THE SCIENCE OF LANGUAGE

Linguistic Sciences

As a result of the interaction of linguistics with other sciences, related sciences, scientific directions and corresponding scientific disciplines arise that study language in its connections and relationships with other social or natural phenomena, such as linguistic philosophy (philosophy of language, philosophy of “ordinary language”), sociolinguistics ( social linguistics), ethnolinguistics, extralinguistics (external linguistics), psycholinguistics (metalinguistics, exolinguistics), neurolinguistics, mathematical linguistics, computational (computer, engineering) linguistics, linguistic statistics (linguistic statistics), etc. Linguistic philosophy arose at the intersection of linguistics and philosophy. As an integral scientific direction, it was formed in Great Britain in the middle of the 20th century. The main task of the corresponding scientific discipline is “the study of the general philosophical basis of language and speech” in order to define philosophically significant concepts (such as “good”, “evil”, “duty”, “knowledge”, “meaning”, etc.), “based on on the contexts of use of the corresponding words in everyday speech,” as well as to identify special rules for “the functioning of language in everyday communication.” Sociolinguistics develops at the intersection of linguistics, sociology, social psychology and some other sciences. She studies problems in the public use of language and social conditions its development, causal connections between languages ​​and other phenomena public life, such as production, science, culture, economics, politics, ideology, state, law, etc. Sociolinguistics solves a number of specific issues directly related to the social nature of language: the role of language in the life of society, social functions language, social differentiation of language, influence of different social factors on the change and development of language, social aspects of bilingualism and multilingualism, language policy, i.e. measures taken by the state, public and other organizations related to the preservation or change of language norms, etc. Ethnolinguistics combines linguistics with the history of the people, ethnography . As an independent scientific direction it stood out at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. from ethnography. She studies “the relationship between language and people and the interaction of linguistic and ethnic factors in the functioning and development of language”, “language in its relation to culture”, the content (“plan of content”) of culture, folk psychology and mythology using linguistic methods. There are two known variants of ethnolinguistics - American and German. American ethnolinguistics studies the problems of the relationship of language with the culture, way of life, customs, and beliefs of peoples; German ethnolinguistics studies the relationship of language with the psychology of the people, which determines the creative power and spirit of the language. Ethnolinguistics has been widely developed in American science since the 70s of the 19th century. in connection with the intensive study of the life of Indian tribes. Extralinguistics is a scientific direction, a branch of linguistics that studies “the totality of ethnic, socio-historical, social, geographical and other factors as inextricably linked with the development and functioning of language.” Psycholinguistics as a special scientific direction was formed in the 50s of the 20th century. as a result of the application of psychological methods, psychological experiments in relation to speech activity person. In terms of the subject of research, it is close to linguistics, and in terms of research methods - to psychology. This scientific direction arose in the USA, and then spread to many other countries, including the USSR. Psycholinguistics studies human speech activity; it studies the processes of speech formation and perception. More precisely, the subject of this scientific discipline can be defined as “the process of speech from the point of view of content, communicative value, adequacy of the speech act to a given communicative intention” or as “features of the content side of language in connection with the thinking and social life of the speaking group.” Psycholinguistics solves such specific linguistic issues as such, such as: patterns of language acquisition (speech development in children, bilingualism, etc.), problems of speech influence (in particular, in propaganda work, in the activities of the media), etc. Neurolinguistics as a scientific direction and scientific discipline arose at the intersection of linguistics and neuroscience. Based on linguistic data, she studies the language system in relation to the activity of the human brain, as well as language-related areas and functions of the central nervous system. The connection between linguistics and literary criticism is to a certain extent found in such philological disciplines as stylistics and textual criticism. The tasks of these disciplines include the study of both literature (in in a broad sense words), as well as linguistic means used in texts of different styles and genres. Applied linguistics is called “a direction in linguistics that deals with the development of methods for solving practical problems related to the use of language.” Such tasks are: creating a written language for a particular language; improvement of written systems of different languages; creating writing systems for the blind; creation of phonetic transcription systems (transcriptions oral speech, foreign words, etc.); creation of shorthand speech recording systems; teaching writing and reading; education non-native language; development of language teaching methods; compilation of dictionaries different types; streamlining, unification and standardization of scientific and technical terminology; automatic text processing, in particular for machine translation; automation of information work, creation of automated information retrieval systems; linguistic support for automated control systems (ACS); creation of systems that ensure human-machine communication in natural language; annotation and abstracting of scientific and other information; linguistic decipherment of unknown scripts and written texts.

