Language is traditionally regarded as a tool and means of cognition of reality. Due to its complexity and versatility, the topic "Language and Cognition" is being developed from different points of view in modern areas of linguistics and philosophy.

W. Humboldt was the first to express the idea that language is the main tool for reflecting and cognizing reality: "A person surrounds himself with a world of sounds in order to reflect and process the world of objects."

In Russian linguistics, the problem of language and cognition was dealt with A.A. Potebnya. He revealed the deep, characteristic of the language, constantly operating mechanism of cognitive processes occurring in verbal thinking. A number of questions raised by Potebnya about the anthropomorphism of cognition, about the subjective and objective in cognition, about the influence of the means of cognition on the results of cognition, about the cognitive role of verbal thinking, were reflected in heated discussions in the science of the 20th century.

The acquisition and consolidation of new knowledge occurs in the practical activity of a person, which includes speech activity. Therefore, the cognitive role of language must be considered in unity with the practical activity of a person. As an instrument of knowledge and a natural sign system, language consolidates the results of cognition in any area of ​​human activity. But the subject of linguistics cannot be mental achievements in certain areas of knowledge.

Linguistics is interested in the study of that side of the language, which provides reflection and consolidation in signs of the results of the activities of the speaking collective.

In linguistics, the opinion has spread that the meanings of the words of a common language are "naive concepts", and the semantics of the language is a "naive picture of the world". Meanwhile, the concepts fixed in the language and the linguistic picture of the world are far from being naive; many scholars have written about it. In the semantics of the common language, the result of the development of thought and speech of the people was deposited.

The first classification of objects and phenomena of the world is in the language. The concepts of common language reach a high degree of abstraction and elaboration. The meanings of commonly used words do not break semantic ties with the corresponding scientific categories: time, space, consciousness, thinking, reason, movement, conscience, pressure. The formation of such categories as subject, substance, object, object goes into common language.

Language is arranged in such a way that its entire mechanism serves to reflect and cognize reality.

Cognition of reality with the help of language is carried out in the process of everyday speech activity of people exchanging new information with each other, in various works of literature.

Researchers point to the language's own heuristic capabilities. With the help of language, a person can understand and assimilate new content, new concepts, create ideas about such phenomena and objects that he had never seen before, about which he had not heard or knew anything. Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote: "The sentence must, in the old expressions, give us a new meaning."

Man as a subject of knowledge is opposed to the surrounding world. A person can penetrate into this world and cognize it only by subjective means. Language is a subjective means of reflection and cognition of reality. This does not exclude the presence of objective content in it. The abstraction formed with the help of language is not divorced from reality. The material for abstractions is sensual forms of reflection of reality, directly connected with it.

The subjectivity of the language is manifested in the nature of the reflection of reality. With its separate signs, language dismembers what exists in reality and in sensory perception as a unity. Offer " white bird flies”, consisting of three words, corresponds to one object. Both in reality and in sensory perception, signs are not separated from objects. Language and our thinking isolate its attributes from the object and thereby make them separate, independent entities. Such isolation makes it possible to operate with them in various connections and relations with many other objects and phenomena. And, conversely, a word can represent many different objects and phenomena as a whole: forest, country, people, population, crowd, totality. With the help of language, the analysis and synthesis of reflected objects and phenomena of reality is carried out, and this is a necessary path to the knowledge of their essence.

Subjectivism is also manifested in the formation of the word.

The choice of a sign taken in the name is determined by the person's approach to the designated object, interest in it, specific social, cultural, and living conditions. But this subjectivity is corrected by the meaning of the word, which contains many features of the designated object. Between these poles - from a single feature, taken as the basis of the name, to a multitude of cognizable features, collective cognition moves.

The primary role in the cognition of reality is played by the form of language. It is in the form of "meet" and interact two opposing worlds - subjective and objective.

Genetically, the elements of the form of language reflect the established relationship between man and reality. Because of this, they cannot but be isomorphic to reality itself. The form itself is subjective, but thanks to it, elements of objective content can be alienated and assimilated from the mental stream. Form allows you to penetrate into the objective world and cognize it.

Cognition of reality is an endless movement by the subjective path to the objective state of things.

The expression of subjectivity is humanness, anthropomorphism of knowledge. Ways of human cognition of reality cannot but be humanoid, language is permeated with humanoid elements.

The sentence is built as a connection, the identity of the subject and the predicate. A.A. Potebnya noted: “The subject is called a thing as knowing and acting, that is, first of all, our self, then any thing that is likened in this respect to our self. We can express the action of the subject, that is, imagine it, only in a human-like way: it rains like a person walks. Every subject is a likeness of our self, every action is a likeness of our action.

In modern linguistics, the issue of the influence of the national language on the knowledge of the world remains debatable. Some scientists believe that the quality of thought depends on the means of its creation and expression. Therefore, the nature of thought, its depth, the possibilities of reflection and cognition of reality directly depend on the language. Since there is no language at all, but there are national languages ​​and their varieties, the knowledge and reflection of reality in the language is national. Each language has its own organization and division of the world. In related languages, articulation and organization will be more similar.

Introduction

1. About the concepts of "language" and "national language"

Language as a reflection of national thinking

1 Correlation of language and thinking

2 The language and way of thinking of the people

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Language is the beginning of all beginnings. When we begin to do something, we first comprehend it in words. The beginning of the 21st century is characterized in linguistics by significant changes and new directions in the study of the language at various levels.

Among other things, the problem of the relationship between culture, language and consciousness is comprehensively discussed: all kinds of studies of the linguistic picture of the world among speakers of a certain language are carried out, associative dictionaries of different languages ​​are created that provide rich material for studying the features of the perception of reality within a particular culture, a linguoculturological direction in the study of language as an expression of a special national mentality.

