VERBAL STEREOTYPES AS FORMS OF REPRESENTATION OF ETHNIC CONSCIOUSNESS
The article is devoted to the study of stereotypes as multidimensional verbalized mental constructs of native speakers’ worldview. Relevance is determined by the complexity of the interdisciplinary approach to studying the nature of stereotypes and their role in shaping the linguistic picture of the world as a form of representation of ethnic consciousness.
Within the framework of the modern humanitarian paradigm, the problem of stereotypes is analyzed from linguoculturological and linguocognitive positions. Theoretical back groundand practical implementation of the approach to the study of verbal stereotypes contribute to the identification of the interaction of cognitive and linguistic phenomena on national-cultural marked language material. The content of a stereotype is concentrated in the cognitive sphere and defined with the knowledge owned by a particular ethnic group. Stereotypes can be defined as cognitive structures, with a fixed estimation of represented knowledge. The purpose of research is to study the mechanism of stereotyping of native speakers’ ethnocultural consciousness through the experience of conceptual modeling and ways of stereotypes’ verbal explication.
Key words: stereotype, verbalization, thought constructs, ethnic picture of the world.
INTRODUCTION
The progressive development of linguistic science naturally predetermined its interdisciplinary scientific status, general scientific significance, and appeal to the human factor in language.The establishment of an anthropological paradigm in modern linguistics has opened up new possibilities for studying the national-cultural originality of the language, as a kind of original system in which the perception of the world, the system of values and representations of the nation are encoded.The problem of the correlation of language, consciousness and culture is closely related to the processes of stereotyping. The stereotypes prevailing in each language are a means of directed influence on the consciousness of the individual, ethnic communities, as well as on their social relations and behavior.The content and forms of stereotypes, the functions that they perform, the genesis and dynamics — all this causes the keen interest of specialists in various fields of knowledge in this phenomenon.
The purpose of the study is to identify and systemically represent the basics of stereotyping, as well as the study of stereotypes as multidimensional verbalized thought constructs of the picture of the world of native speakers.The interdisciplinary nature of the study of stereotypes’ problem, as well as the complexity and variety of tasks set in the work, necessitated the use of various and complementary research methods and techniques.The use of such general scientific techniques and methods as analysis and synthesis, generalization and systematization made it possible to identify the complex of regularities inherent in the process of stereotyping, to establish systemic relationships of its categories.
MAIN PART
Various definitions are given in modern studies regarding the concept of
“stereotype”.Frequentlya stereotype is defined as an image, i.e. the result and the ideal form of reflection of objects and phenomena of the material world in human consciousness.A stereotype is considered as a schematic, standardized image or idea of a social phenomenon or object, usually emotionally colored and stable.It expresses a person’s usual attitude to a phenomenon that has developed under the influence of social conditions and previous experience[1, 447]. From the point of view of content, the stereotype is a certain fragment of the picture of the world that exists in the mind.This is a certain image-representation, a mental “picture”, a kind of stable, minimizedinvariant, national-cultural representation of an object or a situation [2, 178-179].
Undoubtedly, stereotypes are important tools of the cognitive human process, providing one of the main aspirations of a person in any type of his activity, namely the desire for standardization, capacity, and high generalization.But at the same time, they are called upon to represent ethnic consciousness, the worldview of the ethnos.They can be defined as cognitive structures with a fixed assessment of the knowledge presented, capable of influencing the behavior of their carriers, which, in turn, gives reason to consider the stereotype not only as part of consciousness in a «narrow sense», but in some cases as its main component.
Interest in stereotypes of consciousness is dictated by the real situation resulting from the formation of images of human perception of the surrounding reality. As a result of the disordered accumulation of such images, repeated psycholinguistic or socially organized structures that uniquely identify the public consciousness appear.In the study of any socio-psychological phenomenon, the main task is not only the disclosure of its basic functions, but also the structure itself.In this regard, the following components are distinguished in the structure of stereotypes: 1) cognitive representation and thoughts about the object of cognition; 2) object evaluations and feelings arising as subjective indicators of these evaluations; 3) a certain type of behavior in relation to the object.The last component is not always included in their composition, since stereotypes are often just opinions.
