Ethnocultural Experience of Representing the Conceptual Meaning of “Small Quantity of Something” at the Phraseological Level in Russian, English and Chinese Languages

Abstract

This article deals with the means of manifestation of conceptual quantitative meaning of “small quantity of something” in Russian, English and Chinese languages at the lexico-phraseological level. The expression of this meaning is limited to a rather small group of phrases with diverse symbolism, which is based on etymological images.
While comparing the selected examples with the corresponding phrases from national language corpora and thesauri, we have identified the phraseological units under consideration as grammatically universal. It was found that apart from the general conceptual meaning “small quantity” there are universal connotations for the three languages, such as time, space, preference, (un)certainty, limitation, contrast and quality.
The linguocultural approach is used to study the interchangeability between the phraseological units under consideration in the sphere of their functioning in everyday speech, fiction, social and political essays, etc. It is shown that restrictions on synonymic substitution are related due to the connotative component of meaning and stylistic coloring. Cultural comments to the given examples favor better understanding of the worldview and mentality of the speakers of the three languages.