The problem of the correlation and interconnection of language, culture, ethnicity is an interdisciplinary problem, the solution of which is possible only through the efforts of several sciences - from philosophy and sociology to ethnolinguistics and linguoculturology.

For example, questions of ethnic linguistic thinking are the prerogative of linguistic philosophy; the specifics of ethnic, social or group communication in the linguistic aspect is studied by psycholinguistics, etc.

A characteristic sign of the development of modern humanities is the turn of the problems of fundamental research towards anthropocentrism, which is manifested, in particular, in the growing interest in the problems of the relationship between language and thinking, including the national language and national thinking.

In a word, the idea expressed at the beginning of the last century by L.V. peoples representing a certain unity ... ". In this paper, we will consider language as a reflection of national thinking.

1. About the concepts of "language" and "national language"

First of all, let's consider what is "language" and "national language".

Language,a system of discrete (articulate) sound signs that spontaneously arose in human society and is developing, designed for the purposes of communication and capable of expressing the totality of a person's knowledge and ideas about the world.

The sign of spontaneous emergence and development, as well as the boundlessness of the area of ​​application and the possibilities of expression distinguishes languagefrom the so-called artificial or formalized languages ​​that are used in other branches of knowledge (for example, information languages, programming language, information retrieval language), and from various signaling systems created on the basis of language(for example, Morse code, traffic signs, etc.).

On the basis of the ability to express abstract forms thinking(concept, judgment) and the property of discreteness associated with this ability (internal segmentation of the message) languagequalitatively different from the so-called. animal language, which is a set of signals that transmit reactions to situations and regulate the behavior of animals in certain conditions.

Language is an integral and most important part of any national culture, a full acquaintance with which necessarily involves not only the study of the material component of this culture, not only knowledge of its historical, geographical, economic and other determinants, but also an attempt to penetrate into the way of thinking of the nation, an attempt to look at the world through the eyes of the bearers of this culture, from their “point of view”.

It is the language that is the main unifying feature of the nation, since no common ideas, cultural values ​​and joint economy can exist without a common understanding of the verbal signs used in communication.

Language arises simultaneously with the nation, is its creation, as well as the organ of the original thinking of the nation. As the founder of linguistics W. Humboldt wrote, "language is the breath, the very soul of the nation."

Most of the circumstances that accompany the life of a nation - habitat, climate, religion, government, laws and customs - can be to some extent separated from the nation itself. And only language exists as a living, native language only in the minds of the nation. It is in the language that the entire national character is imprinted, in it, as in the means of communication of a given people, individualities disappear and the common is manifested.

The presence of a single national language provides society with the convenience of communication in various fields of activity - from the domestic sphere to production.

First of all, the national language creates convenience for the daily life of every person. In whatever city a person may be, he can easily ask any question and understand the answer without resorting to knowledge of other languages, without experiencing difficulties due to differences in pronunciation or the meaning of words, which would be inevitable when communicating in a dialect.

The national literary language has uniform norms for all speakers of it, no matter in what area they live. The presence of a single national language creates great convenience for official business correspondence of institutions and enterprises, ensures the clarity of interaction between central and local authorities.

A single language is necessary for the rapid dissemination of technical achievements, the development of production, and the economic integrity of the country. The highest level of uniformity of terminology is required from technical documents, therefore it is fixed by special standards. A true and deep understanding of works of literature is impossible without a good knowledge of the national language.

The national language is a means of developing all kinds of art, its unity is of great importance for education, for the media, in a word, for the entire life of the nation.

Summarizing the above, we note that in relation to the nation, the language plays a consolidating role, i.e. maintains its unity, serves as a means of creating a national culture and its transmission to the next generations.

2. Language as a reflection of national thinking

The language of the people is the most important component of its national culture, which is formed along with the formation of an ethnos, being a prerequisite and a condition. The sheer number of languages ​​in the world reflects the infinite variety of ways of thinking.

.1 Relationship between language and thought

language thinking sound communication

Acquaintance with any culture, its study will always be incomplete if in the field of vision of a person who has turned to this culture, there is no such fundamental component as the way of thinking of the nation, the national logic of world perception and worldview.

Each person belongs to a certain national culture, including national traditions, language, history, and literature. As E. Sapir wrote: "Language is a guide that is becoming increasingly important as a guiding principle in the scientific study of culture."

Language is closely connected with the thinking and consciousness of a person as a whole. Thinking, which, although it can take place in a figurative or intuitive form, has a verbal, linguistic form as its highest and universal form.

By virtue of necessity, thinking is always connected with units of language; without them, thought will not be able to achieve distinctness and clarity, representation will not be able to become a concept. The word arises on the basis of the subjective perception of objects of the external world by a person; it is an imprint not of the object in itself, but of its image created by this object in our consciousness.

The thought perceived by the language becomes an object for our soul and therefore produces an influence on it already from the outside. Thought, having become a word, comes into contact with the external world. Thus, language connects the outer world of a person with the inner one in both directions.

Language is one of those phenomena that stimulate human spiritual power to constant activity. The need of thinking for the concept and the striving for its clarification that is conditioned by this must precede the word, which is the expression of the complete clarity of the concept. Therefore, the rules of verbal communication recommend that a person first clearly understand his thought, make sure the words chosen are accurate, and only after that speak out loud. You should not take part in the discussion of topics on which a person does not have sufficient knowledge. Also, you should not use words in your speech, the exact meaning of which a person is not sure.

Thinking develops and updates much faster than language, but without language, thinking is only a “thing for itself”, and a thought not expressed by language is not that clear, distinct thought that helps a person to comprehend the phenomena of reality, it is rather a foresight, not actual knowledge.

