Language as a social phenomenon. The connection between language and society

Vera Avdeeva
Consultation “Language as a social phenomenon. Language functions. Interaction of language and society "

I. Language as a social phenomenon

Since its inception, at all stages of its existence, language inextricably linked with society... This bond is two-way character: language does not exist outside of society and society cannot exist without language... main destination language- serve as a means communication between people. Language"Arises only from a need, from an urgent need communicating with other people". With development societies, complication of forms public life, the enrichment and development of consciousness develops and becomes more complicated language. The language is used by society absolutely in all areas of activity. In order to live comfortably in society, talk with other people, move up the social ladder, you must own tongue.

Language occupies a special place among others social phenomena due to the special role it plays in society... What common language with other social phenomena and how is it different from them? Common is that language - necessary condition existence and development of human societies. Language functions, its regularities functioning and historical development are fundamentally different from others social phenomena.

An essential feature that allows attributing language to the category of social phenomena, it turns out its ability to serve society... But language serves society differently... The fact that language serves society, in itself is not yet a decisive criterion for assigning language to the category of social phenomena... Service society can machines, and even separate natural phenomena placed at the service of man. The whole question is how language serves society and to what extent it serves him.

“In this regard, it cannot be identified with any of the social phenomena. Language is neither a form of culture, nor an ideology of a certain class, nor a superstructure in the broadest sense of the word. Language has the ability to reflect changes in life society in all its spheres that thus distinguishes him from others social phenomena". One of the most salient features language allowing it to be considered a public phenomenon, is the fact that society creates language, controls what was created and fixes it in the system of communicative means. The right to create and shape language belongs to society. Language is a product of society, it is for this reason that it deserves the name social phenomenon in to a greater extent than any other phenomenon serving society.

Society- a system of various relations between people belonging to one or another social, professional, gender and age, ethnic, ethnographic, confessional groups, where each individual occupies his own place and, therefore, acts as a bearer of a certain social status, social functions and roles. Language performs in society certain social functions.

II. Language functions

Researchers language disagree on the quantity and nature functions. The language has many functions(scientists allocate up to 25 functions of language and its units, Main the function of language is to be a means of communication... To the main language functions include communicative, cognitive, cumulative (otherwise - accumulative). Language provides people with the opportunity to understand each other, to establish joint work in all spheres of human activity.

1. Communicative language function- the main social language function.

Communication is communication, information exchange. Language arose and exists, so that people can communicate. Information is information that is understandable and important for the behavior of the person to whom it is addressed. Speech serves as a means of transferring information from person to person. This function speech becomes possible for implementation because information can be stored in speech, in the words used in it. By exchanging words, perceiving them as concepts that carry certain information, people, thus, exchange the knowledge contained in these words. Communicating with each other, people convey their thoughts, feelings, emotional experiences, expression of will, influence each other in a certain direction, achieve mutual understanding.

2. Cognitive language function

Cognition, study of the surrounding world is largely carried out with the help of language. Communication people presupposes certain knowledge about the surrounding reality, and one of the universal and effective means knowledge of the surrounding world is language... Thereby language performs cognitive or cognitive, function.

3. Cumulative (accumulative) language function.

The language in this function acts as a link between generations, serves "Storage" and means of transmission extra-linguistic collective experience... Most vividly cumulative function manifests itself in the field of vocabulary, since it is she who is directly related to objects and phenomena surrounding reality. Cumulative function is a reflection, fixing and saving in linguistic units of information about a person's comprehended activity, information about the world, which is obtained by all members of a certain ethnolinguistic, cultural linguistic community of people.

Despite differing opinions on the classification language functions, all researchers unanimously agree that there are two indisputably important functions, which language performs in the life of mankind - cognitive and communicative.

III. The relationship between language and society.

Once language exists only in society, he cannot but depend on societies... Development societies stimulates the development process language and accelerates or slows down the pace language changes, contributes to the restructuring of some participants language system, their enrichment with new elements. Language depends on the form of the state and the nature of economic formations. Each publicly- economic formation creates a certain way of life societies, which manifests itself in a whole complex of interconnected phenomena

Society there has never been and never will be an absolutely homogeneous collective. There is a differentiation in it caused by various reasons.

This can be a division according to class, class, property and professional characteristics, which is subsequently reflected in language

Social factors affecting development languages are:

Change the media circle language,

Spreading education,

The development of science, the movement of the masses,

Creation of a new statehood,

Changes in the forms of legislation and office work, etc.

The impact of these factors on language is different and in form, and by strength. Let us illustrate what has been said with an example. After the October Revolution, the process of democratization takes place language: if earlier literary tongue owned mainly by the bourgeois - noble intelligentsia, now to the literary language the masses of workers and peasants begin to join, who bring literary language their inherent speech characteristics and skills.

This leads to the borrowing of some dialecticisms and argotisms in the literary dictionary. (Examples of: shortage, malfunction, bow, etc.) New synomics arise. ranks: shortage - shortage - deficit; Connection - contact - union - bow, etc.

Equally oblique, difficult to influence development language and other social factors. One of important milestones in the development of its constituent functionally-communicative systems, is the transition from capitalist society towards socialist... Culture growth, development universal literacy, compulsory secondary education expand the circle of literary carriers language, are reflected in its composition and relations with other components (components) common language.

Social differentiation language can also reflect delamination societies... For example, a special terminology due to the specifics. Outwardly identical words in different professions have different meanings. Some differences in language may be related to the gender of the speakers. So, in Yana language living in northern California (USA, the same items and phenomena are called differently, depending on who is talking about them - a man or a woman.

Development impact societies, the concrete historical conditions of the life of peoples also affects the relations between languages... For example, in the feudal society, the connection between languages is weak, cases of mass bilingualism, that is, the use by the people or its significant part of two (and more) languages, are observed mainly as collisions languages winners and losers. In the capitalist society connections between carriers of different languages become closer, the facts of borrowing words from one language in another, cases of mass bilingualism are becoming frequent. At the same time, during this period, inequality is clearly manifested languages, especially in multinational states, where advantages are specially created language dominant nation.

