On temporal and spatial conceptualization in typologically distant languages

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

On temporal and spatial conceptualization in typologically distant languages

O. Taukchi

Abstract

The article "On Temporaland Spatial Conceptualization in Typologically Distant Languages" continues the series on working by Olena Taukchi. It explores the process of the world conceptualization and internal reflective experience in English, Ukrainian and Russian; analyzes the dependence of conceptualization on various factors: society's ethno- consciousness, culture and subculture, as well as individual consciousness. Time is a phenomenon that is directly related to people, seemingly understandable, but in fact, controversial and difficult to explicate. Can you describe time? And if so, what does it look like interms of modern linguistics? Our vision of time implies a perspective that cannot be set in objectivity. For example, if time goes horizontally or vertically; if the time arrow directed forward or backward, right or left, up or down; if time is going past us, or are we moving through it? We do not associate those aspects with our knowledge of the objective world, but, be that as it may, we learn about it through language, most of tenth rough spatial metaphors. Observations of this kind enable us to say that linguistic data can be used as a key to understanding and interpreting any culturally significant aspects of objective reality. From our perspective, it is linguistic analysis of lexical units denoting time that appropriately complements the over all picture of research. In the minds of people speaking various languages, time has a single model and is described in the same terms.

О.Ф. Таукчі

ПРО ТЕМПОРАЛЬНУ ТА ПРОСТОРОВУ КАТЕГОРІЗАЦІЮ У ТИПОЛОГІЧНО ДИСТАНТНИХ МОВАХ

Стаття "Про темпоральну та просторову концептуалізацію в типологічно дистантних мовах" продовжує cерію публікацій автора, О.Ф. Таукчі, що досліджує процеси концептуалізації світу та внутрішнього рефлексивного досвіду на матеріалі англійської, української та російської мови; аналізує залежність концептуалізації від різноманітних чинників: етносвідомості, соціуму, культури та субкультури певної групи, а також індивідуальної свідомості. Крім того, поняття часу, яке обрано для опису та аналізу, є складним психічним утворенням. Воно реалізується за допомогою мовних одиниць різного рівня абстракції. У цьому відношенні об 'єктом нашого дослідження є концепція часу та засоби її реалізації у типологічно дистантних мовах. Ми визначили лексичні одиниці та встановили вирази, що позначають поняття часу в англійській, українській та російській мовах, предметом нашого дослідження. Час є загадковим феноменом, який має безпосереднє відношення до людини, інтуїтивно нібито зрозумілий, але насправді суперечливий і такий, що насилу піддається експлікації. Чи можна описати час? І якщо можна, то як він "виглядає" в термінах сучасної лінгвістики? Наша концепція часу включає до себе безліч аспектів, які не піддаються спостереженню в навколишній дійсності. Наприклад, чи рухається час горизонтально чи вертикально? Чи рухається він вперед або назад, вправо або вліво, вгору або вниз? Чи рухається він повз нас, або ми рухаємося крізь нього? Всі ці аспекти не знаходять свого відбитку в наших знаннях про навколишній світ, але, хоч би що там було, ми дізнаємося про це за допомогою мови, найчастіше за допомогою просторових метафор. Спостереження такого роду дають нам можливість говорити про те, що мовні дані можуть служити ключем до розуміння й інтерпретації будь-яких культурно значущих аспектів сприйняття дійсності. На наше переконання, саме лінгвістичний аналіз лексичних одиниць семантичного поля часу відповідним чином доповнить загальну картину досліджень, присвячених цій темі. У свідомості людей, які розмовляють різними мовами, час має єдину модель і описується в одних і тих же термінах. Більш того, визнаючи можливість отримання знань про час шляхом спостереження за ним автор статті підкреслює визначальну роль мови, на якому ми говоримо, у формуванні наших уявлень про час. languages taukchi ukrainian

Ключові слова: час, простір, темпорально-просторова метафора, концептуалізація, рефлексивний досвід, лексичні одиниці, семантичні поля.