In the process of its historical development, any nation accumulates the rich experience of previous generations, which is fixed in the form of habitual stereotypical representations.These are standardized, stable ideas about the surrounding reality, determined by a number of historical and cultural features of the ethnos. The nature of a formed or emerging stereotype is directly influenced by the characteristics of the ethnocontact environment, in particular cultural differences, which are easily perceived at the level of behavior in a situation of intercultural interaction.The correct understanding of a particular situation in the intercultural space largely depends on the knowledge of stereotypes, i.e. those habits, ideas, prejudices acquired in the process of socialization that reflect the characteristics of the social environment.Cultural stereotypes are a kind of regulators of human behavior that perform the function of forming and preserving the ideology of a sociocultural society.
An important role in the formation of each ethnic culture is played by the language of the ethnic group.Language is a powerful force uniting people of one ethnos, since it contains all its centuries-old history and culture.Studying the relationship between language and consciousness allows us not only to clarify the nature of consciousness and language itself as unique phenomena, but also allows us to trace the process of formation of human consciousness, its development.Consciousness is one of the main phenomena of man and society.It represents the ability to operate with images of social interactions, actions with objects, natural and cultural ties, separated from direct contacts with people and acts of activity, to consider these images as conditions, means, and guidelines for their behavior.The problem of the relationship between language and consciousness has always been at the center of philosophical, linguistic, cognitive research.The study of the content of linguistic units, their cognitive, linguocultural aspects — all this work is aimed at deepening our ideas about the cognitive processes taking place in the consciousness of the individual and the ways of his linguistic expression.
The problem of the influence of language on human consciousness involves elucidating the mechanism of relations between thinking and language, which is closely related to the processes of stereotyping. Stereotyping is an in-depth process in the form of which a person structures the world in thought and at the same time verbalizes it. The formation of stereotypes is based on the connection of language and experience. The stereotypes prevailing in each language help to separate the essential from the non-essential for an individual speaking a given language. Everything that is insignificant is outside the boundaries of the structure singled out by the language. With this approach, stereotypes are considered as signs that are verbal fixation in a certain way of the objectified needs of a given social group, ethnic group, national and cultural area [2, 177].
Stereotypes act as one of the indispensable conditions for communicative behavior in different language groups.The behavioral stereotypes developed by generations are reflected in various linguistic forms, thereby demonstrating the traits that are characteristic of one or another ethnic group.Each nation creates its own picture of the world on the basis of knowledge and ideas about the world.This is precisely the difficulty in understanding people.And first of all, this applies to those ethnic groups whose languages are very different from each other.So, for the peoples of the Indo-European language family, the concept of “progress” stands for development, accelerated progress, and in Chinese, the corresponding hieroglyphmeans “movement inward, toward the center”.In English, the word «fate» is used, as a rule, speaking of particulars, for example:She was not fated to marry him.In the Russian mindset, fate is always inevitable, most often used to describe a lifetime.
The languages of peoples whose cultures deny the effective control of man over reality are replete with expressions and keywords of fatalistic content. Evidence of this is proverbs and sayings. Compare: The Italiansaying Che sera serameans «what to be, not to be avoided”; the Russian proverb Man assumes, but God disposes.The phrase in Arabic — In sha Allah («All the will of Allah») is known throughout the world. Speaking of fate, Americans prefer aphorisms rejecting providence: The Lord helps those who help themselves; where there’s a will there’s a way.
In the linguistic and cultural space of the United States, the worldview is dominated by the fact that a person is by nature active, rational, positive-minded and he determines how to build his life. Americans are alien to the identification of the concept of «blind fate» with troubles and turmoil.Unlike the Russian «fate», the word destiny and its derivatives have a positive meaning. For instance: It was his destiny to be elected President. Theexpression‘Manifest Destiny’ has a positive connotation, sometimes denoting the development of America by the colonists.
Culture bearers in the United States are convinced that the destiny of man is subject to his will.According to the established rules and stereotypes of behavior in a given society, each person is obliged to bear responsibility for his actions, without transferring blame for his failures to others and, moreover, not relying on higher powers.This is reflected in the saying ‘the buck stops here’, which means that you cannot shift the responsibility to another. The opportunity to find a way out in any situation, to rectify the situation – this is the life-affirming principle that he follows and which is accurately conveyed by the phrase of Scarlett O`Hara in the novel by Margaret Mitchell
“Gone with the Wind”: Tomorrow is another day.
