The essence of language. Its functions. Functions, nature and essence of language. The concept of modern Russian literary language

Language is a naturally occurring (at a certain stage in the development of human society) and naturally developing sign system. Language has certain functions. The function of language is the role, purpose of language in society. Linguists identify about 12 language functions, of which two are basic - communicative and cognitive. Communicative is a function of communication, cognitive is a thought-forming function, it is also called expressive, epistemological, representative (in figurative terms, “language is the clothes of thoughts”).
communicative function. Language is the most important means of communication, but not the only one. There are other means of transmitting information: gestures, facial expressions, works of art, scientific formulas. But all these are auxiliary means, their possibilities are limited: music conveys feelings, not thoughts, mathematical symbols convey the content of only mathematical concepts and so on. Language is the universal means of communication. The communicative function is manifested in the following areas human activity: 1) in establishing contact, 2) in storing and transmitting the traditions and culture of the people, i.e. Language is the link between generations.
The cognitive function is found in the following areas of human activity: 1) in naming objects and phenomena of the surrounding world; 2) in the possibility of assessing these phenomena.
To these two most important, they add an emotional function, which manifests itself in the fact that language is a means of expressing feelings, and a metalinguistic function (language is a means of scientific description himself).
Language is also a means of influencing the mental properties and behavior of individuals and entire masses, i.e. language has a phatic (suggestive-magical) function. According to Murzin L.N., this function should be placed next to the representative function in terms of significance in understanding the phenomenon, in understanding its essence. Suggestion in the broad sense of the word is a speech effect on the psychological attitudes of the recipient. Magic is the same suggestion, but to an extremely high degree, when the representative function of the language not only fades into the background, but is essentially excluded from the communicative process. Magic is distinguished by the “injection” of linguistic suggestive means, their excess in a speech work. In addition, magic requires the synthesis of various kinds of influences, both verbal (verbal) and non-verbal (gesture, facial expressions, melody, etc.). Examples of magical texts that have long been familiar to all of us are conspiracies, ritual actions of a shaman, prayers, a lullaby, poems, and so on.
The nature of a linguistic sign is such that it is capable of evoking a feeling of obscure, incomprehensible, mysterious, which is one of the foundations of the magical effect of linguistic means.
The suggestor uses the group of linguistic means that can be called directive language: verbs in the form imperative mood, words with the meaning “necessary”, must”, etc., the corresponding timbre, which is called with “metal in the voice”, intonation contrast, when the bass register is suddenly replaced by a rumbling baritone or falsetto, etc. Hypnotists and psychotherapists resort to such means. In this case, the language is openly prescriptive. If the directives of the suggestor are aimed at the subconscious, then indirect statements prevail in it, which are characterized by a contradiction between the purpose and the form of the statement, for example, the request is expressed in the form of a question, the statement is expressed in the form of an assumption.
A number of statements can be “packed” in the sentence structure, and only one is relevant at the moment, the rest go into the shadows and therefore do not fall into the “bright spot of consciousness”, but are perceived by the subconscious of the suggestant (suggerend). This is widely used by politicians, psychotherapists. For example, if you need to inspire some thought, then it is expressed not in the main, but in subordinate clause, which cannot take the final position: "While you are in perfect peace, you think about your loved ones - your wife and children." We can say that the results of all steps of creating a proposal, except for the last one, get into the subconscious. Therefore, psychotherapists, who have long noticed this feature of our perception, do not recommend starting phrases with a NOT particle. If you say "Don't worry because..." the patient becomes nervous. Negation should be at the end of the statement, then the positive thought will be fixed in the subconscious.
Among grammatical categories The future tense occupies a special place in the implicitly directive language, since it contains a certain possibility associated with the desire to realize it. Thus, if they say “Everything will be fine!”, This means that “Let everything be fine!”, i.e. “I wish everything was good!”. Psychotherapists put directives in a descriptive and narrative form, while describing what is desirable to have at the moment. Therefore, the forms of the present tense are widely used: “I am calm, my breathing is deep, my heart is working normally ...”. The general lexical tone of such a language is uncertainty, vagueness. The suggestor does not force, does not oblige, but offers to make a choice, opens up the possibility, but the possibility that he considers correct and unique. Therefore, verbs of coercion are used (forces, requires, obliges), but in combination with an inanimate noun or impersonal pronoun (Everyone obeys an inner voice, the work of your heart requires constant attention ...”). The sound side of the language has a sufficiently high degree of suggestive influence: the sound itself, causing certain associations, repetitions (causing a “soporific” effect, which contributes to the penetration of information into the subconscious), the rhythmic organization of the text.
With a suggestive impact, communication is irrational, so verbosity and monotony (as opposed to, for example, business communication) just provide the effect of suggestion.
Verbal (verbal) means of suggestion are necessarily accompanied by non-verbal ones. These include socio-psychological characteristics of communicants. The suggestor must have authority (image) and feel his psychological superiority over the suggestor (priests, teachers, doctors, etc. have such authority). The image creates an incentive to influence - trust in the source of information. This factor performs the function of “indirect argumentation”, which compensates for the absence of direct argumentation in the act. On the other hand, the suggestor usually assumes that the object of influence is capable of being suggested. So, an increased predisposition to suggestion is observed 1) in children; 2) in persons in a state of sleep; 3) in persons in a narcotic state; 4) in persons in a state of hypnosis; 5) in persons in an affective state (for example, with religious exaltation); 6) in persons with a low level of intelligence; 7) the persons that make up the group. Let us explain the last condition. Awareness and controllability of behavior, a sense of personal gain and security disappear in the crowd. The mass is characterized by radicalism and maximalism; urgency in the implementation of suggested ideas is accompanied by the elimination of the concept of impossibility. Z. Freud considered the state of a person in a crowd to be affective and even hypnotic. To captivate the masses, other methods are used than to influence an individual. It is necessary to influence the imagination of the crowd, and not logic, therefore, it is necessary to choose words-symbols that are stable images, consecrated for centuries, located in the depths of the national mentality. When influencing a mass of people, you need to use affirmative statements and use repetitions.

