On the Structure of “Numeral” Concept (as Exemplified by Chinese Language)

Abstract

Numbers are an important cognitive category in any culture of language thus attracting the research interest. This article depicts the author’s view of the structure of the concept of number and introduces the methods to explore it drawing on the example of the Chinese culture of language. The concept of number is a metaconcept. The concept under analysis comprises the core and the periphery and enjoys a layered structure. It consists of a collection of certain number-concepts (subconcepts) which are relevant for the culture of language at hand. The subconcepts go in layers. It is important that the quantity of number-concepts in any culture of language is limited. Therefore, the quantity of the layers in the concept of number also is limited. The numbers that are most relevant for the culture belong to the core of the concept, and the less relevant numbers pertain to the close and far periphery. Thus, the metaconcept of number is an arrangement of specific subconcepts. The study of the number metaconcept shall only be available through the study of each individual subconcept. A specific number-concept (subconcept) also contains a core and a periphery of its own. As opposed to a metaconcept, the core of a subconcept is represented by its notional elements and the periphery accommodates its figurative and axiological components. Such an approach correlates with the “from-the-objective-to-the-subjective” principle. In the Chinese culture of language the core of the number metaconcept includes such layers (subconcepts) as the concepts of numbers two, three, five, one, ten thousand. The periphery of the number metaconcept is represented by the subconcepts of the numbers pertaining to the first ten which are not included in the core as well as other seventeen layers. In the conclusion of the article the author draws parallels between the structures of the number concept and matter in the physical universe