Chinese ‘culinary’ text as an object of linguistic analysis. Phenomenology of Chinese gastronyms in the interdisciplinary paradigm

Lobanova Tatiana Nikolaevna ORCID: 0000-0003-4901-3251 Doctor of Philology Professor, Department of Indo-European and Oriental Languages, State University of Education; Director of the Regional Center for Chinese Language and Chinese Studies, GUP Malaya Borodinskaya str., 1, sq. 1, Mytishchi, Moscow region, 141031, Russia lobanovaty@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Bokov Vladimir Valer'evich ORCID: 0009-0002-4652-5120 General Director; Maxed LLC 461350, Russia, Orenburg region, Ilek district, Ilek village, Zhukova str., 17 vov-bokovvb@mail.ru

introduction

The relevance of the research lies in the fact that it identifies the phenomenology of the Chinese culinary text with the gastronyms present in it through the study of the implementation of media discourse (digital), as well as the phenomenology of the Chinese gastronomy as an interdisciplinary phenomenon and object of linguistic research. How international relations in the Russia-China-USA triangle will develop in the future largely depends not only on the factors of militarization and the resolution of sanctions management issues, but also on the factors of "soft power" ^[1], which include the culinary traditions of the Chinese ethnic group.

Chinese cuisine has gained worldwide recognition not only due to its taste diversity, but also due to the special philosophy followed by its masters. Chinese culinary traditions are based on the principles of harmony and aesthetics, and health benefits, which puts Chinese cooking on a par with gourmet-only art. One of the main principles of Chinese cuisine is a combination of opposites: sour and sweet, spicy and soft, cold and hot are combined; other principles are embedded in the process of serving dishes, etc. Eight directions are considered the most popular: Shandong, Guangdong, Sichuan, Fujian, Jiangsu, etc. The cuisine differs from one another in the quality and quantity of ingredients, the predominance of meat or fish, the quality of spices, the method of preparation and serving. As a rule, "southern" cuisines with natural products and without spices are considered more delicious. Exquisite and expensive. The philosophy of Chinese cooking comes from the ancient doctrine of the balance of Yin and Yang; ideas about the Chinese therapeutic diet and medical nutrition are of no small importance ^{[2, p. 10]}.

Chinese gastronyms act as a kind of stratosocial social and national marker. For example, at international meetings between Russia and China, the leaders of the two countries are offered Huaiyang cuisine as the most refined cuisine in China.

The study of linguistic issues of the phenomenology of Chinese gastronyms, the language of "culinary" texts in line with the anthropological paradigm of linguoculturology, linguoaxology and discursology is an integral part of both the theory of language, translation studies and discourse, as well as related humanitarian fields of scientific knowledge.

METHODOLOGY, MATERIAL AND RESEARCH METHODS

The article is devoted to the study of the phenomenology of Chinese gastronyms and "culinary" texts in line with the anthropological paradigm.

The theoretical basis of the research was the work of the authors, who are devoted to Chinese cultural issues and Chinese/ English gastronomic linguoculture. ^[2],[5],[10], problems of discourse and discourse analysis of media texts ^[7],[11], as well as the authors' concepts on pragmalinguistics, semantics, linguosemiotics and linguoaxiology ^{[3],[4],[6],[8],[9]} and others .

An interdisciplinary approach will shed light on the nature of gastronomic discourse, highlight its essential nature, analyze its presence and implementation in modern media discourse. The term "gastronomic discourse" correlates with terms referring to other types of discourses (political, religious, legal, medical, etc.) that are highlighted in special studies. Thus, the theory of gastronomic discourse can be considered a separate direction (P.P. Burkova, N.P. Golovnitskaya, A.Y. Zemskova, L.R. Ermakova, A.V. Olyanich, E.A. Cherednikova, I.I. Fayzullina, etc.) ^{[2, p. 13]}. Gastronomic discourse is understood as a special type of communication related to the characteristics of the state of food products, culinary dishes and the culture of their preparation and consumption. In addition, the term "Culinary Discourse" is used in foreign scientific publications: "culinary discourse" is associated with the study of author's "culinary" books and collections.

The aim of the work is to study the phenomenology of Chinese gastronyms in an interdisciplinary paradigm using a functional approach (in gastronomic media discourse). The "culinary" text or "culinary" media text of Chinese gastronomic discourse has been chosen by us as a unit of analysis in the study of Chinese gastronyms in the materials of modern Chinese-language (digital) media.