“Demographic changes can also be reflected in some way in language... So, for example, a strong increase in the urban population in our country in comparison with the pre-revolutionary period has expanded the sphere of use of urban koine, to a certain extent contributed to the expansion of the sphere of use of literary language and limited the use of dialectal speech. At the same time, the influx of the rural population into the cities in connection with the development of industry had a certain influence even on the literary language... Researchers of the history of Russian literary languages celebrate that in the 50-60s, there is again some looseness in the speech use of non-literary words and phrases, and, in particular, the elements of vernacular. This is manifested in the wide inclusion of common words. "

In connection with the development of the productive forces societies, general culture of science and technology, new concepts and terms arise that require linguistic expression... Some old terms need a new interpretation, the area of special vocabulary is expanding. The influx of new terminology is accompanied by the disappearance of those terms that do not reflect the current level of development of sciences.

Along with the influence independent of the will of individual people society into language possibly conscious, purposeful, state influence (and society as a whole) on development and language functioning... This impact is called language policy. Linguistic politics may concern the most different sides linguistic life of a given society... For example, in multilingual countries, the choice language or dialect, which should become state-owned, is carried out deliberately, with the direct participation of the authorities and other social institutions. Conscious and purposeful activity of specialists in the development of alphabets and scripts for previously unwritten peoples. Improvement of existing alphabets and scripts, for example, the repeated reforms of Russian spelling, is another type of human intervention in life language... Development and complication language clearly manifests itself in the development in its composition of special functionally-communication systems that serve different groups carriers language, which leads to the allocation of territorial and social dialects, literary language and other forms of implementation language.

All these forms are different and in different historical periods of the development of human societies, and in different specific socio-historical conditions of the existence of one or another language... They are not the same functions, internal structure and relationships between them.

Certainly no social impact on language, spontaneous or conscious, cannot cancel the inherent language internal patterns.

Language arises, develops and exists as a social phenomenon. Its main purpose is to serve the needs of human society and, above all, to provide communication between members of a particular social community. The concept of society is one of the most difficult to define. Society- it is not just a set of human individuals, but a system of various relations between people belonging to one or another social, professional, gender and age, ethnic, ethnographic, confessional group, where each individual occupies his own place and therefore acts as a bearer of a certain social status, social functions and roles. An individual as a member of society can be identified on the basis of a large number of relationships that connect him with other individuals. The features of the individual's linguistic behavior and his behavior in general turn out to be largely determined by social factors. The question of the connection between language and society is still controversial in science. However, the most widespread point of view is that the connection between language and society is two-way. Language as a social phenomenon occupies its own, special place among other social phenomena and has its own specific features. Common language with other social phenomena consists in the fact that language is a necessary condition for the existence and development of human society and that, being an element of spiritual culture, language, like all other social phenomena, is inconceivable apart from materiality. So, language acts as a universal means of communication between the people. It preserves the unity of the people in the historical change of generations and social formations, despite social barriers, thereby uniting the people in time, in geographic and social space .. Language is able to reflect changes in the life of society in all its spheres, which significantly distinguishes it from all other social phenomena. The language cannot be indifferent to the basically social divisions that arise within the society served by the given language. “Where separate classes and groups are distinguished in the structure of society,” writes R. Shor in this regard, “serving various production goals, the language of this society breaks up into corresponding social dialects. Wherever there is a division of labor (and such a division is observed everywhere, coinciding among the peoples of primitive culture with the differentiation of the sexes, whence the emergence of special "female languages"), each branch of production is forced to create its own special stock of "technical terms" - the names of tools and work processes related to its role in production and incomprehensible to members of another production group. " language from the development and state of society, 3) the role of society in the creation and formation of language. The language cannot be indifferent to the basically social divisions that arise within the society served by the given language.
The linguistic phenomena generated by the social differentiation of society are divided into the following three groups: 1 social and special use languages;
2. creation of special "languages"; 3. social and professional differentiation of the common language. The influence of general culture on the development and functioning of the language should not be underestimated. The development of the productive forces of society, technology, science and general culture is usually associated with the emergence of a large number of new concepts that require linguistic expression. At the same time, the influx of new terminology is accompanied by the disappearance or pushing to the periphery of some terms that no longer reflect the current level of development of sciences.

The fact that language is far from being socially uniform has long been known. Linguistic studies, taking into account the conditioning of linguistic phenomena by social phenomena, began to be conducted with greater or lesser intensity already at the beginning of this century in France, Russia, and the Czech Republic. In 1952, an American sociologist G. Curry introduced the term "sociolinguistics" into scientific circulation.“Since language is possible only in human society,” wrote I. A ... Baudouin de Courtenay, - then, apart from mental side, we must always mark in it the social side... Linguistics should be based not only on individual psychology, but also on sociology. " To such an outstanding scientist of the first half of the 20th century, as I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay, E. D. Polivanov, L. P. Yakubinsky, V. M. Zhirmunsky, B. A. Larin, A. M. Selishchev, G. O ... Distiller in Russia, F. Bruno, A. Meillet, P. Lafargue, M. Cohen in France, S. Bally and A. Seshee in Switzerland, J. Vandries in Belgium, B. Havranek, A. Matesius in Czechoslovakia and others, own a number of ideas, without which modern sociolinguistics could not exist. This is, for example, the idea that all means of language are distributed over the spheres of communication, and the division of communication into spheres has a significant social conditioning (S. Bally); One of the founders of modern sociolinguistics
American explorer William Labov defines sociolinguistics as the science that studies "language in its social context." If we decipher this definition, then it must be said that the attention of sociolinguists is drawn not to the language itself, not to its internal organization, but on how the people who make up this or that society use the language. This takes into account all factors that can affect the use of the language, from different characteristics the speakers themselves (their age, gender, level of education and culture, type of profession, etc.) to the characteristics of a specific speech act. In contrast to generative linguistics, presented, for example, in the works of N. Chomsky , sociolinguistics deals not with an ideal native speaker who generates only correct statements in a given language, but with real people who in their speech can violate norms, make mistakes, mix different language styles etc. It is important to understand what explains all similar features real use of the language. So, the object of sociolinguistics is language in its functioning. ... And since language functions in a society with a certain social structure, insofar as you can say about sociolinguistics as a science that studies language in a social context. Sociolinguistics studies the various influences of the social environment on language and on the speech behavior of people. General linguistics analyzes a linguistic sign by itself: its sound and written form, its meaning, compatibility with other signs, its changes over time. Sociolinguistics focuses on how people use the language sign - everything is the same or differently, depending on their age, gender, social status, the level and nature of education, from the level of general culture. Take the word booty... Describing it from the point of view of general linguistics, it is necessary to indicate the following: a feminine noun, I declension, inanimate, in the plural not used, three-syllable, with an emphasis on the second syllable in all case forms, denotes an action on a verb mine (coal mining) or the result of an action (Production amounted to one thousand tons or, in another sense: The hunters returned with rich booty).Sociolinguist will also note the following properties of this noun: in the language of miners, it has an emphasis on the first syllable: booty and is used both in the singular and in plural: several loot. People of the same profession or one narrow circle of communication often form rather closed groups that develop their own language. In the old days, the jargon of the oeni was known - itinerant merchants who, with their incomprehensible uninitiated manner of speech, seemed to be fenced off from the rest of the world, keeping secret the secrets of their trade. Nowadays, the language of programmers and all those who professionally deal with a computer has also become a kind of jargon: they call a monitor an eye, a disk - pancakes, a user - a user, etc. various forms addressing the interlocutor. There are two main forms in Russian: in "you" and in "you". An unfamiliar or unfamiliar adult should be addressed as "you" (the same applies to older people, even acquaintances), and referring to "you" is a sign of a closer, cordial relationship. The study of social conditions that influence the choice of forms of personal appeal (and, in addition, greetings, apologies, requests, farewells, etc.) is also an area of interest for sociolinguistics. Sociolinguists also set themselves the following task: to regulate the development and functioning of the language (languages), without relying entirely on the spontaneous course of linguistic life.

