| Abstract [eng] |
Every nation and culture has formed its specific and peculiar language of the world, which can be analyzed through the concepts. It is believed that concepts may become intercultural and universal, i.e. easily recognisable in different languages and cultures. However, it is also believed that even universal concepts may have some culture-specific aspects. The present master thesis focuses on the investigation of ILLNESS concept expressions in Lithuanian and Russian languages, highlighting and comparing its similarities and differences. Research results reveal the attitude towards the illness of two distinctive cultures, indirectly revealing their views and assessment of illness and health factors in a broad sense. The research materials are the examples from fiction and journalistic texts from The Corpus of The Contemporary Lithuanian Language (http://tekstynas.vdu.lt) and The National Corpus of Russian Language (ruscorpora.ru). The collected material consists of 646 Lithuanian and 764 Russian language examples, representing the concept of ILLNESS. The Master‘s thesis consists of an Introduction, which briefly presents the main information about the work; The Theoretical part, consisting of six chapters; The Practical part, consisting of thirteen chapters; Conclusion and References. The first theoretical chapter deals with the basic principles of cognitive linguistics; the second chapter discusses the understanding the concept, by comparing various linguists’ definitions of the concept and formulating what shall be considered as DISEASE concept in the present Master’s thesis; the third chapter discusses the conceptual worldview and rises the question can the concept of DISEASE be considered as universal; the fourth chapter presents the basics of the conceptual metaphor theory, on which shall be based the classification of the collected examples; the fifth chapter briefly presents some conceptual metaphor studies conducted in Russia and Lithuania, related to the concept of DISEASE; the sixth chapter presents methods and materials, explaining how the analysis was organized and carried out; The Practical part presents the following classification of metaphorical models, according to the source domains used in conceptual metaphors: 1. ILLNESS – A LIVING BEING; 2. ILLNESS – AN OBJECT; 3. ILLNESS – FORCES; 4. ILLNESS – THE WAR OR AN ENEMY; 5. ILLNESS – THE ELEMENT OF NATURE; 6. ILLNESS – A PLANT; 7. ILLNESS – A CONTAINER; 8. ILLNESS – A MACHINE OR A DEVICE; 9. ILLNESS – A MOVEMENT OR A DIRECTION; 10. ILLNESS – A SPORT OR A GAME; 11. ILLNESS – FOOD; 12. ILLNESS – EARNINGS; 13. ILLNESS – A CRIME OR A PUNISHMENT. The findings reveal that the concept of ILLNESS in Lithuanian and Russian languages is perceived very similarly. Therefore, it can be considered as more universal than culture-specific. |
