The Magical Function of Language

The magical function of the language is a special case of the invocative function, with the difference that in the case of verbal magic, the addressee of the speech is not a person, but a higher power. Manifestations of the magical function include taboos, taboo substitutions, as well as vows of silence in some religious traditions; conspiracies, prayers, oaths, including swearing and oath; in some religions, sacred texts, the Scriptures, are considered inspired, dictated from above. A common feature of the attitude to the word as a magical power is the non-conventional interpretation of the linguistic sign, i.e. the idea that the word is not a symbol of some object, but a part of it, therefore, for example, the pronunciation of a ritual name can cause the presence of someone who named after him, and to make a mistake in a verbal ritual is to offend, anger or harm higher powers. All cultural areas known in history preserve, to one degree or another, the traditions of religious and magical consciousness. Therefore, the magical function of language is universal, although its specific manifestations in the languages ​​of the world are infinitely diverse. Often the element of magic itself has already disappeared from some of these words and expressions (Rus. thank you God bless), in other cases it is quite noticeable, for example, don’t be remembered by night, don’t be remembered by that, don’t speak hand in hand, don’t croak - you’ll call trouble. Magic formulas that had a positive result (fertility, health) as an ultimate goal were often built as a curse and scolding. In a number of traditions, ritual foul language is known in wedding and agricultural rites. Some swear words go back to ritual spells.

Dictionary of sociolinguistic terms. - M.: Russian Academy of Sciences. Institute of Linguistics. Russian Academy of Linguistic Sciences. Managing editor: Doctor of Philology V.Yu. Mikhalchenko. 2006 .

See what the "Magic Function of Language" is in other dictionaries:

magic function of language Dictionary of linguistic terms T.V. Foal

The Magical Function of Language- A special case of invocative incentive function. The addressee of the speech in the case of using M.f.ya. - higher power. The manifestations of the magical function include: taboos, taboo substitutions, vows of silence, conspiracies, prayers, oaths, worship, oath. AT… … General linguistics. Sociolinguistics: Dictionary-Reference

Language Features- Language functions 1) the role (use, purpose) of language in human society; 2) deterministic correspondence (dependence) of units of one set to units of another set; the second meaning is more often applied to units of the language (for example, ... ... Linguistic Encyclopedic Dictionary

language features- The functions performed by the language in society. Language is not just a reflection of reality in the mind of a person, it is, first of all, the most important means of communication between people. Hence all its functions: it is the language of man and, therefore, it is organically connected with ... ... Educational dictionary of stylistic terms

LANGUAGE FUNCTIONS- are determined on the basis of its main (communicative) purpose - to be an instrument of direct communication and a means of expressing the accumulated cultural experience of the people. The general communicative function manifests itself depending on the settings ... ... Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary

It is expressed in a ban on the use of certain words, expressions or proper names. The phenomenon of taboo is associated with the magical function of language (speech), that is, with the belief in the possibility of a direct impact on the world around us with the help of language. I.t.… … Dictionary of sociolinguistic terms

Minkia

foul language- Profanity (obscene expressions, unprintable language) or obscene vocabulary (from the English obscene obscene, dirty, shameless) segment of the swear vocabulary of various languages, including the rudest (obscene, obscenely vile, ... ... Wikipedia

Obscene expressions- Profanity (obscene expressions, unprintable language) or obscene vocabulary (from the English obscene obscene, dirty, shameless) segment of the swear vocabulary of various languages, including the rudest (obscene, obscenely vile, ... ... Wikipedia

The main functions and styles of the literary language

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1.5 The magical function of language

Manifestations of the magical function of speech include conspiracies, curses, oaths, including swearing and oath; prayers; magical "predictions" with a characteristic hypothetical modality (divination, sorcery, prophecy, eschatological visions); "doxology" (doxology) addressed to the higher forces - necessarily containing exalting characteristics and special formulas of praise - such as, for example, Hallelujah! (Hebrew. Praise the Lord!), Hosanna! (a Greekized Hebrew exclamation with the meaning Save me!) or Glory to Thee, our God, glory to Thee!); taboo and taboo substitutions; vows of silence in some religious traditions; in religions, the Scriptures are sacred texts, i.e. texts attributed to divine origin; we can consider, for example, that they were created, inspired or dictated by a higher power. A common feature of the attitude to the word as a magical power is the non-conventional interpretation of the linguistic sign, i.e. the idea that a word is not a conventional designation of some object, but a part of it, therefore, for example, pronouncing a ritual name can cause the presence of the one who is named by it, and making a mistake in a verbal ritual is offending, angering higher powers or harming them.

