The artifact “yurt” as an object of Kyrgyz and Tuvan linguoculture

Abstract

The “yurt” artifact is a part of the Kyrgyz and Tuvan peoples’ systems of cultural values. As a cognitive mechanism, language offers its own linguistic and creative interpretation. This paper considers the artifact “Yurt” in terms of cognitive linguistics by analyzing the concepts of boz üy and ѳg. The linguistic and cultural analysis of these concepts made it possible to re- veal the specificity of their ethnolinguistic perception that discovers the role, place, and sig- nificance of “yurt” in the linguistic worldview of the Kyrgyz and the Tuvan peoples. Com- mon cultural and linguistic roots of the Kyrgyz and Tuvan people and their long-term coexistence in the historical arena have predetermined the significance of parallels and corre- spondences in the cognitive-semantic scope of the concepts boz üy and ѳg. The cognitive and conceptual core of these concepts’ structure reveals the elements of the cognitive comprehen- sion of “yurt” associated with its spatial segmentation, specification of its fragments, and the functionality of its attributes. The figurative-symbolic level of the concepts demonstrates the results of the sensory-associative perception of the yurt. In the Tuvan language, it is the sym- bolization of space, and in the Kyrgyz language, it is the symbolization of objects. The value- cultural level of the concepts under consideration explicates the thesis that “yurt” is the focus of cultural traditions, rituals, and customs for Tuvan and Kyrgyz peoples that have lasted since time immemorial.