Scholarly record

COLOUR DESIGNATIONS IN THE YAKUT LANGUAGE WORLDVIEW (ON THE MATERIAL OF THE YAKUT PHRASEOLOGICAL UNITS)

A. Poselskaia, I. Khokholova, M. Delannois

Abstract

This paper gives an analysis of national and cultural colour semantics in Yakut phraseology. The object of the study are phraseological units that have a colour component in their composition. The research topic is chosen due to the understudied Yakut phraseological units and the need to study the national specifics of the Yakut language worldview through a colour prism. This will allow us to apply the obtained results when reading lecture courses on linguoculturology, comparative lexicology, intercultural communication. During the analysis we use such research methods such as descriptive analytical, contextual, linguisticalstylistical, statistical, and also linguocultural analysis. As carriers of cultural information, phraseological units play a special role in the process of understanding the world. The national culture, way of life and way of the worldview are reflected in phraseological units. Reflection of colour perception in the phraseological system of language is not accidental. Colours play an important role in the formation of the linguistic picture of the world and have a special symbolic meaning in traditional Yakut culture. We collected 133 phraseological units with a colour nomination from the Yakut Phraseological Dictionary by A.G. Nelunov with the method of continuous sampling. The most frequent colourvariety in the phraseological body of the analyzed language are the lexemes "hara" (black) and "ma?an" (white). According to the Yakuts, the world is divided into three parts: the Upper World, the Middle World and the Lower World. The Upper world is inhabited by the light deities of Aiyy and is often associated with the white colour, Lower with evil spirits which are corresponded to black. A large number of phraseological units with the nomination of black colour with negative connotations is the vivid evidence. Thus, the phraseological unitВ‘hara s??r?kВ’which literally means the В‘black runnerВ’ denotes the meaning a В‘cattleВ’ which according to Yakut mythology crept into the Middle World from the Lower and symbolizes evil spirits and poverty. The phraseological units В‘?r?? s??r?k (lit.В‘white runnerВ’) and ?r?? t??l?h (lit. В‘having white woolВ’) nominate a horse. For Yakuts the horse is a sacred animal from the Upper World. Thus, the study of phraseological cases with the component of colour identification shows that the meaning of colour depends on a number of extra-linguistic factors: cultural traditions, way of life, customs, peculiarities of national psychology and consciousness, as well as various facts of objective reality.

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