Verbal and non-verbal means of implementing the contact-establishing function in the newspaper "Sport-Full House"

The language is multifunctional and can participate in different processes. We are interested in the process of establishing contact with the reader through the means of language. A language can do this when it performs a phatic function. But it is a private function...

The communicative function of language is related to the fact that language is primarily a means of communication between people. It allows one individual - the speaker - to express his thoughts, and the other - the perceiver - to understand them, that is, to somehow react ...

The main functions and styles of the literary language

Cognitive or cognitive function of language (from the Latin cognition - knowledge, cognition) is connected with the fact that human consciousness is realized or fixed in the signs of the language. Language is the instrument of consciousness...

The main functions and styles of the literary language

The accumulative function of the language is associated with the most important purpose of the language - to collect and store information, evidence of human cultural activity. Language lives much longer than a person, and sometimes even longer than entire nations ...

The main functions and styles of the literary language

Linguistic scientists also single out sometimes, and not unreasonably, the emotional function of language. In other words, signs, sounds of language often serve people to convey emotions, feelings, states. In fact, it is with this function, most likely ...

The main functions and styles of the literary language

The poetic function corresponds to the message, i.e. the main role is played by the focus on the message as such, outside of its content. The main thing is the form of the message. Attention is directed to the message for its own sake. As the name suggests...

To study the category of emotivity in language, it is important to determine the place of the emotive function of language in a number of other functions. “The functions of language are a manifestation of its essence, its purpose and action in society, its nature, i.e. ...

Representation of negative states of a person in English

The emotional function of language is understood as the ability to express various feelings and emotions using a variety of linguistic means. There is an opinion among linguists that the emotional function of language should be one of the main ...

Stylistic functions of synonyms in journalistic texts

This function is one of the most important functions of synonyms for journalistic text. The repetition of the same word makes speech colorless, inexpressive. Here you can turn to "Komsomolskaya Pravda" ...

Stylistic functions of synonyms in journalistic texts

In view of the fact that the clarification function is used most often for highly specialized terms, it is rarely found in journalism. The authors prefer not to resort to such terms, but to replace them immediately with a synonym...

Functions of the Russian language

The main function of language is communicative. Language is primarily a means of human communication. We live in a society and communicate in a certain society in a certain space at a certain time. Thus...

Functions of the Russian language

Communication between people presupposes certain knowledge about the surrounding reality, and one of the universal and effective means of knowing the world around us is language. Thus, the language also performs cognitive or cognitive ...

Functions of the Russian language

Collection and informativeness are those essential properties of a linguistic sign that underlie its most important function, along with the communicative one: the function of cumulative ...

The regulatory function is aimed at creating, maintaining and regulating relations in microcollectives. Its purpose is to influence the addressee of the message: to induce, forbid, warn.

1. volitional - expressed in requests and orders;
2. interrogative - serves to query a fact;
3. appellative (conscription) - is aimed at inciting to any action or regulation of actions.

The contact-establishing (phatic) function performs the function of creating and maintaining contact between interlocutors when there is no contact yet or no longer exists (greeting, farewell, exchange of remarks about the weather, etc.). In relatively permanent groups, the establishment and maintenance of speech contacts is the most important means of regulating relations. Communication with relatives, neighbors, colleagues is necessary not only to maintain certain relationships in micro-collectives, it is also important for the person himself - for his self-affirmation, realization as a person.

The regulatory and phatic functions of the language are aimed not only at improving relations between members of the micro-collective, but are also used for “repressive” purposes, to alienate the interlocutor from oneself. That is, the language is used not only for mutual "strokes", but also for "pricks" and "blows" - expressing threats, insults, swearing, etc.

The magical function is realized in special situations, when the language is endowed, as it were, with superhuman, “otherworldly” power. A person's belief that a word/language is capable of influencing subsequent events. This function is associated with religious and mystical beliefs, for example, No bottom for you, no tire.

Language as the immediate reality of thought. The relation of language to objective reality and to thinking. Correlation of verbal thinking with figurative, objective, technical thinking.

The relationship of language in thinking

Being a tool for fixing, transmitting and storing information, language is closely connected with thinking, with all the spiritual activities of people aimed at understanding the objectively existing world, at its display (modeling) in the human mind. At the same time, while forming the closest dialectical unity, language and thinking do not constitute, however, identities: they are different, although interconnected phenomena, their areas intersect, but do not completely coincide.