The corpus of empirical material consists of gastronyms selected from lexicographic sources and media resources (digital) that publish "culinary" texts. By "culinary" text we mean "digital" media material about gastronomic culture, customs and traditions.

The research material consisted of 400 gastronyms from the menus of restaurants in Beijing and Moscow, as well as 25 "culinary" media texts. The research is based on the principles of a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach, general scientific and specific linguistic research methods. Publications of Chinese-language information resources-media sources - served as the material for the selection of "culinary" media texts.:, CCTV, etc. The choice of these media resources is determined by a wide range of cultural studies agenda. Chronologically, the sample is limited to the period 2022-2025.

CHINESE GASTRONOMY AS AN OBJECT OF LINGUISTIC ANALYSIS

AND INTERPRETATIONS. GASTRONYMS IN THE "CULINARY" TEXT. DISCUSSION

In this section, we will consider Chinese culinary gastronyms from a linguistic and cultural perspective, as well as from a semiotic perspective. From the point of view of semiotics, any sign structure can be considered as a text if this structure has a holistic meaning and a holistic function.

For example, A. Y. Zemskova investigated the linguistic and semiotic characteristics of the English-language gastronomic discourse, its structure, content and sign space, and the communicative types of the English-speaking linguistic personality, considered as a linguocultural phenomenon in such fields of scientific knowledge as linguosemiotics, linguodiscursology, and linguoconceptology. The researcher comes to the conclusion that the linguistic and semiotic specificity of glutton in any national culture lies in the presence of a special system of signs of food resources, their extraction, processing, preparation and consumption, formed during the historical and socio-cultural development of society ^[5].

Ritual-religious systems and behavior belong to cultural semiotics. Let's focus on the most representative "positions" of Chinese cuisine. China is the birthplace of tofu soy curd, invented more than two thousand years ago, during the Han era (206 BC–220 AD), when it was discovered that soy milk turns sour and hardens during prolonged storage, turning into cottage cheese. One of the most common dishes in the world is "soy curd according to the recipe of a pockmarked aunt" (麻婆豆腐- mápó dòufǔ): it is "native" to Sichuan cuisine, but it is widespread in all regions of China and around the world. In China, you can try fermented so–called "smelly" tofu or marinated in soy; in Chinese cuisine, it is an indispensable additional ingredient in most dishes.

Thus, the Chinese province of Sichuan is the queen of modern Chinese cooking ‒ chuancai. The Sichuan "samovar" hogo (literally "Fire cauldron") (火锅- huǒguō). According to the National Culinary Association, hogo restaurants are the most numerous and popular in China. The name of the dish is based on the method of cooking various products by boiling them in a broth saturated with spices. The Sichuan "samovar" differs from the Beijing one, although they have a "common ancestor" – a prehistoric sacrificial cauldron in which meat was boiled so that it could ascend with steam as a gift to heaven ^[10].

The sacred "diplomatic" drink in China is Maotai vodka. Maotai vodka is the queen of all intoxicating drinks in China ^[10].

Fig. 1. Sichuan Khogo samovar and Chinese vodka

Maotai vodka is produced in the city in the northwest of Guizhou and is the main "diplomatic" representative drink of China, which is invariably greeted by international delegations and foreign guests. US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger half-jokingly confessed to the leader of the second generation of Chinese leaders, Deng Xiaoping: "With enough Maotai vodka, we can solve any diplomatic problems" ^[1]. In addition to this vodka, they also drink Shaoxing vodka or rice wine produced in Zhejiang Province.

Another popular dish, the "Eight Edible Sea Treasures" (八大海海– bādà hǎizhēn) of Shandong cuisine, is famous for seafood produced in the Bohai Bay. "Eight of edible sea treasures" is a 海参hǎishēn sea cucumber, sea ушко鲍鱼bàoyú, fins акулы鱼翅yúchì , fish пузырь花胶huājiāo, the swallow's nest 燕窝yàn wō, dried scallop 干贝gān bèi, caviar 鱼子yúzǐ, lips акулы鱼唇 yúchún ^[10].

An analysis of gastronyms from the menus of restaurants in Beijing and Moscow has shown that their information potential implies the inclusion of toponyms and anthroponyms in their composition. Accordingly, gastronyms with a toponym component and an anthroponym component can be distinguished, as well as gastronyms with a numeral component.

Table 1.

