Abstract:
Every language contains a number of linguistic units that serve as a key to understanding the
culture of its language speakers. Therefore, they bear specific information that helps to reveal
cultural similarities and dissimilarities. Taking into account contemporary studies and focus of the
science, this information can be very critical and relevant in intercultural communication. In this
paper, we name such linguistic units as cultural keywords. So, we claim that cultural keywords can
serve as a tool for intercultural communication. They are indicators for describing and
understanding cultures. This can help to study, learn, discuss and describe the cultures of different
nations all over the world. In the paper we suggest methodologies to identify cultural keywords.
We claim that a methodological basis for the study may consist of three methods: semantic
analysis, argumentative analysis and the Zipf’s law. However, these are not comprehensive
methods for discovering the keywords. Findings of the research can be applied to intercultural and
cross-cultural studies as well as other interdisciplinary cultural studies.
