LINGUOCOGNITIVE REPRESENTATION OF THE CONCEPT OF WILL IN THE DIALECTS OF BOIKIVSHCHYNA AND SLOBOZHANSHCHYNA

Abstract

Conceptual analysis has not lost its significance in the anthropocentric paradigm of modern linguistics because the semantic components of each general cultural concept, which are important for a representative of a certain ethnic community, actualize aspects of the real world, including the inexhaustibility of the meanings of human existence. Therefore, the purpose of the proposed study was to identify the semantic organization of the concept of WILL and the peculiarities of verbalization of its corresponding structural and semantic components in the worldview of Boiky and Slobozhans, namely, in the narrative texts of these representatives of distant linguistic and cultural areas of Ukraine. The methodology of the study was based on a continuous sampling of the linguistic and semantic components of the concept WILL from dialectological material recorded in the summer of 2021, as well as semantic analysis of the selected speech structures. The semantics of ʻindependenceʼ and ʻliberation struggleʼ (at the intersection of the conceptual fields of WILL and MOUNTAIN) are revealed as the core part of the semantic organization of the concept of WILL in the ethnic consciousness of Boiky as the fundamental structural and semantic elements of the personal worldview of Boiky, which is closely related to the mountain microcosm. The semantic ʻpatriotʼ in the linguistic and cultural space of the Boikivshchyna is a basic identifier of a person (here the concept of WILL intersects with the concept of HUMAN). For Slobozhans, on the other hand, the semantic ʻprofession (occupation)ʼ is the key identifier of a person (HUMAN). At the intersection of the conceptual fields of WILL and DEFENDER in the narratives of Boiky, we fix the semantics of ʻlanguage stabilityʼ because of the ontological comprehension of the categories of INVADER – DEFENDER. The semantic ʻrestriction of rights and freedomsʼ in the narratives of Boiky is verbalized primarily in the context of stories about the enslavement of their native land by the occupiers (it is especially clearly objectified in memories of personal life, personal unfreedom), and in the narratives of Slobozhans – through reflections on labor activity, where the semantic component ʻlabor as the basis of lifeʼ is mostly used with a positive connotation. The core semantic organization of the concept of WILL in the ethnic consciousness of Slobozhans is the semanteme of ʻspace / open airʼ (aesthetic experience that stimulates feelings of joy and delight, creates a state of mental balance). This study conducts a comparative analysis of the linguistic and semantic components of the concept of freedom in Ukrainian dialectal and literary discourses.