Notional features of the concepts ліс/wood in the Ukrainian and English paroemias

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Department of Comparative Pedagogy and Methodology of Teaching Foreign Languages Drohobych Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University

Notional features of the concepts ліс/wood in the Ukrainian and English paroemias

Oksana Savchenko,

Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of verbalization of concepts ЛІС/WOOD in the Ukrainian and English proverbial corpora. It analyzes the structure of these terrestrial concepts, particularly the notional component. It also determines isomorphic and allomorphic cognitive features of the concepts under study.

It is established that concepts ЛІС/WOOD are relevant for Ukrainian and English native speakers, as they are widely objectivized in the paroemia items of both languages. It is explained by the similarity of the geographic landscape of these countries, as forests and woods occupy a vast Ukrainian, British and American territory. However, concept ЛІС plays a more significant role in the Ukrainian collective consciousness. It is proved by more frequent verbalization of spatial concept ЛІС in proverbs, sayings and riddles of the Ukrainian language and a great number of ethnocultural components ofmeaning in the structure of this concept. It is revealed that the verbalizers of the Ukrainian concept is «ліс», «діброва», while in the English language it is «wood», «forest». The notional component of contrasted languages are formed by the following isomorphic cognitive features: large area of land, overgrown with trees and bushes, trees which grow on such land, felled trees as building material. Ethnospecific Ukrainian meanings of lexeme «ліс» are: a cattle grazing place, an area of land bordering on a field and which is uprooted for field works, a location of the evil force, a distant place, a source ofprofit, unsuitability for cultivation. For representatives of English linguoculture it is a beneficial land zone.

In the Ukrainian proverbial corpus the meaning «forest as a source of various benefits» is dominant, and in the English one - «the forest where the movement takes place» prevails.

Key words: concept, verbalization, cognitive features, isomorphic, allomorphic.

Оксана Савченко,

кандидат філологічних наук, доцент кафедри порівняльної педагогіки та методики викладання іноземних мов Дрогобицького державного педагогічного університету імені Івана Франка

Понятійні ознаки концептів ліс/wood в українських й англійських пареміях

Стаття присвячена особливостям вербалізації концептів ЛІС/WOOD в українському та англійському паремійних фондах. Проаналізовано структуру цих земних концептів, зокрема його понятійний складник, визначено ізоморфні та аломорфні когнітивні ознаки досліджуваних концептів.

Встановлено, що концепти ЛІС/WOOD є релевантними для носіїв української та англійської мов, оскільки вони широко об'єктивовані в пареміях обох мов, що обґрунтовується схожістю географічного ландшафту цих країн, адже ліси займають величезну територію України, Британії та Америки. Однак концепт ЛІС відіграє більш значущу роль в українській колективній свідомості. Про це свідчить більш частотна вербалізація цього просторового концепту в прислів'ях, приказках і загадках української мови та велика кількість етнокультурних компонентів значення у структурі цього концепту. В українській мові лексему «ліс» вжито в 327 пареміях (29% від загальної кількості паремій із назвами елементів рельєфу у 'їхній структурі), в той час як в англійській - лексема «wood» згадана в 142 народних висловлюваннях (17%). Аналогічно при кількісному аналізі етнокультурних значень зафіксовано 24 семи лексеми «ліс» та 13 сем лексеми «wood».

Окрім цього, виявлено, що вербалізаторами українського концепту є «ліс», «діброва», а в англійській - «wood», «forest». Понятійний складник досліджуваних концептів складають такі ізоморфні когнітивні ознаки: `велика ділянка землі, поросла деревами та кущами', `дерева, які ростуть на такій землі', `зрубані дерева як будівельний матеріал'. Етноспецифічними українськими значеннями лексеми «ліс» є: `місце випасу худоби', `ділянка землі, яка межує з полем і викорчовується для польових робіт', `місце перебування нечистої сили', `віддаленість', `джерело прибутку', `непридатність для обробітку'. Для представників англійської лінгвокультури ліс - це `цілюща зона'. В українській паремійній картині світу домінуючим є значення `ліс як джерело різноманітних благ', а в англійській - `ліс, де відбувається рух'.

З'ясовано, що пряме значення паремій з назвами елементів рельєфу у 'їхній структурі відображає в основному господарсько-побутовий досвід представників української та англійської лінгвокультур, а також правила, заборони, поради, спостереження, які пов'язані з цими ландшафтними об'єктами.

Ключові слова: концепт, вербалізація, когнітивні ознаки, ізоморфний, аломорфний.

