COGNITION OF IMAGINATION AND REPRESENTATION: ON NOTIONS (AND CONCEPTS) IN LANGUAGE

COGNITION OF IMAGINATION AND REPRESENTATION: ON NOTIONS (AND CONCEPTS) IN LANGUAGE

Author:  V.Z. Demyankov

Affiliation:  Institute of Linguistics of Russian Academy of Sciences

Abstract: 
Representations of universal ideas are the product of human reconstruction, whereas the notions used in arts and in sciences as well as in everyday life arise as a result of construction. Both vary from culture to culture. Thus the word denoting ‘notion’ in Russian in the 18th century was used in ways different from the modern use. The language of arts and sciences complies both with universal and with culture-specific laws varying in time. As a result, different generations communicate in a mixed creolized intellectual language in which old and new elements intertwine.

Keywords:  notions and concepts; word meaning ‘notion’ in Russian; language of arts and sciences; universals of human thought