Linguistics

(Aglyamova)

Noting the way in which the language is shaped as a general phenomenon, we can say that the language is not like what other science of society. In a number of essential features, language differs from all social phenomena in such features as:

a) language is a necessary condition for the existence of society throughout the history of mankind. The existence of any social phenomenon is limited in time: it is not originally in human society and is not eternal. Unlike non-primary and / or transitory phenomena of social life, language is primordial and exists as long as society exists;

b) a necessary condition for material and spiritual existence in all spheres of social space is the presence of language. Being the most important and basic means of communication, language is inseparable from any manifestations of human social being;

c) the language is dependent and not dependent on society. The globality of language, its universality, its inclusion in all forms of social life and social consciousness give rise to its overgroup character. However, this does not mean that he is extrasocial;

d) language is a phenomenon of the spiritual culture of mankind, one of the forms of social consciousness (along with everyday consciousness, morality and law, religious consciousness and art, ideology, politics, science). It is a means of communication, a semantic shell of social consciousness. Through language, a specifically human form of transferring social experience (cultural norms and traditions, natural science and technological knowledge) is carried out;

e) the development of language regardless of the social history of society, although it is conditioned and directed precisely by social history. The connection between the history of language and the history of society is obvious: there are features of language and linguistic situations that correspond to certain stages of ethnic and social history. So, we can talk about the originality of languages or linguistic situations in primitive societies, in the Middle Ages, in modern times. Language preserves the unity of the people in the historical change of generations and social formations, despite social barriers, uniting the people in time, in geographical and social space;

f) the role and position of language in human society is the source of its duality (stability and mobility, statics and dynamics). Adapting to the new needs of society, the language changes. On the other hand, all changes must be socially motivated and do not violate mutual understanding.

The essence of the language, its nature, the purpose of the the purpose of the function is in its functions. Depending on which background external factor the nature of the language is considered, and the functions performed by it are highlighted. We can talk about such functions as:

Communicative (the function of a means of communication), carried out in acts of communication between people, consisting in transmitting and receiving messages in the form of linguistic / verbal statements, in the exchange of information between people - communicants as participants in acts of linguistic communication. On the communicative purpose of the language in general plan guessed, of course, even in ancient times. In particular, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato (c. 428-348 BC), describing the extremely general model of the speech act "someone about something about something by means of language" puts the language into it, indicating on its role as a medium in the transmission of information. The very need for communication in society was explained in general view only in the 19th century, but was explained in detail at the end of the 80s of the 20th century. Then it was believed that the urgent need for communication was historically caused by two circumstances: a) rather complex labor activity(Ludwig Noiret "The Origin of Language" - 1877) and b) the phenomenon of apprenticeship, involving the transfer of experience and knowledge from one being to another. The need for communication is considered, therefore, as a factor that gave rise to life and its technical solution - language. A thorough study of language as a means of communication later showed that, in principle, language can and does satisfy the most diverse goals of communication due to cultural and historical factors. Thus, the communicative function of the language has a ramified system in which it realizes its needs.

Expressive, consisting in the expression of thoughts (according to V. Avrorin). Sometimes it is called cognitive, cognitive, epistemological, which consists in the processing and storage of knowledge in the memory of the individual and society, in the formation of a picture of the world. This function is revealed as a conceptual or thought-forming function. This means that language is in a certain way connected with the consciousness and thinking of a person. The basic units of consciousness and thinking are such as representations, concepts, judgments and inferences. The cognitive function is directly related to such a category of consciousness as a concept, and indirectly, implicitly implies its correlation with other forms of mental operations. The largest linguist and thinker of the first half of the 19th century. Wilhelm von Humbold (1767-1835) called language "the formative organ of thought." Therefore, in addition to the term "cognitive function" there is also another, namely, "thought-form function". Nevertheless, there is complete certainty in the definition of the cognitive function of language, which considers language as a tool of cognition, as a means of mastering knowledge and socio-historical experience and as a way of expressing the activity of consciousness. This function of language is clearly and directly related to research, the search for truth.

Constructive, consisting in the formation of thoughts. In its most general form, the constructive function of language can be imagined as a thought-forming function: linguistic units, linguistic categories, as well as the types of operations with them, "provided" by the linguistic system, are the matter and the form in which human thought itself proceeds. In order for an elementary thought about some fragment of reality to take place, it is first necessary to segment this reality into at least two "parts": what will serve as the subject of our thought, and what we think about this subject (and then we will inform) ... In this case, the segmentation of reality is carried out in parallel with the process of its naming, naming, nomination.

