• Original research article
  • April 28, 2023
  • Open access

Colour signs-symbols in the artistic discourse as components of the cultural semiosphere (on the material of the ethnic literature of the 20th-century USA)

Abstract

The research aims to identify the characteristics of colour signs-symbols as elements of the cultural semiosphere in the context of the artistic discourse of the ethnic literature of the 20th-century USA. The paper is novel in that it is the first to determine the features of formation, functioning and deciphering of colour signs-symbols as elements of the cultural semiosphere in the artistic discourse of the ethnic literature of the 20th-century USA. The authors examined the trends of saturating the works written by representatives of the peoples living in the USA in the XX century with colour naming units and revealed the primary associative potential of the colours dominating in the ethnic literature. The features of formation of a cultural sign-symbol and its functioning in the artistic discourse as a whole were identified, the levels of comprehension and interpretation of a colour symbol by the addressee-reader were studied. As a result of the research, it was found that colour signs-symbols, reflecting the peculiarities of the worldview of both American society as a whole and its individual ethnic elements, form the cultural semiosphere of the country and can be deciphered only taking into account consituationality, which requires the reader to know the cultural and historical environment in which the work was written. The process of formation of a cultural sign-symbol was also described.

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Author information

Olga Nikolayevna Polshchykova

PhD

Belgorod State University

Alisa Konstantinovna Polshchykova

Belgorod State University

About this article

Publication history

  • Received: March 3, 2023.
  • Published: April 28, 2023.

Keywords

  • цветовые номинации
  • художественный дискурс
  • этническая литература
  • цветовой знак-символ
  • культурная семиосфера
  • colour naming units
  • artistic discourse
  • ethnic literature
  • colour sign-symbol
  • cultural semiosphere

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© 2023 The Author(s)
© 2023 Gramota Publishing, LLC

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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)