China University of Political science and Law, China, Beijing, allacong@163.com Xi'an International Studies University, China, Xi'an, linuan12@mail.ru
The value of «homeland» is a complex system-structural formation in the consciousness of the Chinese, denoted by different words, the internal form of which is associated with the specifics of the administrativeterritorial division of Ancient China, agricultural activities, tribal affiliation, etc. Central to the concept «homeland» is the notion of 祖国 (literally «the country of ancestors»), which appears in the Ming Dynasty. It consists of two characters, the second of which means «state». To analyze the value of «祖国 / homeland» as a part of the consciousness of the Chinese people, a free association experiment was used, with 168 respondents involved. The results of modeling the associative-semantic field show that conceptual associative reactions prevail in the minds of the Chinese, there is a close graphical, structural and semantic connection between the stimulus word and the associate. The most frequent reactions are those containing in their structure the hieroglyph 国 (country): 中国 (China), 爱国 (literally – love the country), 国家 (country), 家国 (family and country). The value «祖国 / homeland» is associated with specific concepts (mother, house, map, red flag, mountains and rivers) or values (great, mighty, stable, prosperous, beautiful); the Chinese believe that the Homeland should be loved, protected, honored, taken pride in and givin love for. In the minds of the Chinese, ancient and modern spatial, temporal, administrative and territorial, professional and other ideas about the homeland are closely connected.
ethnic consciousness; free associative experiment; Chinese; 祖国 / homeland
Download textFor citing: Cong F., Dubkova O.V. (2022). Linguistic analysis of the value «祖国 / homeland» in the consciousness of the Chinese people. Ethnopsycholinguistics. Moscow: INION RAN. Vol. 4(11), pp. 28-42. DOI: 10.31249/epl/2022.04.02