Just like communication, thinking can be verbal and non-verbal. Non-verbal thinking is carried out with the help of visual-sensory images that arise as a result of the perception of impressions of reality and then stored by memory and recreated by the imagination. So, non-verbal is mental activity in solving creative problems of a technical nature (for example, those associated with spatial coordination and movement of parts of a mechanism). The solution of such problems usually does not proceed in the forms of internal (and even more so external) speech. This is a special "technical" or "engineering" thinking. The thinking of a chess player is close to this. A special type of visual-figurative thinking is characteristic of the work of a painter, sculptor, and composer.

Verbal thinking operates with concepts fixed in words, judgments, conclusions, analyzes and generalizes, builds hypotheses and theories. It proceeds in the forms established in the language, i.e., is carried out in the processes of internal or (in "thinking aloud") external speech. We can say that the language in a certain way organizes a person's knowledge about the world, dismembers and consolidates this knowledge and passes it on to subsequent generations. Conceptual thinking can also be based on secondary, artificial languages, on special communication systems built by man. Thus, a mathematician or physicist operates with concepts fixed in conventional symbols, thinks not with words, but with formulas, and with the help of formulas he obtains new knowledge.

The extreme complexity of the structure of human thinking is also confirmed by modern data on the functioning of the human brain. The fundamental feature of our brain is the so-called functional asymmetry, i.e. in a certain specialization of the functions of the left and right hemispheres. Most people have areas of speech generation and perception in the left hemisphere, so the left hemisphere is "speech", and thus, usually, "dominant" (i.e., "dominant"); more precisely, it is responsible for the logical-grammatical division and coherence of our speech, for its form, and also, apparently, for abstract vocabulary, in short, for analytical, abstract thinking. With aphasia (speech disorders) caused by injuries of the left hemisphere, speech loses grammatical correctness and fluency (and in different ways, depending on which parts of the cortex are affected - frontotemporal or posterior temporal). In contrast to the left hemisphere, the right hemisphere is more closely connected with visual-figurative thinking, with visual, spatial, sound or other images, and especially in the field of language - with the objective meanings of words, especially specific nouns. It is characterized by an undifferentiated, but on the other hand, a more holistic perception of the world and is a source of intuition. In diseases and injuries that affect the right hemisphere, the grammatical correctness of statements may be preserved, but speech becomes meaningless. in general, normally both hemispheres work in continuous contact with each other, working together to ensure all human behavior, his thinking and speech.

Thinking is the process of displaying the world in the human mind through the concepts of the subject and the judgment about it.

10. Language picture of the world. Lexical "gaps" and "phantoms" in languages. The theory of linguistic relativity (the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis) and its critical evaluation.

In linguistics, there is a concept - a linguistic picture of the world, that is, a set of ideas historically formed in the everyday consciousness of the people and reflected in the language. This is a kind of collective philosophy, a system of views, partly universal, and partly nationally specific. Each natural language reflects a certain way of perceiving and arranging the world, or a “linguistic picture of the world”. “Linguistic picture of the world” is a fact of national and cultural heritage. Language is one of the forms of fixing this heritage, including signs and beliefs.

Lacuna (in the broad sense) is a nationally specific element of culture that has found a corresponding reflection in the language and speech of the carriers of this culture, which is either not fully understood or misunderstood by carriers of a different linguistic culture in the process of communication. Lacuna (in the narrow sense, the so-called linguistic lacuna) - the absence in the lexical system of the language of a word to denote a particular concept. For example, the concept of “hand” defined in Russian in English is divided into two independent concepts: “arm” (upper limb) and “hand” (hand), while there is no single concept corresponding to the entire upper limb (arm) in English (to be precise, there is no such concept only in colloquial English, because in book and medical English there is the term "upper extremity" (upper limb).

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (linguistic relativity hypothesis) is a concept developed in the 30s of the twentieth century, according to which the structure of language determines thinking and the way of knowing reality. It arose in the ethnolinguistics of the United States under the influence of the works of E. Sapir and B. L. Whorf. In accordance with their ideas, the language and way of thinking of the people are interconnected. Mastering the language, its native speaker also acquires a certain attitude to the world and sees it from the point of view "imposed" by the structures of the language, accepts the picture of the world reflected in the native language. Since languages ​​classify the surrounding reality in different ways, their speakers also differ in the way they relate to it: “We dissect nature in the direction suggested by our native language. We single out certain categories and types in the world of phenomena not at all because they ( these categories and types) are self-evident; on the contrary, the world appears before us as a kaleidoscopic stream of impressions that must be organized by our consciousness, and this means mainly by the language system stored in our consciousness" (Whorf. P. 213). The consequence of the recognition of the hypothesis of linguistic relativity is the recognition that the language contains a certain system of values, the values ​​expressed in it are evaluative and add up to a collective philosophy inherent in all speakers of this language.