The sign essence of the language. A sign is a material object acting as a representative of another object. These are traffic lights, road signs. Each sign has two sides: a material shell (a visual or auditory image) and an inner one (content, what it means, what it actually relates to). This two-sidedness of the sign in the language was called “dualism of the linguistic sign” (the term was proposed by Sergey Osipovich Kartsevsky). The most famous language sign is the word. The word has two sides: external (sound range or graphic image) and internal (what the word means). Without a signifier, without content, it's just a scale. So, we can type a series of letters on the keyboard "prol". This is not a sign, this is not a word, because it is not correlated with any object in the world around us. And without the signifier, the sign also does not exist; without the signifier it is a vague thought.
In addition to the word, there are other signs in the language - units of the language. These units are characterized by different properties, between which it is often difficult to find something in common (for example, a morpheme and a text), therefore several levels are distinguished in the language: the level of sounds, the level of morphemes, the level of words, the level of sentences. Each level combines units of the same type - all sounds, all morphemes, all words, all sentences. The law of compatibility operates in the language - units of the same level are combined: sound with sound, word with word and under. As a result, a unit of a higher level arises (the combination of phonemes creates morphemes, morphemes are combined into words, etc.). It is believed that between units different levels a hierarchical (from Gr. hieros sacred + arche power) type of connection is established, implying the arrangement of the elements of the whole from the highest to the lowest. There are two types of hierarchy - connection and subordination. The hierarchy of subordination lies in the fact that the place in the lower ranks determines the form of dependence on the upper one (for example, social hierarchy). A connection hierarchy is possible: one part, connecting to another, interacts with it and together forms a whole. Language is a model of a hierarchy of connection: the lesser manifests its functions in the greater.
Not all units are bilateral, but only units, starting with a morpheme. A sound (phoneme) is a unit that has no content; it does not correspond to any reality in the surrounding world. Let's see what the content of other units is. Morphemes: for example, the suffix TEL - a person by action, “the one who ...” - the reader (the one who reads), the teacher (the one who teaches), the prefix C - the movement from top to bottom: run away, move out, fly off, etc. . The sentence reflects the situation, the “scene”: “A man is walking”, “It is dawning”.
Thus, the essence of language is that it is a sign system. Since this is a “system of systems”, a complex, grandiose system, it is impossible to study the language “in general”. For the convenience of research, sections of linguistics are distinguished: phonemes are studied in phonology, morphemes in morphemics, sentences in syntax. The word as the most complex linguistic unit is considered at all levels of the language: from the point of view of meaning (this is one of the most important aspects of the word), it is considered in lexicology, and as a part of speech - in morphology, from the point of view of functioning as a member of a sentence - in syntax. The main, main sections of the language are phonology, lexicology, morphology and syntax. Morphology and syntax are combined into one general section called grammar.
The public nature of language. Language is a social phenomenon. Numerous definitions of language emphasize its social function. So, by its very nature, language is a social phenomenon. The social nature of the language is manifested in its functions. The interaction of language and society is found in the fact that language arises, functions and develops only in society; in addition, the social differentiation of society is reflected in the language.
Society is heterogeneous, it is divided into men and women; young and old; educated and uneducated; living in different regions Russia. Not all differences between people are significant for language. Chief among them are territorial differences. The territorial varieties of a language are called dialects. In different regions, the same phenomena are called differently: wolf - biryuk, squirrel - veksha, beet - beetroot. Social varieties of language are called jargons. The two main ones are youth and student (stipeshka, hostel, etc.). For a long time there has been a thieves' slang (bear cub, plucker, family, etc.). For people of the same profession, there are professional languages, in which terms, professional words play a big role: steering wheel - “steering wheel” and so on. The speech of men and women also differs. So, for men, a stretching of consonants is typical (dur-r-rak), and for women, a stretching of vowels (Well, oh, very funny). Women's speech is characterized by verbosity, greater emotionality compared to men's speech, a tendency to exaggeration, hyperbolization. For male speech, it is common to use swear words to express a positive assessment, which is not typical for women; women are more likely to resort to euphemisms, female speech is characterized by evasiveness and uncertainty, as well as, by all accounts, illogicality. To express many meanings, women often use intonation, and men use vocabulary.
Language is not the only social phenomenon. Social phenomena include religion, politics, sports, art, etc. Language is the most democratic of social phenomena. Not all members of society are required to be politicians, athletes, paint, etc. But ignorance of the language puts a person outside society, he becomes "Mowgli".
Thus, the entire language is divided into a national language, one that is included in the language stock of most native speakers, and limited use: those linguistic means (practically words) that are known only to people connected by a non-linguistic community (territory, profession, age, etc.). ).
One should not think that everything in a language is conditioned by its social nature. Social factors influence the language indirectly. Society can most actively influence the vocabulary (for example, the language is constantly updated with new words: stapler, bifilife, hacker, user, etc.). But the number of phonemes, types of declension, structural types suggestions etc. does not depend on social phenomena.
The concept of "modern Russian literary language".
"Modern language" - this term is understood in different ways. A broad understanding includes the era from Pushkin to the present day. Indeed, over the past 200 years, the language has not undergone significant changes in the phonetic, morphological and syntactic structure, and lexical changes were not so significant that we need to translate the literature of Pushkin's time. At the same time, the language lives and develops, and the living language of our contemporaries is the form that exists in the second half of the twentieth century. Therefore, a narrow understanding modern language” – from the 50s of the twentieth century to the present day. Average understanding - from M. Gorky to the present day (the entire twentieth century).
“Russian language” is the language of the Russian nation, but due to historical processes, the Russian language is also native for people who are not Russian by nationality. In our state, there are many bilinguals who have two native languages ​​in which they can think almost the same way. Historically, on the territory of the former Tsarist Russia, the Russian language began to play the role of the language of interethnic communication.
The Russian language is included in the eastern group of Slavic languages, the common ancestor of which was the Proto-Slavic (common Slavic) language. The closest relatives of the Russian language are the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages, which are also included in the eastern group of Slavic languages.
“Literary language” is a standardized language, the highest form of the national language. Literary language is universal, on its basis scientific essays, journalistic works are created, it underlies business speech and fiction. At the heart of the literary language is the concept of the norm. The language norm is the most common of the existing ones, entrenched in the practice of exemplary use, the language variants that best perform their function. Language means are considered normative, which are characterized by 1) regular use; 2) the correspondence of this way of expression to the possibilities of the Russian language system; 3) public approval, and writers, scientists, the educated part of society act as judges. The norms are mobile, historically changeable (for example, the word “coffee” in the 19th century was used in the neuter gender, and in the 20th century it was used in the masculine gender, the use of the neuter gender is also acceptable).
The main collection of norms is dictionaries, reference books and textbooks. Spelling standards (spelling) are reflected in spelling dictionaries, pronunciation standards - in orthoepic ones. There are dictionaries of compatibility (“Educational Dictionary of Compatibility of the Russian Language”, etc.). Stylistic norms are presented in the form of stylistic marks in explanatory dictionaries (simple, bookish, colloquial, etc.). The section of linguistics, the subject of which is the theory and practice of compiling dictionaries, is called lexicography.
The literary language is characterized by a number of features:
1. This is a codified variety of the Russian language, usually associated with a written form of communication; it is focused on fixing and, as it were, designed for recording and reproducing what has been recorded. The leading form of the literary language is written, although it is also found in oral form. The formation of the oral form of literary speech dates back to the beginning of the 19th century and continued throughout the 20th century.
2. Literary speech serves as a means of implementing the entire complex of knowledge accumulated by native speakers of the Russian language in connection with progress in the field of material and spiritual culture; that is why literary speech has an ever-expanding scope of its application: it is used in all types of human activity and thus serves as a means of communication over a larger area than other forms of the Russian language.
3. Literary speech is characterized by such a system of norms that qualify as exemplary; that is why such norms appear in the minds of native speakers as obligatory, and literary speech itself is perceived as opposed to dialectal and socially limited.
4. Literary speech is such a variety of the Russian language, which is reflected in the polishing and improvement of "raw" material in acts of speech activity.
5. The system of norms of the Russian language is being codified; it is instilled in the learning process, distributed through teaching aids, dictionaries, etc.
6. Literary speech selectivity is characteristic. The selection of language means is perhaps the most important of the patterns of development.
There are two FORMS of language - oral and written. Oral - primordial, this is the form in which any language originally exists. The written form arose from the need of society to convey information to distant interlocutors or another generation. The oral form of speech is characterized by spontaneity, unpreparedness. This speech is perceived immediately, directly by the organs of hearing, it exists as "speaking" with its characteristic melody, rhythm, intonation. Oral speech is focused on momentary perception, on the interlocutor and is built taking into account his reactions. Oral speech is direct, expressive, it uses different means actualization of the verbal form: intonation, timbre and strength of the voice, repetition, violation of word order, distortion of the sound side of the word, etc. All this is aimed at strengthening the influencing factor of the utterance and raising the emotional tone of speech activity.
Written speech is focused on the perception of the organs of vision, so this speech can be referred to more than once. Written speech is different in that the very form of speech activity reflects the conditions and purpose of communication. The choice of words, expressions, syntactic constructions, the arrangement of words in the structure of sentences - all this is subject to stylistic restrictions. So, scientific texts are distinguished by the fact that they are characterized by the use of terms, detailed structures complex sentences and under. In the texts of official business correspondence, there is a standardization of the form of presentation, language formulas of legal practice, etc.
Written and oral speech carried out in a dialogic and monologue form. Dialogue involves spontaneity, a direct reaction to the words of the interlocutor, the use of non-verbal means of communication (gesture, facial expressions, posture, facial expressions, eyes, etc.), change of topic, the use of short and incomplete sentences, the possibility of asking questions, clarifications in the course of communication. The monologue presupposes preparedness, structural organization (it is especially important to think over the beginning and end of the speech), lack of orientation towards the interlocutor, i.e. the impossibility of changing or restructuring the theme, etc.

