Axiological Concepts “Life” and “Death” in the Chinese Language Picture of the World

Abstract

The authors of the article consider the conceptual dyad “Life-Death” from the position of a representative of the Chinese linguistic culture, seeking to enter a new cultural space for themselves - the so-called “Russian world”. The hypothesis of the study is that the carrier of a foreign cultural linguistic consciousness has an already formed cognitive base, which becomes a contrasting background for the perception of a new linguistic reality. Within the framework of the article, the authors analyzed the cultural context, which makes it possible to explicate the semantics of these concepts in the Chinese language picture of the world, and also conducted an experiment with a reference group, which made it possible to objectify their actual meanings. The essence of the experiment was the work of a receptive group with precedent texts that contain in their semantic field the conceptual core “Life” / “Death” or “Life-Death”. Precedent texts are obligatory formants of the cognitive base of an ethnos. We sought to obtain the most recurrent responses to these stimuli in order to differentiate the conceptual features of the dyad. The result of the experiment was a selection of precedent texts, commented on by the receptive group. Summarizing the empirical data, we came to the conclusion that for the bearer of the Chinese linguistic consciousness, the concepts “Life” and “Death” represent an ontological unity with the corresponding set of characteristics: Tao, the great middle path, destiny, happiness. In addition, linguo-ethnic standards were identified: “noble husband” and “perfect sage”.