The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis has both supporters and opponents. Feminist criticism of language bases on this concept the demand for reforming the language to overcome the gender asymmetry contained in it, believing that the language - by virtue of its androcentrism - imposes on people who speak it a picture of the world in which women are assigned a subordinate role.

M  Cyrillic. M think. 14th letter of the Russian alphabet.
THE MAGIC FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE. A special case of the call-incentive function. The addressee of the speech in the case of using M.f.ya. - higher power. The manifestations of the magical function include: taboos, taboo substitutions, vows of silence, conspiracies, prayers, oaths, worship, oath. In some religions, sacred texts, Scriptures are considered inspired, dictated from above. M.f.i. universal. Magic formulas can be built as a curse and scolding. In a number of traditions, ritual foul language is known in wedding and agricultural rites. Some swear words go back to ritual spells.
MAJORITY  fr. majorite - the majority. Pertaining to or based on the majority. M. languages.
MAJORITY PEOPLE. A people whose number exceeds the number of other peoples living in a particular territory, in a given state or administrative entity.
MAJORITY LANGUAGE. The language of the numerically dominant ethnic group, which often has the status of the official language of the state, region, territorial-administrative entity. M.I. is also the dominant language in the area.
MACARONISM it. macaronisme. A word or expression mechanically transferred from one language to another, usually with distortion.
PASTA SPEECH. Speech containing distorted words and expressions mechanically transferred from another language (macaronisms), as a result of which it acquires a grotesque-comic character).
PASTA  it. macaronico. Associated with an abundance of unjustified foreign
language borrowings; M. style - speech, replete with pasta, wearing clownish
character.
MACRO-MEDIATOR. 1. The language that serves interethnic communication in a multinational state: a) the language of a large ethnolinguistic community that makes up the majority of the population in this country; b) the language of one of the major ethnolinguistic communities; c) the language of an ethnolinguistic community constituting a minority of the country's population; 2) borrowed languages: a) Latin in Western Europe - a language used in another state in a remote period; b) the language of the former colonial government, which is the national language in a developed state (English in India). 2. The national literary language, which is used in a single-ethnic society as a means of communication for educated strata of society. 3. The same as the language of international communication (UN working languages: English, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, French).
MACROSOCIOLINGUISTICS. A direction that studies the processes and relationships that take place in the language and are determined by social factors. M. studies: 1) the problems of normalization and codification of the language; 2) language policy and language planning; 3) language situations; 4) components that make up the socio-communicative system; 5) distribution of codes and subcodes by areas of communication; 6) the ratio of the number of speakers per
languages; 7) delimitation of the functions of languages; 8) interference and its types; 9) mutually
languages.
THE MACROSTRUCTURE OF THE TEXT IS RINGING, ASSOCIATIVELY CLOSED. Deployment of the text, in which the associative dominant is both in preposition, determining the main directions of text association and semantic development, and in postposition, logically completing the associative deployment, focusing the previous associative links.
MACROSTRUCTURE OF THE TEXT. The global conceptual meaning, which is variable, insufficiently specific and certain in the interpretive aspect. A special procedure for its study is needed, oriented towards a detailed and consistent analysis of hierarchically organized microstructures.
MACROETNONIM. The name of large ethnic groups, sometimes understood broadly and including genetically unrelated ethnic groups (Russians, Germans, Americans, Arabs).
SMALL TONGUE (uvula). [ SMALL PEOPLE. A people numbering less than 50 thousand people. There are 63 M.S. on the territory of the Russian Federation. (In Siberia: Mansi, Khanty, Selkups, Aleuts; in Dagestan: Bagvalins, Archins, Namalins, Ginukhs, etc.).
MARGINAL NATIONAL GROUPS. Groups living in different social conditions, not belonging to any social section. M.n.g. are outside the scope
the characteristics and sociocultural norms that define a given nation (eg, refugees). AT
linguistically are of interest as carriers of interpenetrating languages, dialects,
