7. Attitude “personality - language and speech”

Personality is an individual mental image of a person, in other words, a unique, but relatively stable set (interacting with each other) mental qualities of an individual (his individual mental properties, worldviews, orientation, relationship system, as well as feelings, states, character, mental processes, emotions , temperament, etc.).

All mental activity is mediated by personality traits; any component of the psyche outside the person can not exist and manifest itself.

The personality is formed and manifests itself in the system of social relations and relations, in communication. Living in society, entering into various relationships, a person constantly performs speech activity, and at the same time uses language. Consequently, the value of speech activity and signs of the language in the formation of the personality and in its activities is extremely large.

In this regard, we recall some important functions of the language (speech): the language acts as a means of existence, transmission and assimilation of socio-historical experience. Speech (signs of language) is the most important means of communication; language is one of the tools of intellectual activity; the functions of the language include the communication of new knowledge, the urge to practical actions of different nature and purpose, etc. With the direct participation of language and speech, the formation of ideological views and convictions and many others, both directly and individually, and directly influences genesis and manifestations of personality. [199]

The formation of a highly organized personality implies, in particular, knowledge of the history of mankind, the history of the country, of a kind.

The formation of the personality occurs in the activity (game, training, labor, etc.). The role of the language here is very large. Of particular note is the role of writing (reading, primarily books and writing) in the formation of personality. [200] All prominent personalities (at certain stages of their development), as a rule, read a lot (and, of course, thought and worried a lot about what they read), and also regularly engaged in writing activities (because in order for thoughts and feelings to become yours and to be communicated to others, they need to be correctly formulated according to the norms of this language. The products of personality in developed civilized societies is always a written language: written works of study, works of writers, scholars, business, scientific, educational correspondence, etc.

A person (person), in order to exist, in order to rebuild himself and his surroundings, must give himself assessments, set himself tasks, problematic issues. This also requires language.

What and how a person says largely characterizes himself and his “social position”. One of the most significant characteristics of the personality is its activity (cognitive, intellectual, creative, social), which manifests itself in various forms of activity, in adaptation to the environment and, especially, in activities for its transformation). And here the language plays an important, often decisive role.

Each person has his own idiolect , [201] i.e., features of “personal” meanings that are updated through object-schematic codes of internal speech, features of the used lexicon (dictionary), grammar of speech utterances, features of prosody (melodic-intonational and emotional-expressive design speeches), etc. The idiolect is formed in ontogenesis and is determined by a number of biological, social, and sociopsychological influences (factors). “Every person,” pointed out V. Humboldt, “uses the word to express his particular personality. Each language can be divided into an infinite number of languages ​​for individuals in the same people. ”[202]

The system of social roles that we inevitably have to “play” in society (“The world is theater, people are actors,” as the great W. Shakespeare believed) influences the characteristics of our speech: therefore we (quite naturally) speak differently with children and with older people; at work and at home; with superiors and colleagues; with acquaintances and strangers, etc. [203]

Personality, as we know, has many and different levels of organization. It is conditionally possible to speak of three interacting levels of self-organization of the individual: “higher”, “average” and “lower”.

To the "highest" level should include the psychological properties of the individual (worldview, focus, relationship system, knowledge, intelligence, activity, will, etc.). This also includes feelings (moral, intellectual, aesthetic, etc.), states of mind (faith, mood, desire, experience, etc.) and, of course, personal manifestations in activities (upbringing, training, play, work, etc.) , and together with them - acts of behavior occurring in different life conditions.

The "average" level includes the nature and characteristics of mental processes in this particular person.

To the "lower" level - emotions, temperament and instincts (the latter, of course, one way or another are governed by other levels of personality organization).

Each of these levels may be related to a language differently; with its specific components or "levels" (in their traditional sense).

So, with great caution, it can be stated that the “higher” level of personality tends to be predominantly connected with the “higher” level of language (that is, with its semantic, lexical and syntactic components or “subsystems”).

The “middle” and “lower” levels of personality organization are associated with all levels of the language. It should be emphasized that this statement is conditional, since, for example, intonation, traditionally attributed by psychologists to the "lower" (or "basic") level of the speech process, is associated not only with emotions (the "lower" level of personality), but also with intelligence and convictions , will and other properties of the "highest" level of personality. So, a person who “generates” fruitful ideas may not be completely clear and even confused, but a regular of various kinds of public meetings (salons, presentations, television shows), very often presenting all sorts of platitudes to the audience, as a rule, speaks smoothly and respecting ordinary language norms of speech. [204]

At the same time, it is illegal to judge one or another level of personal development as a whole only by the characteristics and level of speech development, although a full-fledged proficiency in speech activity is an integral part of a person’s mental and social “status”. The peculiarities of the personality of each person should also be judged on the basis of the nature and results of his nonverbal activity (“Judge them according to their deeds”).

