part of the Russian national cuisine, forms a microfield as a structural component of the conceptual field HOLIDAY. Food semantics nominations are both verbal elements of the vocabulary fund and linguistic and cultural realities reflecting the peculiarities of the national-linguistic picture of the world.

Research implications. Of the research results lies in the fact that they help to identify semantic and linguistic and culturological features of festive food, which are manifested in the semantic structure of words with the meaning of ‘food’, ‘product’, to determine the place of linguistic units of this food block in the conceptual field of HOLIDAY, as well as to describe their complex paradigmatics. In addition, understanding the meanings of words related to festive food helps to establish the characteristic features of the festive table and the festive traditions of the Russian people. The practical significance of this article lies in the fact that its results can be used to teach the Russian language to foreign-speaking students.

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