dialects.
MARXIST SOCIOLINGUISTICS. The direction used in the study
and interpretation of sociolinguistic phenomena as a theoretical basis for dialectical
chesky and historical materialism. MS was developed in the USSR, in the countries of the former
socialist camp, as well as in Germany, France, Canada. Her interests focused on
studying the following problems: 1) historical conditions and causes of social stratification
languages; 2) social causes that led to the emergence, functioning and development
national languages; 3) social differentiation of society and its manifestations in the language;
4) the conscious impact of society on the processes of functioning, development and mutual
actions of languages.
MASS COMMUNICATION1. Communication of the sender of speech with a collective (mass) addressee, socially heterogeneous (for example, with the help of the media) or socially homogeneous (for example, with a class, student group, etc.).
MASS COMMUNICATION2 in rhetoric: public speech, the works of which are created collectively, are distributed to a dispersed and non-specialized audience using technical means; the text of mass communication (TV program, newspaper issue) consists of separate statements, which gives the impression of objectivity of information, which does not correspond to reality; the strategy and tactics of informing are determined by the source of its funding; M.k. is not a fact of culture, because its works are not stored or are stored in separate materials; “since mass communication covers all spheres of culture in a meaningful way and, as it were, parasitizes on them (within the framework of mass communication, new meanings cannot be formed under the conditions of constructing a text, which is why the activity of a journalist is not cultural creativity), it systematically destroys, vulgarizes and poisons culture, replacing it surrogates of mass consciousness”, in connection with which the creative and moral potential of society is reduced.
MASS COMMUNICATION3. A special type of communication, a type of discourse; discourse is understood as a communicative event, which consists in the interaction of communication participants through verbal texts and (or) other sign complexes in a certain situation and certain socio-cultural conditions of communication.
MASS BILINGUALISM. A type of bilingualism in which a significant part of the population of a given state-administrative entity is bilingual.
MATHEMATICAL LINGUISTICS. The direction that arose in the XX century. at the intersection of linguistics, mathematics and mathematical logic and is engaged in the development of a formal apparatus for describing the language, used in particular in the dialogue "human - computer".
MATHEMATICAL TECHNIQUES. Research methods using symbolic designation, mathematical apparatus and quantitative criteria, focused on distinguishing between language modeling and speech modeling, on the study of the language system and text generation, on the one hand, and on the study of the text and its analysis, on the other hand. In essence, these are two types of modeling that differ in the nature of research operations: 1) in the first case, this is a deductive technique, namely: logical-mathematical modeling and calculus, which is most often axiomatic and algorithmic; 2) in the second case, this is an inductive technique, i.e. intuitive-mathematical modeling and calculus of probabilistic-statistical and information-theoretic character. In the first case, they rely on model constructs, in the second case, on speech statistics.
MATERIAL SIDE OF LANGUAGE. Sound means of language, devoid of self-
value.
MATERIAL/IDEAL UNITS OF LANGUAGE. The most general division of language units, taking into account that the material and the ideal in the language exist in unity. Bilateral, meaningful units of the language are considered in the unity of the material and the ideal (semantic), although each of these two aspects can be studied independently.
MOTHER LANGUAGE. See: Mother tongue.
MATRONYM. A personal name derived from the mother's name.
INTERSTATE COMMUNICATION. One of the spheres of communication in which the subjects of communication are officials of states using either one of the national languages ​​of the contacting states, or the world language.
INTERGROUP BILINGUISM. A type of bilingualism used for the external relations of social groups with each other.
INTERDOMETRY BY STRUCTURE. Morphologically indivisible, they do not have forms of word formation and inflection. Simple non-derivative interjections: Ah! O! Well! Sometimes these complexes are repeated: oh-oh, oh-oh-oh. The class of interjections is replenished due to the transition to interjections of significant words and combinations of words: Fathers! God! The components include: Here's more! That's it! Wow!
