Russian "счастье" in the Russian Language World-View

Words that have unique semantic configuration and do not have absolute equivalents in other languages can be found in every language. They are called language-specific words. Studying this type of words is a major area of interest, since it can make contribution to the better understanding of national culture. Russian счастье can be attributed to those words. Numerous studies such as those carried out by Shmelev, Zaliznyak, Levontina, Wierzbicka have already discussed the issue of language-specific words in Russian language. However, existing researches into this particular subject have not consider new data and for the most part have ignored corpus instruments. The main aim of this study is examination of the language-specific word счастье in terms of its language-specific characteristics using a significant corpus of contexts. The research is based on the material of Russian National Corpus. The material is explored with the help of content analysis, lexicographical analysis and frame analysis. The study demonstrates that the language-specific word счастье has three main meanings (радость, удача, судьба). Счастье in the Russian language world-view is caused by non-material moral values. The results of the study can contribute to understanding values of modern Russian society, which may be useful to professionals working in social and political spheres.