Cognitive mechanisms of colour terms in the advertising tourist narrative (by the example of Lake Baikal)

Abstract

The aim of the study is to determine the cognitive mechanisms of colour terms in the advertising tourist narrative. The scientific novelty of the work is accounted for by the problem statement: it is the first time that colour terms have been considered taking into account the mechanisms of their cognitive organisation in the advertising tourist narrative using Lake Baikal as an example. The paper analyses the views of researchers describing colour terms in the Russian linguistic worldview, the advertising discourse, cognitive linguistics, historical and comparative linguistics. The study emphasises that colour as a culture code is a significant cognitive category and colour terms possess associativity and axiological value, are connected to the history of the nation, its peculiarities in relation to ethnic norms, traditions, customs and rituals. As a result of the study, it has been found that the main cognitive mechanisms of colour terms in the advertising tourist narrative include foregrounding as the informational-pragmatic core in the structure of the textual whole; metaphor as a source of figurative naming; standard comparative constructions and realised comparisons. The analysis of the material attests to the fulfillment of the potential of lexical units with secondary colour naming in such main conceptual-thematic areas as “Animate nature” and “Inanimate nature”.