If thinking cannot do without language, then language without thinking is impossible. We speak and write thinking, we try to express our thoughts more accurately and clearly in speech. Even a reciter reading someone's work, or an announcer reading the latest news, do not just utter sounds, like parrots, but speak. The same applies to quotations, the use of proverbs and aphorisms in ordinary speech, they are not invented by the speaker, but their choice, the meaning embedded in them is a trace and consequence of the speaker's thought.

The thinking of a person (both an individual and the entire human race) is in constant development, opening up new aspects of the surrounding world. The complication of knowledge about the world requires the language to be more and more flexible in denoting new concepts about objects, properties of objects, phenomena and relationships.

In order to provide thinking with the proper language means, the language has to improve vocabulary and grammar. Therefore, new meanings of words are formed in the language, new words are created, words that are similar in sound are differentiated in meaning, and the stylistic differentiation of vocabulary is fixed. In grammar, the language can give new meanings to syntactic constructions, fix some phrases as stable turns, turning them into phraseological units or analytical forms of expressing morphological meanings.

The success of all speech-thinking activity depends on how quickly, flexibly and successfully the language responds to new needs of thinking.

The success of a person's verbal thinking depends on how well this person knows his native language, how well he understands the meaning of words and grammatical structures. The individual always has a good opportunity to develop his language ability, turning to the collective experience of the nation through penetration into the depth of the meanings of words, into the richness of the native language.

The success of the speech thinking of a nation depends on the level of culture in a given society, on the degree of processing of the literary language and the degree of prevalence of the literary language in the speech of individual members of the language community, on the level of mutual understanding between the intelligentsia and other social groups.

A language that quickly responds to the needs of thinking contributes to an even greater flowering of thought, makes it possible to make major intellectual discoveries and spread high culture in wide social circles. If the language fails to find convenient and generally understandable ways of expressing more complex thoughts, it becomes a brake on the way of understanding the world and spreading knowledge in this society. It is, of course, not the language that is to blame for this, but the attitude of the speakers towards it, disrespect for the classical literary tradition, philological science and the humanities in general, indifference to the issues of the culture of speech, the cultivation of idle, aimless chatter, a lightweight, thoughtless attitude to the word. Thus, thinking is the source of the development of language, and language, in turn, influences the course of development of thinking. This is the thought-forming role of language.

.2 Language and way of thinking people

Based on the fact that every language is a means of thinking, and these means are different for people who speak different languages, we can assume that the "picture of the world", i.e. mentality, representatives of different human communities are different: the more difference in language systems, the more in the "pictures of the world".

If we talk about language as a way of national worldview, then it should be noted that the word is not an image of a thing, it is distinguished by the ability to represent a thing from different points of view in that it has its own sensual image. This quality of the word makes the language not just a sign system, but a special, universal for a particular nation, form of worldview.

The language reflects the life and characteristics of the character of the people, their thinking. Here is a simple example. In the minds of most Russians, life in Europe is a complete fairy tale. Europe is an earthly paradise and everyone lives there like Hollywood stars - in pleasure and luxury. Therefore, girls from Russia are willing to marry Europeans. But very often life together with a foreigner does not add up. Why? It seems that she went to courses, and mastered a foreign language. She studied a foreign language, but she did it guided only by the desire to master new communicative possibilities, not knowing about the connection between the language and the culture and character of the people. Language is the life and culture of a person, the style of his behavior. Yes, there is a high standard of living in Europe, but nevertheless, luxury, unjustified expenses, and the desire for idleness are alien to Europeans. They live in prosperity, but economically. In an international family, it is much more difficult to achieve mutual understanding: very often cultural differences, stereotypes of behavior and thinking, and the lack of a common language stand as an insurmountable wall.

Language plays a special role in the formation of personality. A person, his spiritual world, is largely determined by the language in which he grew up. The American researcher of Indian languages, Benjamin Whorf, put forward a hypothesis according to which a person dismembers and cognizes nature in the direction suggested by his native language. Indeed, how do we, the inhabitants of the middle zone, designate varieties of ice? Strong and not strong. But in the Saami language, who live on the Kola Peninsula, there are about 20 names for ice and 10 for cold!

Undoubtedly, the language reflects both the way of life and the way of thinking of the people. A Russian wife sees the world differently than a French husband, because she thinks in Russian. The language we speak not only expresses our thoughts, but also largely determines their course. Language affects the content of human thinking. Two people of different nationalities can become eyewitnesses of the same phenomenon, but what they see is just a kaleidoscope of impressions until consciousness streamlines it. Ordering happens with the help of language. Therefore, observing the same phenomenon, the Russian and the French see different things, give different assessments.

People who speak different languages ​​see the world through different eyes. A Frenchman cannot perceive and feel the world the way a Russian does, because he has different language means. As the Russian writer Sergei Dovlatov said, “90% of a person’s personality consists of language,” and one cannot but agree with this.

In the era of active interethnic communication, the problem of the relationship between language and thinking, language and culture, the spirit of the people becomes especially acute. Issues such as the essence of the language, its functional palette, historical purpose and fate are closely intertwined with the fate of the people. Unfortunately, until now, studies of linguistic phenomena in linguistics are, as a rule, very narrow in nature. In general, language continues to be seen only as a tool for the exchange of information. Aspects of the relationship between language and thinking, language and national culture have not yet become the subject of study by our linguists. The complexity of the problem of language is caused by its breadth - as we see, it has not only proper linguistic, but also cognitive aspects, and through them moral and political ones. The problem of language is not limited to questions of linguistics and goes to philosophy and politics, since language is organically linked with national culture, psychology and spirituality; language is a spokesman for the worldview or mentality of the people, its system of values, traditions, and customs.