INTERDOMETRY. An incomplete part of speech that expresses feelings, emotional urges, appeals, but does not name them: Oh! (delighted) This is wonderful! Ah (regret) how long this lasts...
INTERMETHOD (REFLEX) THEORY. A theory that explains the origin of language through human experiences. The first words, according to this theory, are involuntary cries, interjections, in the course of further development acquiring a symbolic meaning, obligatory for all members of this community. Supporters of the interjection theory - Steinthal, Darwin, Potebnya.
INTERMETHING (EMOTIONAL) WORDS AS A NOMINATIVE CLASS. Words of emotional, not cognitive, intellectual language. This class includes
interjections.
INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE. Language used for international communication (English, Russian and other languages). Language "crossed", its ethnic and territorial "threshold". TEL and are "trans-ethnic" languages. They can be used as auxiliary languages ​​up to mass bilingualism. To date, a fairly wide notation system has been developed for various types of international languages: ML - international language; IEL - international ethnic language, MIL - international artificial language; MEYAZ - international ethnic language of zonal distribution; IEAG - international ethnic language of global distribution, MIYAZ - international artificial language of zonal distribution; MIYAG - an international artificial language of global distribution, VL = YB - a universal language - the language of the future, etc.
INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION. An amorphous sphere of communication that is not subject to official regulation, characterized by the following features: 1) informality;
2) spontaneity; 3) disorganization; 4) unregulated; 5) unregulated. M.o.: 1) between acquaintances is characterized by curtailment, elimination of the object of speech, an increase in evaluative means; 2) between strangers, speech is closer to standard (correct).
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY. The community of a number of nations, nationalities, which during a certain historical period live side by side, in the same ethno-political, social conditions or in one multinational state, use, along with their native languages, a single language of communication.
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION. Communication, during which national languages ​​or the universal language of interethnic communication are used.
INTER-LANGUAGE COMMUNICATION. Communication carried out in various kinds of societies that unite linguistically heterogeneous groups. Means M.o. - the language in which the largest volume of book texts, the most important for the cultural and historical area, was created. The role of the leading language can be played either by one or another language, depending on the shifts in the epicenter of spiritual culture.
INTER-ETHNIC LANGUAGE CONFLICT. A language conflict that arises between different ethnic groups as a result of the struggle for the distribution of spheres of functioning between idioms that make up the language situation. M.i.k. develops in the context of general interethnic tension, although it can be the other way around: M.y.k. can be a stimulus to interethnic conflict.
MESOZEVGMA. Zeugma, characterized by the use of a common term in the middle sentence: The younger brother went to school, the elder went to university, I went to Ingnet.
MESOLECT. One of the components of the post-Creole (contact) continuum resulting from the interaction of the lexifier language and the Creole language. M. is an intermediate language variant between the acrolect, which is close to the lexifier language, and the basilect, which is based on Creole.
MEIOSIS  other Greek µείοσίς decrease. Underestimation in order to increase it.
MELANCHTON PHILIP (1497-1560). The largest German humanist who actively fought against scholasticism in schools and universities; friend and colleague of M. Luther. He considered the verification of accepted provisions by a rational understanding of Scripture as the main method of teaching. All this, in his opinion, requires an absolute knowledge of the Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages. From 1518 he was professor of the Greek language, from 1519 - professor of theology at the University of Witenberg. He outlined his humanistic program in his introductory lecture "On the Improvement of the Education of Youth" ("De corrigendis adolescentiae studiis"). M. - the creator of a new system of education in Protestant universities and Latin schools. This was facilitated by his theoretical writings ("School Charter", 1528), numerous manuals, comments, manuals for schools, textbooks of Greek grammar (until 1622-44 ed.), la-
Tinsky (until 1757-84 ed.). When books remain alive after the death of the author, he becomes immortal.

