Comparative Study Of Associative Meanings Of Animals "Rabbit" And "Bear" In Russian And Chinese Languages

This dissertation analyzes associative meanings of animals "rabbit" and "bear" in Russian and Chinese idioms,similarities and differences of these associative meanings,and also reveals the causes of similarities and differences from three aspects: aesthetic consciousness,cultural background,and natural environment.For the research,97 idioms that contain an associative meaning of “rabbit” and 114 idioms that contain an associative meaning of “bear” were collected from 13 Russian dictionaries;319 idioms that contain an associative meaning of “rabbit” and 152 idioms that contain an associative meaning of “bear” were collected from 10 Chinese dictionaries.The research showed that in Russian idioms “rabbit” has 5 associative meanings: “agile”,“timid”,“weak”,“stupid”,“cheap”,while in Chinese idioms “rabbit” has 8 associative meanings: “weak”,“agile”,“timid”,“naive”,“unstable”,“cute”,“simple”,and “clever”.In Russian idioms,“bear” has 9 associative meanings: “strong”,“fierce”,“huge”,“scary”,“awkward”,“mighty”,“noisy”,“cute”,“lazy”,and in Chinese idioms “bear” also has 9 associative meanings: “stupid”,“powerful”,“ugly”,“clumsy”,“ridiculous”,“neglectful”,“fierce”,“bold”,“lazy”.The study found that the associative meanings of "rabbit" in Russian idioms tend to be more negative,while positive or neutral associative meanings prevail in Chinese idioms;"bear" in Russian idioms tends to have positive or neutral association meanings,and in Chinese idioms,the negative association meanings prevail.In this regard,the thesis provides data analysis and numeral data support.This dissertation also includes the analysis of reasons why associative meanings of “rabbit” and “bear” are different in Russian and Chinese languages,we analyzed them from three aspects: natural environment,cultural background,and aesthetic consciousness.The natural environment has greatly affected the image of animals in people's minds in different countries;the cultural background has deepened and consolidated the positive and negative trends of associative meanings of animals “bear” and “rabbit”;aesthetic consciousness has linked the associative meaning with the reality,it reflects the common consciousness of the nation.These three aspects are closely related to the differences of associative meanings of "rabbit" and "bear" between Russian and Chinese languages.