Since the meanings of words are associated with concepts, a certain mental content is fixed in the language, which turns into a hidden (internal) part of the meaning of words, to which speakers do not pay attention due to the automatism of using the language. Language could not serve as a means of communication if the meaning of each word in each case of its use became a matter of dispute. At the same time, language is a nationwide means of communication, and does not reflect the worldview of any social group, but the general features of the perception of the world by the entire speaking community, i.e. nation. Thus, the languages ​​of different peoples reflect their national culture, their national view of the world.

W. Humboldt wrote that "different languages ​​are for nations the organs of their original thinking and perception" and that "a large number of objects were created by the words denoting them and only in them finds their being." Those. objects of the real world do not become objects of thought themselves, they cannot get inside thought, they are presented to thinking by a language that, although it develops itself by the power of thought, inevitably has a form and represents the world in a certain form. The perception and understanding of not only abstract phenomena, but also concrete objects depends on which way out of the many possible ones the language has designated them.

Language always acts as an intermediary between the world and a person, draws a certain linguistic picture of the world to a person. All this does not mean at all that a person is a prisoner of the national language. The public worldview of social groups, the individual worldview of a person, is built on top of the linguistic worldview. The linguistic picture of the world is complemented by a cultural, religious, philosophical, scientific picture of the world. However, the creation of these paintings requires intellectual effort from a person. "The path from the real world to the concept and further to verbal expression is different for different peoples, which is due to differences in history, geography, the characteristics of the life of these peoples and, accordingly, differences in the development of their social consciousness." It turns out that language does not reflect reality directly, but through two stages: from the real world to thinking and from thinking to language. And although thinking was ahead of the language, its results, taking shape in the language, are somewhat modified (thought cannot be fully reflected in the word). Therefore, language becomes a separate participant in communication and the further development of thinking, it cannot be a simple mold for thought, it can simultaneously hide part of thought and supplement thought with language associations.

Thus, the language of the people is the most important component of its national culture, which is formed along with the formation of an ethnos, being a prerequisite and condition for its existence.

The above is of practical importance.

First, it is necessary to take care of the native language, which preserves the national cultural tradition, transmits the moral values ​​of the people to new generations.

Secondly, only knowing the richness of the native language well, one can easily navigate in the new information that constantly comes to a person, distinguish between words and the content behind them. Sometimes outwardly brilliant, attractive words carry emptiness or even advice that is harmful to a person. On the other hand, outwardly simple, ordinary words can be filled with a deep and reasonable meaning.

Conclusion

Thus, language is an integral part of national culture. Language is closely connected with the thinking and consciousness of a person as a whole.

National features of thinking and behavior are fixed in the signs of the language and thus reflected in it. Language, in turn, affects the understanding of the world, and in the process of organizing the process of education, upbringing, development, it is necessary to rely on these characteristics of the trainees.

Being associated with the thinking and psychology of a person, his life and public consciousness, the history of peoples and their customs, reflecting the national specifics and culture of peoples, being a form of expression for literature and folklore as art forms, being the main source of knowledge about the inner world of people, having a certain sensual perceived form languageis a source of indirect data for the humanities and natural sciences: philosophy, logic, history, ethnography, sociology, jurisprudence, psychology and psychiatry, literary criticism, computer science, semiotics, mass communication theory, brain physiology, acoustics, etc.

Bibliography

1.Bogus, M.B. Language and mentality in the educational process / M.B. Bogus // Fundamental research. - 2008. - No. 1 - S. 86-88.

.Ilyenkov, E.V. On the relationship between thinking and language / E.V. Ilyenkov // Almanac "East". - 2003. - No. 9.

.Kornilov, O.A. Linguistic pictures of the world as derivatives of national mentalities / OA Kornilov. - M.: KDU, 2002. - 350 p.

.Maslova, V.A. Introduction to cognitive linguistics / V.A. Maslova. - M.: Flinta, 2007. - 296 p.

.Melnikova, A.A. Language and national character. The relationship between the structure of language and mentality / A.A. Melnikov. - St. Petersburg: Speech, 2003 - 237p.

.Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary - Ed. E.F. Gubsky. - M.: Publishing House Tsifra, 2002. - P.263.

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/ Kasevich V.B. "Elements of General Linguistics"

§ 1. Language is the most important means of transmitting and storing information: the main part of the information circulating in society exists precisely in linguistic form.

The transfer of information is one of the most essential types and aspects of communication between people, therefore, according to V.I. Lenin, "language is the most important means of human communication" (Poln. sobr. sobr. v.25, p.258). It follows, in turn, that the central function of language is that of communication, or communicative.

§ 2. It is known that there is another characteristic of language as the immediate reality of thought, as pointed out by K. Marx. Here another function of language is emphasized, namely reflective: thinking, i.e., a person’s reflection of the world around him, is carried out mainly in a linguistic form. Otherwise, we can say that the function of the language is the generation (formation) of information. How do these two functions of the language relate?

It can be argued that the communicative function, or communication function, is primary, and the reflection function is secondary, while both functions are closely related. In fact, reflection of the external world does not in itself require a linguistic form: comparatively developed forms of reflection of the external world already exist in animals; the need for a linguistic form for the “products” of reflection arises precisely because these results of the reflection of mental activity must be communicated, transferred to other members of the human team. The exchange of individual experience, the coordination of actions become possible thanks to the language, which is precisely the tool that allows you to "cast" the results of individual mental activity into generally significant forms.

The foregoing simultaneously means that the very reflective function of the language is called to life by its communicative function: if there was no need for communication, there would be, generally speaking, no need for a person to reflect the outside world in a linguistic form.

§ 3. Since the reflection of the external world at any high levels always acts as a generalization in relation to the objects of reality and their properties, we can say, following L.S. Vygotsky, that “the unity of communication and generalization” is realized in the language. This means that, on the one hand, language provides communication; on the other hand, the results of mental activity, activity to generalize the properties of reality, are developed and consolidated precisely in the linguistic form. “Every word generalizes” (V.I. Lenin, Complete Collected Works. Vol. 29, p. 246), in other words, every word is the result of the abstract work of thought (the word wood means "a tree in general"), and, conversely, an abstract concept, common to all members of a given collective, requires the presence of a word for its existence.

