The Concept Joy / 高兴 in Russian and Chinese Linguocultures

This study is dedicated to the linguocultural description and contrastive analysis of the emotive concept “joy” in Russian and Chinese linguistic worldviews, with particular emphasis on phraseological units. Although universal for both linguistic cultures, this concept also possesses unique ethnospecific features. The concept serves as a concentrated expression of national culture and simultaneously acts as a key tool for its understanding. Emotions, being an integral part of human life, are not only experienced but also comprehended, which finds direct reflection in the language of a people, just like other cultural phenomena. The aim of this work is to reveal these peculiarities through cross-cultural comparison, thereby contributing to a more distinct explication of ethnic mentality and its identity markers. Based on the inextricable link between the concept of joy and its linguistic representation, the analysis, relying on lexicographic material from Russian and Chinese languages, not only enriches our understanding of the content of the concept “joy,” but also reveals culturally determined differences in lifestyle and spiritual universe among the compared peoples.

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