Methodology for analyzing proverbs with temporal-spatial metaphors in Russian and Chinese

This article is about developing a universal method for analyzing proverbs with time-space metaphors in Russian and Chinese, which are pretty different languages. The scientific significance of the study is justified by the role of proverbs as carriers of cultural cognitive models and the insufficient study of Chinese material in a cognitive-comparative aspect. The methodology is structured in four stages: the formation of a bilingual corpus based on the principles of functional equivalence; the deconstruction of metaphorical domains with the differentiation of universal and culturally specific elements; taxonomic analysis of the direction of transfer and spatial models; linguistic verification of markers at the lexical and grammatical levels. Particular attention is paid to adapting the methodology to the specifics of the Chinese language and cultural concepts. The theoretical value of the work lies in the integration of methods of cognitive linguistics, paremiology, and contrastive linguistics, while its practical value lies in the application of the results in language teaching, translation studies, and intercultural communication.