Examples of Chinese gastronyms on the menu of restaurants in Moscow and Beijing

with various components in their composition

An analysis of the practical material shows that some gastronyms can simultaneously include a numeral component and a toponym component. As demonstrated by the analysis of theoretical and practical material, the nature of the nomination and the etymological interpretation of Chinese gastronyms with an anthroponym component or a toponym component require consideration of factors of the social and political organization of the Chinese linguistic and cultural society. Russian Russian translation It is clear that knowledge of the etymological and cultural background context helps the translator in the "Chinese-Russian" language pair in choosing the translation equivalent and nominating a dish – a Chinese gastronym in Russian.

Next, let's look at the functioning of gastronyms in Chinese "culinary" texts. The culinary texts under study from the tab of the Chinese-language media publication demonstrate a wide range of stylistic means and visual range.

Fig. 2. Visualization of the Chinese gastronym "steamed lobster with omelet" from the restaurant's website in Moscow (https://soluxeclub.com/bs/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/menu_soluxe_huaming.pdf )

Example 1. In the article《中555强强!!康巴赫倾情赞助,传递年轻健康新新["Chinese restaurant. Season 5" is back! Sponsored by Kanbach, which presents a new concept of health for young people] ^[12] the following range of linguistic and extralinguistic techniques characterize the language of Chinese gastronomic discourse:

1) visualization of the image of national cuisine in a series of photographs for media publication (see Fig. 3):

Fig. 3. The visual series for media publishing !康巴赫倾情赞助,传递年轻健康新理念》(https://yrd.huanqiu.com/article/442Yx4tca6X)

2) emotional-figurative and provocative effect on the reader through the use of comparison, periphrasis and metaphors: "新锐厨具康巴赫在品牌构建上提出了"交朋友"的策略,即在消费者喜欢、轻松、享受的氛围中,采取一种平等站位的态度,与年轻消费人群开展对话,让"健康、愉悦、分享"的厨房体验与用户产生共鸣,将鼓励消费变为鼓励追求品质生活和精神富足,进而拉近了品牌与年轻消费人群的距离,建立起双向的情感连接。 " "The new Compaq kitchen utensils are strategy-oriented When building a brand, consumers engage in an equal dialogue with the target group of young consumers in an atmosphere of love, relaxation and pleasure, so that the experience of "health, pleasure and sharing" resonates in their hearts, gradually replacing consumption by encouraging the pursuit of a high-quality life and spiritual enrichment. In this way, the brand gets closer."

Example 2. The article《时令春菜丰富百姓餐桌 餐饮消费市场迎来“春”意盎然》Published in a media publication[Seasonal spring dishes on rich people's tables and on the consumer catering market greeted "spring" with complete joy] ^[13] we find the following linguistic means characterizing the "culinary" media text of Chinese gastronomic discourse:

1) "niche" category ingredients Chinese spring kitchens: "春回大地，"春天的味道"已经悄然登场，为市民的餐桌增添浓浓"春意"。在上海，除了荠菜、香椿等春菜，藠头、鲜蕨菜、黄瓜花等特色小众春菜也受到消费者的青睐。[As the spring approaches, the "scent of spring" appears imperceptibly, which makes the "kitchen" spring-like. In Shanghai, in addition to spring green vegetables such as chestnut and parsnip, consumers also prefer shallots, fresh ferns, cucumber flowers and other "niche" spring vegetables];

2) visualization tools – synchronization of the article material with the report on CCTV channel 13 (see Fig. 4), which underlines the relevance and importance of this material for the Chinese consumer of media content.

Fig. 4. Example of article synchronization with a report on CCTV 13 (https://news.cctv.com/2025/03/16/ARTIQNFtgxygUwtNQIOz0zkh250316.shtml )

3) the emotional and the imaginative impact on the reader through the use of periphrasis and metaphors: 在上海外滩的一家餐厅，主厨正在烹饪香椿炒鸡蛋这道经典春菜。金黄的蛋液包裹鲜嫩的香椿，在热油的作用下激发出阵阵香味。为吸引客流，餐厅推出春季限定菜单，不少菜肴都在传统做法上进行了创意升级。[In one of the restaurants in Shanghai Bund, the chef prepares a classic spring dish - scrambled eggs with tofu. Golden eggs wrapped in fresh Chinese zest: an explosion of flavor is guaranteed in hot oil. To attract customers, the restaurant has launched a limited-edition spring menu, in which many dishes are modernized based on traditional practices.]

