Semantic peculiarities of English quantitative adjectives in the process of linguistic and cultural communication

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Donbass State Teachers Training University

Semantic peculiarities of English quantitative adjectives in the process of linguistic and cultural communication

Shevchenko M.Y.

Annotation

semantic english linguistic lexical

The article deals with the peculiarities and reasons for perception and adaptation of lexical units on the examples of adjectives in the process of cross-cultural and language communication. There are a lot of examples to prove the relationship and the opposition of language and thinking that define the concept of culture. Cultural and linguistic pictures of the world are proved to be closely connected. They are in a constant interaction and corresponding to the real picture of the world. On the basis of lexical meanings of adjectives in English and Ukrainian languages the presence of a great quantity of cultural inconsistencies has been found. That provokes the necessity to study the culture of nation through the language and vice versa.

Keywords: adjective, linguistic unit, cross-cultural space, semantics, intercultural communication, communicative competence.

Анотація

Шевченко М.Ю.

Донбаський державний педагогічний університет

СЕМАНТИЧНІ ОСОБЛИВОСТІ АНГЛІЙСЬКИХ КІЛЬКІСНИХ ПРИКМЕТНИКІВ у ПРОЦЕСІ ЛІНГВОКУЛЬТУРНОЇ КОМУНІКАЦІЇ

Розглянуто причини та особливості сприйняття іншомовної лексичної одиниці на прикладі кількісних прикметників у процесі лінгвокультурної комунікації. У мові представлено безліч прикладів, що підтверджують взаємозв'язок і опозицію мови й мислення, які визначають концепт «культура». Доведено, що культурна і мовна картини світу тісно взаємопов'язані. Вони знаходяться в стані безперервної взаємодії і сходять до реальної картини світу, реального оточенню людини. На основі лексичних значень прикметників в англійській та українській мові, можна стверджувати про наявність маси культурних невідповідностей, що доводить необхідність вивчення культури нації через мову і навпаки.

Ключові слова: прикметник, мовна одиниця, кроскультурні простір, семантика, міжкультурна комунікація, комунікативна компетенція.

Аннотация

Шевченко М.Ю.

Донбасский государственный педагогический университет

СЕМАНТИЧЕСКИЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ АНГЛИЙСКИХ КОЛИЧЕСТВЕННЫХ ПРИЛАГАТЕЛЬНЫХ В ПРОЦЕССЕ ЛИНГВОКУЛЬТУРНОЙ КОММУНИКАЦИИ

Рассмотрены причины и особенности восприятия иноязычной лексической единицы на примере количественных прилагательных в процессе лингвокультурной коммуникации. В языке представлено множество примеров, подтверждающих взаимосвязь и оппозицию языка и мышления, которые определяют концепт «культура». Доказано, что языковая картины мира тесно связана с культурой. Состояние непрерывного взаимодействия характеризуется восхождением к реальной картине мира, реальному окружению человека. На основе лексических значений имен прилагательных в английском и украинском языках, можно подтвердить наличие массы культурных несоответствий, что доказывает необходимость изучения культуры нации через язык и наоборот.

Ключевые слова: имя прилагательное, языковая единица, кросскультурное пространство, семантика, межкультурная коммуникация, коммуникативная компетенция.

Language and culture are not associated separately. We can say that the culture is the way of life, the context of our existence, thinking and relationship between each other.

Culture is determined as a set of rules, values, attitudes, behavior patterns, artefacts, etc. that characterize society or group of people, acquired in the process of socialization and primarily existing on a deep, unconscious level determining human behavior.

According to the works of different researchers cultural patterns of behavior are characterized by following aspects: 1) they are embedded in the subconscious; 2) they promote the interaction with the environment; 3) they satisfy the basic human needs; 4) they may be intensified and adapt to the changing of internal and external conditions in the new form; 5) they tend to form a permanent, stable structure; 6) they are studied and are accepted by all members of society; 7) they are transmitted to new generations [8, р. 4].

The problem. The indisputable fact is that the language as the element of culture is realized in communication. Nowadays the current projection of language into modern communication theory determines its analyses in the context of intercultural communication.

Moreover, the adjective as a part of speech needs to be completely understood within its complex semantic, grammatical, communicative and functional devices. The relevance of the research lies in the importance of the pragmatic development of linguistic units including adjectives and also the strengthening of their impact, as well as, the necessity of systematic studying of the evaluation function as a strategy to impact on the recipient.

The subject of the research is the peculiarities and characteristics of perception of lexical unit on the example of quantitative adjectives in foreign language in the process of linguistic and cultural communication.

The object is the quantitative adjectives in English and their equivalents in the Ukrainian language.

The aim of the article is to show the influence of different cultures on the semantic interpretation of some lexical units in cross-cultural space.

The implementation of the aim is realized by solving of following task: to demonstrate the versatility of the nature of intercultural communication as a set of processes and phenomena that occur as a result of real or hypothetical communication of the representatives of different cultures [1, p. 41].

The analysis of research work and publications. Firstly, the problem of cross-cultural communication as a synthesis of theoretical and practical studies and researches has been analyzed at the beginning of the

XXth century when the American cultural anthropologists R. Linton, R. Redfield and M. J. Herskovits have investigated the problem of acculturation and have revealed a long intercultural interaction between the representatives of different cultures.

