What is the Black Sea for Bulgarians? An Attempt at a Cognitive Definition,

Abstract

The object of study is the concept of the Black Sea and its aim to explain the mental image Bulgarians have of it. The concept is explored as a cultural concept, which has features not only of a cognitive, but also of a pragmatic, emotional and cultural nature. The analysis was conducted on linguistic material, which includes systematic data extracted from lexicographic and encyclopedic sources, as well as textual data taken from the Bulgarian National Corpus, media publications and authored artistic texts. Based on the analysis, a synthetic cognitive definition of the concept was formulated. The research confirms the hypothesis that the content of the concept of the Black Sea in the understanding of the Bulgarians is very rich. It includes a large number of traits relating to different aspects. Among these aspects with the greatest wealth, the geographical, economic and cultural aspects stand out. Also noticeable is the presence of the political, military and psychological aspects, as well as the psychosocial, domestic and linguistic aspects. It is essential that the linguistic material reveals important information of an axeological nature. It allows us to conclude that among Bulgarians the idea of the sea as a value and a universal good dominates among Bulgarians.