Sentences with the ‘State of Nature’ Meaning in the Russian Language: Cognitive and Linguocultural Aspects of the Analysis

Abstract

The article deals with the sentences denoting the ‘state of nature’ which are treated as bilateral units. In view of the approach to the sentences from the specified semantics as linguistic units with a symbolic nature, the author reveals a list of structural schemes, as a means of verbalization of the concept denoting the ‘state of nature’ in the Russian language. The ‘state of nature’ concept itself is qualified as a quantum of knowledge storage about extra linguistic situations of the same type, categorized by human consciousness. The content of this concept is structured in the form of the field represented by a number of cognitive characteristics, ranked by brightness index and distributed in nuclear and peripheral zones. As the speech units sentences with the ‘state of nature’ meaning are treated as statements which do not constitute a homogeneous group either by the process of perception by an Observer or the way of the state manifestation. The collection of such statements accumulates in their semantics archaic representation of the nature of the Slavs and the key invariant ideas of that fragment of Russian language worldview, which represents the ‘nature – state of nature’ extra linguistic situation.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n5s4p235