ліс wood concepts

Introduction

Problem Statement. The way of life of different peoples, their mentality, the relationship between man and nature has always been and remains an object of interest not only for scientists, but also for ordinary people. The problem of the unity of the ethnic group and the natural environment is becoming especially relevant nowadays, when in the conditions of globalization of world processes there is a loss of connection with the native land, which leads to some extent to the loss of the identity of the indigenous people. From time immemorial, the people's attachment to their land was a guarantee of their selfpreservation, the foundation on which ethnic identity, culture, and richness of a language were formed.

The natural and landscape conditions of life of a certain ethnic group, its economic activities, occupations, interests and evolution are included in the range of issues of such social disciplines as history, cultural studies, ethnology, etc. Another way of researching the interaction between man and nature is the study of linguistic phenomena, paremiological in particular. After all, the paremiological fund of any language is a vivid representative of the specifics of historical and geographical conditions of life and a reflection of the peculiarities of the material and spiritual culture of the people, and therefore to the greatest extent conveys the vision of the world of representatives of a certain ethnic community.

Analysis of the latest resources and publications. Nowadays, there are numerous studies of paroemias both in Ukrainian and in foreign linguistics (works of H. Blahova, S. Yermolenko, I. Holubovska, Z. Kotsyuba, T Nikolayeva, M. Sitaj, etc.), as well as in paremiology (researches by N. Barli, A. Dandys, E. Kokare, V. Mider). However, a contrastive analysis of concepts for the designation of landscape relief on the material of paroemia items has not yet been carried out. A comparative analysis of the cognitive features of the concepts ЛІС/WOOD based on the material of Ukrainian and English paroemias will provide an opportunity to clarify not only the collective ideas of Ukrainian and English native speakers about their natural, landscape and economic living conditions, but also to draw conclusions about the peculiarities of the national mentality, national character, temperament, behavior, superstitions, views on interpersonal relationships.

The aim of the research is to determine the common and ethno-specific notional features of the concepts ЛІС/WOOD in the proverbial picture of the world of Ukrainian and English native speakers. The object of the study is proverbs, sayings and riddles of the Ukrainian and English languages as varieties of paroemia items. The subject of the analysis is isomorphic and allomorphic notional features of the concepts under analysis, verbalized in these language items of the compared languages.

Representation of the main points of the research

The following definition of the lexeme «forest» is given in the «Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language»: 1) «a large area of land overgrown with trees and bushes»; 2) «trees that grow on such an area»; 3) «a large number, many (high objects)»; 4) sing. «felled trees as construction material or material of any other kind» (Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language).

Regarding the etymology of the word «ліс», M. Fasmer indicates its connection with the words «пасовисько», «вигін» (Old English laeswe, dial. leasow), as well as Lith. laiskas denoting «tree leaf», Old Czech. les with the meaning «leaves, shoots» (Etymological dictionary: 266). Proto-Slavs /lesb is considered etymologically unclear. Several hypotheses were put forward. It is noteworthy that the word /lesb refers to a deciduous forest, shrub, hazel, branches, shoots. In slash and burn agriculture only deciduous forest used to grow on the site of the former felling. It is assumed that originally the word /lesb was not a part of geographical terminology, but was a term for clearcutting cultivation. With time this meaning became obsolete and got out of use (Etymological dictionary: 266). As we can see, at the initial stage of functioning of the word «ліс», it did not contain the seme of landscape space, and its structure was dominated by the meanings «leaves», «branches», «shoots» and «deciduous forest». The latter was associated with the peculiarities of conducting field work, when small areas of the forest were uprooted and used for growing agricultural crops.

The forest as an element of the relief was of primary importance as a source of material goods for representatives of the Ukrainian ethnic group. The forest occupied a major part of the territory inhabited by ancient Ukrainians. Until the 15 th century, the Eastern Slavs were engaged in field farming. With this purpose the forest soil was cultivated more easily than the steppe soil. Apart from that a forest helped to protect crops from nomads. But only small areas of forest zones were taken for field husbandry. A forest offered hunting opportunities. «In the pine forests in the north and Polissia region, oak and mixed forests in the south one could hunt all year round. Honey was taken from wild bees, and beehives were placed around» (Popovych, 1998: 25). Cattle were also fed there. A forest gave man the main building material, as well as berries, mushrooms, game and skins.