The concept theme has recently been the major focus of attention for a number of scholars. The evidence of the claim can be observed in the works by S. A. Askoldov, V. I. Karasik, E. S. Kubryakova and many others. The subject matter involves typological analysis as native speakers of distant languages display various communicative behavior patterns. In many ways this is the main reason why we have chosen this particular aspect for our research.Besides, the concept time, which is chosen for description and analysis, is a complex mental formation. It realizes through language units of different abstraction levels. In this respect the object of our research is the concept time and means of its realization in typically distant languages. We identified lexical units and set expressions that denote the notion of time in English, Ukrainian and Russian as the subject of our investigation.

The aim of our research is to investigate the concept of time as well as its content in Germanic and Slavonic languages in the typological aspect.

To achieve this aim the following practical tasks should be fulfilled:

- to explore the cultural element in the notion of time in Germanic and Slavonic cultures;

- to analyze the linguistic aspect in the notion of time in typologically distant languages;

- to analysize semantic peculiarities of the concept time in typologically distant languages.

The topicality of the research in question accounts for the fact that in modern linguistics there is still no generally accepted understanding of the concept meaning. Moreover, the investigation of the concept time allows us to scope the national-cultural aspect of various linguistic pictures reflected in these languages and enables us to trace back the changes in the concept time on the lexical level of different languages.

Time is a phenomenon that affects a human being directly.On the one hand, it is an essential part of people's daily routine; but on the other, it is controversial and difficult to perceive. Can time be described? And if so, what does it look like in terms of modern linguistics?

D. Ischuk believes that time is not just duration, but a certain moving substance filled with events that define it (H^yK, 2001, c. 192). According to O. Chupryna, in ancient language paradigm the nature of interpreting time associated knowledge and transforming it into corresponding linguistic units differed considerably from modern interpretations. Thus, in the Anglo-Saxon cultural and linguistic paradigm, there was not a single concept of time. Then-existing models were not abstracted from notions of social events and phenomena. The sources of information about time were physical, routine, habitual actions, and forms of knowledge were socially significant states and phenomena (Bynpbrna, 2000, c. 118). These statements are open to criticism, as far as social life events do not affect the linguistic model of time which is typical of foreign language speakers. It is proved by numerous examples of semantic universalism in typologically distant languages. If historical facts had had any impact on the ways in which unrelated cultural communities perceived time, there would not have been so many coincidences in European languages about lexemes and their combinations related to time semantics. The coincidences call into question O. Chupryna's claim that the ancient Germans did not have a single time model. From our point of view, the proximity of the values proves not only the existence of such a model, but also its similarity to the time model created in the main European languages. L. Boroditsky holds the same view: "Time is a phenomenon in which we, the observers, comprehend a lasting, unidirectional change. This aspect of the concept of time is probably linguistically and culturally universal" (Boroditsky, 2014). American linguists describe time as an entity that has a certain orientation and one dimension in space (Boroditsky, 2014; Clark, 1973, p. 370). This is why the concept of time needs special terms that match its basic characteristics. "Special terms used in different languages to describe time are also characterized by a certain orientation and have one dimension, e.g., forward / backward or up / down. They do not have multiple dimensions and are not symmetrical, such as narrow / wide or right / left" (Boroditsky, 2014). So, according to American scholars, in the minds of people who speak different languages, time has a single model and is described in the same terms. Moreover, recognizing the possibility of gaining knowledge about time by observing it, L. Boroditsky emphasizes the decisive role of the language we speak in shaping our ideas about time. "Our concept of time includes many aspects that cannot be observed in the surrounding reality. For example, does time move horizontally or vertically? Does it move forward or backward, right or left, up or down? Does it move past us, or do we move through it? All these aspects are not reflected in our knowledge of the outside world, but in any case we learn about it through language - most often through spatial metaphors" (Boroditsky, 2014). Other American researchers also come to the same conclusion (Clark, 1973, p. 370; Traugott, 1978, p. 207). What is the concept of time among native English speakers? "When we speak English, we mainly use the terms forward / backward and forward / backward. We talk about the good times ahead of us or the difficulties behind. We can postpone the forward meetings, push the backward deadlines and eat dessert before we finish with the vegetables. In general, in order to organize events we use the same terms that are used to describe asymmetrical horizontal spatial relations" (Boroditsky, 2014).