Accumulative, which consists in a person's reflection of the surrounding world, which occurs with the help of thinking, when information is formed, generated and stored. The entire baggage of human knowledge, as a rule, is recorded, stored and distributed in written and book forms: scientific articles, monographs, dissertations, encyclopedias, reference books, as well as in educational and methodological literature. The ability of language to serve as a means of information is presented as its accumulative function - the function of accumulating and storing information. Without this function of language, mankind always and in everything would have to start from scratch, cognitive activity humanity would not be so impetuous, since the comprehension of the world presupposes an obligatory reliance on what has already been discovered, already known and experienced. Without the accumulative function of language, it would be impossible to accumulate, store, and then transmit socially important information: humanity would not have and would not know its history. Without the accumulative function of language, the formation and development of civilizations would not have taken place. LES to the two basic functions of language - communicative and cognitive (expressive - V.Kh.) - adds emotional and metalanguage, attributed by many, like others considered below, to the secondary functions of language.

Emotional or emotive (expressive) function. Linguistic means (morphological, lexical and intonational) can be and are the form in which the most diverse emotional states of a person find their expression - joy, delight, anger, surprise, annoyance, disappointment, fear, irritation, etc. So, in many languages a special class of words has developed - the class of interjections - specializing in the expression of emotions - the expression of regret, disappointment, fatigue, surprise, doubt, distrust, as well as words with emotionally expressive connotations. It should be noted that the expression of emotions in language is historically and ethnically determined. The culture itself and the very "scenarios" of verbal experiences of emotions in different nations are different (which the Polish researcher Anna Vezhbitska points out in one of her studies). Therefore, the arsenal linguistic means, designed to express feelings, among different peoples are not the same both in their volume and in their quality. Some ethnic groups experience certain emotions in verbally restrained forms (Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, Scandinavians), others - in more “relaxed” forms (Americans, Russians, Spaniards, Italians). For example, Russians have a hypertrophy of swearing as a means of expressing emotions - and not even always negative ones. Naturally, such a "tradition" cannot beautify speech and language. This problem is especially acute today. It is no accident that they write about the pejorative dominant of Russian emotionality as a serious sociolinguistic problem. There are also lexical means proper, focused on the representation of emotions in speech. For example, pejorative or abusive vocabulary is one of the ways to express negative emotions; beneficial, or complimentary, enthusiastic vocabulary conveys a wide range of positive human experiences. The most powerful tool explications emotional states intonation appears. Studies have shown that phonoposodic (intonation-accentological) samples of a particular language allow a person even in an early childhood recognize the emotive type of speech addressed to him. The emotive function of language (to which the function of influence is partly "mixed") realizes itself in such speech genres as abuse, curse, censure, admiration, praise, verbal thanksgiving, and imitation.

The metalinguistic function (explanatory), which is also considered secondary to the communicative function, has as its main content the speech commentary of speech - the explanation, interpretation, description of something in the language itself or in the extra-linguistic world by means of the language itself. A metalanguage is a language in which some other language is described, called in this case a subject language or an object language. So if the grammar of English language is written in Russian, then the object language in such a description will be English, and the metalanguage will be Russian. Of course, the object language and the metalanguage can be the same (for example, English grammar in English). Apparently, languages can differ in the nature and variety of their metalinguistic means. The ability to think and speak about language with the help of its own lexical and grammatical means (i.e., the reflectivity of the language) is one of the characteristics of the development of language that distinguishes the language of humans from the language of animals. In ontogeny modern man the facts of metalinguistic reflection are possible in the third or fourth year of life and are common since the fifth or sixth. This attention to language is manifested in the comparison of words, correction of someone else's and one's own speech, in language games, in commenting on speech. The use of language in the metalanguage function is usually associated with some kind of difficulties in verbal communication - for example, when talking with a child, a foreigner who does not quite know the given language or style. Hearing an unfamiliar word modem, a person may ask: What does a modem mean? Let's say his interlocutor answers: This is such a prefix to a computer that can send messages. In this case, the question about the word modem and the explanation in response are specific manifestations of the metalanguage function of the language. As a means of interpretation, language manifests itself in such speech genres as dictionary definition, commentary on a document or work fiction... This function of language is also demonstrated by literary criticism and the genre of explaining new material in educational communications. There are special programs in the media dealing with the interpretation, explanation and clarification of certain political steps, decisions, declarations, statements, etc. a wide variety of politicians, parties, organizations or governments. Such programs are called analytical or information-analytical programs.

The epistemic function of language is one of the varieties of the basic expressive (cognitive) function. When they say that language performs an epistemic function, then, first of all, they mean that the content of its units, categories and intralingual divisions is of a reflective nature, since thinking, i.e. a person's reflection of the surrounding world is carried out mainly in linguistic form. So, the word units of the language in their content reflect all aspects of the objective world in which a person lives, as well as the most diverse aspects of his social and internal, spiritual

