Lexemes denoting black and white colors in Mongolian: A cognitive-semantic approach

Introduction. The article presents the results of studying the evolution and expansion of the meanings of the color names “black” and “white” in the Mongolian language from the point of view of semantics, language, culture. The purpose of this article is to explain the changes and extensions in the meaning of the color names “khar” “black” and “tsagaan” “white” from a linguistic, cultural and ethnographic point of view, to determine the semantic structure and compare the similarities and differences with the semantic structure of many languages (semantic map CLICS 3) using the electronic dictionary of the Mongolian language. From the material based on the database, a composite unit was selected, which is found in the names of the colors “black” and “white”, the extension of the meaning and the range of values were determined. Results. Branched variants of meanings are revealed, the meaning of phraseology is compared with the range of meanings in other languages, and the meaning of phraseology is explained from the point of view of metaphor theory. In the hypotheses section, the names of the colors “black” and “white” in the Mongolian language are used in the direction of the semantic series of good and evil when expanding and creating two large groups of opposite meanings. For the Mongols, the color “white” has a symbolic meaning, which is rooted in the fact that it is highly revered as the color of goodness, purity, and milk: ezhiyn tsagaan suu ‘white mother’s milk’, orgoo tsagaan ger ‘white palace yurt’, tsagaan hoimor ‘white place of honor in a yurt’, tsagaan gazar ‘white locality’, tsagaan ‘pure soul’, etc. The range of meanings of “black” generally corresponds to universal human thinking, which is based on the idea that black represents darkness and evil. But in Mongolian culture, its peculiarity is that the combinations are both common and show the meaning associated with Mongolian culture, social changes and historical vocabulary. Compared to the semantic map, which includes 3,156 languages, the range of meanings of good and evil is similar, but there are some stable units derived from the two color names in the Mongolian language, as well as their meaning and usage. This article is important for lexical semantics, cultural identification of word meanings, and ethnographic research, as it highlights the meaning and culturally specific use of Mongolian vocabulary units, as well as examines the value and cultural aspects of word meanings. 

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