Paper short abstract:

In 2020, we asked university students from Serbia (33), Germany (35), and Japan (20) to write short essays. From the learners’ corpus obtained we extracted sentences with words belonging to the "live/life" category and performed an ethnolinguistic analysis of the concept of “the ideal country”.

Paper long abstract:

According to the Kojien dictionary, 共生 is defined as “living together in the same place”. A “country” is the material manifestation of this concept. In 2020, we asked university students from Serbia (33), Germany (35), and Japan (20) to write essays on the topic “A country easy to live in”. In this research, we used those essays as a learners' corpus to extract sentences that use words belonging to the "live/life" category such as "生きる・生活する・住む・暮ら". We then ethnolinguistically examined how students describe the ideal country and life for human coexistence.

The ethnolinguistic approach is used in the Slavic-speaking world in particular to explain the world picture formed by the characteristics of the "nation", as seen through underlying linguistic and social concepts, etc.

For example, the statement “I would be happy if people with a lot of money and people who don't have a lot of money could live in the same way. I think that the world would be full of good things and everyone's life would be easier”, gives us an understanding of the way students in Serbia view “the ideal life”.

Although there are various studies on the concept of “living” in ethnolinguistics (Lazić Konjik 2015), there are not many studies that focus on what is a lifestyle highly valued by youth nowadays. The results of our research provide us with an illustration.

Lazić Konjik Ivana (2015) „Koncept života u srpskom jeziku i kulturi“, О вредностима у српском језику – Зборник етнолингвистичких радова (ed. Ајдачић Дејан), Aлма, 125-140.