XV Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2023

Introduction

The transition of linguistics to an anthropological paradigm in the last decades of the 20th century has stimulated the rapid development of interdisciplinary fields of humanities research based on the "Person - Language - Culture" trinity.

The relevance of the work lies in the consideration of linguacultural as an integrated scientific discipline, studying the relationship and interaction of culture and language in its functioning.

As a part of human science, linguacultural is focused, on the one hand, on the human factor in language, on the other hand, on the linguistic factor in a person.

The aim of the work is to study language and culture.

Achieving the goal involves solving a number of tasks:

1) define the essence of the anthropocentric paradigm of language;

2) consider the relationship between language and culture;

3) to characterize language and culture as basic concepts of linguacultural.

Linguacultural studies language as a phenomenon of culture. It is a certain vision of the world through the prism of national language, when language acts as an exponent of a specific national mentality. All linguistics is imbued with cultural and historical content, as its subject matter is language, which is a condition, basis and product of culture.

The essence of the anthropocentric paradigm of language

Nowadays, the idea of anthropocentricity of language can be considered universally recognized: for many linguistic constructions, the idea of a human being acts as a natural point of reference. This scientific paradigm, formed at the turn of the millennium, has set new tasks in the study of language and requires new methods of its description and new approaches in the analysis of its units, categories and rules.

The anthropocentric paradigm is a switch of researcher's interests from objects of cognition to a subject, i.e., a person in language and language in a person are analyzed, since, according to I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay, "language exists only in individual brains, only in souls, only in psyche of individuals or individuals composing a given language society".

The idea that language is anthropocentric is a key one in modern linguistics. Nowadays, the goal of linguistic analysis can no longer be considered as simply identifying the various characteristics of a language system.

Language is "a multidimensional phenomenon, originating in human society: it is both system and antisystem, activity and product of this activity, spirit and matter, spontaneously developing object and ordered self-regulating phenomenon, it is both arbitrary and produced, etc.

Characterizing language in all its complexity from opposite sides, we reveal its very essence.

To reflect the most complicated essence of language, Y.S. Stepanov presented it in the form of several images, for none of these images is capable to reflect completely all sides of language:

1) language as the language of the individual;

2) language as a member of the family of languages;

3) language as a structure;

4) language as a system;

5) language as type and character;

6) language as a computer;

7) language as space of thought and as "house of spirit" (M. Heidegger), i.e. language as a result of complex cognitive activity of a person

Accordingly, from the position of the seventh image, language, first, is a result of people's activity; second, it is a result of a creative person activity and a result of language normalizers activity (the state, institutes, working out norms and rules).

At the very end of the XX century one more image was added: language as a product of culture, as its important constituent part and condition of existence, as a factor of formation of cultural codes.

From the position of anthropocentric paradigm, a human being knows the world through awareness of himself, his theoretical and subject activity in it. Numerous linguistic confirmations of the fact that we see the world through the prism of man are metaphors such as: "a snowstorm is playing out", "a snowflake is wrapping people up", "snowflakes are dancing", "sound is sleeping", "birch earrings", "Mother Winter", "years are passing", "shadow is falling", "enveloped by longing".

Awareness of oneself as the measure of all things gives man the right to create in his mind the anthropometrical order of things, which can be studied not on the level of everyday life but on the level of science. This order that exists in the mind, in the consciousness of man, determines his spiritual essence, the motives of his actions, the hierarchy of values. All this can be understood by studying a person's speech, those turns and expressions which he uses most often, to which he has the highest level of empathy.

Language and culture

It began to be used in relation to people as well, so if a person was distinguished by their elegance and intelligence, they were considered "cultured". At that time, the term was applied mainly to aristocrats, to distinguish them from the "uncultured" common people.

In German, the word Kultur meant a high level of civilization. In the context of our life today we can say that the totality of material and spiritual values, as well as the means of their creation, the ability to use them for the progress of humanity, to pass them from generation to generation and that constitute culture. In the theories of culture an important place has always been given to language. Language can be defined as a system of communication, carried out with the help of sounds and symbols, the meanings of which are conditional, but have a certain structure. Language is a social phenomenon. It cannot be acquired outside of social interaction, i.e., without communication with other people. Although the process of socialization is largely based on the imitation of gestures - nods, smiles and frowns - language serves as the main means of cultural transmission. The aim of this paper is to look at language as the basis of culture.

Language as the foundation of culture

Language has always had an important place in theories of culture. Language can be defined as a system of communication carried out with the help of sounds and symbols, whose meanings are conventional but have a certain structure. Culture is the cement of the building of social life. Not only because it is passed on from one person to another through socialization and contact with other cultures, but also because it gives people a sense of belonging to a particular group. Culture not only strengthens solidarity between people, but also causes conflict within and between groups. This can be illustrated by the example of language, the main element of culture. On the one hand, the ability to communicate contributes to the cohesion of members of a social group. A common language brings people together. On the other hand, a common language excludes those who do not speak the language or speak it somewhat differently. Culture is an integral part of human life. Culture organizes human life. In human life, culture performs much of the same function as genetically programmed behavior does in animal life. Another important feature of it is that it is virtually impossible to learn to speak a native language if its basic vocabulary, speech rules and structures are learned at the age of eight or ten, although many other aspects of the human experience may be completely forgotten. This demonstrates the high degree of adaptability of language to human needs; without it, communication between humans would be much more primitive. Language includes rules. It is known that there is right and wrong speech. In a language there are many implicit and formal rules which determine the way words are combined to express the desired meaning. Grammar is a system of generally accepted rules on the basis of which a standard language is used and developed. However, there are often deviations from grammatical rules due to the peculiarities of different dialects and life situations. Language is also involved in the process of organizing people's experiences. The use of language requires adherence to its basic grammatical rules. Language organizes people's experiences. Therefore, like culture as a whole, it produces common meanings. Communication is only possible with meanings that are accepted, used and understood by the participants. Indeed, our communication with each other in everyday life is largely due to our certainty that we understand each other. The tragedy of mental disorders such as schizophrenia is, above all, that those affected are unable to communicate with others and find themselves cut off from society.

A common language also supports social cohesion. It helps people to coordinate their actions by convincing or judging each other. In addition, mutual understanding and empathy almost automatically arise between people who speak the same language. The language reflects people's shared knowledge of traditions and current events. In short, it creates a sense of group cohesion and group identity.

Conclusion

Culture is the cement of social life. Not only because it is passed on from one person to another through socialization and contact with other cultures, but also because it gives people a sense of belonging to a group.

Language is a social phenomenon. It cannot be acquired without social interaction, i.e., without communicating with others. Although the process of socialization is largely based on imitating gestures - nods, smiles and frowns - language is a primary vehicle of culture transmission. Another important characteristic is that a mother tongue is virtually impossible to unlearn if its basic vocabulary, speech rules and structures are learnt by the age of eight or ten, although many other aspects of the human experience may be completely forgotten. Although language is a powerful unifying force, it can also divide people. A group that uses a given language considers all its speakers as its own and people who speak other languages or dialects as strangers. A language is a universal repository of national identity and character traits in grammatical categories.

There are languages with a predominantly verbal (dynamic) representation of reality, and there are languages with a nominative (static) representation of concepts. This latter type of language is characteristic of the emergence of Indian and Greek cultures and of the development of late European logic, respectively.

References:

https://studfile.net/preview/9305156/

https://laservirta.ru/%D1%8F%D0%B7%D1%8B%D0%BA-%D0%B8-%D0%BA%D1%83%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%82%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B0/

Код для цитирования: Скопировать