Linguistics and Social Sciences

Linguistics is one of the social sciences. It is clear that it is closely related to such social sciences as history, economic geography, psychology and pedagogical sciences. The connection between linguistics and history (the science of the development of human society) is understandable, since the history of language is part of the history of the people. Especially clearly visible are the connections with the history of society in the vocabulary of the language, the sphere and nature of the functioning of the language, primarily the literary one. The connection between linguistics and history is two-way: historical data provide a specific historical consideration of language changes, linguistic data are one of the sources in the study of such historical problems, as the origin (ethnogenesis) of the people, the development of the culture of the people and their society on different stages history, contacts between peoples. Linguistics is associated, in particular, with such historical disciplines as archeology, which studies history from material sources - tools, weapons, jewelry, utensils, etc., and ethnography - the science of the life and culture of peoples. Linguistics comes into closest contact with ethnography in the study of dialect vocabulary - the names of peasant buildings, utensils and clothing, objects and tools agriculture, crafts. The connection between linguistics and ethnography is manifested not only in the study of material culture, but also in the classification of languages ​​and peoples, and in the study of the reflection of national identity in language. Linguistics is closely related to literary studies (literary theory, literary history and literary criticism). The connection between linguistics and literary criticism is especially noticeable in such disciplines as stylistics and history literary language, as well as in developing problems in fiction. However, there is a significant difference between the linguistic and linguistic approach and the methods of studying literary text. A literary critic studies language as a component of an artistic form, as a primary element of literature, as the art of words. Linguist studies literary text as a manifestation of the author’s speech activity, as a fact language norm and functional style. Functional stylistics studies the choice and use of linguistic means in works of art. Language as a fact of an individual’s speech activity is the subject of study in psychology and linguistics.

Linguistics and natural sciences

Of the natural sciences, linguistics comes into contact mainly with human physiology and anthropology. Particularly important for linguistics is the theory of speech activity, created by Russian physiologists I.M. Sechenov and I.P. Pavlov. The words that a person hears and sees represent a second signaling system - a specifically human form of reflection of reality. The second signaling system is signal signals. The interests of linguists and anthropologists converge in two cases: firstly, in the classification of races and languages ​​and, secondly, in studying the question of the origin of speech.

Basic functions of the language

Communication function The most important means human communication is the language. It acts as an instrument of communication, thus performing a communicative function. Communicating with each other, people convey their thoughts, expressions of will, feelings and emotional experiences, influence each other in a certain direction, and achieve common mutual understanding. Language gives people the opportunity to understand each other and establish joint work in all spheres of human activity. Language has been and remains one of the forces that ensure the existence and development of human society. Language acts as a means of communication even when one person speaks ( monologue speech), and when two or more people speak (dialogical and group speech). Communication can be not only oral, but also written. Cognitive and accumulative functions The purpose of language to be a means of expressing, transmitting and storing content is called its cognitive function. The cognitive function is manifested not only in the communication of individuals, it is revealed in the linguistic experience of the people, ensuring for descendants the preservation of a wide variety of knowledge - about society and nature, about thinking and language. The function of language to reflect and preserve knowledge is called accumulative. Communicative, cognitive and accumulative functions are the main social functions of language as the most important means of communication. The remaining features are optional; they belong not to the language as a whole, but to its variants and styles.

FEATURES OF VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Human and Animal Communication: Key Differences