However, despite all the advantages of a forest in the economic life of a Ukrainian native speaker, there was a certain danger hidden in it, it caused certain fears. The negative perception of a forest was determined by various factors: it was an obstacle to movement and was difficult to clear for arable land; it was inhabited by wild beasts, which posed a threat to both humans and livestock; there were also robbers. Although a forest was the embodiment of the alien, it gave nourishment, provided a man with material goods necessary for existence. Thus, someone else's space was mastered and became one's own, a native one.

The lexeme «ліс» was often related to the meaning «wasteland, empty» (Etymological dictionary: 140), that is, the space in which there is no person. The home-forest opposition is a «particular variant of the close-distant contrasting and the implementation of the own-alien opposition». The signs of a forest, which were noticed and marked over time, were also always frightening and alarming. Being renewed in each generation of people, the signs of a forest were verbalized with the appropriate emotional vocabulary: from slums, thickets, thickets to wilderness, etc.

The idea of the forest as a place where miracles are possible dates back to pagan times. The cult of trees was reflected in it - an ancient idea of a tree as a container of souls or spirits (good and evil), which explains the connection between the meanings of «tree» and «the other world» [Etymological dictionary: 134], as well as the residence of both friendly and hostile mythical creatures in it. A forest always caused unconscious fear, because all kinds of monsters lived in it (especially in the slums). There was a belief that the forest's evil spirits conduct games, dance and play bad tricks on people in the forests. Therefore, when entering the forest, one must cross oneself. It was thought that it was the forest elves who lured people deeper and deeper into the forest and cause them to become disoriented in this space.

A forest was not only feared, but also worshiped, it was a cult place even in pagan times [Zhaivoronok, 206: 340]. Both individual species (most often oak - the most noticeable tree in size and age of the foreststeppe zone) and whole groves became the subject of tree worship. There, in the sacred groves, under threat of severe punishment, it was forbidden to catch birds, hunt animals, even cut down trees. Our ancestors believed that it was in the forests and groves, where it was cozy and calm, away from human eyes, that the gods lived.

That is why the forests were most often the places of worship of pagan Slavs, and certain ceremonial and ritual actions were carried out there. The Byzantine emperor Konstantin Bahryanorodnyi left a description of similar actions near the sacred oak on the island of Khortytsia. Merchants who had just crossed the dangerous Dnieper rapids gathered under its decaying branches and offered him sacrifices: some bread, some pieces of meat, live roosters. Afterwards, forming a circle of 12 arrows, they conducted fortune-telling - perhaps about the ultimate profit of their enterprise. Another positive function of a forest was that it served as the most reliable shelter from external enemies in times of attack.

As to the semantic structure of the lexemes «wood» and «forest», which serve as verbalizers of the concept WOOD in the English-language paroemic corpus, they are defined as: 1) «forest»: «a large area of land, covered with trees»; 2) «wood»: 1) «a small forest»; 1) «a dense growth of trees or underbrush covering a relatively small or confined area»; 3) «the hard material that the trunk and branches of a tree are made of, this material when it is used to build or make things with, or as a fuel»; 4) Am. Eng., pl. «forest» (Longman Exams Dictionary, Free dictionary).

Spatial concepts are relevant for our research, so we focus our attention on the lexemes that nominate elements of the relief. In English paroemias there is no differentiation of forest features by size. Accordingly the lexeme «wood», which is most often used in English paroemia items, functions in the meaning of «an area of land overgrown with trees and bushes»: Sow beans in the mud and they'll grow like wood; You cannot see the wood for trees.

In terms of etymology, the Old English lexeme wudu, an early form of widu, denoted «tree» or «trees in general», «forest», «grove», «the substance of which a tree is composed». It is derived from the Proto-Germanic lexeme *widuz with the meaning «tree», «timber» (Online Etymology Dictionary). Thus, the original semantic structure of the word «wood» comprised the semes «tree» and «timber». So, the conceptualization of a wood took place from a specific subject to a number of subjects.

A forest also played an important role in the life of the ancient English people. In pagan times the ancient Celts, who inhabited the territory of the British Isles in one thousand BC, respected and worshiped forests. Some of them served as a sacred place for performing various religious rituals and received the name «неметон», that is, «sacred grove, oak grove, forest». For the Druids (as their magician priests were called) nothing was more holy than the mistletoe and the tree on which it grew, provided that it was a solid oak and not other kind of a tree on which it also grew. In fact, groves, overgrown with solid oak trees, were chosen, for their own sake, and magicians performed their magical rites using the leaves of these trees. Apparently, it was this rite that gave rise to the name «Druid», which means «oak» in Greek. Later the ancient priests considered everything that grew on oaks to be a gift from heaven, and it was a sign that it was that tree, and not another, that was chosen by God (Ritter: 429). Sacred groves, trees and tree images played an important, complex and symbolic role in the cosmology and extinct mythology of late pre-Christian Gallo-British communities. This statement is also true of the Baltic and Slavic peoples of the pre-Christian period. The association of the oak tree with the heavenly gods - the sky god Perkun and the thunder god Perun - was cultivated in Eastern Europe, but it was also common in the Gallo-British cultures of Western Europe, where there was a cult of the gods Bel and Belenus.

