Explication of the degree of quality in author’s comparisons of the Belarusian and English languages

Authors

Keywords:

quality, grade, culture, author’s comparisons, Belarusian language, English

Abstract

The article examines the explication of the degree of quality in the author’s comparisons, which contain images of the environment. The environment is understood as the physical environment (landscape features, climatic conditions, flora and fauna) and social (artefacts, norms of behaviour established in society, morality, religion). The role of environmental images as an explication of quality in the author’s comparisons of the Belarusian and English languages is revealed. The research material includes examples of the author’s comparisons from the national corpora of the Belarusian and English languages. There have been highlighted the main types of qualities, which are described by using the names of the elements of the environment. Thematic categories of the names of environmental elements in the English and Belarusian languages are highlighted, which are used by representatives of the ethnocultural community in comparisons to explicate the degree of quality. According to the results of the study, the social and physical environment in which an individual lives influences the way he or she perceives the world around him or her. However, the author’s comparisons include only those elements that have social significance for a representative of culture. It was found that when a socially significant element of the environment is used in comparison, the described quality deviates to the negative or positive side of the value scale. Thus, due to the use of such an image in the author’s comparison, the described quality has a maximum or minimum degree of expression (for example, terribly handsome or terribly ugly). It was revealed that the main sources of the formation of images are such elements of the environment as nature, representatives of flora and fauna, the most important historical events, political figures, heroes of literary works and folklore. The results of the research obtained will allow avoiding intercultural conflicts and establishing successful communication with representatives of the nation in the process of business communication.

Author Biography

  • Alecia V. Kovalenia, Minsk State Linguistic University, 21 Zacharava Street, Minsk 220034, Belarus

    postgraduate student at the department of speech science and communication theory, faculty of international communication

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Published

2022-02-08

Issue

No. 1 (2022): Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philology

Section

Linguistics

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How to Cite

[1]
Kovalenia, A.V. 2022. Explication of the degree of quality in author’s comparisons of the Belarusian and English languages. Journal of the Belarusian State University. Philology. 1 (Feb. 2022), 62–69.