To understand human nature, the differences between the language and communication of people and the languages ​​and communicative activities of animals are especially significant. The main of these differences are as follows: 1. Language communication between people is biologically irrelevant, that is, insignificant in biological terms. It is characteristic that evolution has not created a special speech organ, and this function uses organs whose original purpose was different. If speech sounds were caused by physiological necessity, that is, they were biologically motivated, then the content of speech could not go beyond the limits of information about the biological state of the individual. Biological irrelevance sounding speech allowed people to develop secondary means of coding language information- such as writing, Morse code, naval flag alphabet, relief-dot alphabet for writing and reading Braille for the blind, etc., which increases the capabilities and reliability of language communication. 2. Language communication of people, unlike animal communication, is closely related to cognitive processes . In animals, orienting (cognitive) processes are separated from those mechanisms and organs with the help of which signs-messages are generated in animal communication. Orientation occurs as a result of the work of the senses, without the participation of communication systems. A separate sign-message of an animal arises as a reaction of an individual to an event that has already happened, already perceived (“recognized”) by the senses, and at the same time as a stimulus for a similar reaction (or to a similar emotional state) in other individuals (to whom the message is addressed). In such a message there is no information about what caused this signal; L. S. Vygotsky said that a frightened gander, seeing danger and raising the entire flock with a cry, does not so much report what he sees as infect it with his fear (Vygotsky 1982 , 18). In this case, for example, in a herd of monkeys, “the sound of danger will be the same for a snake, a turtle, a rustling in the bushes; in the same way, the sound of well-being remains the same, whether it refers to the appearance of the sun, food, or the return of one to the herd of its members" (Tich 1970, 230-231). A different picture is observed in human cognitive activity. Already perception, i.e. one of the first stages of sensory cognition, in humans is mediated by language: “...language is, as it were, a kind of prism through which a person “sees” reality... projecting onto it with the help of language the experience of social practice.” (Leontyev 1972, 153). Memory, imagination, and attention function primarily on the basis of language. The role of language in the processes of thinking is extremely important. The formation of a thought is a continuous verbal and mental process in which the brain mechanisms of both thinking and speech are involved. 3. Linguistic communication of people, in contrast to the communicative behavior of animals, is characterized by an exceptional richness of content. Here, in principle, there are no restrictions on the semantics of possible messages. Timeless, eternal and momentary, general and individual, abstract and concrete, rational and emotional, purely informative and motivating the addressee to action - all conceivable types of content are accessible to language. “Language is the ability to say everything” (A. Martinet). In contrast to the qualitative and quantitative unlimitedness of the content of linguistic communication, only expressive information is available to animal communication (i.e. information about the internal - physical, physiological - state of the sender of the message) and information that directly affects the recipient of the message (call, motivation, threat, etc.) . p.). In any case, this is always “momentary” information: what is reported occurs at the moment of communication. Thus, the content of animal communication is limited to operational and exclusively expressive information - about what is happening only with the participants in communication and only during communication. As for various and vital information of a timeless or long-term nature (for example, information that allows one to distinguish dangerous things, find edible things, etc.), such information is transmitted genetically in animals. This achieves, on the one hand, information support for the normal state of the population, and on the other, information communication between generations of animals. The hereditary assimilation of the experience of previous generations is exceptionally reliable, but this is also associated with the poverty and routineness of genetically transmitted information. Human society is characterized by a different ratio of biological and social information. Genetically perceived information is also significant in human behavior, but the determining role - both in the activities of an individual and in the life of society - is played by information transmitted in the process of linguistic communication. 4. A number of features in its structure are associated with the richness of human language (in comparison with animal communication systems). The main structural difference between human language and animal languages ​​is its level structure: parts of words (morphemes) are made from sounds, words are made from morphemes, and sentences are made from words. This makes people’s speech articulate, and the language – meaningfully capacious and at the same time compact semiotics. Thanks to the ability to combine words in different ways, language provides people with inexhaustible resources for expressing new meanings. Unlike human language, in biological semiotics there are no signs of different levels, i.e. simple and complex, composed of simple ones. Thus, according to zoopsychology, the languages ​​of monkey herds use about 30 sound signals, corresponding to 30 standard situations (meanings), while all signs are not decomposable into significant components. In linguistic terms, we can say that in animal communication, a separate message is both a “word” and a “sentence,” i.e., the message is not divided into meaningful components, it is inarticulate. The single-level structure of biological semiotics limits their content to a set of initial values, since complex signs(i.e., composed of simple ones) are impossible.

LANGUAGE SIGN

Language as a system of signs

1. Language: “word” and “deed”

Language surrounds a person in life, accompanies him in all his affairs, whether he wants it or not, is present in all his thoughts, participates in his plans... Actually, speaking of the fact that language accompanies all human activities, let’s think about the stable expression “word and deed”: is it worth contrasting them at all? After all, the boundary between “deed” and “word” is conditional and blurred. It’s not for nothing that there are people for whom “the word” is case, their profession: these are writers, journalists, teachers, educators, you never know who else... And from their own own experience we know: the success of one or another undertaking largely depends on the ability to speak, persuade, and formulate one’s thoughts. Consequently, “word” is also a kind of “deed”; speech is included in the general system of human activity.

