Representation of the cognitive metaphor of time in Postmodern Chinese and Russian literary texts (comparative aspect)

Semenova Liubov ORCID: 0000-0003-3296-0156 Senior Lecturer of Chinese Language Department, Moscow City University 129 226, Russia, Moscow, 2nd Selskohozyaistvennii proezd, 4k1 semenovala@mgpu.ru Other publications by this author

In modern linguistics, there is a constant scientific interest in the ways of verbalization of concepts. One way to classify a metaphor is to group metaphors by source area or target area. Since metaphors facilitate the process of thinking by explaining complex abstract concepts with simpler and more accessible ones, they are very common in conceptual structures of thinking. Such an area of the goal may be time. Time is one of the fundamental coordinates of being with which a person is connected, and the evolution of ideas about it is reflected, including in language ^[1]. E. I. Otyrba in his dissertation "The role of cognitive metaphor in the formation of the temporal picture of the world" notes that in the modern linguistic picture of the world, the temporal picture is a set of metaphorical models based on basic metaphors, and the set of these basic metaphors differs from culture to culture according to their values and ideas about the world. In fiction, the metaphor serves to represent the author's individual worldview as a linguistic personality. Artistic discourse is an inexhaustible resource for the study of the national language through the linguistic personality of the author and his perception of the world through the use of metaphors ^[2]. On the one hand, an individual metaphor is knocked out of the general language model, due to which it is possible to achieve the imagery necessary for an artistic work; the author's metaphor can interfere with the objective study of general language metaphorical models and concepts. On the other hand, the mechanism of formation of such metaphors is undoubtedly of interest to cognitive linguistics, since it follows an algorithm common to all metaphors; in the future, some of the individual metaphors can become part of the language and become commonly used. Each concept has a core and a center (concepts closely related to the subject of the concept) ^[3].

In this article we will consider several examples of cognitive metaphor based on the works of modern Chinese writer Mo Yan and Russian writer V. O. Pelevin. The texts of the postmodernism era reflect the current situation of the language, at the same time being distinguished by a vivid metaphorical content; they form a picture of the world, relying, among other things, on intertextual strategies of text generation ^[4], combine metaphors familiar to the language with the author's, which are based on concepts already established in the language, developing and enriching them.

The cognitive metaphor "Time" was chosen as the object of research, which can act as a figurative component in some concepts ^[5]. As part of the comparison, we will touch upon the analysis of the cognitive metaphor "Time" as part of several concepts, first on the material of the Chinese language.

As in many languages, the concept of money can be found in Chinese. The first examples show a direct indication of the value of time: "time is expensive", "time is money":

( «»)?And then, as they say, "the songs ended, the people dispersed." In the evening, business was still waiting — time is precious, it cannot be lost (Mo Yan "Tired of being born and dying", in I. A. Egorov's lane).

( «»)When the Woman began to show impatience, the rule "time is money" was also applied to her (Mo Yan "Tired of being born and dying", in I. A. Egorov's translation).

Time is comparable in value to money, so time, like money, can be saved or spent:

            ( «?»)?I ate it [cicada] raw, I had neither fire nor time [saving fire, saving time] (Mo Yan "Frogs", in I. A. Egorov's translation).

… ( «?») You have spent so much of your precious time and patiently read to the end my long letter, which I wrote intermittently for two months... (Mo Yan "Frogs", in I. A. Egorov's translation).

( «»)?Barely twelve fifty, plenty of time, be careful on the way (Mo Yan "Joy", my lane).

Another interesting example is the "time in excess". The expression ( (with excess) is used to show a surplus of something, mainly money or time. The Chinese morpheme itself is associated with affluence and is used to wish for wealth, for example, in the expression let every year be abundant.

Let's turn to the analysis of another example. It shows that time can be appropriated as someone else's property, as well as deprive someone of time:

"" ( "") , Not "Unicorn" to take [capture, assign] time allotted "the Internationale" (Mo Yan. "Big breasts, wide ass", in I. A. Egorov's lane.