Language is the most important means of communication between people. Inextricably linked with human thinking, it is the so-called social means of storing and transmitting information. Language is one of the most important means of controlling human behavior. The languages ​​inherent in different nationalities differ from each other, but they have common patterns. Therefore, speaking about the essence of language, we explain the essence of any world language, as well as all of them in the aggregate.
1. Naturalistic (biological) approach to language
The development of a naturalistic approach to language is associated with the name of the outstanding German researcher August Schleicher. Schleicher's naturalistic philosophy of language is set forth in such works as Darwin's Theory and the Science of Language, botanists and zoologists, would be species of the same genus, are recognized in linguistics as children of one common basic language, from which they originated by gradual change.
Schleicher also sees the closeness of language to natural organisms in the ability of language to evolve. With all the shortcomings, the naturalistic direction in linguistics should be considered as a stage in the progressive movement of the science of language. The desire of representatives of this trend to apply the exact methods of the natural sciences to the study of the language should be considered valuable.

2. Mental approach to language
Another well-known point of view on the nature and essence of language is that language is a mental phenomenon. One of the most prominent representatives who represented the psychological point of view on language was Geiman Steinthal. Steinthal considered language to be a mental phenomenon that develops on the basis of the laws of psychology. He denied the role of thinking in the formation of language, attaching importance to the psyche. Steital categorically denied the participation of thinking in the development of language. Shtenthal focused all his attention on the individual act of speech, considering language as a phenomenon of a mental order.

3. Language is a social phenomenon
There is a point of view that language is a social phenomenon.
The language of an individual depends on environment and is influenced by the speech of the collective. If small children fall into the conditions of life of animals, then they acquire the skills of animal life and lose everything human forever. But language is not an external phenomenon that only accompanies a person. It is deeply connected to the human mind.

4. Language as a system of signs
Language is considered as a system of signs. A sign can be defined as a kind of material unit that creates a language as a phenomenon.
With regard to language, the term sign can be defined by the following points:
1. The sign must be material, that is, it must be accessible to sensory perception, like any other thing.
2. The sign has no meaning, but is aimed at meaning, for this it exists.
3. The content of a sign does not coincide with its material characteristics, while the content of a thing is exhausted by its material characteristics.
4. The content of a sign is determined by its distinctive features, which are analytically distinguished and separated from non-distinctive ones.

5. Language functions according to Buhler
The Austrian psychologist, philosopher and linguist Karl Buhler, describing in his book "Theory of Language" the various directions of the signs of the language, defines 3 main functions of the language:
Language functions according to Buhler:
1) the function of expression, or expressive function, when the state of the speaker is expressed.
2) The function of calling, addressing the listener, or appellative function.
3) The function of presentation, or representative, when one tells or tells something to another.

6. Functions of the language according to the Reformed
1) Nominative, that is, the words of the language can name things and phenomena of reality.
2) communicative; Suggestions serve this purpose.
3) Expressive, thanks to it the emotional state of the speaker is expressed.
Within the framework of this function, one can also single out a deictic (pointing) function that combines some elements of the language with gestures.

Language is a multifunctional phenomenon. All functions of language are manifested in communication. The following language functions are distinguished [ source unspecified 779 days] :

communicative (or communication function) - the main function of the language, the use of language to convey information;

constructive (or mental; thought-forming) - the formation of the thinking of the individual and society;

cognitive (or accumulative function) - transmission of information and its storage;

emotional-expressive - expression of feelings, emotions;

Voluntary (or call-incentive function) - impact function;

Metalinguistic (metalinguistic) - explanations by means of the language of the language itself; In relation to all sign systems, language is an instrument of explanation and organization. The point is that the metalanguage of any code is formed in words.

phatic (or contact-setting) - The use of language to establish psychological contact between interlocutors;

· ideological function - the use of a particular language or type of writing to express ideological preferences. For example, the Irish language is used mainly not for communication, but as a symbol of Irish statehood. The use of traditional writing systems is often perceived as cultural continuity, and the transition to the Latin script as modernizing.

omadative [ source unspecified 779 days] (or shaper of reality) - creation of realities and their control;

nominative - a person's belief in the name

denotative, representative - information transfer, representation

conative - orientation to the addressee;

aesthetic - the sphere of creativity;

axiological - value judgment (good / bad).

reference (or reflective) - a function of language, in which language is a means of accumulating human experience.

Language as a system of systems

In the middle of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries, in the natural and human sciences, a transition began to be made to a system-structural representation of reality. The idea of ​​structure was developed in philosophy by Marx, in chemistry by Butlerov and Mendeleev, in physics by Bohr and Rutherford, in linguistics by Saussure, B.D. Corten, Fortunatov.

The principle of systemic language is due to the systemic nature of objective reality itself.

Saussure was one of the first to speak about language as a system. The term "system" was important to him. The term "structure" was introduced by his students.

Currently a system is understood as a set of interrelated and interdependent elements.

Structure – structure and internal form of organization of the system.

In linguistics, there are two types of systems: homogeneous and heterogeneous.

• homogeneous– are made up of the same elements.
• Heterogeneous– more complex system, consisting of various elements.

They are divided into subsystems.

Language belongs to a heterogeneous system. It consists of subsystems that cannot function separately, therefore, they are parts of a single whole.
Language subsystems are called levels or tiers. The main tiers of the language:

• phonetics
• morphemic (word-forming)
• vocabulary
• syntax

Each of these tiers has corresponding units. The units of one tier of the language must directly synthesize the unit of another overlying tier. The combination of such tiers constitutes a hierarchy. Each language unit corresponds to a speech unit.

The relations between the units of the language system are reduced to 3 types:

1. paradigmatic

2. syntagmatic

3. hierarchical

Paradigmatic: Relationships of similarity and difference, on the basis of which units are grouped into a paradigm.

A paradigm is a set of language units, a set of systemically related variants of the same unit.

Phonetics level:

Sets of vowel phonemes, consonant phonemes - the paradigm of vowels / consonants.

General paradigm: vowels

Private: front row; long and short.

Vocabulary level:

The set of meanings of a polysemantic word. Synonymic series. Antonymic couple. Thematic group.

Morphology level:

Case paradigm: home - home - home, etc. Person number paradigm. temporal paradigm.

Syntax level:

The simple/complex sentence paradigm. Subject paradigm.

syntagmatic relations:

This is a relationship of interaction. Members of the paradigm of functioning in speech enter into syntagmatic relations. They are organized into a speech sequence according to the laws of the language structure in accordance with their combinations and capabilities.

The syntagmatics of a language is understood as a set of combined capabilities of language units and their implementation in the process of speech.