True, an adult gets so used to the language that he doesn’t pay attention to it—as they say, he doesn’t see it point-blank. Knowing our native language and using speech seems to us as natural and unconditional as, say, the ability to frown or climb stairs. Meanwhile, language does not arise in a person on its own; it is a product of imitation and learning. It is enough to take a closer look at how a child at the age of two or three years masters this system: every week, every month new words, new constructions appear in his speech - and yet he is still far from being fully competent... And if there were no people around adults who consciously or unconsciously help a child master this new world for him, would he still remain languageless? Alas, yes. There is a lot of documentary evidence of this - cases when a child, due to certain tragic circumstances, finds himself deprived of human society (for example, getting lost in the forest and ending up among animals). At the same time, he could survive as a biological individual, but he irrevocably lost the right to be called a human being: as a rational being, he could no longer succeed. So the story with Mowgli or Tarzan is a beautiful fairy tale. Nature carries out even more cruel experiments, sometimes producing human beings deprived of sight and hearing. And since a child is deaf, he cannot develop sound speech- therefore, we are dealing with in this case with deaf-blind creatures. And so it turns out that such a child can be formed into a human personality through long-term and purposeful work, however, provided that teachers (and in Russia there is a whole school - Professor I.A. Sokolyansky) teach this child language. Which language? Practically on the only sensory basis possible for him - language based on touch. This serves as another confirmation of the idea that without society, language cannot arise, and without language, a full-fledged personality cannot be formed.

Modern man is like biological species called in Latin Homo sapiens, that is, a reasonable person. But homo sapiens exists at the same time Homo loquens(homo lokvens) – a speaking person. For us, this means that language is not just a “convenience” that a rational being invented to make its life easier, but a prerequisite for its existence. Language - component the inner world of a person, his spiritual culture, this is a support for mental actions, one of the foundations of mental connections (associations), an aid to memory, etc. It is difficult to overestimate the role of language in the history of civilization. You can remember about this famous aphorism German existentialist philosopher Martin Heidegger: “Language creates man” - or repeat after the Russian scientist Mikhail Bakhtin: “Language, the word is almost everything in human life.”

Naturally, such a complex and multifaceted phenomenon as language can be approached from different angles and studied from different angles. Therefore, linguistics (synonym - linguistics, from the Latin lingua - ‘language’) is growing not only “in depth”, but also “in breadth”, capturing adjacent territories, coming into contact with other, neighboring sciences. From these contacts new, intermediate and very promising disciplines are born. Their names alone are worth it: mathematical linguistics and linguostatistics, linguogeography and ethnolinguistics, historical poetics and textual criticism... Some of these subsidiary sciences - such as socio- and psycholinguistics - have already found their place in the structure (nomenclature) of human knowledge, received recognition of society, others - such as neurolinguistics - retain a taste of novelty and exoticism... In any case, one should not think that linguistics stands still, and even more so that it is only engaged in inventing new rules that complicate the life of the common man : where, say, should you put a comma, and where should you put a dash, when should you write Not with an adjective together, and when - separately... I admit, linguistics also has to deal with this, and yet its most important tasks are different: the study of language in its relationship with objective reality and human society.

And although the phenomenon of language seems self-evident, it is necessary to somehow define it from the very beginning. From all the variety of existing definitions, we will select for further discussion the two most common and comprehensive: language is a means of human communication and language is a system of signs. These definitions do not contradict each other; rather, on the contrary, they complement each other. The first of them talks about what language is used for, the second – about what it is. And we will begin our conversation precisely with this second aspect - with the general principles of the structure of language. And only then, having become familiar with the basic rules for the organization of this phenomenon and having talked about its diverse roles in society, we will return to the question of the structure of language and the functioning of its individual parts.

The question of the functions of language is closely related to the problem of the origin of language. What reasons, what living conditions of people contributed to its origin, its formation? What is the purpose of language in the life of society? Not only linguists, but also philosophers, logicians, and psychologists sought answers to these questions.

The emergence of language is closely related to the formation of man as a thinking being. The language arose naturally and is a system that is necessary simultaneously for the individual (individual) and society (collective). As a result, language is multifunctional in nature.

First of all, it serves as a means of communication, allowing the speaker (individual) to express his thoughts, and another individual to perceive them and, in turn, react accordingly (take note, agree, object). Thus, language helps people share experiences, transfer their knowledge, organize any work, build and discuss plans for joint activities.

Language also serves as a means of consciousness, promotes the activity of consciousness and reflects its result. Language participates in the formation of the individual’s thinking (individual consciousness) and the thinking of society (social consciousness).

The development of language and thinking is an interdependent process. The development of thinking contributes to the enrichment of language, new concepts require new names; Improving language entails improving thinking.

Language, in addition, helps to preserve (accumulate) and transmit information, which is important both for individual person, and for the whole society. In written monuments (chronicles, documents, memoirs, fiction, newspapers), orally folk art the life of the nation is recorded, the history of the carriers of this language. In this regard, three main functions of language are distinguished:

Communicative;

Cognitive (cognitive, epistemological);

Accumulative (epistemic).

