Linguistic identity and culture

Man lives in the environment of their own kind. People unite in groups, communities, states, etc. The reasons for this association can be very different: the unity of the territory, traditions, religion, destiny, etc. Living together, people develop the rules of hostel and adhere to them in their daily lives and activities . Different societies have a similarity of life, behavior. An important role in the formation of social formations is played by the national language. The unity of social being and life fits into the concept of "culture". Groups of people united by one culture and, as a rule, one language are called ethnic groups . For example, one can speak of French, German, Russian, etc. ethnic groups.

The nature of ethnic groups, the reasons for their occurrence and extinction are discussed in detail in the works of a large Russian historian and ethnographer L. N. Gumilyov. According to the concept of the scientist, ethnic groups, whose cultures have similar features, are integrated into larger communities - super- ethnic groups. So, the whole West European Christian world should be considered a super-ethnos. Muslim superethnos unites ethnic groups living in

countries of the Arab East. Our state also belongs to super-ethnos - this is Russian super-ethnos.

Ethnic groups include smaller formations - subethnos . The French ethnos, for example, is subdivided into Parisian, Breton, Gascon, Provencal, etc. subethnos. An even smaller division is consortiums and convictions. Consortia are groups of people united by one historical destiny. This category includes parties, sects, gangs, and professional associations. It is like the smallest unit of ethnic typology. Convixies are groups that have arisen on the basis of a commonality of life, life, family ties. They are formed from the surviving consortia and can grow into subethnos. For example, various consortia that arose in Russia in the 17th century. from among the zealots of the religious-aesthetic canon - clergy, peasants, merchants, etc. - formed in the XVIII century. the conviccation of Old Believers, which in the XIX century. became a subethnos belonging to the Russian ethnos.

We have no opportunity to dwell in greater detail on the dizzying and fascinating constructions of L. N. Gumilyov. We refer the reader to the numerous works of an eminent scientist, published in our vast editions. Let us return to the subject of our consideration - to the speech behavior of linguistic persons, for the speech of a person also depends on the culture to which he belongs. The study of differences in the speech behavior of representatives of different cultures is engaged in a special section of social psycholinguistics - ethnopsycholinguistics . An attentive person is able to identify in the interlocutor a representative of the same or another national-cultural community. It was once natural to be wary of a “stranger”. Then all sorts of stereotypes of verbal characteristics of "alien" mythical images of "enemies" were born. The folklore of any ethnos contains both invective (abusive) names of “outsiders” and more or less humorous stories about them, anecdotes. For example:

1. English character.

A gentleman walks over a bridge over the river and sees another floundering under the bridge, wearing a hat, tuxedo, gloves, etc. The gentleman goes to the shore, undresses, goes into the water, swims to the floundering subject, swims for a while near him, finally sets question:

- Sir, excuse my obsession that I, without being presented to you, allow myself to an indiscreet question: why do you bathe in clothes?

- Excuse me sir, the fact is that I do not bathe - I am drowning.

2. Estonian character.

A cart is slowly moving along the forest road. There is an Estonian family in it: a father and his two sons. Suddenly, in the distance, a small animal crosses the road. Half an hour passes. One of the sons says:

- This is probably a fox.

Another hour passes. The second son says:

- No, this is probably a dog.

Another hour passes. Father says:

- Stop quarreling, hot Estonian guys.

But how does culture really influence the formation of language consciousness? What is the essence of ethnic differences between linguistic personalities?

The difference in the language worlds of different ethnic groups is demonstrated by an associative experiment. We have already dealt with the question of cultural differences in the associative reactions to the word-stimulus bread. Let us turn to the work of A. A. Zalevskaya, which showed the differences in the associations of linguistic personalities of different nationalities for some color terms: blue, white, yellow. The ethnopsycholinguistic character was mainly demonstrated by syntagmatic reactions, i.e., the words that form phrases with this data. All participants in the experiment showed unanimity only in relation to the word blue, linking it with the word sky. The word “white” in the majority of Russian subjects was the most frequent association - snow. However, for Uzbeks, the “standard” of white color was not snow, but cotton, and for the Kazakhs - milk. The word yellow among Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians was primarily associated with the autumn leaf. Less frequent associations revealed differences: dandelion among Russians, sunflower among Ukrainians, sand among Belarusians. In the French, the word yellow caused an association with gold and egg yolk, among Americans - with butter, and among Uzbeks - with millet. The given examples clearly show the character of the realities of culture, everyday impressions of everyday life, etc., in the linguistic lexicon of the linguistic personality.

