Analysis of temporal and spatial systems in chinese linguoculture (on russian language background).

Tsyu Taorui Postgraduate, Lomonosov Moscow State University 119415, Russia, Moscow, Kravchenko str., 7, sq. 1117 qiutr@my.msu.ru

Time and space are considered to be the two main cosmic forms, which are widely studied not only in the fields of natural sciences, but also in philosophy and linguistics. Russian Russian. In this study, special attention was drawn to the problem of the expression of time in prepositional-case forms, which is characteristic of the Russian language and difficult for decoding the meaning on the part of a Chinese student of the Russian language or a translator, especially when taking into account the relationship between the meanings of time and place (prepositions, for example: about, from, to, through, etc.). The development of time values based on locativity (but not vice versa) It is considered a universal feature of the development strategy in the history of Indo-European languages.

J. Lakoff and M. Johnson suggested that there is a physical space and a cognitive space, and there are many possible spatial orientation schemes, for example, "top – bottom", "front – behind", "inside – outside", etc., and people transfer this orientation to the natural environment. Thus, when discussing a particular object or concept, it is possible that different languages may exhibit different understandings and cognitive patterns of the same object or concept, understood as different cognitive markers in each language.

By analogy with spatial vocabulary in Russian, to express temporal-spatial relations in Chinese, there is a corresponding part of speech (fang1 wei4 ci2) – a word with the meanings of sides and coordinates, "some of these words, in addition to the meaning of space, have the meaning of time" ^{[1, p. 104]}.

The concepts of time and space are universal in various languages and both concepts are expressed through the concepts of continuity, direction, distance (length) and order. However, from ancient times to the present day, time and space have seemed inseparable in Chinese culture. It can be safely argued that a single time-space system is one of the basic attitudes in Chinese cognition.

The earliest concept of measuring time in ancient Chinese literature is ? (zhou4). In the text " (shi1 zi3)" notes that ", (tian1 di4 si4 fang1 wei2 yu3, gu3 wang3 lai2 jin1 wei2 zhou4): the four directions, up and down is called ?, and last before we called ?" ^{[2, c. 37]}. Thus, the term (yu3 zhou4) became the original representation of time and space in ancient Chinese culture. This term is still used and preserved in modern Chinese, where it is translated as "universe".

The concepts of time and space can be traced back to the fragment "(zhou4 he2)" from "(guan3 zi3)": "Heaven and earth envelop all things, therefore it is called ? (tuo4) - the fabric pocket of all things; and ? (zhou4) and ? (he2) Envelops a pocket of heaven and earth (by commenting: ? (zhou4) – time, from antiquity to the present; ? (he2) – space, as well as (liu4 he2) – up, down, forward, backward, left and right. (zhou4 he2) – covering time and space)"

^{[3, pp.190 - 192–. ? (tuo4) in the above sentence it means: heaven and earth contain all things, and time and space contain heaven and earth. This is the oldest exposition of the concept of the unity of space and time in ancient Chinese philosophy: space and time are considered as forming the basis for accommodating all aspects of the world, similar to the pocket that unites all things in the universe. Similarly, in "(mo4 zi3)" defines the time and space using the concepts of " (mi2 yi4 shi2)" and " (mi2 yi4 suo3)": ?,; ?(?), (yu3, mi2 yi4 suo3 ye3; jiu3 (zhou4), mi2 yi4 shi2 ye3) can be interpreted as "Space is the place of the universe; time is the duration of time of the universe"). According to the canon, it is noted ?, ; ?, (jiu3, he2 gu3 jin1 dan4 mo4; yu3, dong1 xi1 jia1 nan2 bei3): "Eternity includes the past and present, morning and evening; cosmos - East and West– North and South" [4, p. 328]}. Sample 39 and 40 in "Mozi Top" put forward definitions of time and space. ? (jiu3) It has the same ancient pronunciation as ? (zhou4), i.e. ? (jiu3) means ? (zhou4). ? (jiu3) means infinite time, ? (yu3) It means a huge space, and the term ?(mi2) describes the infinity of time and the vastness of space.

The use of this term by the authors of the "Mohist Canon" can subtly demonstrate the commonality of time and space – infinity. ? (jiu3) and ? (yu3) In this context, both the process of object movement and the sequence of events in the process of its change are described. This not only reflects the relationship between time and space, but also expresses the general concept formed by the interconnection of these aspects.