In addition to the fact that time is money, consider the primary metaphor that time is, in principle, a certain object. In this case, the cognitive metaphor of time acts as a figurative component of the concept of "Object". Let 's analyze the following examples:

( «»)Meanwhile, I was hurriedly eating food [lit. firmly grasped the time] (Mo Yan "Tired of being born and dying", in I. A. Egorov's translation).

…………… ( «») I'll take your watch, I'll only take it for half a day, I'll give it back to you after lunch… I want to run to my aunt... I will organize [grab] time... (Mo Yan "Joy", my lane).

In these examples, we see that in Chinese time can be grasped, and in the hieroglyphs that describe this action, there is a key "hand", which indicates the scope of use of the hieroglyph – initially the hieroglyph meant a physical action. In the example below, there is also a hieroglyph with a similar key:

… ( «») Mentor, with all your huge employment, you have found [pulled out] time ... (Mo Yan "The Land of Wine", in the lane of I. A. Egorov)

This example shows that time can be pulled out.

It is worth noting that time can be possessed as an object, and time can be used, as can be seen from the following examples.

( «») It seems that he wants to deliberately stall for time (Mo Yan "The Land of Wine", my lane).

( «»)?The best way to kill [disable] time is to indulge in empty fantasies. (Mo Yan "The Land of Wine", my lane).

It follows from the examples above that time can be dragged out, but at the same time time can fail, break down. Thus it is possible to form

Time is also often compared to a river, it flows like a river, it has a current, it can flow rapidly or slowly:

( «»)?Time flew by incredibly quickly, midnight came imperceptibly (Mo Yan "White Dog Swing", my lane).

Another concept that we will consider is the metaphor "time" can act as a figurative component of the concept "Container". In Chinese, "for some time" is transmitted through the frame construction........ or ........ (to be inside), which corresponds to the position of material objects in space. Consider the examples below:

( «»)?On one of the days [inside one of the days], when a thunderstorm raged with strong wind and rain, another family who lived in the eastern annex had twin girls (Mo Yan "Tired of being born and dying", in I. A. Egorov lane).

( «?»)?But it is necessary to master the entire school curriculum in exact sciences in six months on your own in your free time (within free time) – this is not an easy task (Mo Yan "Changes" in N. N. Vlasova Lane).

In these cases, it is clear that we seem to put events inside time, thereby realizing the specified concept.

In addition, time can be reached as a place, thus the conceptual metaphor "time" is realized as a figurative component of the concept "Space":

( «»)?There was no one left on the farm, it was getting dark, the feeding time had come, and the seventy-odd lucky survivors were announcing the neighborhood with hungry grunts (Mo Yan "Tired of being born and dying", in I. A. Egorov's lane).

In this example, a conceptual metaphor creates an image of a space that can be reached, like a temporary place for the implementation of human-planned actions.

When it comes to noon, the Chinese as "before" and "after" noon say "on" and "under" noon. The same can be said about the month and week. These examples can also be attributed to orientation metaphors: the past is at the top, the future is at the bottom. Last Sunday is the upper Sunday, next Sunday is the lower Sunday; last month is the upper month, next month is the lower month. Thus, time in Chinese flows from top to bottom.

( «»)?All morning [over noon] Uncle Lohan desperately pulled stones, as if he had lost his soul (Mo Yan "Red Gaolian (History of one kind)" in N. N. Vlasova Lane).

… ( «») Every Sunday after [below] noon, he could be heard washing a mop and singing at the top of his voice... (Mo Yan is "Tired of being born and dying," in I. A. Egorov's translation).

In the first of these examples, the conceptual metaphor expresses the image of the morning (the time before noon) of the highest level of human perception of space created. In the second example, by means of a conceptual metaphor, the lower level (after "below" noon), also perceived by a person, is reproduced. According to the research of J. According to Lakoff and M. Johnson, there is usually a system in the language that all the good is at the top, and the bad is at the bottom. Whether this is due to the attitude of the Chinese towards the past and the future, further research will show.