life: - this is the space of its habitation (compare: continents, continents, countries, plains, mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, cities, villages, villages, auls, palaces, houses, huts, huts, plagues, yurts, sakli, apartments, rooms, kitchens, etc.); - these are time slices of human existence (compare: antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, modernity, yesterday, today, tomorrow, past, future, present, etc.), each of which draws behind a number of words that have a historical-temporal marking (cf .: troubles, boyars, oprichnina; or: tax in kind, food appropriation, collectivization, electrification, industrialization, etc.); - these are social-class, caste, ethnic, religious, etc. divisions in society (compare: elite - plebs; presidents, governments-people, citizens, subjects; boyars-noblemen - philistines; Muslim Christians, etc .; Africans-Europeans - Asians-Americans, etc.); - these are the forms of organization of society (tyranny, despotism, monarchy, democracy, anarchy, theocracy, etc.); - this is the world of all living things in which a person exists (all nominations related to flora and fauna); - this is the world of material life and the spiritual being of a person (compare: the names of food, drink, household items; the name of spiritual values and passions that a person lives with; the name of his blood and spiritual ties with other members of the community, etc.). Grammatical categories are also reflective in nature: they reflect the relationships that exist in the objective world. For instance, grammatical category numbers reflect the relationship of singularity and plurality in the world of things (compare: table - tables, tree - trees, lake - lakes, etc.), the category of degrees of comparison reflects the gradual relations existing in the world of signs (compare: sweet - sweeter - the sweetest), etc. So, you can make sure that the content of linguistic signs, categories and various intra-linguistic divisions is of a reflective nature. In other words, the language system takes on the function of reflection. However, this is not a direct, not dispassionate reflection of reality. All linguistic reflections are "scrolled" in the mind of a person from his point of view. And when they want to say that language does not simply reflect in its content the world, a certain point of view on the world, they say that language performs an epistemic function. The reflection itself, "attached" to one or another linguistic forms, formed under one or another angle of view. "Angle of view" in linguistics is denoted by the term episteme. The world interpreted by a person is reflected by him already comprehended and interpreted. He models the external world, reflecting it by means of his psyche. The fact that a person reflects the world he interpreted finds an explanation in the fact that linguistic reflections are anthropocentric: a person assimilates and comprehends this world from a human point of view and interprets it from the point of view of his time, his culture, his knowledge. In ontogenesis, that is, individual development, a person masters knowledge about the world, about external reality - reflects external reality to a very large extent not directly, but "through" language. Let us give a textbook example: the spectrum of emission and absorption of light waves, which determines color, of course, is the same everywhere, and the physiological abilities of representatives of different ethnic groups to color perception do not differ either; however, it is known that some peoples differ, for example, three colors, while others have seven, and so on. four primary colors, no more and no less? Obviously, because in his language there are names for these four colors. Here, therefore, language acts as a ready-made tool for one or another structuring of reality when it is displayed by a person. Thus, when the question arises as to why, in general, in a given language there are so many names of flowers, types of snow, etc., the answer to it is that the Russians, French, Indians, Nenets, etc., for their practical activities during the preceding centuries (perhaps millennia), roughly speaking, it was “necessary” to distinguish precisely the varieties of the corresponding objects, which was reflected in the language. Another question is: why does each representative of the linguistic community distinguish so many colors? The answer here is that this or that way of perceiving external reality is to a certain extent "imposed" on a specific individual by his language, which is in this respect nothing more than a crystallized social experience of a given people. From this point of view, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, according to which a person's thinking is determined by the language in which he speaks, and cannot go beyond this language, is quite reasonable. One more example. For example, an animal such as a horse was not known to the natives of Melanesia, and when the Europeans brought a horse there, when they saw it, they called it "a pig that is ridden." In different ethnic groups, the understanding of the same pig is different. For a Russian it is an animal kept for obtaining meat, but for a Tatar, Turk, Uzbek, it is an unclean animal and you cannot eat its meat. The above, of course, does not mean in any way that a person is generally incapable of knowing what is not indicated in his language, to which B. Whorf was inclined. The entire experience of the development of various peoples and their languages shows that when the production and cognitive evolution of society creates the need for the introduction of a new concept, then the language never interferes with this - to designate a new concept, either an already existing word is used with a certain change in semantics, or a new one is formed according to the laws of the given language. Without this, in particular, it would be impossible to imagine the development of science. This is exactly what happened with the word "horse" in the neo-Melanesian Tok-Pisin language: it was borrowed from the English language and entered the Tok-Pisin dictionary as "hos" (English horse).

Contact setting or phatic function (<лат. fateri «выказывать»), заключающаяся в установлении и поддержании коммуникативного взаимодействия. Иногда общение как бы бесцельно: коммуникантам не важна та информация, которую они сообщают друг другу, они не стремятся выразить свои эмоции или воздействовать друг на друга. Пока им важен только контакт, который подготовит дальнейшее более содержательное общение. В таких случаях язык выступает в своей фатической функции (ассоциативная функция, функция контакта), как например, англичане в разговоре о погоде. Фатическая функция является основной в приветствиях, поздравлениях, в дежурных разговорах о городском транспорте и других общеизвестных вещах. При этом собеседники как бы чувствуют своего рода нормы допустимой глубины или остроты таких разговоров: например, упоминание о вчерашней телевизионной передаче не перерастает в разговор по существу содержания или художественного решения программы. Иными словами, общение идет ради общения, оно сознательно или обычно неосознанно направлено на установление или поддержание контакта. Содержание и форма контактоустанавливающего общения варьируются в зависимости от пола, возраста, социального положения, взаимоотношений говорящих, однако в целом такие речи стандартны и минимально информативны. Ср. клишированность поздравлений, начальных и конечных фраз в письмах, избыточность обращений по имени при разговоре двоих и вообще высокую предсказуемость текстов, выполняющих фатическую функцию. Однако информативная недостаточность таких разговоров отнюдь не означает, что эти разговоры не нужны или не важны людям и обществу в целом. Сама стандартность, поверхностность, легкость фатических разговоров помогает устанавливать контакты между людьми, преодолевать разобщенность и некоммуникабельность. Характерно, что детская речь в общении и с родителями и с ровесниками выполняет вначале именно фатическую функцию, т.к. дети стремятся к контакту, не зная еще что бы такое им сказать или услышать друг от друга.

The magical or "incantatory" function of language is used in religious ritual, in the practice of spellcasters, psychics, etc. The manifestations of the magical function include taboos, taboo substitutions, and vows of silence in some religious traditions; conspiracies, prayers, oaths, including God and oath; in the religions of the Scriptures - sacred texts, that is, texts that are attributed to divine origin: it can be considered, for example, that they were inspired, dictated or written by a higher power. A common feature of the attitude to a word as a magical power is the unconventional interpretation of a linguistic sign, that is, the idea that a word is not a conventional designation of some object, but a part of it, therefore, for example, pronouncing a ritual name can cause the presence of someone who it is named, and to be mistaken in a verbal ritual is to offend, anger or harm higher powers. Often the name acted as a guardian, i.e. as an amulet or a spell that protects against misfortune. In ancient times, when choosing a name for a child who was born, a person often seemed to play hide and seek with the spirits: then he kept the "real" name secret (and the child grew up under a different, not "secret" name); then they named children with the names of animals, fish, plants; then they gave a "bad name" - so that evil spirits would not see valuable booty in his bearer. Such a name-amulet was given at birth to the future prophet, the founder of Zoroastrianism Zarathushtra (Zarathustra): in the Avestan language the word Zarathushtra meant "old-camel".