Valence of language units – the ability to combine with other units, or its syntagmatic potential properties.

Distribution – concrete implementation of these properties and capabilities.

Syntagmatics in language – potency (opportunity), and in speech - the realization of this possibility.

Relations of structurally simpler units with more complex ones (between words and sentences):

Paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations unite units of the same degree of complexity, and hierarchical relations vice versa.

In this regard, within each tier of the language, only paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations are possible, and hierarchical relations between units of different tiers are possible.

The role of these relations is often exaggerated. Thus, structuralists consider them the main factor of language. Such an exaggeration of the role of relations leads to a separation of language from extralinguistic reality. It should be taken into account that only the objects of reality and the language system form relationships. They (objects) are permanent and more important than the relationships between them.

The language system occupies a special place among other systems surrounding a person. Solntsev classifies all systems by origin:

1) material (primary) that existed before man and outside of man, and characteristic of nature. (Liquids, solids)

Human activity creates 3 more types of systems:

• ideal
• artificial
• semiotic (secondary).

Ideal – systems whose elements are ideal objects, concepts or ideas.

For example, the system of ideas of a work of art; system of concepts of any science.

artificial – technical. Mechanisms, devices, machines.

Secondary – languages ​​and other systems of signs created to fix semantic information in expressions and as a means of communication between people.

The source of all systems, except for the primary one, is the mental activity of a person, thinking. Man himself is a primary, natural and thinking system.

Language sign. Its properties

language sign- a unit of language (morpheme, word, phrase or sentence), which serves either to designate objects or phenomena of reality and their relations, or to designate relations between elements of the language as part of complex signs; exponent of a given linguistic meaning. Morphemes capable of realizing meanings only in combination with other signs can be called half signs or partial signs(as opposed to complete referred directly to the designated situation - referent, denotation)

Properties of a linguistic sign: 1. A linguistic sign is material and ideal at the same time; represents the unity of the sound shell - the signifier (form), and what it denotes - the signified (content). The signifier is material (sound, letters), the signified is ideal (what is embedded in our metaconsciousness). 2. The linguistic sign is primary, the signs of other sign systems are secondary. 3. Arbitrariness. 4. Motivation - the presence of logical connections between the signifier and the signified. 5. Changeability (variance):

a) The signifier changes, but the signified remains unchanged; for example, earlier the month "February" was called "February", over time this name was transformed into the familiar "February"; also "brow" - "forehead".

b) The signifier remains the same, but the signified changes. A change in the signified can lead to either an improvement or a deterioration in the meaning. For example, the word "girl" in the XVIII-XIX centuries. did not have a negative connotation, but today we use it in expressions like "walking girl". The word "guy" possessed in the XVIII-XIX centuries. negative derogatory connotation; in the 20th century, the word "young man" almost fell into disuse, and the word "guy" took its place.

6. Asymmetry: one signifier can have several signifieds (as, for example, in homonymy). Also, one signifier can have several signifiers. This phenomenon is called synonymy.

7. The linear nature of the signifier. Speech has a duration in time and space - we pronounce words sequentially, linearly, letter by letter.

8. Significance. Significance can only be revealed in the system by comparing a linguistic sign with other linguistic signs.

Several types of signs are used in society. The most famous signs-signs, signs-signals, signs-symbols and linguistic signs. Signs-signs carry some information about the object (phenomenon) due to a natural connection with them: smoke in the forest can inform about a fire, a splash on the river - about fish playing in it, a frosty pattern on the window glass - about the temperature outside. Signs-signals carry information according to the condition, by agreement and have no natural connection with the objects (phenomena) they inform about: a green rocket can mean the beginning of an attack or the beginning of some kind of festival, two stones on the shore show the place of the ford, a blow to gong means end of work. Signs-symbols carry information about an object or phenomenon based on the abstraction from it of some properties and features, perceived as representatives of the entire phenomenon, its essence; these properties and signs can be recognized in signs-symbols (a drawing of hands joined in a mutual shake is a symbol of friendship, a dove is a symbol of peace).
Language signs occupy a very special place in the typology of signs.

A linguistic sign connects not a thing and not a name, but a concept and an acoustic image. Only meaningful units can be considered linguistic signs: a word (lexeme) and a morpheme.

Ling.conc.B de Courtenay

His activities are connected with Kazan, Tartu, Warsaw, Krakow, St. Petersburg universities. The most famous works: "Some general remarks on linguistics and linguistics" (1871), "Introduction to linguistics" (1901) and a number of others.

Concept:

• The essence of human language is exclusively psychological, since all phenomena of language and speech are mental phenomena.
• Language exists potentially, and he considers the conditions for the realization of this potential phenomenon to be thinking and the public.
• He clearly distinguished synchrony and diachrony.

He considered the description of the inner side of the language, which is a system, to be the basic law of diachrony. The basis of the language system is made up of language elements, between which there are various relationships => in the language system singled out 2 sides:

• - material - the elements of the language themselves as such
• - relative - a set of relationships between linguistic elements.

B. de Courtenay focused on the material side, he was the founder of the modern theory of language units. So, together with Krushevsky, he introduced into use the concept of a phoneme (a unit of language, which is a generalizing type of sound that performs a number of functions) and a morpheme (the minimum meaningful part of a word).

He called the main elements of the language: phoneme, morpheme, word and sentence. This scheme has become traditional in Russian linguistics.

He singled out 2 signs of language elements:

• The functional significance of each element must perform a function - a word; the nominal function of the sentence is communicative.
• Abstraction.

The 70s were the heyday of young grammarians. It was considered the study of language in diachrony.
Courtenay defined the following tasks for linguists:

• - identifying the causes of language changes;
• - revealing the chronological stratification of the language in diachrony;

He was more engaged in solving the 1st task by establishing a typology of the causes of language evolution. He noted: the desire for convenience and all sorts of savings in the work of muscles, nerve ramifications and central? as a result of such savings, the addition of sounds and sound combinations is simplified. ?

In diachrony, he singled out synchronic slices and determined that the language changed not only in history, but also in synchrony, and language changes in synchrony, he called the chronological layer.

He spoke about the outer and inner sides of the language. The material for the external side of the language coincides to a large extent with the material for the history and history of literature, while for the internal side of the language, the material is the language itself as the subject of study.

• - differentiated the concept of language and speech
• - talked about the significant nature of the language
• - Pupils Shcherba, Vinogradov, Krushevsky.

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1. The nature of language.

a) Naturalistic (biological) approach to language

b) Mental approach to language

c) Language is a social phenomenon

d) Language as a system of signs

Language functions.

Language and speech

Language and thought.

1. The nature of language.

Revealing the nature of language is one of the problems of linguistics. To reveal the nature of language means to determine what phenomena it refers to: biological, mental, public (social). There are many answers to this question.

a) Naturalistic (biological) approach to language

Some scientists considered language to be a biological phenomenon, that is, they put it on a par with such phenomena of human life as the ability to eat, drink, walk, etc. This point of view arose in the middle of the 19th century under the influence of the development of the natural sciences, it turned out that language was allegedly laid down in the very biological being of man and could be inherited.

