The concept ‘orochii’ (reindeer herder) in the language picture of the Evenks

The relevance of the scientific research and its results is due to the currently unresolved problem of studying forgotten semantic features in the content of the vocabulary of the Evenki language. It is considered to be one of the most important tasks for modern Evenki linguistics. This research contributes to the solution of this problem. The study of the conceptosphere of the Evenki language makes it possible to reconstruct the linguistic picture of the world of the Tungus, and to restore some individual mental units of thinking of nomadic hunters and reindeer herders. The article is devoted to the linguistic and cultural research of the conceptualization of a reindeer herder in the linguistic picture of the Evenki world. The aim of the research is the analysis of conceptual, figurative and value components of the mental formation. The method of linguocultural description of the concept is applied in the study. The studied mental formation is a basic ethno-cultural fragment of the linguistic picture of the world of the Evenks, constituting the national and cultural uniqueness of the ethnos. The concept "orochii / reindeer herder" is a structural component of the mental formation "oron / reindeer". The presence of the basic lexeme-representative of the concept under consideration in all the Tungusic languages may indicate its antiquity. The analysis of dictionary articles, folklore, art and authentic texts showed the presence of the following semantic features in the concept under study: a) a pathfinder, b) a nomad, c) an excellent reindeer rider, d) a guide, e) a watchman, a guardian for reindeer, f) a person with reindeer, g) a hunter. The reindeer herder is a typically recognizable image of the Tungus culture. It contributes to the preservation of the Evenki language and culture. The loss of reindeer husbandry as a traditional type of economy of the Tungus will contribute to the deactualization of the concept under study, which will entail the loss of a large part of the vocabulary of the Evenki language. The prospect of further research could be the study of the conceptosphere of the children of reindeer herders, which will show the level of the young generation's mastery of reindeer terminology and the presence or absence of certain cognitive features in the composition of the concept.

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