Language is inextricably linked with society, its culture and people who live and work in society, it is a social phenomenon, a certain set of units, the rules for the use of which are stored in the collective consciousness of native speakers. Language can be defined as a system of communication carried out with the help of sounds and symbols, the meanings of which are conditional, but have a certain structure. This is a means of communication between people, which is inextricably linked with the life and development of the speech community that uses it as a means of communication. Being the most important means of communication, language unites people, regulates their interpersonal and social interaction, coordinates their practical activities, ensures the accumulation and storage of information that is the result of the historical experience of the people and the personal experience of the individual, forms the consciousness of the individual (individual consciousness) and the consciousness of society (public consciousness). ), serves as a material and form of artistic creativity. Thus, language is closely connected with all human activity and performs various functions.

The functions of a language are a manifestation of its essence, its purpose and action in society, its nature, i.e. its characteristics, without which language cannot exist.

The term "function" in linguistics is used in several meanings:

• 1. General functions of language as a social phenomenon, different from other social phenomena; purpose, role of language in human society
• 2. Properties of the language as a sign system, purpose, role of language units.
• 3. Particular functions that the language performs in specific situations of people's communication.

In the first and third cases, they talk about the functions of the language, in the second - about the functions of language units (phonemes, morphemes, words, sentences).

Thus, the category of function in science is not clearly defined. There is no unity in understanding the content of this concept among linguists. In most works, the language function is understood as the main purpose of the language - this is how the communicative function is singled out as its only function. This idea is developed in their works by domestic linguists - theorists N.I. Zhinkin, R.V. Pazukhin, G.V. Kolshansky, B.A. Serebrennikov and some others.

Language researchers do not agree on the number and nature of functions. The language performs many functions (scientists identify up to 25 functions of the language and its units), but the main function of the language, its main purpose is to be a means of communication between people. The main basic functions of the language are communicative and cognitive, which have varieties, i.e. more private functions.

The communicative function means that language is the most important means of human communication (communication), i.e. transmission from one person to another of any message for one purpose or another. Language exists precisely in order to provide communication (communication). Communicating with each other, people convey their thoughts, feelings and emotional experiences, influence each other, achieve a common understanding. Language gives them the opportunity to understand each other and to work together in all spheres of human activity, being one of the forces that ensure the existence and development of human society.

The communicative function of language plays a leading role. But language can fulfill this function due to the fact that it is subordinated to the structure of human thinking; therefore exchange of information, knowledge and experience is possible.

From this inevitably follows the second main function of the language - cognitive (i.e., cognitive, epistemological), meaning that language is the most important means of obtaining new knowledge about reality. The cognitive function connects language with human mental activity.

In addition to the above, the language performs a number of other functions:

• 1) phatic (contact-establishing) - the function of creating and maintaining contact between interlocutors (greeting formulas at a meeting and parting, exchange of remarks about the weather, etc.). Communication occurs for the sake of communication and is mainly unconsciously (rarely consciously) aimed at establishing or maintaining contact. The content and form of phatic communication depend on gender, age, social status, interlocutor relationships, but in general such communication is standard and minimally informative. The standard, superficiality of phatic communication helps to establish contacts between people, overcome disunity and lack of communication skills;
• 2) emotive (emotionally expressive) - an expression of the subjective-psychological attitude of the author of the speech to its content. It is realized in the means of evaluation, intonation, exclamation, interjections;
• 3) conative - the function of assimilation of information by the addressee, associated with empathy (the magical power of spells or curses in an archaic society or advertising texts - in a modern one);
• 4) appellative - the function of an appeal, an inducement to certain actions (forms of the imperative mood, incentive sentences);
• 5) accumulative - the function of storing and transferring knowledge about reality, traditions, culture, history of the people, national identity. This function of the language connects it with reality (fragments of reality, isolated and processed by the human mind, are fixed in the units of the language);
• 6) metalinguistic (speech commentary) - the function of interpreting linguistic facts. The use of a language in a metalinguistic function is usually associated with difficulties in verbal communication, for example, when talking with a child, a foreigner, or another person who does not fully know the given language, style, or professional variety of the language. The metalinguistic function is realized in all oral and written statements about language - in lessons and lectures, in dictionaries, in educational and scientific literature about language;
• 7) aesthetic - a function of aesthetic influence, manifested in the fact that speakers begin to notice the text itself, its sound and verbal texture. A single word, turn, phrase begins to like or dislike. The aesthetic attitude towards language means, therefore, that speech (namely, speech itself, and not what is reported) can be perceived as beautiful or ugly, i.e. as an aesthetic object. The aesthetic function of language, being the main one for a literary text, is also present in everyday speech, manifesting itself in its rhythm and imagery.

Thus, the language is multifunctional. He accompanies a person in a variety of life circumstances. With the help of language, a person learns the world, remembers the past and dreams of the future, studies and teaches, works, communicates with other people.

