Linguistic corpus and experimental study of axiological categories in the mentality of Russians and Chinese (based on the corpora of the modern Chinese language)

Abstract

Values as the foundation of human existence influence our thoughts thus invisibly setting the direction of life. Different cultures reflect values in their own national way. GOOD and EVIL are the main concepts in the category of value, the main standard for judging behavior in general, the main means of national emotional evaluative judgments and important polar concepts that represent value and anti-value, respectively. The purpose of the article is to identify and analyze the semantic components
of the value aspect of the lexemes GOOD / 善 and EVIL / 恶, as well as to model the semantic structures of these lexemes. The material for this study were fragments from the «Dictionary of Russian Mentality» and two national corpora of the Chinese language. The article identifies the value features of the meaning of the lexemes GOOD / 善 and EVIL / 恶: in Russian and Chinese society as aesthetic and ethical categories, i.e. moral principles underlying human behavior. The antithesis GOOD – EVIL
in Russian society is explained from the point of view of the philosophical category of the unity of opposites; in Chinese society – from the point of view of the theory of «moral language».