THE COGNITIVE AND PERCEPTUAL IMAGE OF THE CONCEPT FRIENDSHIP

Аннотация

This article explores the notion of the cultural concept, examining its various interpretations and classifications proposed by prominent scholars. It presents key insights into the three-level structure of a concept, encompassing notional, imagery, and axiological components. The study focuses specifically on the analysis of the concept “friendship”, offering illustrative examples for each of these constituent levels. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how cultural values are encoded and reflected in conceptual structures. Keywords: cultural concept, friendship, analyses, constituent, examples, three- level structure, grouping, notional, imagery, axiological. Introduction. The notion of a cultural concept is considered one of the key terms in linguoculturology, encompassing a wide range of manifestations and interpretive means. In this field, a concept is defined as a fundamental unit of culture—its core—serving as a mental, cultural, and nationally specific construct. It is characterized by emotional, expressive, and evaluative components and is viewed as an essential element of the national conceptosphere. A concept also represents a unit of collective cultural experience that is internalized and becomes the cultural property of the individual (Stepanov Yu.S., Arutyunova N.D., Karasik V.I., Slishkin G.G., Vorkachyov S.G., Pimenova M.V.). From the standpoint of the cultural linguistics, V. A. Maslova divides concepts into the following groups: 1) the world (space, time, universe, motherland); 2) the elements and nature (water, wood, fire, air, flora, fauna,soil); 3) human characteristics (intellect, kindness, politeness, generosity); 4) moral concepts (truth, conscience, honesty, honor, shame); 5) social notions and relationships (freedom, war, liberty, richness); 6) emotive concepts (happiness, love, suffering, joy, hate); 7) artifacts (home, candle, temple); 8) sphere of the scientific knowledge concepts (Philosophy, Philology, Algorithm); 147 SCIENCE SHINE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL Issue 14(49), Volume 1 | ISSN 3030-377X | 15.06.2025 9) sphere of art concepts (music, dance, literature, architecture, sculpture) (Maslova, 2008, p. 75). Main part. The structure of a concept remains one of the more debated and complex areas within linguoculturology. Scholars propose various perspectives and models for conceptual analysis. Notably, prominent researchers such as S.G. Vorkachyov, Z.D. Popova, I.A. Sternin, and V.I. Karasik outline a widely accepted three-level model of concept structure, which consists of notional, imagery, and axiological constituents. Among these, the imagery constituent is particularly nuanced and is further subdivided into two main types: cognitive images and perceptive images, each with its own set of subcategories. The cognitive image of a concept refers to the abstract, mental representations formed through experience and reasoning, encompassing moral, intellectual, psychological, and physical characteristics associated with human behavior and values. For example, the cognitive image component of the concept friendship may include the following associations: Moral traits (honest friendship, faithful friendship, supportive friendship, forgiving friendship, respectful friendship, dishonest friendship, toxic friendship, selfish friendship, manipulative friendship, disrespectful friendship, unfair friendship); intellectual traits (stimulating friendship, rational friendship, philosophical friendship, insightful friendship, academic friendship, visionary friendship, shallow friendship, dogmatic friendship, uninspired friendship, over-analytic friendship, friendship is a shared library, friendship is a mirror for the mind, friendship is a torch in the cave of thought, friendship is an intellectual duet); psychological traits (happy friendship, crazy friendship, mad friendship, jealous friendship, gaslighting friendship, draining friendship, friendship is a rollercoaster, friendship is a slow-burning candle, friendship is a storm in disguise, friendship is a leash on the mind); physical traits (broken friendship, solid friendship, warm friendship, cold friendship, close friendship, distant friendship, soft friendship, hard friendship, tight friendship, friendship is a bridge, friendship is walking side by side, friendship is a rope, friendship is a wall, friendship is a shelter from the storm). In contrast to cognitive imagery, the perceptive image of a concept is rooted in sensory perception and physical experience. It includes visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory, and other sensory impressions associated with the concept. These perceptual associations are often metaphorical and culturally shaped, forming a vivid and tangible layer of conceptual understanding. For the concept friendship, perceptive imagery may involve the following associations: 148 SCIENCE SHINE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL Issue 14(49), Volume 1 | ISSN 3030-377X | 15.06.2025 Types Descripti