Keep smiling! This stereotypical phrase has become truly the motto of the American way of life, which teaches us not to give up and not succumb to the blows of fate. Americans are optimistic: Don’t worry, be happy! This is a feature of the American national character, which is being introduced by all means, including the language.
People have different attitudes towards the objective world. Some peoples believe that they can completely control this world and decide their own fate.For other nations, the picture of the world is based on the assumption that certain higher forces control man and his surrounding reality.
The unequal attitude to the objective world among different peoples, respectively, leads to linguistic differences, which are demonstrated by certain indicators that allow us to judge what type a particular culture belongs to.Here we should mention such keywords as «fate», «rock», and «chance» [2, 177].
The reasons for such differences in vocabulary are explained by the presence of ethnic specificity in the content of everyday consciousness. This, first of all, refers to stereotypes that fix the “concepts”, “knowledge”, “norms of behavior” typical of ethnos members and perform an important function in the reconstruction of the properties characteristic of each ethnos.
Each specific language is a kind of national, distinctive system that defines the worldview of the speakers of that language and forms their picture of the world.According to V.A. Maslov, a set of objective figurative and visual reference ideas about objects, phenomena that a person most often encounters throughout life, as a whole forms a certain stable linguistic picture of the world of objective reality [3, 69]. A constant fixed stereotypical language representation is at its center is. A stable picture of the world, fixed by language, is formed by reflecting the familiar objective world.This is an ordinary world that does not take into account exceptions to the rules and incorporates a huge number of different kinds of stereotypes. In other words, the linguistic picture of the world is made up of the specific stereotypes of ethnic consciousness that are characteristic of a given language and transmit the culture through the language for centuries.
The concept of «picture of the world» implies an interpretation of culture, revealing its national specificity.Studying the picture of the world implies a special attention to the categories in which its carriers describe their culture; it involves a look at the culture from the inside.The purpose of its study is to understand and describe the world of people of other societies in their own terms, how they perceive it in experience.The language of the group being studied is considered not only as a means, but also as an object of analysis; not only linguistic information is extracted from it, but also cultural and ethnological information [4].
The ethnic picture of the world changes over time and can vary at different periods of the ethnic group’s life and for certain groups within the ethnic group and people do not always recognize cultural gaps. Only logically inexplicable blocks turn out to be unchanged, which externally can be expressed in the most diverse form.On their basis, the ethnos builds new pictures of the world — those that have the greatest adaptive properties in a given period of its existence.
The picture of the world is realized by the members of the ethnos only partially and fragmentarily. The fact of consciousness is not its content, but its presence and integrity. In the consciousness there are separate fragments of the picture of the world.When trying to reconstruct the picture of the world as a logical integrity, it turns out that the starting points are inexplicable, and they contain significant internal contradictions [4].
The ethnic picture of the world is expressed through mythology, philosophy, literature, ideology, etc.It is revealed through the actions of people, as well as through their explanations of their actions. It serves as a basis for people to explain their actions and their intentions.By the ethnic picture of the world, we mean the people’s ideas about the world — partly conscious, partly unconscious, formed on the basis of ethnic constants and value dominants.
At different periods of the life of an ethnic group, the picture of the world may change, but in
each case the “central zone” of culture will remain unchanged.The image of the world is a fundamental component of the ethnos culture and is individual for each culture.
Each culture has its own logic and its own idea of the world. What is significant in one culture may not be significant in another.Each culture contains a number of key elements — cultural phenomena that are decisive in the ways of communication and behavior of individuals. One of these significant phenomena is stereotyping.
Stereotypes function at all levels of culture, contribute to the formation of cultural attitudes and images within a particular ethnic group. The set of stereotypes developed in the course of historical development by this ethnic community is embodied in certain linguistic forms. That is why in recent years more and more attention has been paid to the study of stereotypes in linguistics, since knowledge of them by people determines in many respects the success of intercultural communication. The lack of knowledge about traditions, lifestyle sometimes lead to an incorrect, distorted understanding of some concepts. The fact is that representatives of a certain ethnic group in the process of communication try to find direct equivalents to their native language in a foreign language, losing sight of what constitutes the essence and specificity of culture. For example, the Russian word “soul” for Americans is not quite clear, therefore they most often replace “soul” with “heart”. Compare: with all my heart, with all my heart, to touch someone to the heart.