It is obvious that a similar concept of time description is characteristic of any major European language. Whereas native speakers of Eastern languages visualize time in a slightly different way. Numerous scholars (Boroditsky, 2014; Chun, 1997, p. 127; Scott, 1989, p. 301) study this element of the naive-linguistic picture of the worldin Chinese. In fact, the Mandarin dialect of the Chinese language, along with the regular use of horizontal metaphors, systematically uses terms corresponding to the vertical time axis. "The spatial metaphors shang (up) and xia (down) are often used when it comes to the order in which events, weeks, months, semesters, etc. follow each other. Earlier events are said to be up (shang) and later events are said to be down (xia)" (Boroditsky, 2014). However, it cannot be categorically stated that there is no vertical time terminology at all in English. But the examples of its use are so insignificant that they cannot shape a view of time as a vertical axis among English speakers (Chun, 1997, p. 129; Scott, 1989, p. 304). Consequently, the temporal model is not built in a person's consciousness while they are observing the surrounding events and realities, but is determined by the language spoken by a person. "Probably because English speakers often use horizontal metaphors when speaking about time, they have come to the idea that time is something horizontal. English speakers consider time to be a horizontal axis even when they are vaguely expressing a spatial metaphor (for example, when they perceive a sentence constructed in purely temporal terms like before or later). Perhaps, for the same reason, speakers of the Mandarin Chinese dialect came to think of time as a vertical substance" (Boroditsky, 2014). So, in a sense, it is obvious that the vertical or horizontal terminology of time in many ways reflects the way the speakers of different languages think. "For people who know two different languages and two different cultures (or more), it is usually obvious that a language and the way of thinking are interconnected" (Boroditsky, 2014).

Accepting as an axiom that the language we speak shapes our ideas about the world; we try to list some comments about the naive-linguistic conceptualization of time among the Slavs. As it has been already mentioned, temporal orientation can be described by means of spatial orientation indicators, so event order is presented ina language by analogy with spatial relationships. However, as A. Shmelev states, "The Russian language gives us two opposite ways of establishing an analogy between time and space" (Шмелев, 2002, c. 224). The idea that the past (early) is at the back and the future (later) is at the front is more familiar to us. "But the transparent etymology of the prepositions of перед (перед этим means ранее) and за or прежде may as well indicate a sort of opposite orientation. The temporal word вперед used in the spoken language turns out to be enantiosemic: on the one hand, it means, according to the Small Academic Dictionary, на будущее время, в будущем; впредь (вперед не серди меня; это мне вперед наука), and on the other hand, прежде, раньше, сперва; заранее (вперед спроси, а потом сделай, вперед подумай, потом отвечай)" (Шмелев, 2002, c. 238). The same kind of enantiosemity can be seen in other dictionaries (according to V. Dal, вперед means both прежде and после (Даль, 1998). A. Shmelev explains the paradoxes associated with time indicators, by the two options of transition to event order. Thus, with the archaic approach in the representation of chroniclers, the world was stable, immobile, and time was moving, walking or flowing past it. In this case, what happened before was perceived as going ahead, preceding, and what was to happen later was perceived as going after, next. From A. Shmelev's perspective, the expressions время бежит, время пришло, время течет, предыдущий день, следующее воскресенье, прошедший год reflect the archaic approach. The same type of examples mentioned by the author includes temporal use of a number of originally spatial and motion prepositions: and adverbs: прежде, перед тем, вслед затем, затем, после, напоследок, as well as the noun of предки widely used in modern Russian (Шмелев, 2002, c. 239). A. Shmelev's archaic approach is contrasted with the present concept of time: time is constant and immobile, and a person, the observer, moves through it from the past to the future. Temporal use of adverbs before and after is associated with the present concept, i.e. the future is seen as something to come (when the target date is reached). This model is reflected in numerous proverbs. For example, in V. Dahl's case: Ешь пироги, а хлеб вперед береги (на будущее); Всякий человек вперед смотрит (= думает о будущем); Дней у Бога впереди много; Валяй, не гляди, что будет впереди and the like (Даль, 1998). A. Shmelev also considers the difference between the two notions of time: moving time and still time through which we move. This paper analyzes the controversial meaning of the prefix пред: e.g. on the one hand, предыдущий, предшествующий, on the other hand, предстоящий. If time moves, there are earlier moments ahead, so in the words the previous one indicates what happened before; but if a person moves through a stationary, motionless time there is something that is still to come, in front of him and, accordingly, пред- in предстоящий one mentions the future, not the past (Шмелев, 2002, c. 304). It is necessary to emphasizethat two alternative, almost opposite representations of time axis spatial orientation were exposed to detailed consideration by a number of Russian scholars. However, neither the dual approach to the spatial metaphor of temporal order nor the coexistence of metaphors implying moving time and motion through time are typical of the Russian language exclusively. J. Lakoff and M. Johnson claim that various temporal metaphors exist in English. Firstly, "The future is ahead and the past is behind us", secondly, "The future is behind us and the past is before us", and there are also generalized metaphors, e.g.,Time is a moving object on the one hand, and Time is motionless, and we are moving through it on the other. It may be assumed though, that in English the connection between the two pairs of metaphors is not as clear as in Russian (Lakoff G., Johnson M, 1980).