The development of a naturalistic approach to language is associated with the name of the outstanding German researcher August Schleicher (1821-1868). Schleicher's naturalistic philosophy of language is most clearly set forth in such works as "Darwin's Theory and the Science of Language" 1863, "The Significance of Language for the Natural History of Man" 1865. In his work "Darwin's Theory and the Science of Language" Schleicher directly pointed out that "the laws established Darwin for species of plants and animals, are applicable, at least in their main features and to the organisms of languages. The influence of Darwin's theory is most clearly manifested in the transfer by Schleicher of the position on the struggle for existence in the plant and animal world to the language. Schleicher is convinced that in the present period of the life of mankind, the winners in the struggle for existence are predominantly the languages ​​of the Indo-Germanic tribe. He translates into languages ​​the law of species variability established by Darwin. In his opinion, those languages ​​that, according to the expression of botanists and zoologists, would be species of the same genus, are recognized in linguistics as children of one common basic language, from which they originated by gradual change.

Schleicher also sees the closeness of language to natural organisms in the ability of language to evolve. In this regard, Schleicher states: "The life of a language does not differ significantly from the life of all other living organisms - plants and animals." Like these latter, it has a period of growth from the simplest structures to more complex forms, and a period of aging in which languages ​​fall further and further from the highest stage of development they have reached and their forms suffer damage.

With all the shortcomings, the naturalistic direction in linguistics should be considered as a stage in the progressive movement of the science of language. The desire of representatives of this trend, in particular Schleicher, to apply the exact methods of the natural sciences to the study of language should be considered valuable. Erroneous in the concept of Schleicher and his followers was a too straightforward transfer into the language of the laws inherent in biological organisms, which really grow, develop, and then become decrepit and die. Languages, of course, also arise, develop, and sometimes die. But this death is not biological, but socio-historical in nature. The language dies only with the disappearance of the society that speaks it, the collective of people.

Also erroneous is the assertion of supporters of this theory that language can be inherited. For example, if a newborn child is placed on a desert island and if he survives there, then he will run and climb perfectly, but will not speak. After all, the child begins to speak not in the language of his parents, but in the language of the people around him.

However, despite the erroneous nature of the naturalistic concept in linguistics, one should always take into account the fact that the comparison of language with a living organism contributed to the establishment of a systematic view of language as an object with its own structure.

b) Mental approach to language

Another well-known point of view on the nature and essence of language is that language is a phenomenon mental. One of the most prominent representatives who represented the psychological point of view on language was Geiman Steinthal (1823-1899). Steinthal's psychological conception is presented most clearly and consistently in his work Grammar, Logic and Psychology, Their Principles and Relationships. Steinthal considered language to be a mental phenomenon that develops on the basis of the laws of psychology. He denied the role of thinking in the formation of language, attaching importance to the psyche. Schleicher completely excluded logic, arguing that "the categories of language and logic are not compatible, and they can hardly be correlated with each other as the concept of a circle and red." Thus, he categorically denied the participation of thinking in the development of language. Steinthal focused all his attention on the individual act of speech, considering language as a phenomenon of a mental order.

Linguists who support this theory have argued that language arises as a result of the human psyche. But in this case, the language should be individual for each person, as well as the individual psyche of each person. Meanwhile, this never happens. The language of an individual person arises and develops only in a collective under the influence of the speech of the collective.

c) Language is a social phenomenon

Finally, there is a point of view that language is a social phenomenon.

F. Engels: "Language is as ancient as consciousness ... Like consciousness, language arises from a need, from an urgent need to communicate with other people."

The language of an individual depends on the environment and is influenced by the speech of the collective. If small children fall into the conditions of life of animals, then they acquire the skills of animal life and lose everything human forever.

Language is the most important means of human communication. It is this function that distinguishes it from other social phenomena, such as, for example, production, technology, science, thinking, etc.

The Dane Hjelmslev in his book "Prolegomena to the Theory of Language" gives an exhaustive description of language as a phenomenon: "The language of human speech is an inexhaustible supply of various treasures. Language is inseparable from a person and follows him in all his actions. Language is a tool through which a person forms a thought and feelings, moods, desires, will and activity.Language is an instrument through which a person influences people, and others influence him.Language is the primary and most necessary basis of human society.But it is also the final necessary support of the human person, the refuge of man in hours loneliness, when the mind enters into a struggle with life and the conflict is born by the monologue of a poet or thinker.But language is not an external phenomenon that only accompanies a person.It is deeply connected with the human mind.It is the wealth of memory inherited by the individual and the tribe.Language is so deeply rooted in personality, family, nation, humanity and life itself, that we sometimes cannot shrink from the question whether language is not just a reflection of phenomena, but their embodiment, the seed from which they grew. For these reasons, language has always attracted the attention of man, he was surprised, he was described in poetry and science.

d) Language as a system of signs

Language is considered as a system of signs. A sign can be defined as a kind of material unit that creates a language as a phenomenon.

With regard to language, the term sign can be defined by the following points:

1. The sign must be material, that is, it must be accessible to sensory perception, like any other thing.

2. The sign has no meaning, but is aimed at meaning, for this it exists.

The nature and essence of language

1. Language is a social phenomenon. Language, as a social phenomenon, arises in society to serve the needs of people, but there are many phenomena in language that cannot be explained only by the social nature of language. The language of an individual depends on the environment and is influenced by the speech of the collective.

Biological approach to language.

Language is a universal biological property as a psychophysical reserve in the human brain. language is a biological, natural phenomenon, independent of man. It is generated in the human body, in its speech apparatus. Language is a tool through which a person forms thoughts and feelings, moods, desires, will and activity. Language is a tool through which a person influences people, and others influence him.

3. Mental approach to language. It is found in the fact that language-speech is not only a form of expression of thoughts and emotions, but also a means of forming thoughts, a form of existence of thinking.

Output: language is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, which is unthinkable to consider only from one side. Each of the considered approaches is correct in its own way, but in order to determine the nature of the language as accurately as possible, one has to turn to all its aspects, remember its biological nature, do not forget about the social side and consider it from the point of view of the human psyche.

Language features

Language as a social phenomenon performs a number of functions:

1. Formation and expression of thought. Thought is formed in the form of words and a combination of words. Only when a global undivided thought is uttered, it acquires clarity and clarity. Human. language is the most adequate form of expression of thought. Thought can be expressed by other means, for example. in figurative-symbolic formulas, mathematical signs, etc.

communicative(or communication function) - the use of language to convey information, to be a means of communication between people. This global function is represented by sub-functions that can be used in speech in isolation or in a selective characteristic with each other:

cognitive (or cognitive function) - the formation of the thinking of the individual and society; the possibility of obtaining knowledge with the help of the language in the educational activities of people.

The function of the message itself is realized in unilateral or bilateral acts of information transfer (lecture, examination).

informative (or accumulative function) - the transfer of information and its storage (chronicles, dictionaries, diaries);

regulatory and planning - the ability to regulate the behavior of people. With the help of plans, orders, instructions;

emotive- the ability of a language-speech to express feelings and emotions using different language means: interjections, emotive vocabulary, phraseology;

metalinguistic - the use of languages. as a means of research and description of the language itself.

phatic (or contact-establishing) - the ability of a language to inform communicants about their socio-psychological status and thereby determine the establishment or termination of contacts between them. This function is realized primarily when using the norms of speech etiquette;

4. Language- this is a naturally occurring and naturally developing system of objectively existing and socially fixed signs that correlate the conceptual content and typical sound.

Language is an open, dynamic system. The system of a language is the internal organization of its units and parts. Each language unit enters the system as a part of the whole, it is connected with other units and parts of the language system directly or indirectly through language categories.

The language system is complex and multifaceted, this applies to both its structure and functioning, i.e. use and development. The language system determines the ways of its development, but not the specific form, because in any language, its norm, one can find systemic (structural) and asystemic (destructive) facts. This arises both as a result of the unrealization of all the possibilities of the system, and as a result of the influence of other languages ​​and social factors.