As it is known, one of the common features of the Germans is the love of form and standard. The desire for refinement of the formal side of life is manifested in the fact that the Germans pay special attention to business correspondence, compilation of official papers, the form of conducting telephone conversations, etc.
In the process of socialization a person develops the manner of behavior that is characteristic of his sociocultural environment and, thereby, acquires a value orientation that affects the system of his perceptions. This orientation system is objectified in the language. The semantics of words and concepts bears the imprint of a specific cultural environment and reflects the experience of a given society.
The attitude towards the time of people is completely different in different ethnic societies. Such discrepancies, according to the American culturologist E. Hill, are explained by the existence of two concepts of time – monochronous or polychromic. In the countries of monochronous culture (USA, England, Germany), time strictly regulates people’s behavior and, at the same time, relations between them. In other cultures (in Arabic, Latin American, in some Asian) time is perceived polychronously, i.e. people’s attention is drawn simultaneously to several events. In addition, in the planning of certain cases, the emphasis is placed more on the relations of people than on the interests of the case [5, р. 119]. Time, like money in the United States, is expensive. Hence phrases like time / money is saved, gained. If time is not preplanned (unplanned), then it can even be killed.
Americans do not like situations in which there is no order, and the course of things is unpredictable.Their desire and willingness to plan for any events are reflected in their favorite sayings: Time waits for no man; Take care of today and tomorrow will take care of itself.В понимании американцев жить настоящим – значит быть практичным, кратким и точным.
In different nations, the criteria for evaluating people are very different. In this regard, Americans are always struck by Russian lexis.They don’t tend to judge people fundamentally and harshly. In their understanding, a nice person is a pleasant person, which actually means “kind”.»Good man» in English means a fine person. The phrase He’s a good person is not so often used in English, it is confused with the idiom He’s a good person to know, which translates into
Russian: “this person can be useful to you / he has great connections”.
Thus, a person perceives the world, understands the phenomena of reality surrounding him in accordance with those life attitudes and stereotypes developed in the process of socialization by the society in which he lives. This is directly reflected in the concepts on the basis of the native language in the whole diversity of its expressive capabilities, being a kind of measure of all the phenomena and meanings of the world.
Stereotypes facilitate our thought processes, accelerate the processes of adaptation to the conditions of existence in a particular society, and act as one of the indispensable conditions for communicative behavior. They are universal because they exist in the verbal communication of any nation. Stereotypes are characterized by heterogeneity in a variety of ways — semantic, structural, social, cultural, and functional. In their appearance and functioning, they are associated with the desire of native speakers to introduce elements of standardization, typicality, national vision and understanding of the world into speech, communication.
CONCLUSION
A person is inclined to perceive and understand the world in terms of stereotypes.Such a stereotyped manner of considering things and phenomena contributes to the formation of a special picture of the world for each people.Stereotypes create and maintain an orderly picture of the world, to which habits, tastes, and abilities are easy to adapt.
Each ethnic group has a special system of stereotypes that is unique to it, due to its history, culture, mentality, and lifestyle.The conditions for the existence of one or another ethnic group develop special criteria for evaluating and perceiving the surrounding world. On the basis of such criteria, different national cultures and national languages are formed in various ethnic communities.In relation to each other, stereotypes in the language of different peoples and ethnic groups give the impression of exoticism, unusualness. And the reason for this is the differences in society, ways of comprehending the world, a system of concepts and values that are easily perceived at the level of behavior in a situation of intercultural interaction. Undoubtedly, stereotypes, as one of the dominant fragments of ethnic and linguistic consciousness, play a decisive role in intercultural communication, the knowledge of which can facilitate the dialogue between representatives of different ethnic cultures, the success of which everyone is interested in without exception [6].
Stereotypes are complex language formations in which elements of cognitive, nationalmental, axiological activity are intertwined in a complex unity. In the course of cognitive-reflective activity, a person forms not only a conceptual, but also a nationally-culturally marked picture of the world, from which stereotypes arise.
