THE TRANSPORT CONCEPT IN LINGUOCONCEPTOLOGY: THE CONCEPT-MINIMUM AND THE CONCEPT-MAXIMUM

This paper presents the study of linguoconceptology as one of the important fields of modern cognitive linguistics, which examines the interrelation between language, thought, and culture through the analysis of concepts as fundamental units of structured knowledge. The focus is placed on the theoretical understanding of the nature of the concept, its structure, means of verbalisation, and its role in representing the linguistic worldview. The relevance of the study is determined by the current tendency towards the interdisciplinary investigation of linguistic phenomena, as well as the need for a deeper understanding of how language reflects cognitive and cultural processes. The purpose of the study is to generalise the theoretical foundations of linguoconceptology, to define the essence of the concept as a multidimensional mental construct, and to demonstrate the applicability of the linguoconceptological approach through the example of the TRANSPORT concept, particularly through the distinction between concept-minimum and concept-maximum. The methodological basis of the work is based on the principles of cognitive linguistics, cultural linguistics, and the philosophy of language, including the ideas of Wilhelm von Humboldt concerning the linguistic worldview, the hypothesis of linguistic relativity proposed by Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, the theory of conceptual metaphor developed by George Lakoff, as well as Ronald Langacker’s cognitive grammar approach. In addition, the concept of universal semantic primitives proposed by Anna Wierzbicka is taken into account, which makes it possible to distinguish between the basic (universal) and extended (culture-specific) levels of the concept. In the article, I examine in detail the place of linguoconceptology within contemporary linguistic research, the notion of the concept and its structure (imagistic, conceptual, and value components), the main mechanisms of conceptualisation and categorisation, the historical prerequisites for the emergence of linguoconceptology, the evolution of the notion of “concept” from a logical category to a linguocultural phenomenon, the distinction between a concept-minimum and a concept-maximum, and the multidimensional nature of the TRANSPORT concept as an example of the integration of technical, social, cultural, and emotional aspects. The special attention is paid to the prospects for the development of linguoconceptology in the context of its integration with cognitive science and psycholinguistics, which opens up new possibilities for the empirical investigation of conceptual structures. Thus, the article demonstrates the significance and multidimensionality of the linguoconceptological approach for a deeper understanding of the nature of linguistic meaning as a complex cognitive-cultural phenomenon