LINGUO-CULTURAL CONNOTATIONS OF ETHNONYMS RUSYN, LYTVYN, TATARYN, NIMETS (BASED ON UKRAINIAN PHRASEMES AND PAROEMIAS)

Field: Arts and Humanities (Social Sciences)

The article focuses on the study of linguocultural connotations of ethnonyms Rusyn (a Ukrainian), Lytvyn (a Belarusian), Tataryn (a Tatar), and Nimets (a German), singled out based on the inner form of Ukrainian set expressions via componential analysis. The singled out connotative semes were classified into three blocks according to such aspects of perception of the representatives of different peoples as appearance, way of living, traits of national character and worldview. It was established that self-assessment of Ukrainians, manifested in the micro texts of paroemias and phrasemes with the component Rusyn and its substitutes, is generally positive, though not deprived of some criticism. For instance, the Ukrainian people appreciate such characteristics of their own as strength and endurance, striving for freedom, sense of dignity, industriousness. The negative axiological component can primarily be traced in relation to such traits as stubbornness, inertia in problem solving, proneness to compromise their national and social interests under the pressure of the foreign conquerors. Analysing a typical structure of set expressions with the component Rusyn shows that their overwhelming majority is based on the opposition with other peoples, primarily, neighbours (Poles, Muscovites, Belarusians-Lytvyns), as well as Jews, the compact settlements of the latter having appeared in Ukraine back in the Middle Ages. The reception of northern and southern neighbours in the linguistic consciousness of Ukrainians is drastically different as far as the evaluation component is concerned. Belarusians, who appear in the texts of paroemias and phrasemes under the name Lytvyns, are generally perceived neutrally (though, occasionally, with some shades of sympathy or elements of jokes) and positively. Only the connotations reflecting the insufficient firmness in their Christian faith and excessive trustfulness and naivety have some negative axiological component, since Ukrainians, doomed to always defend themselves against other aggressive neighbours, always perceived such characteristics as stupidity. Instead, almost all the connotations of the ethnonym Tataryn are evidently negative by their axiology, which stems from a highly traumatic experience of the co-existence of Ukrainians with this people. Such connotative semantics is also confirmed by the texts of other folklore genres, including dumas, historical songs, ballads, legends and folk stories. The ethnonym Nimets is also rich in negative evaluation components referring primarily to such peculiarities of the way of living of this people as protestant religious practices, significantly different from Orthodox ones, as well as mercenariness in trade and in other fields of business. There are substantial grounds to assume that negative treatment of Germans by Ukrainians also developed due to the close cooperation of the former with the Russian colonial government and mass settlement on the lands that used to belong to the destroyed Zaporozhian Sich.