COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS OF THE WORD FIRE IN RUSSIAN AND CHINESE IN THE ASPECT OF LINGUOCULTUROLOGY

Abstract

Metaphor is the psychological process of endowing concepts with new things through associations, and it is the process of human cognition of objective reality. Fire is the source of human civilization and one of the most basic elements in the early understanding of the world and exploration of the universe. In both the Russian and Chinese languages, the concept “fire” is endowed with a rich metaphorical meaning. Based on the theory of conceptual metaphor, this article analyzes the conceptual metaphor “fire” from the point of view of linguoculturology. The purpose of the comparative analysis is to identify the mechanism of semantic expansion of the concept “fire” in the two languages, as well as the differences and similarities between the cognitive ways of thinking of the two peoples. This study allows to paint a picture of different linguistic worlds of the two peoples, which will help to study the influence of cultural differences on cognitive processes and language development of the Russian and Chinese peoples, to promote intercultural exchanges and cooperation between China and Russia.