It can be said that language, together with labor, created a person: “First, labor, and then articulate speech together with it, were the two most important stimuli under the influence of which the brain of a monkey turned into a human brain” (F. Engels. Dialectics of nature. - K. Marx, F. Engels, Works, ed. 2, v. 20, p. 490).

Without language, communication is impossible - therefore, the existence of society is impossible, and hence the formation of the human personality, the formation of which is conceivable only in a social collective. Outside of language, there are no universally valid concepts and, of course, the existence of developed forms of generalization, abstraction is difficult, i.e., again, the formation of a human personality is virtually impossible.

§ 4. The communicative function of language presupposes the semiotic aspect of its consideration, which will be discussed below. The study of the reflective function of language is closely related to the problem of "language and thinking". This problem is not specially considered here (see the chapter "On Psycholinguistics"), however, some remarks in this regard must be made.

§ 4.1. The first remark refers to the so-called Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, according to which a person's thinking is determined by the language he speaks and cannot go beyond this language, since all a person's ideas about the world are expressed through his native language. Opponents /6//7/ of this hypothesis indicate that both human thinking and indirectly its language are determined by reality, the outside world, therefore, assigning the role of a determining factor in the formation of thinking to language is idealism.

The decisive role of external reality in the formation of human thinking, of course, is not subject to discussion, it is indisputable. At the same time, however, one should take into account the activity of the processes of reflection of reality by a person: a person does not passively imprint the material that the outside world “supplies” to him - this material is organized in a certain way, structured by the perceiving subject; a person, as they say, "models" the external world, reflecting it by means of his psyche. This or that method of modeling is determined by the needs of a person, primarily social, industrial. It is quite natural that these needs, connected with the conditions of existence, may be different in different historically formed communities of people. To some extent, the ways of modeling reality differ accordingly. It manifests itself primarily in the language. Consequently, the specificity of the language here - contrary to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis - is rather secondary, in any case it is not primary: it cannot be said that the specificity of the language determines the specificity of thinking.

This is how things stand in phylogeny, that is, in the history of the formation and development of man (and his language). However, in ontogenesis, i.e., in the individual development of a person, the situation is somewhat different. Each person acquires knowledge about the world, about external reality - reflects external reality to a very large extent not directly, but “through” language. A textbook example: the spectrum of emission and absorption of light waves, which determines color, is, of course, the same everywhere, and the physiological abilities of representatives of different ethnic groups for color perception do not differ; however, it is known that some peoples differ, for example, three colors, while others - seven, etc. It is natural to ask the question: why, say, every African Shona (a southeastern group of Bantu languages) learns to distinguish exactly three primary colors, no more and no less? Obviously, because in his language there are names for these three colors. Here, therefore, the language acts as a ready-made tool for one or another structuring of reality when it is displayed by a person.

Thus, when the question arises why in general there are so many names of flowers, types of snow, etc. in a given language, the answer to it is that Russians, French, Indians, Nenets, etc. for their In practice, during the previous centuries (perhaps millennia), roughly speaking, it was “necessary” to distinguish precisely the varieties /7//8/ of the corresponding objects, which was reflected in the language. Another question is this: why does each member of a language community distinguish so many colors, etc., etc.? Here the answer is that this or that way of perceiving external reality is to a certain extent “imposed” on a specific individual by his language, which in this respect is nothing but the crystallized social experience of a given collective, people. From this point of view, therefore, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is quite reasonable.

What has been said above, of course, does not mean in any way that a person is not at all capable of cognizing something for which there is no designation in his language. The entire experience of the development of various peoples and their languages ​​shows that when the production and cognitive evolution of society creates the need to introduce a new concept, the language never prevents this - to designate a new concept, either an existing word is used with a certain change in semantics, or a new one is formed according to the laws of a given language. Without this, in particular, it would be impossible to imagine the development of science.

§ 4.2. The second remark that needs to be made in connection with the issue of “language and thinking”, even in the most concise way, concerns the question of how close, how inseparable the connection between language and thinking is.

First of all, it must be said that in ontogenesis (in a child) the development of speech and intellectual development are initially carried out “in parallel”, according to their own laws, while the development of speech turns out to be more connected with the emotional sphere, with the establishment of “pragmatic” and emotional contact with others. Only later, by the age of two, do the lines of speech and intellectual development "intersect", enriching each other: a process begins, as a result of which the thought receives a linguistic form and the opportunity to join through the language to the experience accumulated by society; now language begins to serve not only the needs of elementary contact, but also, with the development of the individual, complex forms of self-expression, etc.

There is, therefore, a certain autonomy of language and thought from the genetic point of view (ie, from the point of view of their origin and development), and at the same time their closest interrelationship. /8//9/

From our own experience, everyone knows that thinking does not always proceed in an expanded speech form. Does this mean that we have evidence (albeit intuitive) of the independence of thought from language? This is a difficult question, and so far only a preliminary answer can be given.

Much depends on how we interpret the concept of "thinking". If this term for us means not only abstract thinking, but also the so-called thinking in images, then it is quite natural that this latter - figurative thinking - should not at all necessarily be verbal, verbal. In this sense, nonverbal thinking is obviously quite possible.

Another aspect of the same problem is connected with the existence of such types of thinking, where the speech form is used, but appears as if reduced: only some of the most important elements remain of it, and everything that “goes without saying” does not receive speech form. This process of "compressing" linguistic means is reminiscent of a common practice in dialogues, especially in a well-known situation, when much that is taken as known is omitted. This is all the more natural in mental monologues, or “monologues for oneself,” that is, when there is no need to worry about achieving understanding on the part of the interlocutor.