During the Middle Ages, which was characterized by a milder climate, forests covered most of Europe. Woodland was a natural resource for human life and a source of income. Livestock used to graze there, pigs were fed with acorns. Forests also provided firewood and building materials. Additionally, various resins for the production of torches and medicinal plants and herbs were collected there, which were the only medicine of the ancient inhabitants of Europe. Another function of the forest was the possibility of hunting.

To sum it up, owing to its resources, a forest provided an opportunity for ordinary people to survive the most difficult times in material aspect. All these natural conditions of life were reflected in the worldview of ancient ethnic groups, and their ideas were verbalized in the paroemic picture of the world of representatives of Ukrainian and English linguistic cultures.

In Ukrainian and English paroemias, a forest naturally exists as a goal, a destination: Як підете в ліс, що ви уперед рубатимете (Кору); Їхав у ліс, а став біля шинку; He that fears leaves, let him not go into the wood; There are more ways to the wood than are. In Ukrainian and English common consciousness, a forest is a place where movement takes place: Іде лісом - ковтне, іде водов - бовтне (Човен). Significantly, in connection with the movement, a forest is evaluated ambivalently: on the one hand, it is a place for movement, and on the other hand, it is not adapted for movement, one can get lost here: Не привик ліс до наших коліс, Блуджу по місті, як по лісі, Who goes for a day into the forest should take a bread for a week.

The lexeme «forest» in Ukrainian and English paroemias actualizes such a feature as «audibility, the presence of an echo»: Співає аж ліс ся розлягає. This physical characteristic of the forest is presented indirectly through objects or phenomena, which are characterized by sound (musical instruments, voice, echo, spinning of a penny): Золоте теля попід ліс риче (Трембіта); What goes through the wood an ' never touches a limb? (Voice); Something goin ' through the wood all day long, still can't touch a leaf (Song of a drum). Through the image of the forest, which functions as a locus, natural phenomena (sun, moon, rain, wind, fog, snow) directly related to it are encoded in the riddles of both compared languages: Попід ліс біжить заєць та й ногами підкидаєць (Вітер); When it through the wood doth goes, it toucheth every twig below (It is the snow).

The concepts ЛІС / WOOD in the everyday consciousness of Ukrainian and English speakers are characterized by a common cognitive feature - «a habitat of fauna representatives». Ukrainian paroemias mention a fox: Старого лиса не виманеш із ліса; a bear: Робота не ведмідь, до лісу не втече; a hare: Косий біс побіг у ліс (Заєць); Біг зайчик попід лісок, сипав з гори пісок (Місяць і зорі); a deer: Хто на собі ліс носить? (Олень); a snake: Серед ліса-ліса лежить шмат заліза (Гадюка); a magpie: Біле як сніг, чорне, як жук, вертиться як біс, і повертає в ліс (Сорока); Єдна сорока з ліса, а десять у ліс; an owl: Живе у лісі, ухкає, як розбійник; люди його бояться, а він - людей (Сова); partridge: Стоять розсохи, на розсохах мішок, на мішку млинок, сопун, кліпун, лісок, а в тім лісу куропатви бігають (Людина). The English paroemia items say about an owl: I lived too near a wood to be frightened by owls, I was not born in a wood to be scared by an owl; a wild boar: The rage of a wild boar is able to spoil more than one wood; a bird: A servant that is a diligent, honest and good must sing at his work like a bird in the wood.

The most frequent in both languages, however, are paroemias, in which the interrelation between a forest and a wolf can be traced: Вовка як годуй, а він усе в ліс дивиться; Не право теля, що в ліс пішло - не прав и вовк, що й теля з'їв; Боятися вовка - в ліс не ходити; Hunger drives the wolf out of the wood; If you cut down the wood, you'll eaten the wolf. Such a connection is explained by the fact that a forest, like a wolf, is associated with danger, the unknown - a common feature of the concepts ЛІС / WOOD for representatives of Ukrainian and English linguistic cultures.

