Lexical peculiarities of French language of Switzerland in the context of linguistic worldview (based on the materials of the thematic group “Horticulture”)

Abstract

The goal of this research is the analysis of linguistic aspect of the fragment of linguistic worldview of the francophone part of Switzerland. Due to the fact that linguistic worldview is a mental-lingual formation, it incorporates linguistic and extralinguistic side of reality, as well as reflects correlation between them. Analysis is conducted on the specific lexical units of the Swiss French language; they are compared to analogues in the language of metropolitan country for the purpose of revealing the features that convey extralinguistic information. The subject of this research is the ethnolinguistic characteristics of helvetisms – linguistic peculiarities that reflect national-cultural specificity of Swiss ethnic group and are absent in the French language of France. The scientific novelty consists in consideration of the fragment of linguistic worldview of French-speaking Switzerland related to horticulture, using a set of methods for the analysis of various characteristics of the word or phrase as an independent linguistic unit. In the course of study, the author applies semantic analysis of the word, analysis of etymology of the word, analysis of inner form of the word. The acquired results contain information on ethnocultural content of such characteristics helvetisms, as external form of the word, inner form of the word, origin and meaning of the word. It was established in majority of cases, ethnocultural information is usually conveyed by such characteristics of lexical unit as external form of the word or phrase, or separate components of the structure of word meaning. The presented results can find practical implementation in cross-cultural communication, lexicographic, and cognitive linguistics.