Such folded speech, shaping thinking, is called inner speech. It is important to emphasize that inner speech is nevertheless a reduced “ordinary” speech, arises on its basis and is impossible without it (inner speech is absent in a child who has not yet mastered the language sufficiently).

LITERATURE

K. Marx, F. Engels and V. I. Lenin on the problems of language. - V. A. Zvegintsev. History of Linguistics XIX-XX centuries. in essays and extracts. Part 2, M., 1960.

Vygotsky L. S. Thinking and speech. M., 1934.

General linguistics. Forms of existence, functions, history of language. Ed. B. A. Serebrennikova. M., 1970 (Ch. V)./9//10/

Human consciousness is organically connected with language as a way of being. Animals have the first signaling system, on the basis of which they form conditioned reflexes. In humans, in addition to the first signaling system, it develops second signaling system speech, language, a specifically human system of communication, communication, information transfer. In comparison with the sound and gestural ability of animals to transmit information, a distinctive feature of language is that the processing of signs (for example, the speed of reading, speech, writing, etc.) is not inherited, but acquired in the process of human socialization. As a way of existence of consciousness, speech is in a complex functional relationship with it. They do not exist without each other: consciousness reflects reality, and language designates and expresses the essential in this reflection. The language combines the ideal basis (information) and the way it is transmitted through material carrier. The development of consciousness, the enrichment of its information saturation develops speech, but, on the other hand, the development of speech as an improving way of existence of consciousness develops consciousness. Language affects the style of thinking, its manner, techniques and methods.

Language is more conservative than consciousness: the same linguistic shell, word, concept can express different content of thought, which hinders its development, gives it some coercion. Improving his language, a person improves his consciousness, and, conversely, neglecting the operation of linguistic symbols, using a limited vocabulary, we conserve thinking, limiting it to the available intellect.

There are different types of speech: oral, written and internal. The thought process is always carried out through one or another type of speech, even if this speech does not find direct, sensually observable expression. Complex neurophysiological processes of mutually coordinated activity of the brain and speech apparatus work here. Each nerve impulse entering the speech apparatus from the brain reproduces in it a concept adequate to the signal or a corresponding series of concepts. It is concepts that are the primary elements of speech, and since concepts are formed as a result of certain generalizations, then thinking, consciousness is always a process of generalized reflection of reality. That is, thinking is always conceptual and this is what fundamentally differs from earlier forms of reflection, including complex psychological forms. It is language as a way of existence of consciousness, as "the direct reality of thought" that characterizes the special quality of consciousness as the highest form of reflection of reality, irreducible to its pre-conscious forms.

But the information circulating at the level of consciousness functions not only with the help of oral or written speech, i.e. natural language. Consciousness also realizes itself in other sign systems, in various artificial and symbolic languages ​​(musical, mathematical, Esperanto, cybernetic, dances, colors, gestures, etc.).

Signs – these are material objects, processes and actions that play the role of a “substitute” for real things and phenomena. They are used to acquire, store, transform and transfer information . A sign system can be called a human language if it satisfies the following requirements:

It must have semantics and grammar, contain meaningful elements and rules for their meaningful connection;

It must constantly develop, and not only under the influence of improving human activity, but also as a result of self-development, i.e. expand consciousness according to certain rules on the basis of finite semantic units to create an unlimited number of informative messages;

Messages formed in one language or another should not depend on the presence of the designated objects.

Sign systems have arisen and are developing as a special material form in which thinking is carried out and information processes are fixed in social life, for example, in science and technology.

Natural language is the most common sign system. Among non-linguistic signs, there are: signs-copies; signs-signs; signs-signals; signs-symbols. At the present level of development of consciousness, systems of signs of artificial languages ​​have become widespread: code systems, formulas, diagrams, diagrams, etc. At the same time, any sign has meaning and meaning only in one system or another.

The special intensification and information density of the modern development of society not only gives rise to new languages ​​and sign systems, but also the sciences about them. In the last century, a new scientific discipline has been formed on the principles of the structure and functioning of sign systems - semiotics.

The emergence of a scientific direction - informatics. But, in any case, the system of concepts of natural language, which has been formed for millions of years, remains the key measure of the existence of consciousness.

Concepts not only denote phenomena, but also express the idea of ​​objectively existing objects, their connections and relationships. The word and the bearer of our knowledge about the world, and the "intermediary" between the thought and the subject. Hence, specifying the special role of language in consciousness and its relative independence, we can single out a number of basic functions of language.

1. denoting. By its content, the word is always connected with the subject. Only in the presence of this connection can it serve as a means of coordinating actions in the process of cognition and practice. It is with the help of words that ideal images are differentiated, concepts are formed. There is a possibility of abstraction from specific things, their properties and relations by operating with concepts, words. The word, in fact, "replaces" the object in the mind.

2. Cumulative. Language enables "reduced", "condensed" ideal reproduction of reality, as well as storage, transmission and practical use of the information contained in it. The word in a compressed form reflects the essential in the phenomenon. In this generalizing function, language acts as an accumulator of knowledge and consolidates (materializes) the social memory of mankind.

3. Communicative. In this function, language acts as a means of communication between people. Information can only be used by society in the form of a language (natural or artificial). The communicative function of language in the history of society has changed qualitatively twice, and in each case this led to a more effective consolidation of social experience, activation of activity and material and spiritual culture. The first such qualitative leap was the invention of writing. The second is taking place before our eyes on the basis of the rapid development of computer technology, informatics, and cybernetics.

4. Expressive. Everything reflected in the mind of a person by means of language is, to one degree or another, connected with his interests and needs. Hence, inevitably, his certain emotional-sensual attitude to the surrounding phenomena, which is impossible to express otherwise than with the help of language.

