MYTHOLOGICAL AND SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CONCEPT SUN AS THE MAIN FORM OF SOCIOCULTURAL EXPRESSION OF BEING OF THE AMERICAN ETHNOS

Abstract

The article considers a number of approaches to the definition and expression of the mythological significance of the concept SUN and establishment of the symbolic features of mythologeme in the linguistic map of the world used by the native speakers of English. Each linguocultural community has some worldviews which exist in the form of collective representations which are passed from generation to generation in the form of myths, archetypes, symbols and certain patterns of behavior. All these concepts are related to the mythological picture of the world that contains the basic concepts common to the native speakers of English and which are the foundation of their cultural identity and existence. Myth is not a separate part of life – it goes through every sphere of the human life, and most of all – a national culture. Symbols are characterized by the cultural memory, which comes from the time when a mythological conceptualization of the world was basic for a person. Accordingly, these mythological features are the key features of each linguistic picture of the world. Unlike the concept in the traditional sense, mythological concepts (myths) reflect the vague knowledge about the mythological conceptualization of the world and wordviews. Myths are also quite unstable: during their existence, they can be created, transformed, and sometimes disappear, depending on the cultural and historical context and environment in which they exist. Myths may be a part of the general culture and reflect the overall specificity of mythological thinking which is preserved in the ethnic community.