The Specifics of the Representation of the “Death” Conceptual Field in the Russian Linguistic Worldview (a Case Study of Set Expressions)

   This article explores the notion of the linguistic worldview considered in the works of Russian and other scholars of the 19th-21^st centuries.

   There is a need to deepen and expand the understanding of the specifics of the representation of one of the most important ontological categories, the “Death” conceptual field, and thus this paper is relevant.

   This study aims to identify the specifics of the representation of nominative and semantically united set expressions that are part of the “Death” conceptual field.

   The paper is due to examine and analyze theoretical works on the research topic, to conduct a componential analysis of namings connected with death, to compile and identify the specific features and properties of the conceptual representative field. The methodology of the study includes the general scientific methods of data collection and processing (analysis and synthesis), methods of classification and systematization, as well as the method of continuous sampling used to collect and analyze the linguistic material. In the Russian linguistic worldview, the semiotic idea of death is created as a result of constant interaction and confrontation of the “life – death” ontological opposition and is contingent on the anthropomorphic human thought. The analysis of the nominative set expressions has allowed to establish such important features of the “Death” conceptual field as the certainty of death, its insuperability, mysteriousness, sacrality, and anthropomorphism. The sequential examination of the linguistic representations naming the concerned conceptual field allows for the conclusion that, in the Russian linguistic worldview, death is conceived in the material and spiritual aspects. These aspects take into consideration the spatial, temporal and procedural features. The insuperability and certainty of death stimulate man to constantly fight against it. The global road metaphor is connected with the mythological and Christian idea of the afterlife. The sacrality of death is due to it essentially being incognizable and obscure.

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