Linguocultural Features of Body Representation (Exemplified by the Russian and English Humorous Discourse)

Abstract

The article focuses on exploring the specific features of body representation in Russian and English jokes. The purpose of the study was to identify linguocultural features of body representation in humorous discourse through analysing the meanings of the lexical unit body, which verbalizes the concept of body in the Russian and English languages. The lexico-semantic, conceptual and interpretative analyses revealed that this concept is represented in the linguistic worldviews of Russian and English linguocultures through common obligatory conceptual signs, such as materiality/tactility, integrity/ partibility and aliveness/deadness. It was established that the obligatory semantic (conceptual) sign of tactility is represented by verbs of perception and is common for both linguocultures, thus eliminating ambiguity in interpretation of jokes. The conceptual sign of integrity/partibility is expressed in the two linguocultures by nominating and redefining the functions of such body parts as the brain, face and liver in Russian linguoculture, and eyes, brain and liver in English linguoculture. The primary mean  of representing the conceptual sign of integrity/partibility include metaphors, phraseological units, dark humour, as well as negative and evaluative judgements, all of which often lead to translation mistakes and communication failures. The semantic sign of aliveness/deadness is represented differently in the studied linguocultures. This can be accounted for by the fact that its linguoculture-specific representation mainly depends on contextual connotations and on the culture-specific ‘expected/unexpected’ effect, which is characteristic of humorous discourse.