DIACHRONIC REPRESENTATION OF CONCEPT: TOWARD METHOD OF ANALYSIS

DIACHRONIC REPRESENTATION OF CONCEPT: TOWARD METHOD OF ANALYSIS

Author:  L.P. Dronova

Affiliation:  Tomsk State University

Abstract:  The topic of method remains crucial in cognitive linguistics. The article discusses the issue of practical interdisciplinary interaction between cognitive linguistics and comparative studies, as having a common interest in reconstructing historical and cultural information of cognitive nature. This interaction may and must be implemented first of all at the level of systemic-structural and comparative-historical analysis of the semantics of linguistic units as a preparative stage for transition to “deep” semantics. This is not questioned theoretically, and there is even an emphasized necessity “to consider linguistic phenomena in their broad historical perspective” (E.S. Kubryakova 2009), but practical solution to the issue of concept as diachronic phenomenon is hampered by a range of objective problems associated with lack of attention to peculiarities of the modern diachronic analysis and systemic approach to historical changes. 
In several publications we have already discussed the capacities and restrictions for using the methods of comparative studies in the practice of conceptual analysis. This article focuses on another aspect of this issue: the problem of formal and semantic reconstruction depth in determining the specific evolution of a concept. Inadequate reconstruction depth can result in shifting the historical and cultural foci in the representation of concept evolution. It is of particular significance in comparative studies and in analyzing the ethnocultural specifics of the concept.

Keywords:  diachrony in cognitive studies, problems of historical and cultural reconstruction

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Pages:  59-64