Shvedova M. Verbalization of Figurative Stereotypes of Time Perception in the Russian Language

The thesis is devoted to the research of figurative stereotypes of time perception and peculiarities of their verbalization in the Russian language. Figurative stereotypes are determined as mental structures at the basis of which lies a concrete image stably connected with a certain phenomenon of reality and representing this phenomenon in a given cultural tradition. The research has discovered seven basic figurative stereotypes of time perception on the material of the Russian language: 1) time, isomorphic in its form to the surrounding space; 2) time in the image of a road trodden by a man (or of a mountain that one surmounts); 3) time in the image of someone or something moving along the earth, water, or sky; 4) time in the image of a stream (of water, air); 5) time in the image of a plant; 6) time in the image of an object created by a mythical creature (the object of a thread, a book); 7) time in the image of a resource being wasted (a burning object, dripping out water, money being squandered).Stereotypical images of time perception could be oriented horizontally (such as the majority of images: "the future is ahead, but the past is behind a man," "time moves forward") and vertically (the present is imagined as localized above, whereas the past "goes" downward, into the darkness, an abyss, etc.).