The aesthetic function of language is a function of aesthetic impact, aesthetic attitude to language. This means that speech (precisely the speech itself, and not what is reported) can be perceived as beautiful or ugly, i.e. as an aesthetic object. The aesthetic function of language is most noticeable in literary texts, but the area of its manifestation is wider. An aesthetic attitude to language is possible in colloquial speech, friendly letters, in publicistic, oratory, popular science speech - to the extent that for speakers, speech ceases to be only a form, only a shell of content, but acquires an independent aesthetic value. In Chekhov's story "The Men," a woman reads the Gospel every day and does not understand much, "but the holy words moved her to tears, and she pronounced words like" asche "and" dondezhe "with a sweet sinking heart." The aesthetic function of language is usually associated with such an organization of the text, which in some way renews, transforms the usual word usage and thereby violates the automatism of everyday speech (colloquial, business, newspaper). The transformation can affect lexical and grammatical semantics (metaphor, metonymy and other types of figurative use of words and forms); further, the syntactic structure of statements can be updated. The aesthetic function of language expands the world of human aesthetic relations. At the same time, speech transformations that can make the text aesthetically significant, violate the automatism and blurring of speech, renew it and thereby open up new expressive possibilities in the language. Sometimes the functions of a language are divided into social functions and intrastructural ones, which are a manifestation of the essence and nature of the language. The latter include the nominative function, determined by the ability of the word to serve as a means of naming objects and phenomena. The name of a thing becomes its sign, which makes it possible to operate with the thought of a thing: to deduce concepts about objects, reflect their essential properties, build judgments and inferences. There is also a division of the functions of language into two leading ones - communicative with its private representations and significative, or cognitive also with its private representations (N.V. Solonik). As can be seen from the characteristics of the functions of language, many of them are somehow connected with thinking. For example, the cognitive function connects language with a person's mental activity; in units of language, the structure and dynamics of thought are materialized. F. de Saussure compares language to a sheet of paper, where thought is its front side, and sound is its back. You cannot cut the front side so as not to cut the back. In the same way, in language, it is impossible to separate thought from the sounds of speech, which are the natural material side of language. The study of the problem of the relationship between language and thought in science is carried out from different points of view and this problem is solved in different ways. Generally accepted to one degree or another can be considered only the provision that language and thinking do not form an identity and not a unity, but are relatively independent phenomena that are linked by complex dialectical relations. These relationships are manifested when considering this problem from the genetic, psychophysiological and epistemological points of view. So, the leading function of language - communicative (the function of communication) - follows from the social nature of language, cognitive, constructive and accumulative - from the connection of language with thinking, nominative - from the connection of language with the surrounding reality.

Agafonova

Linguistics Ticket number 2

A common language is the most important component of the life of any society, a condition for its existence. That is why language acts as public phenomenon. Let us consider the role, functions of language in society, the forms of existence of the national language.

Definition of language

In everyday life, people do not think about what language is, what are its main features, properties, functions. What is language - everyone understands, these are the words that we pronounce and hear around. However, to give a theoretical definition of language, to reveal and define its essence is a very difficult task, and linguists disagree in many respects when they try to theoretically comprehend the phenomenon of language.

There are many definitions of language, and, as a rule, they emphasize a particular function, and also indicate some properties of the language.

For example, young grammarians, following an idealistic philosophy that interpreted language as a product of the absolute spirit (Hegel) and the psychology of their time, understood language as a means of expressing the individual soul.

K. Vossler interpreted the language as creative, aesthetic self-expression of the individual spirit ", L. Elmslev - how clean structure of relationships, indifferent to its elements.

The naive materialistic approach was observed in the theory of naturalism, which interpreted language as natural organism, in the concept of American descriptivists who understand

Language as a social phenomenon 39

Whether the language is like form of human behavior in the struggle for existence and in a number of other concepts.

From the standpoint of historical materialism, K. Marx and F. Engels considered language as “practical, existing for other people and only thereby existing for myself, real consciousness” and noted that language appears “in the form of moving layers of air, sounds "(K. Marx, F. Engels Works, 2nd ed., Vol. 3, p. 25). Thus, it was emphasized materiality of language and its role in shaping consciousness person.

V. I. Lenin noted that "language is the most important means of human communication" (Lenin V. I. Poli. Sobr. Soch., Vol. 25, p. 258), emphasizing communicative function language.

Linguistics of the XX century has developed an understanding of language as a system of signs.

Modern science has established that there is no language in the human genetic code. A child is born with biological prerequisites for mastering a language, but outside of a collective of speakers, he will not learn the language. Only in a society of speaking people is it possible to master the language, which indicates such an important feature of the language as its public character.

Anthropological studies, the study of the formation of language in a child show that language did not arise in a person at once, it was formed gradually and underwent a long evolution from primitive communication signals of primitive man to a developed modern state, that is, human language developed historically.

Based on the main features of the language and its main function, we can define the language as the historically developed system of material signs in society that perform a communicative function.

Language functions

40___________________________________________ Topic 2

Comrade The lack of clarity in the content of the concept of "function" leads to the fact that linguists, speaking about the functions of language, understand by them in a number of cases completely different things.

In most works, the function of language is understood as the main purpose of the language - this is how the communicative function is distinguished as its only function. This idea is developed in their works by Russian linguists-theoreticians N.I. Zhinkin, R.V. Pazukhin, G.V. Kolshansky, B.A. Serebrennikov and some others.

A number of scientists, along with the communicative one, distinguish the function of expressing thought - expressive and consider it to be completely equal to the communicative function of language (A. Chiko-bava, A. A. Reformatsky, V. 3. Panfilov, etc.).

In addition, the functions are called the spheres of language use (compare: the function of interethnic communication, the function of scientific or everyday communication, etc.), as well as the types of use language in particular situations of communication (compare poetic function, emotive function, appeal function, pointing function, directive function, magic function, accumulative function, influence function, contact function, etc.).

Understanding the function as the purpose of the object used by the subject (s), it should be recognized that one must distinguish between:

1) the general functions of language as a social phenomenon, different from other social phenomena;

2) the properties of language as a system of signs;

3) the private functions that the language performs in the con
special situations of communication between people.

The function of language as a social phenomenon is communicative- the function of transferring information from subject to subject. The communicative function is inherent in language, from whatever point of view we consider it - both from the point of view of the speaker and from the point of view of the listener. She implemented in any communication situation. This allows us to consider the communicative function as the main function of language as a social phenomenon.

In the future, we will proceed from the fact that the function of language as a social phenomenon is one: communicative

Language as a social phenomenon 41

naya. In order to perform this function, language was formed as a system of signs that are combined with each other according to certain rules, due to which human thought becomes materially expressed and perceived.