Let us turn to a similar analysis of the representation of metaphor as a figurative component of concepts in the Russian literary text of postmodernism on the example of V. O. Pelevin's novels. Many of the concepts overlap with similar concepts in Chinese. We will also start with the conceptual metaphor of "time" as a figurative component of the concept of "Money". For example:

Therefore, in a libertine, such a manner of behavior quickly ignites lust, which leads to time savings and helps to achieve better wages (Pelevin V. O. "The Holy Book of the werewolf").

With such a person, it was possible not to waste time on prefaces (Pelevin V. O. "Numbers").

In these examples, the conceptual metaphor of time represents the image of money as values that can be saved (leads to saving time) or spent (not wasting time).

Let's analyze additional examples in this case.

Usually the client has enough time to show his attitude to what he saw (Pelevin V. O. "The Sacred Book of the werewolf").

As the context shows, time can be needed, it can be enough and not enough (there is enough time), it can remain.

Other cases should also be analyzed, for example:

"Did you know," he said, looking me intently in the eye, "that the CIA once financed the Beatnik movement and the psychedelic revolution? (Pelevin V. O. "The Sacred Book of the werewolf")

As an example shows, time can belong to a person (the CIA funded it at one time). A conceptual metaphor creates an image of money as values that belong to a particular person.

Along with the possibility of being a figurative component of the concept of "Money", the conceptual metaphor of time can represent the figurative part of the concept of "Object". Let us turn to the analysis of an example from a Russian-language literary text.

— You have to become a highly cultured and refined person in a short time. Significantly superior in intellectual and physical capabilities to most people (Pelevin V. O. "Empire V (Empire V)").

In this context, the mentioned metaphor creates an image of an object that has such a characteristic as length (in a short time).

The conceptual metaphor "time" can figuratively represent the concept of "River" in Russian:

In some computer games there is such a button "Th2", after clicking on which time flows twice as fast (Pelevin V. O. "The Sacred book of the werewolf").

As the example indicates, the conceptual metaphor under study reproduces in the text the image of the river flow (time flows).

In Russian, time can also be attributed to material objects. For example:

They [memories] will simply disappear — that is, they will float away forever into the very nothingness where they are stored most of the time (Pelevin V. O. "The Sacred Book of the werewolf").

It follows from the example above that time can be divided into parts, one of which can be greater (most of the time); time can be much or little. In addition to the fact that time may or may not be and may remain, it has a quantitative characteristic that is not present in the Chinese language.

The conceptual metaphor of time as a figurative part of the concept of "Space" is not as widespread in Russian as in Chinese, however, it can be noted that it takes place.

Because of this, various philistines still laugh at him - they do not know that at that time, tar in America was made from a plant called JimsonWeed, or Datura — in Russian, "datura" (Pelevin V. O. "The Holy Book of the Werewolf").

In this case, the studied metaphor of time reproduces the image of such a space, which may be distant (at that distant time), but accessible to a person.

One of the most common concepts, where the figurative part is represented by the metaphor "time", is the concept of "Living being". For example:

Minutes crawled like snails from the future to the past, I sat at the mirror, peered at my reflection and reflected on beauty (Pelevin V. O. "The Sacred Book of the werewolf").

In this context, the metaphor represents the image of a living being that can walk, run and stand, fly, it can even crawl like snails (Minutes crawled like snails).

Thus, comparative analysis has shown that the conceptual metaphor of time can act as a figurative component of the concepts "Money", "Space", "Object", "River" in both Chinese and Russian literary texts. A distinctive feature of Chinese texts is the representation of the studied metaphor as a figurative component of the concept "Container".  In Russian texts, it can be a figurative component of the concept of "Living being".