Fundamental contribution to the development of the problem in the middle of the XXth century has been made by American cultural anthropologist and linguist E. T. Hall, who created the concept of the study of cultural differences from the point of constant connection of different cultures. He also explained the possibility and necessity of studying of the skills of intercultural communication by analogy with learning of foreign languages» [11, p. 18].

Theoretical studies on the definition of the typology of cultures have been made by E. T. Hall and M. Bennett. G. Hofstede has started sociological studying on the establishment of cultural patterns according to intercultural communication.

The works by E. M. Vereshchagin, V. V. Vorobyov, V. G. Kostomarov, M. A. Kulinich, O. A. Leontovich, A. B. Pavlovskaya are devoted to the problems of the relationship between language and culture and their reflection in mythology, folklore, ethno-linguistics, phraseology, speech etiquette, language stereotypes.

According to B. Tomalin and S. Stempleski it is also important to determine the term «cultural awareness» that include 3 important points: awareness of the own culturally-based behavior; awareness of culturally-based behavior of others; the ability to explain the own point of view concerning to cultural identity [10, p. 5].

The main material. A number of researchers in the field of cross-culture have noticed that the statement «culture» should be distinguished with the capital letter «C» that includes such elements of culture as history, geography, various institutions. Another statement «culture» that is pointed by a small letter «c» includes the products of culture (literature, folklore, art, music, artefacts), ideas (values, instructions, faith) and behavior due to culture (traditions, habits, clothing, food, rest) [10, p. 69]. All of these cultural phenomena are expressed in the language.

It should be noticed that the speech is the device of the language implementation. While linguistic competence is represented in the communicative competence including such categories as grammar, discourse, sociolinguistic and strategic aspects [7, p. 45].

On the other hand, language is the only component of culture that is a part of the whole system of communication together with values, stereotypes, perceptions of time, space, the hierarchy of relations in society, etc. All these elements of culture are interrelated and at the same time they influence the process of communication. There may be found lots of examples confirming the relationship and the opposition of language and thinking that are the parts of the same concept - culture.

Cultural and linguistic pictures of the world are closely related being in the constant interaction with the real picture of the world. S. G. Ter-Minasova has pointed that all attempts of different linguistic schools to separate the language from reality have because of a one simple reason: it is necessary to take into account not only the linguistic form but also the content - this is the only way of comprehensive studying of any phenomenon. The content, semantics, the meaning of language units (words) determine the complex objects or phenomena of real world.

The language semantics opens the way from the world of its own language to the world of reality. This connection between two worlds within cultural representations of objects and phenomena of the cultural world is specific belongs to a speech community as a whole and particularly to native speaker of language [5, p. 47].

The analysis of English adjectives that are used for the description of characteristic features of living beings has proved that the most frequently used ones are the following: hard-working, self-confident, generous, modest, stubborn, loyal, strict, attractive, open-minded, naughty, thoughtful, reliable, sensitive, ambitious [6, p. 30].

The way from extra-linguistic reality to the concept and to the verbal expressions of thoughts is different in world's cultures and societies because of different historical background, living conditions and the specifics of social consciousness.

Adjectives ambitious and loyal are the great examples of such differences. The above mentioned adjectives are used in the Ukrainian language. However, we comparing the definitions of these lexical items that are presented in the corresponding dictionaries, we see that they differ. In Ukrainian the adjective ambitious means «vain; proud; ambitious» [2, c. 38]. For the English culture the expression «to be ambitious» means «to be purposeful, persistent». It is a positive characteristic.

Another adjective loyal is defined in the Ukrainian dictionary as «1. That who is kept within the rule of law (sometimes only formally). 2. That who is friendly to smb. or smth.» [3, с. 551], while according to the «Dictionary of Contemporary English», adjective loyal has the only one meaning «to be faithful, faithful to someone, something» [5, p. 855].

Lexical unit modest (humble) in our culture belongs to a person «Who does not like to emphasize his merits, virtues, etc., flaunt them» [4, с. 324], at the same time, according to the word definition, adjective modest is defined as a person who «is not aware of the own strengths and does not want to talk about them» [9, p. 30], although the meaning of the adjective is positive in both cultures.

The methods, the forms of reflection and the formation of concepts depend on social and cultural specificity of natural peculiarities of the life of the speech community. «The differences are vividly demonstrated in the excessive or insufficient expression forms of the same concepts in comparison with native and foreign language» [5, p. 48].

The positive qualities that are traditionally valued in Slavic culture indicate the high spirituality. Such quality as «to be ambitious» does not take the first position in the list of characteristics and application forms. The adjective open-minded with the meaning of human dignity is a positive characteristic in Slavic culture; but it is not so important quality as diligence, kindness, compassion, sensitivity, etc.

There are a lot of examples of cultural inconsistencies, when the «culture» of one nation obstructs the understanding of one of another nation through the language, for example, the adjective excited is used with the meaning of «full of excitement, to express excitement». In Slavic culture a person may be excited because of the positive or the negative reason and in the English culture this adjective is used only with a positive connotation.

Conclusions

Thus, the understanding of culture through the language is a very complex and enriching process. However, this approach allows to use correctly the lexical units of another culture and to provoke further investigation of studying the constituents of any culture. The theoretical sight on cross-cultural competence in the process of learning foreign languages that is studied in modern linguistics has shown that this issue is to be analyzed in different branches of linguistics.

References

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