For example, nouns in the Russian language potentially have a 12-element declension paradigm, but not every noun has the entire set of word forms, and there are nouns that have a large number of word forms [cf.: about the forest and in the forest, when the prepositional case splits into explanatory and local];

IN modern theories systems, various types and types of systems are analyzed. For linguistics, systems that have the property of optimality and openness are important. The sign of openness and dynamism is characteristic of language as a system. The dynamism of the system is manifested in the opposite of its linguistic tradition, fixed in the literary language, the stereotype of speech activity. Potentiality as a manifestation of the dynamism and openness of the language system does not oppose it to the language with its categories and specific units.

5. One-level and multi-level language units can enter into two types of systemic relations - paradigmatic and syntagmatic.

Paradigm. (gr.-example) rel. - the relationship between units of this and different levels, grouped in the human brain on the basis of various associations. For example, similarity or closeness, adjacency of lexical meanings serves as the basis of synonymy. The similarity of form reveals itself in such categories as homonomy, paronymy, polysemy. The opposite of meanings forms antonymy, etc.

Syntagmatic (gr.-together built, connected) rel.-rel. (postfix, stem root, inflection).

Eg. Turkic postfixes with the meaning plural –lar/-ler in the position on the left is the stem root, in the position on the right are postfixes with different grammars. values. Rus. potfix -nick in the position on the left has a root (tea-nick), in the position on the right - diff. Flexions (tea-nik-i),

6. Speech is a form of communication that has developed historically in the process of the material transforming activity of people and is mediated by language.

In psychology, there are two main type of speech: external and internal.

External speech includes oral (dialogical and monologue) and written. Dialogue is a direct communication between two or more people. Dialogic speech- this speech is supported; the interlocutor puts clarifying questions during her, giving remarks, can help complete the thought (or reorient it). A kind of dialogic communication is a conversation, in which the dialogue has a thematic focus.

monologue speech- a long, consistent, coherent presentation of a system of thoughts, knowledge by one person. This type of speech also develops in the process of communication, but the nature of communication here is different: the monologue is uninterrupted, therefore, the speaker has an active, gestural effect.

monologue speech- connected, contextual. The monologue does not tolerate incorrect construction of phrases. He makes a number of demands on the tempo and sound of this type of speech.

Written speech is a type of monologue. It is more developed than oral monologue speech. This is because written language implies a lack of feedback from the interlocutor. In addition, this type of speech does not have any additional means of influencing the perceiver, except for the words themselves, their order and the punctuation marks organizing the sentence.

7. inner speech is a special kind of speech activity. It acts as a planning phase in practical and theoretical activities. Therefore, for inner speech, on the one hand, is characterized by fragmentation, fragmentation. On the other hand, misunderstandings in the perception of the situation are excluded here. That's why inner speech extremely situational, in this it is close to dialogic. Inner speech is formed on the basis of external speech.

Any thought, regardless of whether a person wants or does not want to express it, is formed with the help of inner speech with the participation of movements of the speech apparatus. It goes through the stage of internal pronunciation, internal processing. Speech movements are invisible to the eye, but they can be recorded using special devices. The translation of external speech into internal (internalization) is accompanied by a reduction (contraction) of the structure of external speech, and the transition from internal speech to external (exteriorization), on the contrary, requires the deployment of the structure of internal speech, building it in accordance not only with logical rules, but also with grammatical ones.

Inner speech has the following features:

a) contraction (curtailment). It omits most of the members of the sentence and only one of the main ones remains: the subject or predicate;

b) the absence of vocalization (its soundlessness) as a result of inhibited and disinhibited articulation.

c) inner speech exists as a kinesthetic, auditory or visual image of a word.

8. PSYCHOLINGUISTICS, a branch of linguistics that studies language primarily as a phenomenon of the psyche. From the point of view of psycholinguistics, language exists to the extent that the inner world of the speaker and listener, writer and reader exists.

This is a complex science, which belongs to the linguistic disciplines, since it studies the language, and to the psychological disciplines, since it studies it in a certain aspect - as a mental phenomenon. And since language is a sign system that serves society, psycholinguistics is also included in the circle of disciplines that study social communications, including the design and transfer of knowledge.

A person is born endowed with the possibility of complete mastery of the language. However, this opportunity has yet to be realized. To understand exactly how this happens, psycholinguistics studies the development of a child's speech.

Psycholinguistics also investigates the reasons why the development of speech and its functioning deviate from the norm. Psycholinguistics studies the speech defects of children and adults. These are defects that arose in the early stages of life - in the process of mastering speech, as well as defects that were the result of later anomalies - such as brain injuries, hearing loss, mental illness.

NEUROLINGUISTICS is a branch of science that is borderline for psychology, neurology and linguistics, studying the brain mechanisms of speech activity and changes in speech processes that occur with local lesions of the brain.

The formation of neurolinguistics as a scientific discipline is associated with the development of neuropsychology, as well as linguistics and psycholinguistics. According to the concepts of modern neuropsychology, neurolinguistics considers speech as a systemic function, and aphasia as a systemic disorder of already formed speech.

9. Speech activity - interconnected speech actions aimed at achieving one goal. Speech activity is divided into writing, reading, speaking, translation, etc.

The process of speech involves, on the one hand, the formation and formulation of thoughts language means, and on the other hand, the perception of language structures and their understanding.

Thus, speech is a psycholinguistic process, a form of existence of human language.

The physiological basis of speech is the conditioned reflex activity of the cerebral cortex. As an irritant, the word has three forms of expression: the word heard, the word seen, the word spoken

1) lungs, bronchi, trachea;

2) larynx;

3) pharynx, nasal cavity, nasopharynx, uvula, palate, tongue, teeth and lips

The concept of speech activity. Contrasting speech with language, speech is called both speech skills, and a speech act, and the result of speech - a text, and even speech activity itself - language ability and speech behavior.

The speech activity of the speaker has a social and psychophysiological side. The social nature of speech activity lies in the fact that it is part of a person's social activity, and that both the speech act and the speech situation involve public speakers who know a single language of communication, a common culture, a common theme.

A speech act as a psychophysical process is a connection between the speaker and the listener, which involves 3 components - speaking, perception and understanding of speech. A speech act as a dialogue presupposes the establishment of a connection between the interlocutors. In general, a speech act is a unity of message transmission and joint thinking.

10. The generation of speech occurs in the process of speech activity aimed at the verbalization of thought. This is the path from thought to word.

The path from thought to word consists mainly in the preparation of a speech statement. The well-known psycholinguist A.R. Luria identifies 4 stages on this path. It begins with a motive and a general idea (stage 1). Then it goes through the stage of inner speech, followed by the stage of formation of the syntactic structure (stage 3). The production of speech ends with the deployment of an external speech statement (stage 4).

There are two phases of speech production:

1) preverbal stage of speech; it is connected with the appearance of the speaker's intention;

2) the verbal stage, when personal meanings acquire verbal expression.

These stages affect, respectively, the work of the right and left hemispheres of the cerebral cortex in their close interaction.

The interaction of the right and left hemispheres in the process of speech production is subject to one main goal: the translation of thought into speech. The transformation of thought into speech is associated with the transformation of a multidimensional mental image into a one-dimensional, linear statement.

Speech perception- one of the complex processes of speech activity. It includes the perception of the sound composition of the word, grammatical forms, intonation and other means of language that express a certain content of thought.

Speech understanding- the process is no less complicated than the perception of it. To understand speech talking person First of all, you must clearly hear and understand every word. But the meaning of a word is often clarified only as part of a phrase, sentence.

