How Men Court and Women Flirt: Reconstruction of Cultural Scripts on the Material of Russian Verbs

Abstract

The article proposes an approach to the description of cultural scripts based on the component analysis of the semantics of verbs, and on the Natural Semantic Metalanguage (NSM) method proposed by A. Wierzbicka and C. Goddard. A semantic analysis of Russian verbs denoting courtship and flirting made it possible to identify the cultural and gender features of the courtship and flirting process, the behavior of the subject and object, their motives and goals. As it was found out, the axiological aspect that conveys the attitude of society – the approval or condemnation of the behavior of the subject or object of action, their goals – is very important for the courtship and flirting scripts. Cultural scripts of courtship and flirting act as a complex semiotic system in which, in addition to verbal signs, various non-verbal signs are involved.