Concept chest' in the Russian Worldview

This thesis is a cross-disciplinary study of one of the culture-specific words important for a given society ("concepts")---concept chest' (honor)---that has a considerable weight in the Russian cultural tradition. The study aims to transcend disciplinary boundaries in order to examine the cultural construction of honor in the Russian Worldview. "Concept" is not just a lexical item but a distinctive "file" containing semantic and aesthetic information. "Concepts" reflect and pass on people's values, ideals, attitudes as well as a way of thinking about the world. They provide important clues to the understanding of culture. Elucidation of a concept chest' marked by a moral significance is thus able to provide a better understanding of a particular period of Russian cultural history---the first four decades of the nineteenth century.;Since concept chest' is one of the key words of Russian Romanticism and has a culture-specific meaning that reflects society's past experience, Chapter 3 not only discusses the evolution of the concept connected to the cultural changes, but also traces the reconstruction of the concept chest' in the literary context of the period focusing on the works of K.Ryleev, A.Bestuzhev-Marlinskii, and M.Lermontov. Concept chest' was shaped in a gentleman's code of honor and bound to a dueling ritual (duel of honor) and gambling (debt of honor). Although it was the golden age of noble personal honor, the explication of the given notion in Lermontov's works shows the beginning of the concept's transformation that led to the subsequent devaluation of the meaning of chest' in society.;The study analyzes the integrated structure of concept chest' which includes different components (Chapter 2). The analysis uses a variety of methods, including etymological and componential approaches, followed by an examination of relevant conceptual metaphors and the correlation between such concepts in the Russian Worldview as honor - conscience (chest' - sovest'), honor - dignity (chest' - dostoinstvo), honor - shame ( chest' - pozor), conscience - shame (sovest' - styd). The gender component of concept chest' is also examined.