In this article, geographical names are investigated as complex mental structures and conceptual content that reflect the linguistic picture of the world, as well as the mythological and philosophical worldview of a specific ethnos. The ancient toponymic layers found in the Orkhon-Yenisei inscriptions (7th–11th centuries), Old Uyghur texts, and Mahmud al-Kashgari’s “Diwan Lughat al-Turk” are taken as the object of research. The article analyzes cognitive models such as anthropocentric codes in toponymy, the perception of space based on patterns of human body parts (gestalt structures), and the conceptualization of the four cardinal directions through color symbolism. The toponymic space in the Orkhon inscriptions is categorized into conceptual fields such as the “Sacred Center” (Otukan), “Foreign Space”, “Vital Support”, and “Cosmological Direction”. Furthermore, it is proven from a linguocognitive perspective that the ancient Turkic peoples perceived the world through bipolar cognitive frames such as “Ours” and “Theirs”.
Conceptual Content and Worldview in The Geographical Names of The Orkhon-Yenisei Monuments
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References
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