Language associations may also be associated with differences in the folk-poetic traditions of the culture to which they belong

lies a man. For example, Moscow linguists E. M. Vereshchagin and V. G. Kostomarov tell in their book that in the Russian school during the dramatization of the fable by I. A. Krylov “The Wolf and the Lamb” none of the children wanted to play a wolf, and in the Kirghiz school, on the contrary, everyone wanted to be just a wolf. The matter is explained by the fact that in Kyrgyz folklore the Wolf does not look the same as in Russian. Therefore, the associations for the word wolf among the Kirghiz are mostly positive - kind, formidable, strong, brave, beautiful, crafty, and so on.

Different attitudes of different peoples to animals are especially evident in the metaphorical transfer of the name of the animal to a person. When we want to call a girl or a child affectionate, we call them doves; we call black a stupid and scattered person. Neighboring peoples often use similar animal designations for humans. If national cultures differ significantly, discrepancies in zoo comparisons are observed. Thus, Kazakhs have a lapwing associated with greed, an owl with disorder and absent-mindedness, a bee with malice and discontent, a tortoise with laziness and carelessness. There are no such associations in the minds of Russian. Associations that are not characteristic of other nations are present in the Spaniard's linguistic consciousness. The mole of the Spaniard is a symbol of dullness and narrow-mindedness, the ferret is an obsessive curiosity and solitude. The zoopravlenie Japanese ethnic tradition are very different. The mountain monkey is associated with the bushman, the horse with the fool, the dog with the fiscal, the duck with the simpleton, the tick with the bully.

A very strange impression on the carriers of a different culture can make some compliments to women. In India, you can flatter a woman if you compare her with a cow, and her walk with an elephant's gait. A good compliment to a Japanese woman is a comparison of her with a snake, Tatar and Bashkir - with a leech, personifying the perfection of forms and movements. Appealing to a woman "Goose!" In Russian culture is an insult. In Egypt, this is a sweet compliment.

The peculiarities of culture, that which distinguishes one ethnos from another, influences the formation of a person’s inner world, determines its national mentality. The peculiarity of national psychology is reflected in speech, in the system of word usage, creating an individual coloring of the national picture of the world.

All this often makes it difficult to translate texts from one language to another.

The well-known linguist A. D. Shmelev said that once a good acquaintance of his family, a French researcher of the Russian language who was visiting in Moscow, heard on the radio all of us a famous song about how “spree boy, young guy”. “What does“ spree ”mean?” The Frenchwoman became interested. It was not so easy to accurately translate the words "spree", "spree" into French. In any case, Aleksey Dmitrievich never managed to convey their meanings without resorting to specific situations ... It is not always adequate to translate into some European languages ​​and other concepts close to a Russian person, such as space, freedom, comfort, boldness , cordiality, restlessness, pendants, longing, etc.

Speech behavior that distinguishes linguistic personalities of different national and ethnic communities is also manifested at the level of non-verbal communication. It must first be said that different cultures may have their own idea of ​​the optimal distance at which it is convenient to conduct interpersonal communication, its own “intimate zone,” as Australian Allan Pease calls it, the author of a book on body language, which we already talked about. For Americans and Europeans, it is about 45 cm. For the Japanese and the peoples of the Far East, it is somewhat less — 25 cm. A. Pease talks about how he once had a meeting with an American at a conference. The Japanese all the time trying to get closer to the interlocutor, the American constantly moved aside, keeping the usual distance. Outwardly, the conversation created the impression of a dance in which the participants in the conversation slowly moved around the room. It is not by chance that at business negotiations Asians and Americans look at each other with some suspicion. Americans believe that the Japanese are “familiar” and overly “under pressure”, while Asians believe that Americans are “cold and too official.”

As we have said, the non-verbal components of communication of all people are much more common than differences. However, there are differences. We, for example, when we blink to ourselves with the score, bend our fingers into a fist, starting with the little finger. Americans (and some Europeans) are doing the opposite: they straighten fingers clenched into a fist, starting with the big one. We do not coincide with the Bulgarians, Albanians and Turks

gestures denoting affirmation and denial. When we gesture “yes”, we nod, “no” - we turn our head left and right. Bulgarians, Albanians and Turks do everything exactly the opposite.

