Russian and Chinese proverbs: linguocultural aspect of commercial relations

Abstract

The article is devoted to representing trade and monetary relations in the Russian and Chinese proverbs. The structural components that make up the frame scenario of the concept “trade” are identified in these texts. Its value component characterizes the participants in the trade situation and the subjects of market relations. The comparison of the two linguocultures allows us to describe common semantic groups and those specific to Russian proverbs, such as Profit, Loss and Spending. The article demonstrates that the scenario of the concept “trade” in Russian and Chinese proverbs and sayings is presented as a multicomponent situation, denoted by the lexemes trade and bargaining in Russian and 买卖 mǎimai, 生意 shēngyi, 生意经 shēngyìjīng in Chinese. The Chinese texts are dominated by the nominative lexical expression of the participants in the situation, while the Russian paremics are dominated by the predicate: the four nominations of the seller, three nominations of the buyer and seven verbs in the Chinese paremics are contrasted with two nominations of the seller and twelve verbs in the Russian texts. The article concludes that a comparison of the seller's images in the two linguistic cultures shows a different degree of detailing their ethical characteristic – honesty. The Russian texts contain the ugly recommendation to “trade in truth”, while the Chinese texts contain a figurative recommendation to trade honestly, expressed in a negative construction (“one should not trade dishonestly”), and directly and figuratively indicating the cunning, deceitful nature of the seller, the image of the buyer in Russian texts is endowed with predominantly negative connotations. In Chinese proverbs, on the contrary, the buyer is an equal participant in the buying and selling situation, defending the favorable conditions of the deal.