In the communicative functioning of language, the main task of which is to ensure mutual understanding of the parties united specific goals and common interests, there is no need to use the creative potential of language. On the contrary, their use can significantly complicate communication, both everyday and professional. The desire to avoid unclear (unusual) terms and expressions is therefore the norm in those areas human interaction, Where main goal communication serves as an exchange necessary information. Linguistic cliches of everyday use, as well as formalized languages ​​and terminological systems in scientific and professional communities are a kind of personification of this conscious attitude towards unification expressive means.

The cognitive, or, as some scientists call it, intellectual, function of language is necessarily connected with the orientation towards the spiritual and cultural growth of the communicating parties (thinking subjects) in the process of their co-creative dialogue with each other, with the world and with language. To say here means to show the previously invisible, unusual. Such a creative dialogue with language enriches all its participants, including, of course, the language itself as the supporting basis of semantic interaction. The personification of co-creative dialogue with language is national literature(including philosophy). Here, on the one hand, the language itself is enriched with new meanings under the creative influence of the human spirit, on the other hand, such an updated and enriched with new creative facets language is capable of expanding and enriching the spiritual life of the nation as a whole.

Additional functions appear in speech and are determined by the structure of the speech act, i.e. the presence of an addressee, addressee (communication participants) and the subject of conversation. Let's name two such functions: emotional (expresses internal state speaker, his feelings) and voluntary (the function of influencing listeners).

In addition to the above mentioned main and additional functions stands out more magic function language. This is due to the idea that some words and expressions have magical powers, are capable of changing the course of events, influencing a person’s behavior and fate. In religious and mythological consciousness, such power is primarily possessed by the formulas of prayers, spells, conspiracies, divination, and curses.

Since language serves as material and form artistic creativity, then it is legitimate to talk about poetic function language.

In scientific and philosophical literature, in addition to the above specified functions Usually at least one more is identified, and it is always different for different thinkers.

For example, R.I. Pavilenis, in addition to the “coding” (in our definition, communicative) and “generative” (cognitive), distinguishes the “manipulative” function, which, in our opinion, is one of the functional manifestations (modalities) of the communicative function.

A.A. Vetrov in his book “Semiotics and its main problems” highlights the “expressive” function of language, the meaning of which is to express the feelings of the speaker. However, noting its “secondary nature”, since most linguists do not consider the expression of emotions to be an essential aspect of language, he himself thereby recognizes its redundancy.

The ideological inspirer of the Tartu-Moscow semiotic school, Yu.M. Lotman, in addition to the “informational” and “creative” functions, identifies the “memory function,” meaning by it the ability of a text to retain memory of its previous contexts. The text creates a certain “semantic space” around itself, gaining meaning only in it. In our opinion, knowledge cultural context necessary for adequate understanding historical monument, as well as knowledge of the social contexts of everyday communication, relates to the communicative function of language, but only in different aspects(modes) of its manifestation - in the spiritual and utilitarian. The same is the case with the semiotic-Jacobson classification of language functions, which is popular among modern Russian linguists. Each of the six functions identified by R. Jacobson corresponds to one specific element of speech interaction, emphasized depending on the context of the expression, but together they express various aspects communicative function of language.

It should be noted that the functions we have identified are in close dialectical interaction, which can sometimes create a deceptive appearance of their identity. Really, cognitive function may almost coincide with communicative, for example, in the sphere interpersonal interactions within the scientific community (especially in the virtual computer interaction we mentioned), in situations of intercultural dialogue, in existential meaningful conversation two creative personalities etc.; but it can also appear in a “pure” form, for example, in poetic and philosophical creativity.

It is also incorrect to assert the greater or lesser importance of one of the identified functions of language, for example, communicative due to its direct connection with the everyday existence of people or, conversely, cognitive due to its pronounced creative nature. All functions of language are equally important for normal existence and development linguistic consciousness, both individuals and the nation as a whole. Among them, it is difficult to single out the most significant one, because the criteria for significance in this case are different. In one case, the criteria are such properties of speech as accessibility, simplicity and informativeness (updating the unambiguous meaning), in the other, on the contrary, the focus on the individual experience of understanding, the semantic ambiguity (complexity) of expressive means and the presence of many potential semantic dimensions.

Thus, language performs a wide variety of functions, which is explained by its use in all spheres of life and activity of man and society.

The main object of linguistics is natural human language unlike artificial language or animal language.

The two must be distinguished closely related concepts- language and speech.

Language- a tool, a means of communication. This is a system of signs, means and rules of speaking, common to all members of a given society. This phenomenon is constant for a given period of time.

Speech- manifestation and functioning of language, the process of communication itself; it is unique for every native speaker. This phenomenon varies depending on the person speaking.

