Comparative analysis of the concept BEAR in language consciousness of the Russian and Chinese people (on the material of explanatory dictionaries)

We consider the problem of language and concept in the framework of cognitive linguistics. The purpose of the work is to identify the mental differences in the conceptualization of the concept BEAR in the linguistic consciousness of the Russian and Chinese people. We present an approach according to which dictionary definitions are considered as a language representative of a concept called a dictionary word. The dictionary is considered as a collection of our knowledge about the world, which was formed as a result of its conceptualization and categorization. We compare different aspects of the lexeme BEAR in the “Dictionary of the Russian Language” (MAS) edited by A.P. Evgenyeva and the “Xinhua Zidian” edited by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences: interpretation of the word, its illustrative materials, including phraseological units. In the study of a foreign language, reliance on dictionary definitions allows us to use lexicographic representation of concepts as one of the active and initial methods for understanding and perceiving national mentality.

concept, bear, lexicographic representation, explanatory dictionary, language consciousness