In the process of Chinese-Russian translation, in addition to paying attention to the correspondence of cognitive markers, it is also necessary to take into account: 1) deviations in translation caused by cognitive differences; 2) differences in the modal meaning of the verbs being compared; and 3) deviations in translation caused by lexical lacunae.

Differences in cognitive markers in Chinese and Russian include (but are not limited to) differences in understanding direction. The most typical is the indication of "ahead" and "behind" in the space-time field. According to the Russian associative thesaurus dictionary, the word "past" as a stimulus reacts with the words "history" and "behind" ^{[5, p. 194-195]}, and the reaction "ahead" is located to the stimulus "future" ^{[5, p. 18]}.

However, in the comparative study of the linguistic picture of the world and the study of the translation process, the problem lies in the differences in cognitive markers. When describing a certain point in time in the past or future, when the speaker is and starts from the present moment, the composition of the Chinese expression is as follows: [duration of time] + [determining the direction]. The expression in Russian is similar to this composition, for example, five years (length of time) backward (determining the direction), but the definition of direction in Chinese is directly opposite to the definition of direction in Russian. In the same example, "five years ago" in Chinese translates as (5 nian2) (duration of time) ? (qian2) (determination of direction)”, while ? (qian2) in Russian, it is directly translated as "forward, forward".

It should be noted that in Chinese, the direction of time is not fixed, and there are two models of orientation in time at the same time:

1) the future is behind us, and the past is in front of us.

2) the future is in front of us, and the past is behind us.

"Five years ago" is a typical example of the first option, while the second option is more implicit. As an example, the expression " (zou3 xiang4 wei4 lai2)" literally translates as "going into the future", which implies that the future is in front of a person, and history and the past are behind him. Similar expressions also include " (mian4 xiang4 wei4 lai2)", literally translated as "face the future".

The second model determines the direction of the future by describing human actions and endowing the future with a cognitive marker, thereby determining the direction of the future. Unlike the first model, which clearly indicates the direction of the past and the future, the second model, using verbs such as look, go, etc., allows you to feel that the future is in front of the speaker.

In the second model, the direction of time is opposite to the first, that is, the future is in front and the past is behind. We can confirm this hypothesis by comparing data on the frequency of use of this orientation in the target language, for example, by comparing " (mian4 xiang4 wei4 lai2): face to the future)" and " (mian4 xiang4 guo4 qu4): face to the past". When analyzing a formal text, such as news, data from the corpus of the People's Daily Newspaper (NEPD: http://corpus.njau.edu.cn ) show that in January 2018, " (mian4 xiang4 wei4 lai2)" was used 39 times, while the phrase " (mian4 xiang4 guo4 qu4): face to the past" was not it gave results. Data from the BCC of the Corps Center at Beijing Language University (BCC): http://bcc.blcu.edu.cn ) show that the phrase " (mian4 xiang4 wei4 lai2" occurs 3,590 times in the corpus, while " (mian4 xiang4 guo4 qu4)" occurs only 7 times.

A comparison of the above corpus data clearly demonstrates the preferences and choice of temporal orientation by Chinese native speakers. We do not completely exclude the temporal orientation " (mian4 xiang4 guo4 qu4): face to the past", since such constructions can be justified in certain contexts (for example, when emphasizing historical events that have influenced the current situation).

In Russian, one can also observe both cognitive markers in expressions and specific features in determining the direction of time, for example, in the phrases "over your shoulders", "on your nose", "30 years ago", "everything is behind" and "in the next year", "in the previous one".

The temporal system of the Russian language, like many European languages, is more characterized by a one-dimensional, straight line. N. D. Arutyunova also noted that "mental structures have connected themselves with linear time, divided by a "point of presence" into the past, the future and the present connecting them into a single stream" ^{[6, p. 52]}.

In the study "The Amerindian Model of the Universe (1936)", B. Whorf identified two cosmic forms that are known to us as two independent and separate aspects of reality: time and space. This conclusion was made based on a comparison of English and the Hopi language. B. Whorf considered this to be the metaphysics underlying our own language, thinking and modern culture: space is static, three-dimensional and infinite, while time is kinetic, one-dimensional and always fluid. The field of fluid time, in turn, is divided into three aspects: past, present and future ^{[7, p. 59]}.

However, when comparing Chinese and Russian languages, we find that in Chinese time and space are syncretically combined, they share the same characteristics, and time in the Chinese language worldview also has a three-dimensional property. It can be represented centered around the speaker and the event and expand in all physical directions from this axis, including all intervals and distances, all sequences and numbers, and this is reflected in the real objective world, creating temporary relationships between events.