In Ukrainian ethnoculture, this relief element is dangerous because of its predatory animals that can attack both humans and cattle, and in the English worldview, hunting can lead to a gunshot injury or even death: Не кричи «ау» доки не вийшо з лісу; Dont shout till you are out of the wood; Не борони козі ліса, але аби її вовк не з'їв; Game is cheaper in the market than in the fields and woods. A forest in the collective ideas of representatives of both linguistic cultures does not always provide its forest animals with enough food, so they often resort to raids on human households: Hunger chases the wolf from the forest; Hunger drives the wolf out of the woods.

In the collective ideas of the speakers of the compared languages, the forest is a source of various benefits for people, a natural resource. For Ukrainians, the forest is a source of mushrooms, berries, nuts, and for speakers of both languages - materials for various works, firewood: Гриби ростуть у лісі, а в місті їх знають; В лісі вирубане, сокирою витесане, а в руках плаче (Сопілка); Пан спить, а ліс росте; В ліс не з'їздиш, то й на печі замерзнеш; What grows in the woods, winters in the town, and earns its master many a crown! (A violin); When I go to the wood do goe, than my head homewards I doe show (It is an axe).

Gathering firewood, like gathering mushrooms and berries, is not an easy task. To cut down trees for firewood, you need the following tools: Був би ліс, а сокира буде. And in general, harvesting firewood for the winter is not a woman's job: Поїхала баба в ліс без підтоки, без коліс, як зайшла в сухий пень, то стояла цілий день. Collecting mushrooms also required prudence, because in search of them you could lose your way in the forest: Без щастя в ліс по гриби не ходи.

In Ukrainians' vision, forest soil is not suitable for cultivation: Ліса - хоч бий ся, води - хоч мий ся, а хліба - хоть плач. However, a slightly different opinion about the fertility of the forest soil is objectivized in the Ukrainian paroemic corpus: З ліску дождешся, а з піску ніколи.

The paroemia item New beer, new bread and green wood will make a man's hair grow through his hood verbalizes the perception of English speakers about the beneficial effects of forests on health. For the most part, in Ukrainian paroemias, a forest appears as a place where cattle graze: Не треба козі ліса боронити, Йде вівця із лісу, шерсть по зелені тягне (Віз із сіном); There are more mares in the wood than Grisel.

Only in Ukrainian ethno-consciousness the prepositional phrase «за лісом» expresses the seme «a measure of space, a remote place»: За лісом, за пралісом золоті клубки висять (Зорі); Ой за лісом, за пралісом біле плаття лежить (Сніг A sign of remoteness is also manifested in the Ukrainianparemia with the adverbial construction under the forest: He sees under the forest, but he does not see under his nose, which refers to a prejudiced and picky attitude towards other people, but ignoring personal flaws.

A forest is also a piece of land bordering on a field, and is often uprooted in order to increase the area of land: Пішло поле в ліс.

The conceptualization of the forest as a source of wealth is typical only for the collective ideas of Ukrainian native speakers: Як є ліс, то є гріш. A forest not only satisfies human needs for food, but also makes it possible to trade its natural raw materials or products made from wood. Another paroemia implies the same meaning: Гриби ростуть у лісі, а в місті їх знають.

In Ukrainian paroemias, a forest, like a field, is the property of lords, rich peasants, from which they receive profit: Пан спить, а ліс росте; Хтось вивози цілий ліс, то все буде один біс.

Collective ideas about the height as a necessary attribute of the forest, determined by the trees that grow in it, are realized only in the Ukrainian proverbial corpus. Tall trees made the forest a standard of height in the perception of the Slavic peoples: Що росте вище лісу (Хміль), У лісі росте, з лісом рівняєцця, світа не бачить (Осередок в дереві).

Conclusions

The concepts ЛІС / WOOD are relevant for both Ukrainian and English native speakers, because it is widely objectivized in the paroemia items of both languages, but it is more significant for the Ukrainian collective consciousness. In the Ukrainian proverbial corpus the meaning «forest as a source of various benefits» received the greatest qualitative and quantitative representation, as well as the conceptual relationship between forest and devil, which is connected with the ancient mythological ideas of representatives of the Ukrainian ethnic group. In the English language, the meaning «the forest where the movement takes place» prevails, actualized most often by the descriptive part of riddles.

Prospects for further research are to study the verbalization of the figurative component of terrestrial concepts in the Ukrainian and English proverbial corpora.

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