2013 Vol. 4 №2

This article addresses the problem of “prophetic” dreams. It considers the issue of compiling a new dictionary of dreams, which should contain such necessary elements as a corpus and an index of its symbolic images. The index will help perform the following: easily find certain symbolic dream images, conduct their qualitative analysis, and compare them with symbolical forms of culture. The articles of the proposed dictionary can contain information on other aspects of dreams — cognitive, psychological, gender-related, etc.

This article addresses the issue of the specific features of the metaphor in “prophetic” dreams. The following features are identified as specific: the representation of the specific through the specific (abstract semantics is ensured by metonymy), spontaneity, integration into cultural contexts, elimination of functional borders between nominativity and predicativity, closeness to the object and cognitive metaphors. The author arrives at a conclusion that, in dreams, the metaphor brings together the rational and irrational spheres.

This article addresses the issue of the underlying cognitive unity of the symbolic forms of culture and the symbols of “prophetic” dreams. In this connection, the author justifies, in particular, the introduction of similar objects in the object area of modern cognitive linguistics, gives a definition of prophetic dreams, and identifies the position of this issue in the cultural tradition. The article identifies three basic characteristics that bring together the symbolic forms of culture and the symbols of dreams: the nature of imagery, the semantics of certain images, and the common mechanisms of symbolisation.