In the second model, when determining the direction of time, another problem is possible, which is that the modal meaning inherent in different verbs describing human behavior can lead to significant differences in the semantics of the sentence.

As a confirmation, " (mian4 dui4)" and " (mian4 xiang4)" in Russian can be literally translated the same way as "(turn) to face...", but there are some subtle differences between them in modal meaning, if we take as an example the direction "(wei4 lai2): the future":

The verb " (mian4 dui4)" emphasizes a direct encounter, responding to a situation, problem, or difficulty. The phrase " (mian4 dui4 wei4 lai2)" emphasizes facing the challenges of the unknown or uncertainty, which may include overcoming difficulties or making decisions in the future.

The verb " (mian4 xiang4)" denotes a focus, orientation, or focus on a specific goal or object. The phrase " (mian4 xiang4 wei4 lai2)" more clearly emphasizes the direction or orientation towards the future. This expression can refer to a strategy, plan, or method, emphasizing direction and purpose in the future.

In general, " (mian4 dui4)" focuses more on the reaction to events in the future, while " (mian4 xiang4)" focuses more on the direction, views or orientation towards the future.

In addition, the absence of certain words or asymmetry in the meanings of words can also lead to differences and deviations in translation. For example, in Chinese and Russian, the division of the day into periods may seem appropriate, but in fact they have different meanings or have gaps in vocabulary or vocabulary. The schedule of the international scientific conference "Revolution and Space in Literature, Art and Philosophical Thought of the XX–XXI centuries", held by the Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences on December 14-16, 2017, indicated that the morning session began at 11:00 and ended at 15:00, which may seem acceptable or completely It is reasonable for Russians, but for the Chinese it may seem extremely contradictory. Since the Chinese concept of time is closely related to the agricultural culture of ancient China, this leads to the fact that the concept of morning has a strictly limited scope, which, according to the Xinhua dictionary, "refers to the period from dawn to eight or nine o'clock" ^{[8, c. 1699]}.

If we try to compare and analyze the words corresponding to the divisions of the day, we will easily find that in general we have four segments that can be compared: morning (?zao3) – day (?wu3) – evening (?wan3) – night (?ye4). Words are found for which it is difficult to find an equivalent, such as " (ling2 chen2)" in Chinese, which is a commonly used word (data from the BBC Peking Language University corpus shows 34185 uses). (ling2 chen2) is the period of time from midnight (00:00) to sunrise, the hieroglyph "? (chen2)" is understood as meaning morning, sunrise. However, this word is difficult to correlate with the Russian "early morning" and with the word "night" because of its semantic component "? (chen2)", while in Chinese there is already a word "? (ye4)" corresponding to "night", which leads to the formation of a linguistic lacuna.

Moreover, when dividing the day into morning, afternoon, evening and night in Russian and Chinese, the divisions do not fully correlate with each other. Since ancient times, the Chinese language has developed a self-sufficient time-sharing and planning system based on agricultural culture. Etymology of the word (ling2 chen2) It reflects an important moment in time associated with early awakening and sowing of land inherent in agricultural culture. It is precisely because of this cultural context that these words, preserved in the language, created the phenomenon of lacunae in translation, due to the inability to find equivalents to words due to differences in historical and cultural context. Due to this cultural context, lacunae in translation from Chinese into Russian also includes unique Chinese concepts such as er4 shi2 si4 jie2 qi4 (Russian: 24 small seasons, English: 24 Solar terms) and some concepts specific to the lunar calendar.

In conclusion, it can be concluded that linguistic constructions describing time through space are common in both compared languages. Russian Russian and Chinese languages are characterized by differences that arise in the process of translation as ideological differences, but differ significantly in their dimension: the time line in Russian is one-dimensional and fluid, while in Chinese time, like space, is three-dimensional. The three-dimensional attribute of time in the Chinese language has a long-standing historical and cultural origin, while in the spatial-temporal system there are two contradictory models of the direction of time, each of which has a corresponding context, and in some contexts different verbs will correspond to different modal meanings. Moreover, due to cultural and historical factors, lacunae also prevail in translation: concepts that do not have adequate expression in another language. The study of these linguistic constructions opens up the possibility of considering basic concepts as cognitive models for understanding native speakers and comprehending the mysteries of the universe. The study of these ideological differences has progressive significance for intercultural communication, teaching Russian or Chinese as a foreign language in the field of translation.

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