Example 3. The article《“春花食宜”春季限定菜单上线！香格里拉邀你共享云南时令新味》^[14] [The spring menu "Spring flowers and products" has been launched! Shangri-La invites you to enjoy the seasonal flavors of Yunnan Province! The "culinary" media text of Chinese gastronomic discourse is characterized by the following stylistic means:

1) "niche" ingredient nominations of Chinese "spring" cuisine: 此次合作，香格里拉借助"泓0871"丰富的生态食材资源网络，深入云南腹地，探寻地道的时令食材，为春季菜单精选了来自云南12个地区的16种特色花草，包括怒江的槐花、大理的春百合、西双版纳的茉莉花和芭蕉花、楚雄的墨红玫瑰及鲜重瓣玫瑰等，以花入馔，为宾客打造新鲜美味的盛宴。[This time, the Shangri-La hotel chain used the ICP 0871 ecological ingredients network to explore the interior of Yunnan in search of authentic seasonal ingredients, and selected 16 types of special flowers and herbs from 12 regions of Yunnan for its spring menu, including acacia from Nujiang, spring lilies from Dali, jasmine and bananas from Xishuangbanna City, red roses and fresh roses from Chuang Yun and much more. Red roses and fresh roses are used in the menu to create a fresh and delicious feast for the guests].

2) an abundance of innovative Chinese local food nominations кухни:“春花食宜”菜单将由四道刘新大师为香格里拉特别开发的主打菜式及各地酒店主厨的自创菜品组成。其中，“香椿鱼子酱观音山豆瓣扇贝塔塔”集云南高山三百年树龄红香椿的香、千岛湖十年鱼子酱的鲜、夏威夷扇贝的甜于一盘，中西食材的融合碰撞激发一期一会的春日味道；“鼓槌石斛金花炖海参红菇鸡汤 ” [The Spring Flower Food menu will consist of four special dishes designed by Master Liu Xin for the Shangri-La hotel chain, as well as original creations by hotel chefs around the world. Among them is the "Bean Scallop Tartare with Tong Guanyin caviar", which combines the aroma of 300–year-old red tong from the high mountains in Yunnan Province, the freshness of 10-year-old caviar from Thousand Island Lake and the sweetness of Hawaiian scallop in one dish, which inspires a spring flavor due to the fusion of Chinese and Western products; for example, "Stewed trepang and golden flower with red mushrooms in chicken soup"]. The gastronym "Stewed trepang and golden flower with red mushrooms in chicken soup" is a complex innovative gastronym.

Thus, Chinese-language "culinary" texts of gastronomic discourse demonstrate to a much greater extent the use of innovative (author's) nominations of Chinese dishes bearing a culturally specific load, stylistic means; comparisons, linguistic metaphor and periphrasis are widely used in "culinary" media texts.

The study of the semiotics of gastronomic culture involves the analysis of factors that have influenced the modern cultural context in which certain gastronyms are endowed with symbolic properties. The article highlights the gastronyms: 1) according to the degree of complexity: simple (egg, soup, vodka) and complex (lobster steamed with omelet); 2) according to the word-formation type: gastronyms with a toponym component, an anthroponym component, as well as gastronyms with a numeral component, etc.; 3) traditional gastronyms and innovative (author's).

Taking into account the factor of analyzing modern Chinese-language media material, it can be noted that the phenomenology of the Chinese-language culinary text with the gastronyms present in it is dynamic. The study of ancient Chinese gastronyms confirms the idea that the unequal division of the extra-linguistic continuum occurs during the primary nomination period. This fact explains the different associations and referential differences in the linguistic material.

Chinese gastronyms are a fragment of the linguistic picture of the world; they are subject–oriented. Russian Russian cuisine The study revealed that a fairly large number of Chinese gastronyms are lacunary; their semantics are determined by Chinese ingredients (Chinese plants), toponyms, anthroponyms, or numerals: they are often impossible to translate into Russian verbatim or to find an equivalent without a descriptive translation due to differences in the national and cultural specifics of the Russian and Chinese peoples.

conclusion

This study shows that gastronyms are an important component of Chinese linguoculture; their functioning in the "culinary" texts of gastronomic media discourse is determined by certain factors: 1) tradition and ritual, the presence of mythological symbols; 2) chronological period and seasonality of publication; 3) features of the use of word-formation models in the Chinese language (gatronym +component); 4) the need for the nomination of innovative (author's) culinary dishes in the elite segment of Chinese consumer society, etc. The gastronomic media discourse of the People's Republic of China uses stylistic means and lofty vocabulary to form a positive media image of Chinese cuisine in general for both domestic consumers (in the territory of the People's Republic of China) and foreign consumers of media content. This is a kind of example of how the correct use of language tools and techniques helps to attract a media audience and involve it in the gastronomic discourse of China.