Explication of the Concept of «Patriotism» in World Cultures: A Comparative Analysis

Despite the vast literature on the categorical composition of cultural linguistics, a comparative analysis of the linguistic and speech realisation of the concept "patriotism" in non-related cultures has not received sufficient coverage. The article aims at a comprehensive study of integral and differential features of the given concept as a fragment of the linguistic world picture to get insights into the national mentality peculiarities of the American, Chinese and Russian native speakers. The research is based on the lexicographic interpretations of the word ‘patriotism’ presented in explanatory and encyclopedic dictionaries of the English, Chinese and Russian languages, which clarifies the modern semantic embodiment of the concept. The article also includes the analysis of the concept manifestation in the inaugural address of the Chinese, Russian and American political leaders. The study employed corpus analysis and descriptive-comparative methods. The analysis suggests that the concept in question is a well-thought-out mental unit represented in the linguistic consciousness by a wide variety of conceptual features common for the American, Chinese and Russian non-related cultures. However its interpretation in the Chinese and Russian inaugural discourse has more common ground, whereas its implementation in the American political discourse is more politicized and reflects the national mentality and value system. The analysis also reveals the expansion of the semantic embodiment of the concept in the modern Russian inaugural discourse.