Preview

Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology

Advanced search

Representation of the Binary Concepts LIGHT and DARKNESS in the Russian Linguistic Worldview (Based on Social Media Materials from 2015 to 2025)

https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2025-24-9-20-29

Abstract

Purpose. This article presents an analysis of the binary concepts of LIGHT and DARKNESS in the Russian linguistic picture of the world. The study is based on corpus material covering the period from 2015 to 2025. 

Results. The material used was social networks contexts with lexemes representing the binary concepts of LIGHT and DARKNESS. These contexts were extracted from the subcorpora “Social Networks” within the “National Corpus of the Russian Language”. The main cognitive features of the concepts of LIGHT and DARKNESS were identified by analyzing their core zone, degree of abstraction, opposition in structure and figurative and emotional features. A sample of 2,000 contexts was analyzed for the study. 

Conclusion. Conclusions are made that the number of cognitive features of the concepts LIGHT and DARKNESS based on contexts is presented in the form of a nuclear zone, a perinuclear zone and a peripheral zone, cognitive features of the concepts LIGHT and DARKNESS with varying degrees of abstraction, features that form oppositions in the structure of the concepts LIGHT and DARKNESS, as well as features of the concepts LIGHT, DARKNESS in specific features. In general, this research is innovative and has a developmental impact on the study of linguistic culture. It is also the basis for cross-cultural research and multilingual comparative research.

About the Author

Yifei Song
Novosibirsk State University
Russian Federation

Novosibirsk



References

1. Azarenko N. A. Kontseptualizatsiya sveta i t'my v yazykovoi kartine mira F. M. Dostoevskogo: na materiale romana “Prestuplenie i nakazanie” [Conceptualization of Light and Darkness in F. M. Dostoevsky’s Linguistic Worldview: Based on the Novel “Crime and Punishment”]. Thesis of Cand. Philol. Sci. Lipets, 2007, 248 p. (in Russ.)

2. Grigorieva T. V. Semanticheskaya interpretatsiya kontseptov “Svet” i “T'ma” v russkom yazyke [Semantic Interpretation of the Concepts “Light” and “Darkness” in the Russian Language]. Thesis of Cand. Philol. Sci. Ufa, 2004, 253 p. (in Russ.)

3. Gurevich A. G. Kontsept sveta i t'my v russkoi i angliiskoi yazykovykh kartinakh mira [The Concept of Light and Darkness in the Russian and English Linguistic Worldviews]. Thesis of Cand. Philol. Sci. Makhachkala, 2005, 168 p. (in Russ.)

4. Gyulumyan L. K. Kontsepty SVET i T'MA i sredstva ikh verbal'noi manifestatsii v khudozhest- vennoi modeli mira L. N. Andreeva [The Concepts of LIGHT and DARKNESS and the Means of their Verbal Manifestation in L. N. Andreev’s Artistic Model of the World]. Thesis of Cand. Philol. Sci. Armavir, 2018, 220 p. (in Russ.)

5. Magomedova N. A. Semanticheskoe prostranstvo kontseptov “svet” i “t'ma” v lezginskom i fran- tsuzskom yazykakh [The Semantic Space of the Concepts “Light” and “Darkness” in the Lezgin and French languages]. Thesis of Cand. Philol. Sci. Makhachkala, 2009, 209 p. (in Russ.)

6. Popova Z. D., Sternin I. A. Kognitivnaya lingvistika [Cognitive Linguistics]. Moscow, AST: Vos- tok-Zapad Publ., 2007, 315 p. (in Russ.)

7. Sadykova M. A. Lingvokul'turnyi analiz mifologizirovannykh kontseptov “svet / light” i “t'ma / darkness” v tekstakh svyashchennogo pisaniya [Lingvocultural Analysis of the Mythologized Concepts “Light” and “Darkness” in Sacred Scripture Texts]. Thesis of Cand. Philol. Sci. Izhevsk, 2007, 159 p. (in Russ.)

8. Stepanov Yu. S. Konstanty: slovar’ russkoi kul'tury [Constants: Dictionary of Russian Culture]. 3rd ed. Moscow, Academicheskii proekt Publ., 2004, 992 p. (in Russ.)

9. Song Yifei, Berendeyeva M. S. Struktura kontseptual'noi oppozitsii SVET – T'MA v russkoi yazy- kovoi kartine mira po dannym assotsiativnogo eksperimenta (na fone kitaiskoi oppozitsii 光明 – 黑暗) [The Structure of the Conceptual Opposition LIGHT – DARKNESS in the Russian Linguistic Worldview According to Associative Experiment Data (on the Background of the Chinese Opposition 光明 – 黑暗)]. Sibirskii Filologicheskii Zhurnal [Siberian Journal of Philology], 2025, no. 1, pp. 223–237. (in Russ.)


Review

For citations:


Song Y. Representation of the Binary Concepts LIGHT and DARKNESS in the Russian Linguistic Worldview (Based on Social Media Materials from 2015 to 2025). Vestnik NSU. Series: History and Philology. 2025;24(9):20-29. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.25205/1818-7919-2025-24-9-20-29

Views: 28


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.


ISSN 1818-7919 (Print)