The ambiguity of the relationship "personality - language" is determined by many other circumstances. For example, in different periods of a person’s life, he expresses himself (in public and private life) in different ways; therefore, the characteristics of his speech and language are also different.

Of course, the language (speech) of the same person changes depending on the situation in which he speaks, what non-speech activity he performs, what goals he has, who he communicates with, etc.

It should be noted that some of the functions of the language (in the "context" of the functions of RD) are more correlated with some levels of personality. Thus, the relative and quativative more correlate with the “higher”, and the emotive - with the “lower” level of personality organization.

We note the features of the relationship of language and personality, which manifest themselves at different levels. So, at the "highest" level of personality one of its essential properties are needs. Signs of the language (through speech activity), in turn, often act as a very important means of meeting emerging needs. For example, in meeting a variety of material needs or needs in communication, learning, creativity (say, literary), etc.

Awareness of the “I” (self-consciousness) occurs with the obligatory participation of language. For example: at first the child speaks about himself in the third person, then he calls himself by name and only later says “I”

A world view always requires language explication of a certain amount of rules, laws, assessments, values, etc. For example: “God is omnipresent”, “Freedom is good”, “Beauty will save the world”, “Live and let live for others”, “Life to live - not to go to the field ", etc.

In order to become a formed whole person, a person needs to clearly formulate his attitude to life, his ideals, and objectively evaluate himself. And here the language provides invaluable assistance to man.

In formulating goals and plans for different types of activities, the language also has a defining and “dominant” role.

The language reflects the originality and level of the culture of the individual: its intelligence, breadth of interests, education, erudition, ethical and "estatic" education, etc.

In this case, as already mentioned, one probably should not identify the concepts of “intellect” and “language” (speech) and, based on this, judge the intellect by “quality” and level of mastering the language (speech). Of course, it is also impossible to categorically judge its ethical or aesthetic features, by language features of a person, etc. [205] Speech and non-speech activity — its process, products, and final result — always plays the decisive factor in assessing personality.

Speech (as a language process) is one of the most important means of communication. And communication, as is known, involves the management of the individual by his behavior and the behavior of communicants. Consequently, speech and language are absolutely “not indifferent” to the personality of the individual. As we know, there are many private functions that are specifically aimed at regulating behavior: voluntative, regulatory, contact-setting, etc.

Some people have (and manifest in speech activity) innate (or acquired) linguistic abilities. For example: the ability to learn the language early (oral or written); [206] to use the language correctly (so-called “linguistic intuition”); to master the letter (reading or writing); as a special case of this linguistic ability - a good practical knowledge of the rules of spelling and punctuation; ability to learn foreign languages, to compose (poetry or prose), a special translation gift. This also includes selective linguistic memory; the ability to listen and hear (and here, of course, personal factors come to the fore), the ability to tell; the so-called "oratorical gift"; the ability to language creation (manifested so vividly by many famous Russian poets - V. Khlebnikov, V. Mayakovsky, M. Tsvetaeva), the ability to learn the language as an object of scientific research, etc.

Separately, it should be said about the relationship between the "average" level of organization of the individual and language (speech).

The nature of the person is manifested in the content and in the form of social behavior. Therefore, some manifestations of character we observe in certain features of the language. For example, the volume of speech products in people sociable and closed will be clearly different (so-called "talkers" and "silent"); The same can be said about modest and narcissistic people. Moral beliefs (for example, a benevolent, ironic attitude towards being or hypocrisy) as a rule, always reflect on the semantic side of speech, as well as on some of its other sides. Similarly, the hardness and softness of character in a certain way can affect the prosodic organization of speech. Of course, many other properties of character (tactfulness — rudeness; pride — humility; cheerfulness — anxiety, etc.) manifest themselves quite vividly in the language.

It should be noted that the character of a person is reflected not only in the various components of oral, but also in mimic-gestural and written language.

The well-known literary heroes, for example, N.V. Gogol. Let us recall the individually characterizing speech of Khlestakov, Chichikov, Nozdrev, Sobakevich, Manilov and other characters of his immortal works.