5. Interactive.. This function is connected with the fact that with the help of language a person always refers to himself or to another person, and explicitly or implicitly in his speech there is a question, proposal, request, complaint, order, threat, etc., that is, speech always has a certain effect on the listener, encourages one or another action.

Language is the most common way for the social functioning of consciousness. The signs of the second signaling system can also be used by animals, but the sounds and gestures denoting various phenomena and states and used by animals to transmit information to their relatives do not form a language in the true sense of the word. Taking into account the fact that a person is surrounded by things and phenomena, as a rule, created or transformed by him, they can also be considered as certain signs or thoughts that act as an objectified form of ideal being.

So the world of man is the world meanings, often hidden from a person and inaccessible to his direct perception. The task of consciousness is to reveal meanings, to reveal the content and meaning of signs coming from the outside world, to turn them into a meaningful, informational image. As a result of this process, a person's thought ceases to be his subjective, individual property and begins to live according to his own laws, acquires relative independence. Describing the relative independence of consciousness, it should be noted: 1) Consciousness does not develop as a mirror image of the material world, it is a transformed reflection that includes all previous experience. 2) Consciousness, existing through concepts, goes beyond concrete sensory images. Within the framework of consciousness, reflection passes from sensations and perceptions to concepts, judgments and conclusions, which are characterized by creative reflection, analysis and synthesis of sensually given material. 3) The relative independence of consciousness is also manifested in the fact that it reveals a certain conservatism in relation to the developing social practice. Firstly, consciousness in materialized ideal forms (monuments of literature, architecture, art) keeps the memory of the spiritual culture of past generations. Secondly, certain representations, beliefs, ideological and ethical predilections, etc., that no longer correspond to the changed reality, find consolidation, reproduction and storage in the mind. On the other hand, especially in scientific thinking, consciousness is able to anticipate and anticipate real events, to form fundamentally new combinations of reality interconnections based on creativity, which mobilize human activity and are realized in it.

A comparative analysis of the qualitative characteristics of human consciousness and the psyche of animals confirms the thesis about the socio-historical, socially transformative nature of consciousness and language, both in the genetic and functional aspects. Human consciousness can neither arise nor function outside of society. Cases known to science of the discovery of human cubs, by chance isolated from society and "brought up" in the environment of animals, testify to the impossibility of forming consciousness outside of society, outside of communication and the exchange of social information.

Thus, the system within which consciousness arises and develops is the practical activity of people aimed at transforming reality. In order to regulate relations between people in the course of work and in other types of interaction, it was necessary to use means created by people themselves, not given to them by nature: traditions and customs, norms-imperatives and norms-taboos, forms of social inheritance and family regulation, expressed with the help of language. Thus, people create a "second nature", a special social environment of life - the means of production, social relations, spiritual culture. The experience of this creative activity is reflected in consciousness, causing its consistent development along with the historical enrichment of this experience itself.

Since people carry out their activities together, each new generation assimilates the ideas, concepts, views, etc., already established in society. It is with the advent of consciousness that humanity acquires a means of consolidating and developing its historical and individual experience, while in animals the species experience is transmitted hereditarily, and individual experience is lost for subsequent generations. Consciousness is thus a universal, necessary and universal way of organizing and expressing a person's relationship to the world, to another person and to himself.

Consciousness not only historically arises as a social phenomenon, but also becomes possible only as a product of joint labor activity. The interweaving of the actions of each individual person into joint collective activity at each historical stage in the development of society leads to the fact that the consciousness of the individual acquires a transpersonal, supraindividual character. Formed public consciousness- a set of ideas, concepts, teachings, massive psychological processes that have their own logic of functioning and development, different from individual consciousness.

The ability to reflect the surrounding world is most clearly manifested in living beings. However, modern science has come to the conclusion that this property of living matter has a deeper basis. On a dialectical-materialist basis, this question was raised by V. I. Lenin. In his work Materialism and Empirio-Criticism, Lenin expressed the idea that all matter has the property of reflection, which is related to sensation.

Reflection is seen in any act of interaction. When, say, two absolutely elastic balls collide, then one ball, hitting another ball with a certain force, transfers some amount of energy to the latter and expresses its state through a change in energy and the direction of movement of the second ball. Having received a certain amount of energy, the second ball reflects the state of the object that acted on it, the state of the first ball.

However, at the level of mechanics, reflection is extremely simple and elementary. Any impact experienced by a body is expressed in it in mechanical characteristics: mass, speed, force, inertia, direction, etc. It is episodic and random in nature, the result of interaction - a reflected change, a "trace" or information - is not fixed and without a trace disappears after a certain period of time. Reflection in these cases is not localized and diffuse.

More complex is the so-called physical form of reflection. In each act of physical interaction, the body participates as an organic whole and at the same time as an aggregate of a large number of molecules. The external influence is divided into individual elementary reflected changes, which are simultaneously combined into integral changes in the body. In accordance with the structural nature of the reflection substrate, the "trace" acquires a dissected, differentiated structural form. At the level of the physical form of movement, the reflection becomes localized.

However, the physical form of reflection is also limited. In the process of reaction, the external influence is altered in accordance with the body's own nature. Those aspects of the influencing object that are inherent in the reflection substrate are adequately reproduced. On the contrary, when qualitatively heterogeneous objects interact, there is a transition from one form to another - for example, heat into electricity - as a result of which the internal similarity of the reflection and the original becomes distant.

An even greater qualitative diversity is reflected at the level of the chemical form of motion. The chemical element has the ability to change under the influence of the acting substance and in accordance with its nature. In the course of a chemical reaction, a new quality arises. Therefore, the preservation and accumulation of reflected changes occurs through the consolidation of these changes with a new quality.