Representatives of one or another ethnic group look at the world through the prism of stereotypes that are directly related to the language. Verbal stereotypes act as some symbolic images in the minds of native speakers in which standardized representations of a person around his world appear and the study of which allows shedding light on the cognitive nature of stereotypes and, ultimately, to determine the national language picture of the world.
Being one of the brightest forms of manifestation of ethnic consciousness, the stereotypes developed by generations are reflected in various verbal forms, thereby demonstrating those features that are characteristic of a particular ethnic group.Each specific language contains a national, distinctive system that defines the worldview, the consciousness of the speakers of that language.
REFERENCES
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2. Krasnyh V.V. Etnopsıholıngvıstıka ı lıngvokýltýrologııa: Kýrslektsıı. – M.: ITDGK «Gnozıs», 2002. – 284 s.
3 Maslova V.A. Lıngvokýltýrologıya. M.: Academia, 2001. – 208 s. 4 Lýre S.V. Istorıcheskaya etnologıua.M., 1997.
5 Vısson L. Rýsskıye problemy v anglıyskoy rechı. M.: Valent R., 2003. – 190 s. 6 Issına G.I. Verbalnye stereotıpy v kontekste mejkýltýrnoı kommýnıkatsıyı. Mejdýnarodnıy jýrnal eksperımentalnogo obrazovanıya. – № 5.Chast 1. – Moskva, 2014. – S. 152-154.
Г.И. Исина
Вербальные стереотипы как формы репрезентации этнического сознания
Карагандинский государственный университет им. академика Е.А. Букетова, г. Караганда, Казахстан
Настоящая статья посвящена исследованию стереотипов как многомерных вербализованных мыслительных конструктов картины мира носителей языка. Актуальность определяется комплексностью междисциплинарного подхода к изучению природы стереотипов и их роли в формировании языковой картины мира как формы репрезентации этнического сознания. В рамках современной гуманитарной парадигмы проблема стереотипов анализируется с лингвокультурологических и лингвокогнитивных позиций. Теоретические обоснования и практическая реализация подхода к исследованию языковых стереотипов способствуют выявлению характера взаимодействия когнитивного и лингвистического на национально-культурном маркированном языковом материале. Содержание стереотипа заключается в когнитивной сфере и определяется теми знаниями, которыми владеет конкретная этническая общность. Стереотипы можно определить как когнитивные структуры с фиксированной оценкой представляемого знания. В задачу исследования входит изучение механизма стереотипизации этнокультурного сознания носителей языка через опыт концептуального моделирования и способов вербальной экспликации стереотипов.
Г.И.Исина
Вербальды стереотиптер этникалық сананы бейнелеу нысаны ретінде
Е.А. Бөкетов атындағы Қарағанды мемлекеттік университеті,
Қарағанды қ., Қазақстан
Бұл мақала стереотиптерді ана тілдерінің әлемі картинасының көп өлшемді вербалды психикалық құрылымдары ретінде зерттеуге арналған. Өзектілік стереотиптердің табиғатын зерттеудегі пәнаралық көзқарастың күрделілігімен және олардың этникалық сананы ұсыну нысаны ретінде әлемнің тілдік бейнесін қалыптастырудағы рөлімен анықталады. Қазіргі гуманитарлық парадигма аясында стереотиптер мәселесі лингвокультурологиялық және лингвокогнитивті ұстанымдардан талданады. Тілдік стереотиптерді зерттеудің теориялық негіздемесі мен практикалық іске асырылуы ұлттық-мәдени таңбаланған тілдік материалға когнитивті және лингвистикалық өзара әрекеттесудің табиғатын анықтауға ықпал етеді. Стереотиптің мазмұны танымдық салада жатыр және белгілі бір этникалық қауымдастықтың білімімен анықталады. Стереотиптерді ұсынылған білімді тұрақты бағалайтын танымдық құрылым ретінде анықтауға болады. Зерттеудің мақсаты — концептуалды модельдеу тәжірибесі мен стереотиптерді ауызша түрде жою тәсілдері арқылы ана тілінің этномәдени санасын стереотиптеу механизмін зерттеу.