Dictionary of Russian Culinary Metaphor: principles of material selectionand structure of a dictionary entry

The Dictionary of Russian Culinary Metaphor (by Ye.A. Yurina, Ye.V. Kapelyushnik) is thenext in the line of lexicographic works, which are to systematize and describe figurative lexis andphraseology. It represents the results of linguo-cognitive research of Russian culinary metaphors. Theconcept of the dictionary is based on the theory of lexical figurative means and figurative language,according to which figurative units can include lexical and phraseological units, which are perceivedby native speakers as language units, semantically ambiguous, possessing a metaphorically motivatedcharacter and a metaphorical inner form.The dictionary includes figurative words and expressions of the Russian language, which namevarious phenomena of extra-linguistic reality by analogy with culinary phenomena. The figurativelexis in the dictionary is represented by language metaphors (каша 'confusion, mess') and figurativewords proper (подмаслить 'to cajole, to win smb's favour by means of gifts or flattery') and figurative phraseology - by set-expressions of various structures (как сыр в масле кататься 'to be wellto-do, in easy circumstances').By the subject of description this dictionary is differential: metaphorological by its aspect andculinary by the theme of associative and figurative content, reflecting what the native speakers thinkof phenomena of the initial conceptual area of metaphorization. The compilers of the dictionary aimedat maximum explication of the system of culinary images in the light of which the Russian personinterprets various phenomena of reality as a fragment of the Russian metaphorical image of the world.For this purpose the material is divided into thematic groups, corresponding to frames and slots of thescenario structure of the initial conceptual area "Food".By the way of vocabulary representation the dictionary combines ideographic (theme-based),nest and alphabet principles. Inside the theme groups the lexical and phraseological material isgrouped into nests - motivational and figurative paradigms- arranged in the direct alphabetical order.The Dictionary of Russian Culinary Metaphor is an explanatory and culturological by its lexicographicpurpose. On the one hand, it demonstrates the peculiarities of reality figurative expression inthe light of the culinary code of the culture. On the other hand, it describes the national character oflanguage manifestation of the culinary sphere in the Russian language. This dictionary is of greatpractical importance as a source of linguistic cognitive and discursive research of culinary metaphoras well as a means of teaching Russian as a native and foreign language.

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