White as a Symbolic Value in the Turkish and Russian Conceptual System


SARAÇ H.

SELCUK UNIVERSITESI EDEBIYAT FAKULTESI DERGISI-SELCUK UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF FACULTY OF LETTERS, pp.39-52, 2022 (ESCI) identifier

Abstract

During the history of Turkish and Russian culture, various meanings have been attached to the colours (black, scarlet, red, yellow, green, blue, etc.), except for the meanings that first come to mind. One of the most prominent of these colours is white. In this study, it is aimed to reveal the symbolic meanings of the colour white in Turkish and Russian cultures with cultural and semantic approaches. In line with this goal, first of all, the places where the white colour is used as a symbolic value in Turkish and Russian cultural layers are briefly mentioned. Then, with the comparative analysis method, the symbolic meanings of the words and phrases in the vocabulary of both languages, characterizing the human being and containing the word white, were determined. In addition, it was revealed to what extent the cultural meanings in the two languages in question are similar or how far they are from each other. As a result of the examination, it was found that the symbolic meanings of the word white in these two cultures are mostly similar to each other, but there are some differences, albeit a small number. In addition, it has been determined that white has only positive meanings in Turkish culture, while white has both positive and negative meanings in Russian. As Almost no work comparing these two cultures on the symbolic meanings of Colours has been done in our country. That situation has created a serious gap in the field of cultural science and Semantics. For this reason, this study is a preliminary step for further research.