11. Language levels are arranged in relation to each other according to the principle of ascending or descending complexity of language units. The idea of ​​levels implies the hierarchical structure of the language system, the dominance of some units over others and, conversely, the subordination of some units to others.

The level structure of the language becomes apparent with the stepwise linear articulation of the utterance. First, sentences are singled out, in which words are distinguished as their constituent words, which, in turn, break up into morphemes. Morphemes are divided into phonemes. Units over low level are included in units of higher levels: phoneme-morpheme-lexeme-s.combination. and offer.

Grammatical units- grammatically designed language formations, each of which is characterized by its own distinctive features:

Morpheme;

Word (word form);

Phrase;

Sentence.

Morpheme- the minimum significant part of a word or word form; construction material words. Morphemes are distinguished by a special morphemic analysis.

Word- one of the main grammatical units, which is a unity of form (sound shell) and content (lexical and grammatical meanings).

phrase- a syntactic construction that consists of two or more significant words interconnected by a subordinate relationship - agreement, control, adjacency, or in some languages ​​- juxtaposition.

Sentence- a syntactic construction representing a grammatically organized compound of words (or a word), which has a certain semantic and intonational completeness, word combinations, forming different types simple sentences;

Sema- an elementary component of the meaning, implemented inside the seme, that is, the seme is the minimum piece of meaning, indecomposable into parts. Words and different meanings of a word differ in a set of such components.

Sema - the value component reflects the attribute of the object. Since these signs may also have the most general specific character, the following types of semes are distinguished: classmes(thematic; the most generalized features corresponding to the meaning of parts of speech), archisemes(features that define a group of words within a part of speech), differential(features by which words are opposed, grouped according to one archiseme and by which one seme can be distinguished from another).

12. Linguistic meanings can be divided into two types according to their relation to language units. In the first case, we are talking about the semantics of the linguistic units themselves, their content - these are structural linguistic meanings. In the second case, we are talking about the concept and other categories and transmitted information, about the semantic purpose of units of language and context - these are informative language meanings. Language meanings as the content of language units are divided into lexical and grammatical meanings.

Lexical meaning - the content of the word, reflecting in the mind and fixing in it the idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe object, property, process, phenomenon, etc. L. z. - a product of human mental activity, it is of a generalized nature. Usually L. h. associated with the concept.

The lexical meaning reveals the signs by which common properties are determined for a number of objects, actions, phenomena, and also establishes differences that distinguish this object, action, phenomenon.

A word can have one lexical meaning ( unambiguous words): syntax, tangent, whatman,secret etc. Words that have two, three or more lexical meanings are called ambiguous:

Grammatical meaning e is a characteristic of a word from the point of view of belonging to a certain part of speech, the most general meaning inherent in a number of words, independent of their real material content. In the field of morphology, for example, these are the grammatical meanings of parts of speech, cases, gender, tense, etc.

For example, words smoke And House have different lexical meanings, and the grammatical meanings of these words are the same: noun, common noun, inanimate, masculine, II declension, each of these words can be determined by an adjective, change by cases and numbers, act as a member of a sentence.

13. Lexical meaning - the correlation of the sound shell of the word with the corresponding objects or phenomena of objective reality (the so-called conceptual core). The lexical meaning does not include the entire set of features inherent in any object, phenomenon, action, etc., but only the most significant ones that help to distinguish one object from another. The lexical meaning reveals the signs by which common properties are determined for a number of objects, actions, phenomena, and also establishes differences that distinguish this object, action, phenomenon.

For example, the lexical meaning of the word giraffe is defined as follows: “African artiodactyl ruminant with a very long neck and long legs”, that is, those signs that distinguish a giraffe from other animals are listed.

The structure of the lexical meaning of a word also includes a stylistic meaning, or connotation, - this is an assessment that is given to an object, a phenomenon by a person as a result of his cognitive activity.

14. The lexical meanings of words can be considered from different angles.

Value types are classified according to the following criteria:

1) according to the method of nomination, i.e. by the nature of the connection between the meaning of the word and the subject of non-linguistic reality;

2) according to the degree of semantic motivation;

3) if possible, lexical compatibility;

4) according to syntactic behavior;

5) by the nature of the nomination.

1. By the method of nomination

There are two types: direct and figurative.

direct- this is the meaning in which the word directly indicates the object, action, sign and directly correlates with the concept. This is the main meaning, the stable name of the subject.

Figurative meaning- this is the result of the transfer of the direct designation of the subject to new item. This value appears on the basis of comparisons, associations that unite one subject with another.

There are several types of figurative meanings of words: metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche.

2. According to the degree of semantic motivation

Allocate values ​​motivated and unmotivated.

Unmotivated Meaning- this is a non-derivative meaning that words have in their direct meaning with a non-derivative stem. For example, deciduous forest, residential building.

Motivated Meaning- this is a derivative meaning that words in a figurative sense and derivative words have. The figurative meaning is explained through the direct meaning, and the word is derivative in terms of meaning. For example, a snub nose is a direct meaning, a ship's bow is figurative.

The meanings of derived words arise on the basis of generating bases, i.e. the word is derivative in the word-formation relation. For example, a nose is a nose.

3. By lexical compatibility

Allocate lexically free and phraseologically related.

Lexically free: in terms of lexical compatibility, such words have a relatively wide compatibility with other words. For example, a tall house, a tall person, high ceilings (large in length). But there may be restrictions on compatibility with other words. Compatibility can be limited by logic, subject-logical relations. This is due to non-linguistic reasons. For example, you can not say "high borscht".

Compatibility can also be limited by linguistic relations proper. These words have non-free meanings or phraseologically related meanings.

Phraseologically related are values ​​that are realized only under conditions of certain combinations given word with a limited stable range of lexical units. For example, logically, adjectives denoting color could be combined with any words that can be determined by these features: brown - brown - brown. But language norm does not allow to combine the adjective "brown" with the word coat, table, door, in contrast to the adjective "brown". The adjectives "brown" and "brown" are combined with a narrow range of nouns. "Brown" is a lexically free type of meaning, this word has a relatively wide compatibility.

Sometimes, especially in poetic works, these restrictions are lifted and the possibilities of combining words with other words increase. For example, to cry sobbingly - to write about February sobbingly (by Pasternak), a flock of comrades (from a joke).

4. By syntactic behavior

Allocate syntactically free, syntactically determined and constructively limited meanings.

Syntactically free values- these are the meanings that the word of a certain part of speech has in its usual syntactic function.

Syntactically conditional values- these are the meanings that appear when the word performs a syntactic function unusual for it.

For example, a crow and a raven are different birds. A crow is a bird with gray plumage, a raven is a useful bird. Crow is a syntactically free word. Your sister is such a crow figurative meaning"distracted person"); syntactically determined. As a rule, this word is not used as a subject in a figurative sense. Perhaps only in combination with a demonstrative pronoun: this crow always forgets everything.

Structurally limited values are values ​​that are implemented only under the conditions of a certain syntactic construction.

Mirage is an optical phenomenon. The mirage of love is a deceptive sign, an illusion. This is the figurative meaning that the word "mirage" acquires in the construction "mirage + noun in the genitive case". It often occurs in poetic speech.

5. By the nature of the nomination

There are nominative and non-nominative.

Nominative meanings are meanings that are used to name objects, actions, signs and do not contain their assessment, characteristics. There are no additional evaluative semes in the structure of the lexical meaning of such words.

Non-nominative meanings are the meanings of words that are not only named, but also characterized. Meaning also includes additional emotional and evaluative features.

