Complex linguocultural methodology for investigation of Russian-Vietnamese mutual perceptions in language and cultureComplex linguocultural methodology for investigation of Russian-Vietnamese mutual perceptions in language and culture

The paper summarizes the results of a large-scale international project aimed at investigation of Russian-Vietnamese mutual perceptions reflected in language and culture. The authors describe the process of development and testing of complex methodology for the reconstruction of ethnic “portraits” and “self-portraits” in two aspects, the characteristic and anthroponymic ones. The methodology, developed by the authors, is comprised of three components: collection of the source data on structure and content of ethnic “portraits” and “self-portraits”; processing of the data obtained by corpus linguistics methods; semantic analysis of paremiological units, selected at the previous research stages, in order to expand the ethnocultural content of the studied characteristics.The application of the developed methodology resulted in collection of several characteristics that the respondents attributed to ethnic “portraits” and “self-portraits”. Out of the obtained characteristics, the following were further investigated: courage (смелость/ dũng cảm), hospitality (гостеприимство/hiếu khách), industriousness (трудолюбие/cần cù), intelligence (ум/thông minh), and kindness (доброта/tốt bụng). The authors analyzed linguistic and culture-related nuances of Russian and Vietnamese “portraits” and “self- portraits” that include quasi-equivalent elements. This clearly demonstrated the applicability of the developed methodology for identification of similarities and differences, as well as quasi-similarities and quasi-differences, in mutual perceptions and self-perceptions of the two peoples. The proposed complex methodology is a logical development of the traditions of Russian school of ethnopsycholinguistics and is aimed at facilitating intercultural dialogue and establishing mutual understanding between representatives of different cultures. KThe application of the developed methodology resulted in collection of several characteristics that the respondents attributed to ethnic “portraits” and “self-portraits”. Out of the obtained characteristics, the following were further investigated: courage (смелость/ dũng cảm), hospitality (гостеприимство/hiếu khách), industriousness (трудолюбие/cần cù), intelligence (ум/thông minh), and kindness (доброта/tốt bụng). The authors analyzed linguistic and culture-related nuances of Russian and Vietnamese “portraits” and “self- portraits” that include quasi-equivalent elements. This clearly demonstrated the applicability of the developed methodology for identification of similarities and differences, as well as quasi-similarities and quasi-differences, in mutual perceptions and self-perceptions of the two peoples. The proposed complex methodology is a logical development of the traditions of Russian school of ethnopsycholinguistics and is aimed at facilitating intercultural dialogue and establishing mutual understanding between representatives of different cultures.