The presence of reflectivity in bodies of inanimate nature thus prepares for the appearance of irritability and sensations that arise in living matter.

The reflection of the external world in animals and humans occurs on the basis of living matter, as a result of which it acquires special specific features, which are as follows:

1) Reflection takes on a particularly developed form, since living matter has very rich and complex properties.

2) In inanimate nature, reflection is merged with the general process of the interaction of an object with the environment. In living matter, a special kind of reflection separates and specializes, different from assimilation and dissimilation. The main and special function of this type of reflection is signaling changes in the external environment.

3) The reflection of external conditions by organisms does not have a self-contained value and performs the functions of a means of adaptation to the environment.

4) With the formation of living protein, a qualitatively new form of reflection arises - irritability, from which, in the course of the development of living organisms, even higher forms emerge - sensation, perception, representation, thinking.

The forms of reflection observed in the realm of inanimate nature are remarkable for their striking uniformity and constancy, for example, the interaction of two solid bodies colliding with each other or the interaction of chemical elements entering into a combination remain essentially the same over vast periods of time. There are no such phenomena as the interaction of the body and the environment, the adaptation of the body to the environment, etc.

Completely different relationships exist in the realm of wildlife. The law of the unity of the organism and the conditions of its existence acts as the basic law of the development of organic nature. The external environment is the most important factor determining the nature of a living organism. The adaptation of an animal organism to the conditions of its existence is here an expression of the conformity of the functions and structure of the organism and all its organs to given environmental conditions. A change in the conditions of existence necessarily causes a change in the functions of the organism, the emergence of new adaptation reactions in their essence.

Thus, the desire to exist, the struggle for self-preservation, observed in the field of organic nature, turn into a powerful stimulus that necessitates adaptation to the environment.

In turn, a change in the environment often acts as a reason for the appearance of new properties and qualities in the body. The desire to adapt to the environment often leads to the emergence of more advanced forms of living organisms. Let us clarify this situation with some concrete examples.

At the lowest level of the animal kingdom, I. M. Sechenov notes, sensitivity is evenly distributed throughout the body, without any signs of dismemberment and isolation into organs. So, for example, in such lower organisms as jellyfish, nerve cells have a primitive universality. The same nerve cells are able to distinguish between chemical, temperature and mechanical stimuli. Where sensitivity is spread evenly over the whole body, it can serve the latter only when the influence from the external world acts on the feeling body by direct contact.

At some stage of development, which modern biological science cannot specify with precision, irritability, i.e., the elementary physiological means of adapting the organism to the external environment, becomes insufficient, since the organism falls into some other conditions of existence.

This fused form begins to be more and more dissected into separate organized systems of movement and feeling: the place of the contractile protoplasm is now occupied by muscle tissue, and evenly distributed irritability gives way to a certain localization of sensitivity, which goes along with the development of the nervous system. Even further, sensitivity is specialized, so to speak, qualitatively - it is divided into the so-called systemic feelings (hunger, thirst, sexual, respiratory, etc.) and the activity of higher sense organs (sight, touch, hearing, etc.).

In the process of development of living beings, sensation usually arises when the organism has become capable of differentiating stimuli not only in intensity but also in quality. “The next step in the evolution of feeling,” notes I. M. Sechenov, “can be defined as the combined or coordinated activity of special forms of feeling among themselves and with the motor reactions of the body. If the previous phase consisted of a grouping in different directions of units of feeling and movement, then the next one consists in a grouping (of course, even more diverse) among themselves of these same groups.

Armed with specifically different instruments of sensitivity, the animal must necessarily receive extremely diverse groups of simultaneous or successive impressions, and meanwhile, even at this stage of development, feeling as a whole must remain for the animal an instrument of orientation in space and time, moreover, orientation, obviously more detailed than less gifted animal forms are capable of. This means that it is necessary either to coordinate among themselves those individual elements that make up a sensory group or series, or to divide it into elements - otherwise feeling should have remained a chaotic random mixture.

“The environment in which the animal exists is here again a factor determining organization. With a uniformly spread sensitivity of the body, which excludes the possibility of moving it in space, life is preserved only under the condition that the animal is directly surrounded by an environment capable of supporting its existence. The area of ​​life here is of necessity extremely narrow. On the contrary, the higher the sensory organization, through which the animal orients itself in time and space, the wider the scope of possible life encounters, the more diverse the very environment that acts on the organization, and the more diverse the means of possible adaptations.

Dissected and coordinated feeling eventually develops into instinct and reason. “The complication and improvement of the ability of reflection in living organisms occurs on the basis of the appearance and development of a special reflection substrate: initially a special sensitive substance, then sensitive cells, nerve cells and the nervous system, which reaches the highest stage of development in humans. In connection with the appearance of a special substrate of reflection - the nervous system - there are special states caused by external influences - nervous excitation and inhibition, special forms of reflective activity - conditioned and unconditioned reflexes, specific patterns of reflective activity - irradiation and concentration, mutual induction, etc. ".

Thus, the ability of reflection in living organisms goes through three main stages in its development. The first stage is irritability, i.e. the ability of bodies to respond with a reaction to external influences, which is mediated by the state of excitation of the tissue, then, on the basis of irritability, a sensation arises, from which the evolution of the psyche begins, as a form of reflection higher than irritability. With the transition to labor activity and the appearance of man, the highest form of mental activity—consciousness—appears and develops.

The ability to reflect the surrounding material world is one of the most important prerequisites for the emergence of human language, since the basis of communication acts, as will be shown later, is the reflection of the surrounding reality by a person. At the same time, it should be noted that the implementation of these processes of reflection would be impossible if a person did not possess a number of special properties, the manifestation of which ensures the ability of reflection.

Serebrennikov B.A. General linguistics - M., 1970