The history of the science of language shows that the question of the essence of language is one of the most difficult in linguistics. It is no coincidence that it has several mutually exclusive solutions, cf.:

• - language is a biological, natural phenomenon, independent of man (“Languages, these natural organisms formed in sound matter ..., show their properties of a natural organism not only in the fact that they are classified into genera, species, subspecies, etc. ., but also in the fact that their growth occurs according to certain laws, - A. Schleicher wrote in his work “ German". - The life of a language does not differ significantly from the life of all other living organisms - plants and animals. Like these latter, it has a period of growth from the simplest structures to more complex forms and a period of aging ") - And this means that, just like animals and plants, languages ​​\u200b\u200bare fighting among themselves for existence" and obey the law of natural selection;
• - language is a mental phenomenon that arises as a result of the action of an individual spirit - human or divine (“Language,” W. Humboldt wrote, “is a continuous activity of the spirit, seeking to turn sound into an expression of thought”);
• - language is a psychosocial phenomenon, which, according to I. A. Baudouin de Courtenay, has a “collective-individual” or “collective-psychic” existence, in which the individual is at the same time general, universal;
• - language is a social phenomenon that arises and develops only in a team ("Language is a social element of speech activity," said F. de Saussure, "external but relative to the individual, who by himself can neither create a language nor change it" . In a more pointed form, the same idea was expressed by the American linguist W. Whitney, who spoke of language in the following way: “If we want to give a language a name that most accurately reveals its essential character ... we will call it an institution, one of the institutions that create human culture » ).

It is easy to see that in these different definitions, language is understood either as a biological (or natural) phenomenon, or as a psychic (individual) phenomenon, or as a social (public) phenomenon. Meanwhile, the definition of language, its essence “is important for building a theory of language. It fixes one or another ontological representation of the language, which largely determines the understanding of the object or subject of science and the methods of studying this object.

If language is recognized as a biological phenomenon, then it should be considered on a par with such human abilities as eating, drinking, sleeping, walking, etc., and it should be considered that language is inherited by man, since it is inherent in his very nature. However, this contradicts the facts, since the language is not inherited. It is assimilated by the child under the influence of speakers (cf. the situation with children who were in long-term isolation and brought up in an animal environment: they could not speak). Therefore, the ability to speak is not an innate biological ability of a person, but largely depends on his social experience. At the same time, work in the field of psycholinguistics has proved that a person has a linguistic ability that allows him to assimilate the system of signs of a particular language and the rules for combining these signs in the construction of a text already in the early years, however, the realization of this language ability occurs in the process of communication between a person and surrounding people - native speakers. given language.

It is hardly legitimate to consider language as a mental phenomenon, arising as a result of the action of an individual spirit - human or divine. In this case, humanity would have a huge variety of individual languages, which would lead to a situation of Babylonian confusion of languages, misunderstanding of each other even by members of the same team.

There is no doubt that language is a social phenomenon: it arises and develops only in a team due to the need of people to communicate with each other. And if there were no society, there would be no language. Therefore, language is a product of social activity, it "is part of the social experience of mankind, develops along with human society and is assimilated by each individual only through communication with other people."

A different understanding of the essence of the language gave rise to different approaches to its definition, compare:

“Language is thinking expressed by sounds” (A. Schleicher);

“Language is a system of signs in which the only essential thing is the combination of meaning and acoustic image” (F. de Saussure);

“Language is practical, existing for other people and only thereby existing also for myself, real consciousness” (K. Marx, F. Engels);

“Language is the most important means of human communication” (V. I. Lenin);

“Language is a system of articulate sound signs that spontaneously arises in human society and develops, serving for the purposes of communication and capable of expressing the totality of a person’s knowledge and ideas about the world” (N. D. Arutyunova).

All these definitions reveal the most essential properties of the language. They are based on different premises. And this fact already suggests that language is a complex phenomenon, so it is extremely difficult to find an unambiguous adequate definition. Each of these definitions (and their number can be increased indefinitely) emphasizes different aspects of the language: its relation to thinking, the structural organization of the language, the most important functions, etc., which once again indicates that the language is a complex sign system working in unity and interaction with human consciousness and thinking.

According to academician V. M. Solntsev, who devoted an entire monograph to the study of the essence of language, “language as an extremely complex entity can be defined from different points of view, depending on which side or sides of the language are distinguished. Definitions are possible: a) from the point of view of the function of language (or functions of language): language is a means of communication between people and as such is a means of forming, expressing and communicating thoughts; b) from the point of view of the device (mechanism) of the language: language is a set of certain units and rules for the use of these units, i.e. combination of units; c) from the point of view of the existence of language: language is the result of a social, collective skill of "making" units from sound matter by conjugating some sounds with some meaning ... Since in a single definition it is hardly possible to give enough complete description language, - writes V. M. Solntsev, - we consider it expedient to rely on the most general definition, concretizing it as necessary with certain special characteristics.

These characteristics run through the entire book by V. M. Solntsev “Language as a system-structural formation”. Each time, one of the sides of the language is updated in them, cf.: "Language is a set of rules according to which sentences are made, and a set of units endowed with meaning, or meaning, that are used in accordance with the rules." “Language is a system, but it is a system of a different kind and order than those systems that in speech are made from the elements of language. The language system is a kind of “pantry”, where rules and elements (or units) are combined (not in the literal sense, of course)”, etc. The totality of these characteristics of the language allows us to present an adequate picture of the linguistic phenomenon.

Being a social phenomenon, language has the properties of social purpose, i.e. certain functions. Among its functions, the most important are:

• 1) communicative(to be a means of human communication) with its derivatives: a contact-establishing function (cf. the greeting or farewell formulas that are found in all languages); appellative function (i.e., the function of calling, inciting to action); conative function (i.e., the function of assimilation of information by the addressee, associated with empathy, cf. the magical power of spells or curses in an archaic society or advertising texts in a modern one); volitional function (i.e., the function of influence associated with the will of the speaker); epistemic function (i.e. the function of storing and transmitting knowledge about reality, the traditions of culture, the history of the people, national identity); this function of language connects it with reality (fragments of reality, isolated and processed by human consciousness, are fixed in language units: for example, in Central Australia there lives a small tribe of aborigines who were forced to change the word for water nine times within five years, because that a man bearing the name "Water" was dying);
• 2)cognitive function(i.e., the epistemological, cognitive function of being a means of obtaining new knowledge about reality), this function of language connects it with the mental activity of a person, since “language in a certain way organizes a person’s knowledge about the objective world, dismembers them and fixes them in human consciousness; this is the function of reflecting reality, i.e. the formation of categories of thought and, more broadly, of consciousness”; in the units of the language, thus, the structure and dynamics of thought materialize (cf. the definition of the language of academician Yu. S. Stepanov: “Language is the space of thought”); derivatives of this function: axiological function (i.e. evaluation function); nominative function (i.e. naming function); closely related to this function is the function of generalization, which allows us to express the most complex concepts with the help of language. Generalizing and highlighting the individual, unique, the word has the ability to "replace" objects and phenomena of the outside world. Cognizing reality, a person constructs it in different ways, which finds its expression in the language (cf.: in the language of the Eskimos there are more than 20 names for ice, and in the language of the Arabs there are many names for camels, in which a variety of signs are actualized); predicative function (i.e., the function of correlating information with reality), etc.

In addition to these basic functions of language, sometimes they distinguish an emotional or expressive function (to be a means of expressing human feelings and emotions), aesthetic, poetic, metalinguistic (metalinguistic - to be a means of researching and describing language in terms of the language itself) and some others.