Admitting that syncretism of space and time concepts in the naive and linguistic notions is obvious; the above mentioned authors do not provide comprehensive explanations on the reasons why it happens. We are convinced that it is the linguistic analysis that will supplement the overall picture of research. It is likely that the equivalents of the time lexemes in Old Icelandic ti5, Old Saxon fid, Old Upper German ztt and Old English fid (Vreis, 1957) correspond to the English tide substance. Its outdated meaning is 'time, period' and its poetic meaning is 'flow', seain modern English. The noun tide is used in several meanings: 1) sea tide; 2) flow, current and direction of events which, in our view, indirectly indicates a connection with the semantics of time. Let us compare: high tide - full water and the tide turns - events take a different turn. In addition, Old English kwTt and Old German (h)wTla - 'time' (Vreis, 1957) obviously correspond to the Ukrainian word hvTl and its consonant hvTlTn (Vreis, 1957). Thus, there is not only a syncretism of spatial and temporal representations, but also a combination in the perception of time and water flow movements. Consequently, in ancient times the man understood time as a river (sea). The following idioms and proverbs can confirm our assumption: Russian. Река времен; время истекло; в русский час много воды утечет, много воды утекло (с тех пор). укр. Час упливає; що було, то й з водою пішло. болг. много (колко, толкова) вода изтече оттогова - много воды утекло с тех пор; изпих съм водата [буквально: выпить свою воду] - отжить свое, мое время ушло. Observations of this kind enable us to say that language data can be the key to understanding and interpreting any culturally relevant aspects of perceiving reality.

To finish off, our further research will present a detailed survey aimed at analyzing a wide range of spatial kinesthetic temporal metaphors in mundane discourse in typologically distant languages.

Бібліографічний список

1. Даль, В. И., 1998. Толковый словарь живого великорусского языка. В 4 т. Т. 1 : А-З. Репринт 1912-1914. Москва: Цитадель.

2. Ищук, Д. Г., 2001. Свободные и устойчивые синтагматические связи лексикосемантического поля времени. В : Л.И. Коновалова, ред. 2001. Образование в России: перспективы и реальность: материалы науч.-практ. конф. Санкт- Петербург: Б. и., с. 192-196.

3. Чупрына, О. Г., 2000. Закономерности категоризации временного опыта в древнеанглийском языке. В : Л.А. Манерко, ред. 2000. Когнитивные аспекты языковой категоризации. Рязань: Рязанский государственный педагогический университет, с. 118-124.

4. Шмелев, А. Д., 2002. Русская языковая модель мира: Материалы к словарю. Москва: Языки славянской культуры.