Language and speech are two sides of the same phenomenon. Language is inherent to any person, and speech is inherent to a specific person.

Speech and language can be compared to pen and text. Language is a pen, and speech is text written with this pen.

American philosopher and logician Charles Peirce (1839-1914), the founder of pragmatism as a philosophical movement and semiotics as a science, defined a sign as something, knowing which, we learn something more. Every thought is a sign and every sign is a thought.

Semiotics(from gr. σημειον - sign, sign) - the science of signs. The most significant division of signs is the division into iconic signs, indices and symbols.

1. Iconic sign (icon from gr. εικων image) is a relation of resemblance or resemblance between a sign and its object. The iconic sign is built on association by similarity. These are metaphors, images (paintings, photos, sculptures) and diagrams (drawings, diagrams).
2. Index(from lat. index- informer, index finger, title) is a sign that relates to the designated object due to the fact that the object actually affects it. However, there is no significant similarity with the subject. The index is based on association by contiguity. Examples: bullet hole in glass, alphabetic symbols in algebra.
3. Symbol(from gr. Συμβολον - symbol, signal) is the only genuine sign, since it does not depend on similarity or connection. Its connection with the object is conditional, since it exists thanks to agreement. Most words in a language are symbols.

The German logician Gottlob Frege (1848-1925) proposed his understanding of the relationship of a sign to the object it denotes. He introduced the distinction between denotation ( Bedeutung) expression and its meaning ( Sinn). Denotation (referent)- this is the object or phenomenon itself to which the sign refers.

Venus is the morning star.

Venus is the morning star.

In both expressions the same denotation is the planet Venus, but different meaning, since Venus is represented in language in different ways.

Ferdinand de Saussure (1957-1913), the great Swiss linguist who had a huge influence on 20th-century linguistics, proposed his landmark theory of language. Below are the main provisions of this teaching.

Language is a system of signs expressing concepts.

Language can be compared with other systems of signs, such as the alphabet for the deaf and dumb, military signals, forms of courtesy, symbolic rites, male plumage, smells, etc. Language is only the most important of these systems.

Semiology- a science that studies systems of signs in the life of society.

Linguistics- part of this general science.

Semiotics- a synonymous term for Saussure's word semiology, more commonly used in modern linguistics.

American semiotician Charles Morris (1901-1979), a follower of Charles Peirce, distinguished three sections of semiotics:

• Semantics(from gr. σημα - sign) - the relationship between a sign and the object designated by it.
• Syntactics(from gr. συνταξις - structure, connection) - relationships between signs.
• Pragmatics(from gr. πραγμα - business, action) - the relationship between signs and those who use these signs (subjects and addressees of speech).

Some sign systems

According to F. de Saussure language sign- this is not a connection between a thing and its name, but a combination of a concept and an acoustic image.

Concept- this is a generalized, schematic image of an object in our minds, the most important and characteristic features of a given object, as if a definition of an object. For example, a chair is a seat with a support (legs or leg) and a backrest.

Acoustic image- this is the sound ideal equivalent of sound in our consciousness. When we say a word to ourselves without moving our lips or tongue, we reproduce an acoustic image of the actual sound.

Both of these sides of the sign have a psychic essence, i.e. ideal and exist only in our minds.

The acoustic image in relation to the concept is to some extent material, since it is associated with real sound.

The argument in favor of the ideality of the sign is that we can talk to ourselves without moving our lips or tongue, and pronounce sounds to ourselves.

Thus, the sign is two-sided psychic entity consisting of a signified and a signifier.

Concept- signified (fr. signify)

Acoustic image- meaning (French) signifiant).

Sign theory suggests 4 components of the signification process.

The following example involves the following components:

1. The very real, material, real tree that we want to designate with a sign;
2. Ideal (mental) concept as part of a sign (designated);
3. Ideal (mental) acoustic image as part of a sign (signifying);
4. The material embodiment of the ideal sign: the sounds of the spoken word tree, letters representing the word tree.

Trees can be different, no two birches are exactly alike, say the word tree We also all write differently (in different tones, with different timbres, loudly, in a whisper, etc.), we also write differently (with a pen, pencil, chalk, different handwriting, on a typewriter, on a computer), but a two-sided sign in our minds everyone has the same, because it is ideal.

English linguists Charles Ogden (1889-1957), Ivor Richards(1893-1979) in 1923 in the book “The Meaning of Meaning” ( The Meaning of Meaning) clearly presented sign relation in the form of a semantic triangle (triangle of reference):

• Sign (Symbol), i.e. a word in natural language;
• Referent (Referent), i.e. the subject to which the sign refers;
• Attitude, or reference ( Reference), i.e. thought as an intermediary between symbol and referent, between word and object.

