Method of Conceptual Analysis

The Method of Conceptual Analysis is widely used in the analysis of literary works. It was introduced to the home cognitive linguistic research by the Russian linguists L.V.Babenko and U.V.Kazarin. The method implies the following steps of the research of the conceptual system/sphere of a literary text.

1. Steps of the analysis:

2. Distinguishing of before-text presuppositions which were important for the formation of conceptual space of the text under analysis such as

- the time and place of creating it (historical, cultural, social peculiarities);

- the name of the author (some biographical features reflected or influenced a certain author’s conceptual position);

- the role of an epigraph (a certain motive, supposition to be comprehended at the time of reading and interpreting the content, context and implication), etc.

3. Analysis of the semantics of the title and of its semantic radius in the text.

4. Conducting a psycholinguistic experiment:

- distinguishing a number of the key words of the text and analysis of their semantics (cognitive linguistic sphere);

- identifying repeated words which correlate with the key words paradigmatically and syntagmatically and analysis of the peculiarities of their relations (cognitive grammatical sphere);

- revealing the main key word of the text – a lexical representative of the leading concept of the work (cognitive linguistic sphere);

- distinguishing lexical thematic groups with different expressive power, i.e. analysis of the lexical structure/composition of the text (cognitive emotive sphere).

5. Description of the Sphere of Concepts of the text under analysis (or a version – of the works of an author) which implies generalization of generalizing of all the contexts the key words (‘bearers’ of the conceptual meaning, sense, essence) are used in. the aim of that is to interpret all the possible characteristic proprieties of the concept under analysis (its attributes, predicates, associations, figurative images, etc.).

6. Modeling of the structure of the Sphere of Concepts:

- distinguishing of the nucleus of the Sphere (basic cognitive propositional phenomenon and its linguistic representative);

- around nucleus zone (main lexical representatives);

- closest periphery (image associations);

- farthest periphery (subjective modal meanings, senses).

The method allows to comprehend the conceptual message of a literary text, its idea, personality of the author, his world view; distinguish existential cultural, historical, personal, etc. values, motives, principles and perceptions of the world.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14