Accordingly, the distinctive features of speech, “by language” are often judged on the various properties of a character, which in principle is completely legitimate and fair. [207]

If we take the tough stance of sociopsychology (primarily American), then we can rightly say that a person creates his own character. [208] In the process of self-regulation of behavior and personality manifestations, language plays a significant role. Thus, the verbal formulation of the properties of character accepted or rejected by an individual: “conscientiousness, courage, sincerity, diligence is “ good, ” these are positive, socially significant personal qualities; “Dishonesty, cowardice, deceit, laziness - this, without any reservations, is “ bad ”, these qualities characterize a person from the negative side, etc. [209]

With regard to the peculiarities of the relationship of mental processes and language (speech), then for certain people (or social groups) they can be very specific. For example, the phenomenon of synesthesia - among composers and artists, if it is expressed in the language form: “warm sound”, “screaming color”, etc.

The "lower" level of personality, as is known from human psychology, consists of temperament, emotions, and guided instincts.

The choleric with his high mental activity, vigor, heightened emotionality, as a rule, will also demonstrate relevant speech patterns in many of its parameters (and above all, in prosodic, brighter than the others "conspicuous").

A sanguine person , as a strong and balanced individual, most often shows those around him samples of “traditional” (accepted by the majority of representatives of a given sociocle) speech; but in certain situations one can expect deviations from it in the direction of linguistic and behavioral-speech "non-traditional".

Melancholic - weak, with a low activity type of person - as a rule, will show socially-passive "restraint" in speech (and in all its components: lexical, semantic, prosodic - emotional and expressive, etc.).

Phlegmatic, as a strong and balanced, but inert type of an individual, and in his speech shows slowness, insufficient intonational expressiveness, etc.

Speech and language is always a fusion of "rational" and "emotional." In the rational component of speech its content is contained, in the emotional - personal relation to the expressed, although it should be noted that the emotional component, as a rule, conveys the content of speech to one degree or another. But in certain situations and forms of activity, language mainly conveys emotional characteristics of behavior: “Wow!”, “Bravo”! “Phew!” And so on. [210] The expression of a sensual attitude to what is happening is the natural state of a person. The same can be said about the expression of desires, demands, motives, etc. The emotional coloring of speech sometimes changes its content, which we constantly see in the experience of our lives.

The close and even distinctive connection between language and emotions is indicated by the so-called. “Busemann-Schlismann index” (235): the ratio of the number of verbs to the number of adjectives in it “correlates” quite well with the emotional stability ”of a person (“ Language ”activity indicator is defined as the proportion of verbs and adjectives:

With the help of language, one can express feelings deeply and unusually (for example, as in the well-known romance: “Stars in the sky, Stars of the sea, Stars and in my heart”). [211] kind of: intellectual, moral, aesthetic and others.

We all know, of course, that the word hurts, but it can also “cure” and relieve stress (even the word expletive). [212] In stressful situations, we sometimes just lose our speech or it changes radically.

In different forms of speech (oral, written, kinetic) there is a large set of various means for expressing sthenic and asthenic emotions.

In oral speech, this is both special vocabulary (for example, affectionate or abusive words), and a special syntax (for example, “chopped” or “unjustifiably” expanded phrases), and a special prosody (first of all, one or another intonational speech pattern). [213]

In writing, for the expression of emotions, in addition to the means of lexical, morphological, syntactic, use a variety of means of graphics, for example: punctuation marks (!!! |?! | Etc.), stress marks (“It is clear that he wanted to say”) italics, underscores, letter differences in font, color, intentional spelling of words with a capital or a lowercase letter (“you, sidorov”; “Your aggressive Cat ...”), quotes (“Legends walked about his“ mind ”), curly forms of poems (for example, the arrangement of text in the form of a heart, a star), and others. [214]

In the kinetic speech for the expression of emotions there is a special group of gestures - so-called. emotional (actually gestures, as well as postures, facial expressions);in some cases, a person in certain situations intentionally avoids certain gestures (does not use them), which is also a sign. Gestures can also convey well-hidden emotions. [215]

Итак, мы достаточно кратко рассмотрели взаимоотношения между основными составляющими психики и языком как средством осуществления речевой деятельности, языком как основной и весьма сложной формой «манифестации» речи. Думаем, наши читатели смогли убедиться в том, что эти отношения достаточно сложны, неоднозначны и могут меняться в зависимости от многих обстоятельств, которые нужно учитывать как при анализе взаимоотношений «психика – язык», так и при анализе процессов речеобразования (порождения и восприятия разных форм речи). Они определяются целым рядом факторов и прежде всего – видом и формой как речевой, так и неречевой деятельности, ситуацией речевой коммуникации, а также «контекстом» неречевой деятельности, той обстановкой, в которой происходит деятельность, отличительными свойствами личности и др.