However, the focus of this study is a certain function of the language - magic (or incantation), as a special case of invocative (or voluntarily). In its purest form, this function is presented in spells. (Mechkovskaya, 1998: 103) A spell is a verbal formula that, according to superstitious ideas that arose in ancient times, had magical power and served to achieve some goal. (Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978: 234) Unlike prayers, which are only requests to God or spirits, a spell is intended to enforce a wish. Thanks to them, a person who has established contact with supernatural beings can perform miracles - influence the weather, heal terminally ill patients, resurrect the dead, etc. The priest (sorcerer, shaman, etc.) transforms the world without the participation of any material forces. The magical function of language is a miraculous function. Many examples of its use are given in D. Fraser's book The Golden Bough. Here is just one of them. Among the Malays, there is the following sorcery: “The nail clippings, hair, eyelashes or saliva of the intended victim are taken so that every part of the body is represented. Then a doll is made from wax extracted from abandoned bee combs. For seven nights, she is slowly burned under a lamp with the words: Oh, I am not melting wax, not wax here, But I am burning the liver, heart and spleen of such and such. After the seventh time, the doll is finally melted, and the victim "dies" (Frazer, 1980: 227). From a magical point of view, believers also perceive prayers. To some extent, prayer has a real psychological effect, since it can set the believer to patience, to the hope that his suffering is not in vain, that his enemies will be punished, and so on. To feel this, let us turn to such, for example, a prayer: “Lord, hear my prayer, hearken to my supplication in Thy truth, hear me in Thy righteousness and do not enter into judgment with Thy servant, for no one living will be justified before You. For the enemy oppresses my soul, trampled my life into the ground, plunged me into darkness, like those who died in days of old… Deliver me from my enemies, Lord! I run to you. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God:. (New World, 1988: 239). Prayer is based on the belief that God will help a person to be at the height of the most stringent moral requirements. Both in spells and in prayers, a person establishes a communicative connection with supernatural beings. These beings must perform the actions desired by that person.

Among the common people, healing spells are common - conspiracies. A conspiracy (or nagovomr, spell, saying) is a folk-poetic incantatory verbal formula to which magical power is attributed. (Sokolov Yu., Shor R., 1929-1939: 276). Arising from pagan prayers and spells, the conspiracy was based initially on the power of the human word, then on the authority of the deity invoked in it, then on the authority of the speaking person and the conviction of the modern commoner; all the power of the conspiracy is in the exact pronunciation of famous words and the performance of the accompanying rites. Initially, the pagan, by the power of the reserved word of the conspiracy, hoped to force the idolized forces and phenomena of nature to do whatever he wanted, and resorted to conspiracies very often.

Over time, the range of application of conspiracies was reduced; finally, the mysterious formulas were no longer available to everyone; a special class of people stood out who knew the mysterious power of rites and prayers and were able to perform these rites. These people are healers, sorcerers, sorcerers, magicians, etc.

In the pre-Christian era, conspiracies turned mainly to the forces and phenomena of nature. Appeals to the sun, month, stars, dawn, winds, fire, thunder, rain, etc. - the most common in conspiracies. With the adoption of Christianity, appeals to the Lord, the Mother of God, and saints began to appear. (Sokolov Yu., Shor R., 1929-1939: 278).

Despite their diversity, conspiracies have a common structure ( Tolstaya S.M., 1999: 239 - 244).

• 1) “Bound”, during the pronunciation of which the operator enters a state of altered consciousness and depersonalization (which protects the operator). - Queen Mara-Morenushka, go to the yard, take cranberries, grind flour, bake bread, feed me, be mine from now on and forever.
• 2) Opening a conspiracy, that is, formulas like: “I will get up (name), blessed, wash myself with water, dew, wipe myself with a woven handkerchief, go crossing myself, from the hut to the door, from gate to gate, to the east”, that is, an action either is presented mentally by the operator, or is actually performed by him and consistently “spoken out”.
• 3) Expressions of desire - sometimes lengthy, sometimes short.
• 4) Assimilation of a symbol, that is, comparing the desired phenomenon with any phenomenon in nature, turning to the elements - the sun, month, stars, dawn, winds, fire, thunder, rain, water - with a request for help.
• 5) Fixing the plot or "key". Example: “Be my words strong and sculpting forever; there is no negotiation and non-contract with my words; be you, my sentence, stronger than stone and iron "... or" I close my words with locks, I throw keys under the white combustible stone alatyr; and as the bows of castles are strong, so are my words of the mark "...," The word is stone, the castle is iron. Whoever gnaws that castle, will overcome my words. So be it!” (Grushko E.A., Medvedev Yu.M., 1995: 215)
• 6) Gratitude.

For almost all cases, there were special conspiracies and special actions that accompanied them. The most popular and respected were and are numerous conspiracies that have a medical purpose and are often placed in clinics and herbalists.

Thus, we can say that the manifestation of the magical function of the language carries a large amount of information about the culture and specifics of the people, contains references to the religious and mythical ideas of people. In addition, the magical function of the language helps to analyze the picture of the world and give a clear idea of ​​the beliefs and traditions of the people in a given period of time.

language spell poetic anglo-saxon