Lexis of the Eastern Calendar Time in the Russian-language Novel by M.I. Zhigzhitov "Year of the White Chicken"

Abstract

The article is devoted to the identification of peculiarities in the depiction of the world image of Mongolia in the Russian-language novel on the material of linguistic units denoting eastern chronology and calendar, used in the Russian translation (year of a white chicken, year of a blue mouse, year of a white pig, year of a blue dog, year of a black cow, year of a yellow sheep; hour of a snake, hour of a horse, hour of a bull). The significance of time is defined in the structure of the novel which describes some crucial historical events in the history of the country. While analysing hte text, the author reveals culturological significance of time and gives description of the linguistic units under study. Culturological eastern semantics of the names of the years and daily time is supposed to have no equivalents in the Russian language. The author states that denotation of time in the novel, provided by lexical units of the eastern chronology and calendar, gives the reader a picture of the events which take place in the context of eastern perception of time semantics, according to the worldview of Mongol-speaking peoples. By using the units of Eastern chronology and calendar, which have a peculiar semantic content in the mentality of Mongolian-speaking peoples, the author manages to convey a time reflecting fragment of the Mongolian world image in the Russian-language novel.