Many non-verbal communicative manifestations of the inhabitants of the Middle East do not coincide with the norms of speech behavior that are familiar to us. V. D. Osipov told how he repeatedly witnessed misunderstandings related to the Arab gesture of invitation (calling). Russian this gesture, reminiscent of the "scraping" movement of the palm of his right hand away from the interlocutor at shoulder level, is often understood in a diametrically opposite sense - "leave, goodbye." The scientist himself once experienced the awkwardness that occurred during his conversation with the Algerian. The interlocutor in the middle of the conversation, laughing, extended his hand to him, although he was clearly not going to say goodbye. It turns out that among the Arabs, after a successful joke, it was customary to push the hand upward with a palm upward. The second participant should communicate his palm on her as a sign that he appreciated the joke. Not to strike a palm about a palm means to offend the speaker. Some Arabic gestures have absolutely no equivalents in Russian non-verbal communication. These include gestures: “wait, slow down” (fingers folded into a pinch, move along the body from top to bottom), the question gesture “what? why? what's the matter? ”(rotational movement of the right hand at shoulder level, fingers half-bent).

Cultural and national stereotypes of speech Behavior of different peoples are associated with etiquette norms of communication. Under the etiquette refers to a set of rules of conduct relating to attitudes towards people. These include ideas about the norms of good, from the point of view of a given society, dealing with others, forms of appeals and greetings, behavior in public places, manners, clothes, etc. Of course, in different human groups, people of different cultures will have different etiquette traditions . We read:

In ancient China, the meeting of people unfamiliar to each other took place as follows: the guest had to bring a gift to the host, and the latter depended on the rank of the host (for example, the shydayf (the scientist) should have brought a pheasant). When a servant knocked at the gate, a servant went out and, having learned about the purpose of the visit, said: “My host does not dare accept you. Go home. My

the host himself will visit you. ” Saying this phrase, the servant had to bow and hold his hands in front of his chest. The visitor, also holding his hands in front of him and tilting his head forward, had to reply: “I do not dare to obstruct your host. Let me go in and worship him. ” The servant had to reply as follows: “This is too high an honor for my master. Come back home. My master will come to you immediately. ” The first refusal to accept a guest was called “ceremonial speech”.

After the “persistent speech” the guest had to repeat his intentions again. The servant, after listening to the guest for the third time, went to the owner and, returning, said: “If you do not accept the persistent refusal, my master will now come out to meet with you. But the owner does not dare to accept the gift. ” Then the guest had to refuse to meet with the host three times if his gift was not accepted. Only after that the owner went out of the gate and met the guest. Both had to bow to each other, after which the host invited the guest to go. The visitor again refused the invitation three times. Finally, the owner, turning his face to the guest, walked into the courtyard and with a gesture invited the visitor to enter the house. In ancient China, there were usually two stairs in front of the house. The owner went up the east, the guest - on the west. When the owner went up one step, the guest had the right to take one step too. Finally, they were in the living room. There were already two mats in the hall. The owner sat on the east side, the guest - on the west. Sitting on their heels and placing their hands in front of them with their palms down, they began a conversation. The guest said: “I have heard your name for a long time. It thunders like thunder in all the heavens. Today I can finally see you and fulfill my life dream. I want to get from you a wise advice. " Boss, sitting in. such a pose and, bowing, replied: “My knowledge is insignificant. . I ask you to tell me the truth ... ”It was only after this that the conversation about the purpose of the visit began (Pan Ying) .

In the modern countries of the East, the etiquette ceremonies described have been simplified. However, even now, when faced with manifestations of speech behavior in Asian countries, a European is feeling astonished. For example, unlike us, the Japanese do not shake hands and do not kiss at the meeting. Greeting, they bow. The different types of bows are described in the book “Japanese Notes” by the scientist and diplomat N. T. Fedorenko.

Bow, especially the Japanese, very meekly, with tact and dignity. When meeting, they stop at a rather considerable distance, bend in the belt and for some time

hiding in that position. Hats are removed at the same time ... There are three types of bowing. The most respectful bow, “saikayrei”, is made as a sign of deep respect and appreciation. Such a bow is usually made in front of an altar in a Shinto temple, a Buddhist monastery, in front of a national flag or a very tall person. The second type of greeting is an ordinary bow, in which the body leans twenty to thirty degrees and remains in that position for about two three seconds. Finally, a simple bow, which is made daily. In this case, a slight tilt of the hull and head is made, lasting only one second. The Japanese are standing bowed if they are found on the street, in public buildings, in a European room, or in any room with a wooden floor. Seated bows are usually made in the national Japanese house, in a room with zinc flooring, where, as a rule, everyone sits on the mat ... Bows are often made to express gratitude, invitation and apology. Some Japanese and Japanese, especially the older generation, make repeated bows when they meet friends and guests. This is regarded as a manifestation of courtesy and tact.

The examples given in this section show a certain connection between the linguistic consciousness and the speech behavior of people with the national-ethnic characteristics of the cultural environment. But is language capable of influencing people's thinking?