CONCEPT ZAUBEREI IN THE FAIRY TALES OF V. GAUF

Abstract

People's perception, their reflection, self-analysis, cognition of the world ‒ this largely determined the emergence of the cognitive paradigm in linguistics. Scientific intelligence in the field of cognitive science in most cases focused on the knowledge of the person himself, his environment. The study of supernatural phenomena, defined by history, tradition, in many cases, remains outside the attention of linguists.

The objects of our work were the texts of the fairy tales of V. Gauf, and the subject is the concept of Zauberei in the tales of this author. Fairy tale, of course, refers to the folk genre; it is defined as a kind of oral narration with fantastic fiction. The concept sufficiently studied in modern linguistics. A. N. Prikhodko declares the concept as an “ethno-socio-psycho-lingvo-cultural unit with a clearly expressed valorative component”. The study of fairy tales from the point of view of cognitive science helps to reveal the nature of man, to see him in another (magical) world.

The dictionary of Duden interprets concept Zauberei as “faith in magic. So the concept of Zauberei, first of all, is revealed through the concept of Mensch. Physical and moral characteristics play an important role in the description of the characters. Systematic study of the texts of fairy tales suggests that fairy tale characters do not always receive positive characteristics. The concept of Zauberei stands in close relationship not only with the concept of Mensch, but also with the concept of Handlung. Any action is directly connected with the objects that help to carry out this action.

The cognitive analysis of the texts of literary tales by V. Gauf gives us the opportunity to argue that the concept of Zauberei is quite extensively represented in the works of this author. Its representatives are not only the people, people and fairy-tale heroes themselves, but also their characteristics, actions and magical objects that allow them to carry out these actions. We can talk about a completely conceptual system of German literary tales, where the concept of Zauberei stands in close connection with concepts such as Mensch, Raum, Handlung and Sache.