A linguoculturological approach to “Chudur’ concepts in Mongolian

“Чөдөр”хэмээх концепт (багцалмал мэдлэг) –ын хэл-соёлын асуудал

Vocabulary and grammatical knowledge alone are not sufficient to generate and receive linguistic information, but must be framed by “background knowledge” of various phenomena and the relationships between them. In the case of the “chödör”, a hobble for horses that is used by the Mongols and constitutes an element of their nomadic culture and civilization, a lack of knowledge of how the implement is traditionally made and used would prevent the possibility of accurately describing the denotative meaning of the word “chödör”. The word “chödör” and its associated compound terms and proverbs reflect features of the Mongolian national character, traditional culture, and empirical processes. If we take the concept of the “chudur” to mean “the complex of meanings pertaining to the idea of the chödör”, we must acknowledge several ideas contained within a single concept. Thus the phrases that exist within and contribute to this concept can be said to have similar meanings but also to present distinguishing features related to their semantic properties. Consequently it is important to describe the meanings variously expressed through the “chudur” concept by relying on a single knowledge complex. Thus accurately describing the original meaning of each word or phrase, the features it presents, and whether it synthesizes or abstractifies are useful for accurately understanding and communicating the word or phrase. Furthermore, ensuring that the detailed meanings of these phrases are included as widely as possible in dictionaries will undeniably bring benefit to research workers and to translators and students of the Mongolian language.