The communicative function of the language in modern conditions is implemented in three forms:

Narrow communication - direct
one-on-one communication between people, oral or written dialogue;

Broadcast communication - direct
military communication of one person with a large group of people
(lesson, lecture, meeting, meeting):

Mass communication - communication of a person with nevi
dima audience through the newspaper, radio, television.

Highlighted by a number of scientists expressive the function of language (the function of expressing thoughts) concerns only the activity of the speaker, and therefore it cannot be equal with the communicative one. This is a manifestation of the essence of language, one of the main properties of language as a system of signs that performs a communicative function - the ability to carry out the expression of thought, and not a separate function of language. This property is one of the components of the essence of language as a means of communication. The manifestation of the properties of the language can also include such "functions" as nominative(naming the language of the phenomena of objective and subjective reality), accumulative(language is a means of accumulation in a verbal, textual form of knowledge and experience of mankind), cognitive(cognitive, through language, people get acquainted with the results of knowledge of the world by other people, previous generations; this property of the language provides the opportunity for people to learn in educational institutions).

The same functions that appear in particular situations of speech communication detail the communicative function and can be considered as its particular manifestations, partial derivatives. K. Buhler wrote that a language is a tool, and it has a main function, although it can be used in other, side functions. For example, the main function of a hammer is to hammer in nails, but it can

42_________________________________________________ Topic 2

push it between the jamb and the door so that the door does not close; they can press a sheet of paper so that the wind does not carry it away; it can be placed under an object so that it stands smoother, etc. Similarly, the main function of language is communicative, but language can also be used in non-basic functions arising from the communicative, which are the concretization of the communicative function in certain communicative conditions.

These are, for example, the function emotive(expression of feelings and experiences of a person in the process of his speech), directive(she is incentive) - an expression of the will, the desire of the speaker; poetic(it is also aesthetic) - the use of language as a means of creating literary texts; contact(she phatic)- establishing and maintaining contact with the interlocutor; in modern media, a kind of phatic monologue speech of TV presenters is developing, which does not contain information, but creates the illusion of communication; deictic(pointer) - an indication of something with words like this one, there, then, here, now etc., magical- using language as a tool of fortune telling and fortune telling, suggestive- using language as a means of influencing the psyche of another person (suggestion, hypnosis), instrumental- the function of direct speech impact on a person through the use of direct meanings of words, symbolic- speech impact on a person by the indirect meaning of words and phrases, subtext, etc.

French linguist Emile Benveniste pointed out a large set of tools for the so-called performative functions. This function is performed by words and expressions, the pronunciation of which at the same time is the verbal action that they call: I promise, I wish you happiness, I congratulate you on your birthday, I apologize, I give the name Nikolai, I declare the meeting open.

The number of private functions of the language can be increased. It is obvious that communication situations can be infinitely varied in purpose, in the speaker's attitude, in the impact on the interlocutor, and on other grounds.

Language as a social phenomenon 43

Speech communication

Speech activity that occurs between two or more people is communication.

The study of speech activity involves elucidating the signs, types and types of communication, understanding the specifics of certain types of verbal communication.

When discussing communication problems, we proceed from the concept full communication. Full communication is understood as communication in the full scope of its functions and features.

The functions of communication are based, naturally, on the functions of language, are manifested in the process of bilateral dialogical exchange of information and equally affect all participants in this process.

Full communication can be defined by listing its main features. It acts as conscious, rationally designed, purposeful information exchange between people, accompanied by the individualization of the interlocutors, the establishment of emotional contact between them and feedback.

Let's consider these signs.

Information exchange

This means that in the process of communication, information must be transmitted to each other by all participants in the communication, that is, there must be reciprocity of information - both parties transmit and receive information. TV, newspaper, SOS signal, traffic light, telephone answering machine, computer transmit information to us, but we do not communicate with them. Such situations cannot be considered natural, full-fledged communication: one is "pronounced", and the other acts only as a listener; one shouts at the other, and he is silent; people are together, but do not talk to each other ("he was silent, but I listened"). Communication is necessarily a two-way process.

44___________________________________________ Topic 2

If language is not a natural phenomenon, then, consequently, its place among social phenomena. This decision is correct, but in order to be completely clear, it is necessary to find out the place of language among other social phenomena. This place is special due to the special role of language in society.

What does language have in common with other social phenomena and how does language differ from them?

What language has in common with other social phenomena is that language is a necessary condition for the existence and development of human society and that, being an element of spiritual culture, language, like all other social phenomena, is inconceivable apart from materiality.

But the functions of language and the laws of its functioning and historical development are fundamentally differ from other social phenomena.

The idea that language is not a biological organism, but a social phenomenon was expressed earlier among representatives of "sociological schools" both under the flag of idealism (F. de Saussure, J. Vandries, A. Meillet) and under the flag of materialism (L. Noiret, N. Ya. Marr), but the stumbling block was a lack of understanding of the structure of society and the specifics of social phenomena.

In social phenomena, Marxist science distinguishes between the basis and the superstructure, that is, the economic structure of society at a given stage of its development and the political, legal, religious, artistic views of society and the institutions corresponding to them. Each basis has its own superstructure.

It never occurred to anyone to identify a language with a basis, but the inclusion of a language in a superstructure was typical both for Soviet linguistics and for foreign ones.

The most popular opinion among antibiologists was to classify language as an "ideology" - to the area of superstructures and to identify language with culture. And this led to a number of incorrect conclusions.

Why is the language not a superstructure?

Because language is not a product of a given basis, but a means of communication of a human collective, which has developed and persisted for centuries, at least at this time there were changes in the bases and the corresponding superstructures.

Because the superstructure in a class society belongs to a given class, and the language does not belong to one class or another, but to the entire population and serves different classes, without which society could not exist.

N. Ya. Marr and the followers of his "new doctrine of language" considered the class nature of language as one of their main provisions. This affected not only a complete misunderstanding of the language, but also of other social phenomena, since in a class society, not only language, but also the economy is common to different classes, without which society would collapse.

This feudal dialect was common to all steps of the feudal ladder "from prince to slave", and during the periods of capitalist and socialist development of Russian society, the Russian language served Russian bourgeois culture before the October Revolution just as well as it later served the socialist culture of Russian society.

So, there are no class languages, and there never were. The situation is different with speech, about which see below (§4).

