‚Зоопарк’ ментального представления русскоязычных. Вариации и динамика репродуктивного образа (2)

Piotr Czerwiński Zakład Języka RosyjskiegoInstytut Filologii Wschodniosłowiańskiej Uniwersytet Śląski Abstract ‘The zoological garden’ of the Russian mental notionsThe variations and the dynamics of the reproductive image (2) The character of the relations between linguistic and not strictly linguistic elements of awareness is discussed basing upon the example of the existing notions of the zoological garden. The vocabulary material reflecting both historical and contemporary interpretations is quoted. These interpretations include the etymology of the words. Their analysis is aimed at finding out the motives that change in time, features and semantic analogies. These three elements are then consolidated in the notions of the mental and linguistic culture. Later on, the character of the relations between the state of an animal and a human is established (by placing the characters in an artificially created space). The human resembles the animal and the latter is a representative of a community in captivity, and the human observing the animals becomes an element of the collective display. The gathered informa¬tion and interpretations (compared to the data from the dictionary of dreams via their semantic and mental features) make it possible to ask a question on the semantics of the mental and semantic fea¬tures of the vivid experiences that exist in perceptual and mental planes. These experiences shape the notions for the representatives of a specific mental culture. The notions in question are of regulating, approximate and not always realized character. As the result, these notions, and especially the ones that condition the organisation of the world in linguistic and non linguistic awareness, influence the semantic evolution of a language as well as its users’ mentality. Keywords: linguistic / non linguistic awareness, mentality, mental image, animal – human, semantics