5. Boroditsky, L., 2014. Does language shape thought ? Mandarin and English speaker's conceptions of time. Cognitive Psychology, 43 (1), pp. 1-22. DOI : 10.1006/cogp.2001.0748

6. Chun, L., 1997. A cognitive approach to UP metaphors in English and Chinese : What do they reveal about the English mind and the Chinese mind ? In : Research degree progress report for Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 1997. Hong Kong : Hong Kong Polytechnic University, pp. 125-140.

7. Clark, H., 1973. Space, time semantics and the child. In : T. E. Moore, ed. 1973. Cognitive development and the acquisition of language. New York : Academic Press, pp. 370394.

8. Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M., 1980. Metaphors We Live by. Chicago : The University of Chicago Press.

9. Pokorny, J., 1959. Indogermanisches etymologisches Wцrterbuch. Bern ; Mьnchen : Francke.

10. Scott, A., 1989. The Vertical Dimension and Time in Chinese. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 9, pp. 295-314. DOI : 10.1080/07268608908599424

11. Traugott, E., 1978. On the expression of spatiotemporal relations in language. In :

12. J. H. Greenberg, C. A. Ferguson, E. A. Moravcsik, eds. 1978. Universals of human language word structure. Vol. 3. Stanford, C. A. : Stanford University Press, pp. 207236.

13. Vreis, J. de, 1957. Altnordisches etymologisches Wцrterbuch. Leiden : Brill.

14. References

15. Boroditsky, L., 2014. Does language shape thought ? Mandarin and English speaker's conceptions of time. Cognitive Psychology, 43 (1), pp. 1-22. DOI :

16. 10.1006/cogp.2001.0748

17. Chun, L., 1997. A cognitive approach to UP metaphors in English and Chinese : What do they reveal about the English mind and the Chinese mind ? In : Research degree progress report for Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 1997. Hong Kong:Hong Kong Polytechnic University, pp. 125-140.

18. Chupryna, O. G., 2000. Zakonomernosti kategorisatsii vremennogo opyta v drevneangliyskom yasyke [Regularities of temporary experience categorization in Old English]. In : L. A. Manerko, ed., Cognitive aspects of language categorization. Ryazan : Ryazanskiy gosudarstvennyy pedagogicheskiy universitet. pp. 118-124. (in Russian).

19. Clark, H., 1973. Space, time semantics and the child. In : T. E. Moore, ed. 1973. Cognitive development and the acquisition of language. New York : Academic Press, pp. 370394.

20. Dal, V. I., 1998. Tolkovy slovar' zhivogo velikorusskogo yazyka [The Living Great Russian Language Word Power Dictionary]. In 4 vol. Vol. 1 : A-Z. Reprint. 1912-1914. Moscow : Citadel. (in Russian).

21. Ishchuk, D. G., 2001. Svobodnye i ustoychivye sintagmaticheskie sviazi lexiko-semanticheskogo polia vremeni [Free and stable syntagmatic connections in the lexical semantic field of time]. In : Education in Russia: Prospects and Reality : Proceedings of the Scientific and Practical Conference. Sankt-Peterburg : B. i., pp. 192-196.(in Russian).

22. Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M., 1980. Metaphors We Live by. Chicago : The University of Chicago Press.

23. Pokorny, J., 1959. Indogermanisches etymologisches Wцrterbuch. Bern ; Mьnchen : Francke.

24. Scott, A., 1989. The Vertical Dimension and Time in Chinese. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 9, pp. 295-314. DOI : 10.1080/07268608908599424

25. Shmelev, A. D., 2002. Russkaya yasykovaya model' mira : Materialy к slovariu [Russian Linguistic World Model: Inputs for Glossary]. Moscow : Slavonic Culture Languages. (in Russian).

26. Traugott, E., 1978. On the expression of spatiotemporal relations in language. In :

27. J. H. Greenberg, C. A. Ferguson, E. A. Moravcsik, eds. 1978. Universals of human language word structure. Vol. 3. Stanford, C. A.: Stanford University Press, pp. 207236.

28. Vreis, J. de, 1957. Altnordisches etymologisches Wцrterbuch. Leiden : Brill.

Размещено на Allbest.ru