The second mistake of linguists was the identification of language and culture. This identification is incorrect, since culture is ideology, and language does not belong to ideology.

The identification of language with culture entailed a number of incorrect conclusions, since these premises are incorrect, that is, culture and language are not the same thing. Culture, unlike language, can be both bourgeois and socialist; language, being a means of communication, is always common to the people, serving both bourgeois and socialist culture.

What is the relationship between language and culture? The national language is a form of national culture. It is associated with culture and is unthinkable outside of culture, just as culture is unthinkable without language. But language is not an ideology, which is the basis of culture.

Finally, there were attempts, in particular by N. Ya. Marr, to assimilate language to instruments of production.

Yes, language is a tool, but a "tool" in a special sense. With the instruments of production (they are not only material-material facts, but also a necessary element of the social structure of society), language has in common that they are indifferent to the superstructure and serve different classes of society, but the instruments of production produce material goods, while language does not produce anything and serves only as a means of communication between people. Language is an ideological tool. If the tools of production (ax, plow, harvester, etc.) have a design and device, then language has a structure and systemic organization.

Thus, language cannot be ranked either as a basis, or as a superstructure, or as an instrument of production; language is not divine to culture, and language cannot be class.

Nevertheless, language is a social phenomenon that occupies its own, special place among other social phenomena and has its own specific features... What are these specific features?

Since language, being an instrument of communication, is at the same time a means of exchanging thoughts, the question naturally arises about the relationship between language and thinking.

There are two opposing and equally wrong tendencies on this issue:

separation of language from thinking and thinking from language and
identification of language and thinking.

Language is the property of the collective, it communicates among the members of the collective with each other and allows them to communicate and store the necessary information about any phenomena in the material and spiritual life of a person. And the language as a collective property is formed and exists for centuries.

Thinking develops and renews itself much faster than language, but without language thinking is only a "thing for itself", and a thought not expressed in language is not that clear, distinct thought that helps a person to comprehend the phenomena of reality, to develop and improve science, it is rather, some foresight, and not the actual vision, this is not knowledge in the exact sense of the word.

A person can always use the ready-made material of the language (words, sentences) as "formulas" or "matrices" not only for the known, but also for the new. Chapter II ("Lexicology") will show how you can find means of expression for new thoughts and concepts in language, how you can create terms for new objects of science (see § 21). And it is precisely by finding the necessary words for oneself that the concept becomes not only understandable for other members of society, but also for the one who wants to introduce these new concepts into science and life. The Greek philosopher Plato once spoke about this. ( IV century. BC NS.). “Funny, I think, Hermogenes, it may seem that things become clear if you depict them by means of letters and syllables; however, this is inevitably so ”(“ Cratil ”).

Every teacher knows: only then can he assert what he teaches, when it is clear to him - when he can tell it to his students in words. No wonder the Romans said: Docendo discimus ("Teaching, we learn").

If thinking cannot do without language, then language is impossible without thinking. We speak and write, thinking, and we try to express our thoughts more accurately and clearly in language. It would seem that in those cases when in speech the words do not belong to the speaker, when, for example, the reciter reads someone else's work or the actor plays a role, then where is thinking? But it is hardly possible to imagine actors, readers, even announcers as parrots and starlings who speak, but do not speak.

Not only artists and readers, but also everyone who "speaks someone else's text" interprets it in his own way and presents it to the listener. The same applies to quotes, the use of proverbs and sayings in ordinary speech: they are convenient because they are successful, laconic, but their choice and the meaning embedded in them are a trace and consequence of the speaker's thought.

In general, our usual speech is a set of quotations from a language known to us, the words and expressions of which we usually use in our speech (not to mention the sound system and grammar, where "new" cannot be invented in any way).

Of course, there are situations when a given speaker (for example, a poet) is not satisfied with “worn-out like nickels”, ordinary words and creates his own (sometimes successfully, sometimes unsuccessfully); but, as a rule, new words of poets and writers most often remain the property of their texts and are not included in the common language, because they were formed not to convey the "general", but to express something individual, connected with the figurative system of the given text; these words are not intended for mass communication and for conveying general information.

This idea was expressed in a paradoxical form by the Greek philosopher of the 2nd century. n. NS. Sextus Empiricus, who wrote:

“Just as a person who loyally adheres to a well-known coin circulating in a city according to local custom can freely carry out monetary transactions that take place in that city, while another, who does not accept such a coin, but mints some other, new coin for himself and claiming its recognition, will do it in vain, and in life that person is close to madness, who does not want to adhere to a speech accepted like a coin, but (prefers) to create his own. "

When we think and wish to convey to someone that we have realized, we clothe thoughts in the form of language.

So thoughts and born language-based and are consolidated in him. However, this does not mean at all that language and thinking are the same.

The laws of thinking are studied by logic. Logic distinguishes between concepts with their features, judgments with their members and inferences with their forms. There are other significant units in the language: morphemes , words , suggestions, which does not match the specified logical division.

Many grammarians and logicians of the 19th and 20th centuries. tried to establish parallelism between concepts and words, between judgments and sentences. However, it is easy to make sure that not all words express concepts at all (for example, interjections express feelings and desires, but not concepts; pronouns only indicate, and do not name and do not express the concepts themselves; proper names are deprived of the expression of concepts, etc.) and not all sentences express judgments (for example, interrogative and prompting sentences). In addition, the terms of the judgment are not the same as the terms of the proposal.

The laws of logic are universal laws, since all people think in the same way, but they express these thoughts in different languages in different ways. National peculiarities of languages have nothing to do with the logical content of the utterance; the same applies to the lexical, grammatical and phonetic form of a statement in the same language; it can be diverse in the language, but correspond to the same logical unit, for example: This is a huge success. and This is a huge success. This is their home and This is their house, I wave the flag and I wave the flag etc.

With regard to the connection between language and thinking, one of the main issues is the type of abstraction that permeates the entire language, but is different in its structural tiers, lexical, grammatical and phonetic, which determines the specificity of vocabulary, grammar and phonetics and a special qualitative difference between their units and relations between them.

Language and thinking form a unity, because without thinking there can be no language and thinking without language is impossible. Language and thinking arose historically simultaneously in the process of human labor development.

Reformatsky A.A. Introduction to linguistics / Ed. V.A. Vinogradov. - M., 1996.