Language picture of the world



This article examines the language picture of the world as a derivative of the national mentality. As an example, uses a language picture of the world of carriers of the Russian, Kazakh and Chinese languages.

Keywords: Language, language picture of the world, the national mentalit

Language is the most valuable source for the formation and manifestation of the mentality of the people, through it the culture is preserved and passed on to other generations. With the help of language, you can learn the most important properties of the world. It displays not only the real world surrounding the human, conditions of his life, but also the social consciousness of the people, its mentality, national character, lifestyle, traditions, customs, system of values. Language is a treasure trove of culture as a whole.

Language as cultural phenomenon, description of it’s from this position requires attention to characteristics of the national mentality and their reflection in the lexicon, phraseology, speech, etiquette and ethical concepts, in the nature of discursive activity of the bearer of a certain culture. Language picture of the world is a reflection of the overall national view of the world, including the configuration of the values of the concepts most associated with the ideals of society, or mental phenomena of the external world, received the most positive evaluation of members of society. Among the main functions of language, many linguists distinguish the so-called national-cultural function.

A. A. Leontiev wrote: «Language reflects and reinforces reality, abstract concepts, etc., used historical past of the people who owed their existence to the specific conditions of the employment, social, and cultural life of the people» [3]. It should be noted that the linguistic and cultural characteristics of worldviews, culture and way of thinking first began to be considered in the aspect of philosophy and logic. The term «world picture» was introduced by Ludwig Wittgenstein in «Tractatus Logico-philosophical treatise», which believed that thinking is speech the nature and essentially is an activity with signs [2].

Language picture of the world, originating as a metaphor, is now one of the basic concepts of linguistics. Language picture of the world is the way of worldview people through the prism language [2].

Man perceives the world and himself with their language, which reflects the whole socio-historical experience. This experience applies not only national and universal, and the national experience, which brings specific features in each separate language. Through their own language, media adopt a specific linguistic picture of the world, which generates a person a certain attitude to the world around him. Also language picture of the world sets human standards of behavior which define man's relation to the world and an integral system of views of native speakers.

Thus, we can say that language not only conveys information, it saves, but creates an internal organization that is subject to transfer.

Faced with the linguistic picture of the world of foreign language, we are thus confronted with its culture, national mentality, specific way of thinking of native speakers. So the question arises, which bears primary: language picture of the world and national mentality and character of the speakers of the language picture of the world? Cultural and community traditions, historical events, external conditions of existence (geography, climate, natural) community and originated form the basis of the national character and mentality.

In the future, these specific features of the nation and national mentality get in their national language in their linguistic picture of the world, secured and fixing there forever. All of these habitats can vary, but the national character as embodied in the language world picture of the nation, will continue to be passed from one generation to the next, presenting new generations of already established and formed mental specifics of world perception. When the child masters its language, he perceives the world around him on the language level, thereby mastering the language picture of the world inherent in directly only to speakers of his language.

Special national mentality is reflected in everything: in the semantics of lexical units, in the presence of certain grammatical categories and values, the design of syntactic and morphological structures, the peculiarities of word-formation models of language, and so on [3].

Let me show you an example of how different Nations greet. For example, in Kazakh language at the meeting say, «Salemetsiz be?» is literally can be interpreted as " Are you healthy?». In the Russian national picture of the world the word «Zdravstvuite!» — means «How is your health?». It can be concluded that health was the most important in Turkish and the Slavic world picture. And the traditional greeting of the Chinese is «你吃了吗?», which translates: «did you eat?». This unusual method of greeting makes us think over its causes. Currently, we are using all of these greetings; almost do not think about their original meaning. Language picture of the world establishes and keeps even those features of the national mentality, which may or may not remember the people themselves.

We wondered why the Chinese people are paying so much attention to food? They say that such special attention to food due to the fact that the Chinese in their long history, often hungry and almost always malnourished. It is known that droughts, floods, locusts and plague periodically plagued the Chinese population. According to scientists, in the period of time between 108 BC and 1911 China had about 1828 food disasters. In lean years, the Chinese had to eat poisonous acorns, stone chips and other inedible components. The poor in China called «need food», which wandered with empty bowls to cities in the hope of getting something edible. Even the Western missionaries noted that the rate of learning the Chinese language often begins with the words «food» and «food».

It was also noted that many farmers sold their children for food, this fact is often mentioned in history, and is reflected in many literary works of China [1].

However, historical problems and hunger are not the only reason for such attention to food. Food for the Chinese is a real pleasure in life, as one Chinese thinker: «If we do something, and seriously, it is not for religion and not for knowledge and food». Chinese people openly acknowledged that they live to eat. Concepts such as «belly», «food», «meals» are often referred to in communication between people, in literary works, and just have been glorified throughout history [1].

On the Chinese pages of such famous works as «the water margin», «Dream of the red chamber» often there are detailed descriptions of the processes of a wide variety of dishes.

It is known, for example, that the mental activities of man has a direct relationship to his head, but according to Chinese tradition, his erudition and knowledge are placed in the human stomach. In Russian language you can Often hear the expression in this paragraph of His «head is full of ideas» [3], in China, there are statements such as «essay competition, a Belly full» or «Belly full of letters» [1]. The Chinese equivalent of the phrase «poraskinut brains» and «breaking my head» will be the phrase of the paragraph, «to move your dry guts» [1] and the Kazakh people have the analogue of the expression «Breaking my head» is the phrase «freezing my head ".

According to F. I. Buslaev, idioms are a kind of microcosms, which contain «and the moral law, and common sense, expressed in a brief dictum, who bequeathed ancestors guide their descendants» [4]. Phraseological units, as fragments of the linguistic picture of the world, not just describe the world, and appreciate interpretiruya and Express to him the subjective attitude. V. N. Telia says that the phraseological composition of language is «a mirror in which linguistic and cultural community identificeret their national identity» [4]. In the language provides information about the history, culture, customs, traditions, way of life of the people and so.

Also the love of food we can see in phraseology. For example, the Chinese expression «生» can be literally translated as «rice it raw». It carries the meaning that the effects are difficult to fix after you have something bad started to do. The idiom «生米煮成了熟» — «uncooked rice after cooking is ready» — means that «what is done can't change» [1]. The above idioms are once again confirmed to us the fact that a significant role in Chinese life plays food, as well as the concept of «rice». In the Russian language is found in the analogy of the idiom «Made — can not be undone», «the same river twice not enter». The value of this expression can be characterized by the fact that the river is a changing object in one place it's slow, the other fast. The past will forever remain in the past and in the Kazakh language equivalent of this idiom can be considered the expression «Dead can’t come back». Thus, we can conclude that the language and culture is directly associated with the ethnic worldview. Each language reflects a certain method of perception and the structure of the world. Cross-language comparison revealed a universal and ethno-specific in the language picture of the world in Chinese, Russian and Kazakh peoples.

References:

1. Bazhanov E. P. Edible dragons. The secrets of Chinese cuisine. — M.: Vostok-Zapad, 2008. — 128 p.
2. Maslova V. A. Cultural Linguistics. — M., 2001. — 208 p.
3. Sepy E. Language, race, culture // Selected works on linguistics and cultural studies. — M.: Progress. — 656 p.
4. Teli V. N. Russian phraseology. Semantic, pragmatic and linguocultural aspects. — M.: School «Languages of Russian culture», 1996. — 288 p.
5. URL: http:// kaz-tili.kz.