PECULIARITIES OF THE CONCEPTUAL OPPOSITION REALIZATION OF THE CONCEPT “VALUES” (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE DICHOTOMY “US” / “THEM”)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the specifics of the linquocognitive representation of the concept “VALUES” in Russian and English linguocultures. The purpose of the study is to reveal the special aspects of the conceptual opposition of the concept under study implemented on the ground of the basic dichotomy “US / THEM”. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the definition of the concept “VALUES” as an oppositive components-concept demonstrating the structured specificity of opposition. Materials and methods. The materials of the study were the speeches of the famous Russian journalists, historians, political scientists ‒ participants on the political talk show “Who is against?” on the TV channel “Russia-1” in August 2022, as well as the publication of the Australian researcher Peter Harrison. When writing the article, the following methods were used: conceptual analysis including juxtaposition, generalization, interpretation of the representatives of the studied concept, comparison and collation, lexical-semantic analysis of dictionary definitions, contextual analysis. Results. As a result of the study, a level (explicit-implicit) representation of opposition of the concept VALUES in the Russian and English language spaces has been established on the example of the basic opposition “US / THEM”. Conclusions. In the author’s opinion, the distinctive features of the opposition subjects “US / THEM” regulate their categorical fixing on the ground of the basic evaluation model of this dichotomy.