The base of the triangle is depicted by a broken line. This means that the connection between a word and an object is not obligatory, conditional, and it is impossible without a connection with thought and concept.

However, the sign relationship can also be expressed in the form of a square, if we take into account that the second member of the triangle - thought - can consist of a concept and a connotation. The concept is common to all speakers of a given language, and connotation, or connotation (lat. connotatio- “connotation”) is an associative meaning that is individual for each person.

For example, a bricklayer may associate “brick” with his work, while an injured passerby may associate it with the trauma he suffered.

The main functions of the language are as follows:

Communication function

Language as a means of communication between people. This is the main function of language.

Thought-forming function

Language is used as a means of thinking in the form of words.

Cognitive (epistemological) function

Language as a means of understanding the world, accumulating and transmitting knowledge to other people and subsequent generations (in the form of oral traditions, written sources, audio recordings).

Along with the functions of language, there are also functions of speech. Roman Osipovich Yakobson (1896-1982), a Russian and American linguist (Mayakovsky wrote about him in a poem about Netta, a steamship and a man: ... “he chatted all day long about Romka Yakobson and sweated funny, learning poetry ...”) proposed a diagram that describes the factors (components) of the act of communication, which correspond to individual speech functions language.

An example of an act of communication is the beginning of the novel in verse “Eugene Onegin”, if the lecturer recites it to students: “My uncle is the most fair rules when I seriously fell ill..."

Sender: Pushkin, Onegin, lecturer.

Recipient: reader, students.

Message: verse meter (iambic tetrameter).

Context: message about illness.

Code: Russian language.

Compliant context, which is understood as the subject of the message, otherwise called referent. This is a function of transmitting a message, focusing on the context of the message. In the process of communication, it is the most important, as it conveys information about the subject. In the text, this function is emphasized by, for example, phrases: “as stated above,” “attention, the microphone is on,” and various stage directions in the plays.

Compliant to the sender, i.e. reflects the speaker’s attitude to what is being expressed, a direct expression of the sender’s feelings. When using the expressive function, it is not the message itself that is important, but the attitude towards it.

The emotive layer of the language is represented by interjections, which are equivalents of sentences (“ay”, “oh”, “alas”). Essential Tools conveying emotions - intonation and gestures.

K.S. Stanislavski, the great Russian director, when training actors, asked them to convey up to 40 messages, saying only one phrase, for example, “Tonight”, “Fire”, etc. so that the audience can guess what situation is being discussed.

F.M. Dostoevsky in “The Diary of a Writer” describes a case when five artisans had a meaningful conversation, saying in turn: different intonation the same obscene phrase.

This function is noticeable in an anecdote where a father complains about his son’s impoliteness in a letter: “Like, he wrote: “Dad, money came out.” No, “Dad, money came out” ( with a pleading intonation)».

The addressee and the sender may not always coincide. For example, among the Chinook Indian tribe, the words of the leader are repeated in front of the people by a specially designated minister.

Poetic (aesthetic) function

Compliant message, i.e. The main role is played by the focus on the message as such, outside of its content. The main thing is the form of the message. Attention is directed to the message for its own sake. As the name suggests, this function is used primarily in poetry, where stops, rhymes, alliteration, etc. play a large role. important role in his perception, and the information is often secondary, and often the content of the poem is incomprehensible to us, but we like it in form.

Similar poems were written by K. Balmont, V. Khlebnikov, O. Mandelstam, B. Pasternak and many other poets.

The aesthetic function is often used in artistic prose, as well as in colloquial speech. Speech in such cases is perceived as an aesthetic object. Words are taken as something either beautiful or ugly.

Dolokhov in the novel “War and Peace” with obvious pleasure pronounces the word “on the spot” about the murdered man, not because he is a sadist, but simply because he likes the form of the word.

In Chekhov’s story “Men,” Olga read the Gospel and did not understand much, but the holy words touched her to tears, and she pronounced the words “even” and “dondezhe” with a sweet sinking heart.

The following dialogue is a typical case of the aesthetic function in conversation:

“Why do you always say Joan and Marjorie instead of Marjorie and Joan? Do you love Joan more? “Not at all, it just sounds better this way.”

Compliant recipient message, which the speaker focuses on, trying to influence the addressee in one way or another, to cause his reaction. This is often expressed grammatically imperative mood verbs (Speak!), as well as vocative case in archaic texts (chelovek, son), for example in a prayer in Church Slavonic: “ Father ours, who art in heaven...our daily bread give me a shout us today."

Compliant contact, i.e. The purpose of the message with this function is to establish, continue or interrupt communication, to check whether the communication channel is working. “Hello, can you hear me? -"

The language has for these purposes large number cliche phrases that are used in congratulations, at the beginning and end of a letter, and they, as a rule, do not carry literal information.

“Dear sir! I believe that you are a scoundrel and a scoundrel, and from now on I am breaking with you completely and completely.
Sincerely, Your Mr. Pumpkin."

Often, when we don’t know what to talk about with a person, but it’s simply indecent to remain silent, we talk about the weather, about some events, although they may not interest us.

Past us to the river goes fellow villager with a fishing rod. We will definitely tell him, although it is obvious: “What, go fishing?”

All of these phrases are easily predictable, but their standard nature and ease of use allow you to establish contact and overcome disunity.

American writer Dorothy Parker, during a boring reception, when casual acquaintances asked her how she was doing, answered them in a sweet tone small talk: “I just killed my husband, and everything is fine with me.” People walked away, satisfied with the conversation, not paying attention to the meaning of what was said.

In one of her stories there is a wonderful example of a phatic conversation between two lovers who practically do not need words.

"- OK! - said the young man. - OK! - she said.
- OK. So, so,” he said.
“So then,” she said, “why not?”
“I think, therefore, so,” he said, “that’s it!” So, it turns out.
Okay, she said. Okay,” he said, “okay.”

The Chinook Indians are the least talkative in this regard. An Indian could come to a friend's house, sit there and leave without a word. The very fact that he bothered to come was a sufficient element of communication. It is not necessary to talk if there is no need to communicate anything. There is a lack of phatic communication.

Children's speech under three years of age is usually phatic; children often cannot understand what is being said to them, do not know what to say, but try to babble in order to maintain communication. Children learn this function first. The desire to initiate and maintain communication is characteristic of talking birds. The phatic function in language is the only function common to animals and humans.

Language is a coherent system of signs in which sound, writing and semantic content are correlated.

The study of language itself is a science called linguistics or linguistics. Semiotics studies the characteristics of signs. How it influences thinking is determined by psycholinguistics.

The language of any community is a very heterogeneous, extremely complex, multifunctional phenomenon. Everyone has heard about the communicative function of language, but besides it there is a long series of other purposes. Let's try to look at them.

• The communicative function implies that language is necessary for communication and transmission of information.
• The thought-forming (mental, cognitive) function is closely related to communication. It is the communicative purpose that underlies the mental function of language and determines it. Very exact example B. Norman cites the cognitive role of language in his work. He quotes a line from a little girl who says she doesn't know what she's thinking until she says it out loud.
• The accumulative or cognitive function helps to accumulate knowledge, and then transfer it further to other people and generations. Many people have never been to the Moon, but thanks to the knowledge of people who have been there, we have a good idea of ​​both the lunar landscapes and the features of movement in this place.

In addition, cognitive function forms inner world person, helps to create and assimilate concepts that are formed as a result of his practical activities.

• Nominative function can also be called “a person’s faith in names.” This means that when we hear the word “table”, we imagine various items. However, they will all have essential features, which will allow the item to be classified as a “table”, not a “cabinet” or any other. This ability to isolate the general and name objects is closely related to
• The emotional-expressive purpose of language allows you to convey your emotions using words. This ability is called the “emotive function of language.” Its goal is to carry out emotional communication between people. Compare the colors of words that mean “big”: huge, healthy, gigantic. This function uses special semantics, individual interjections that can convey momentary emotions.
• The phatic function of the tongue is very important. It is inextricably linked with its goal of creating, developing and regulating relationships in micro-collectives. Using the phatic function, the interlocutor establishes contact, draws attention to himself, and then, using the regulatory function, continues the contact. Next to them is the conative function, with the help of which the language is oriented towards the addressee.
• With the help of the voluntary function of language, one person can influence another.
• The ideological function helps to influence ideology using language as a system. For example, it is used not for communication, but to maintain its statehood, acting as a symbol.
• With the help of the metalinguistic function, language as a system and phenomenon are analyzed by means of the language itself.
• Using the representational function, people convey information.
• The sphere of creativity makes it possible to realize the aesthetic orientation of the language.
• means that with the help of language a person is able to create value judgments and separate the concepts of “bad” and “good”.
• The referential function of language means that it is a means of accumulating human experience
• The omadative function helps create and control reality.

All functions of language are connected and intertwined with each other, interdependent and inseparable.