TO common vocabulary These include words used (understood and used) in different linguistic spheres by native speakers, regardless of their place of residence, profession, lifestyle: these are the majority of nouns, adjectives, adverbs, verbs ( blue, fire, grumble, good), numerals, pronouns, most function words.
TO vocabulary of limited use These include words whose use is limited to a certain locality (dialectisms), profession (special vocabulary), occupation or interest (slang vocabulary).
Dialectisms - These are features of dialects and dialects that do not correspond to the norms of the literary language. Dialectism is a dialect inclusion in the Russian literary language. People’s speech may reflect phonetic, word-formation, and grammatical features of the dialect, but for lexicology the most important dialectisms are those associated with the functioning of words as lexical units - lexical dialectisms, which come in several types Vvedenskaya L.A., Pavlova L.G., Culture and the art of speech. Modern rhetoric. Rostov-on-Don. 2001. P. 33..
Firstly, dialectism can denote realities that exist only in a given area and do not have names in the literary language: tyes- “a vessel for liquid made of birch bark”, crumbs- “a wooden shoulder device for carrying heavy loads.”
Secondly, dialectisms include words that are used in a certain area, but have words with the same meaning in the literary language: hefty - very, pitching - duck, basque - beautiful.
Thirdly, there are dialectisms that coincide in spelling and pronunciation with the words of the literary language, but have a different meaning that does not exist in the literary language, but is characteristic of a particular dialect, for example, plow -"sweep the floor" firefighter -"fire victim" thin in the meaning of “bad” (this meaning was also inherent in the literary language in the past, hence the comparative degree worse from adjective bad) or weather- “bad weather.”
Special vocabulary associated with people's professional activities. It includes terms and professionalisms.
Terms- these are the names of special concepts of science, art, technology, agriculture, etc. The terms are often artificially created using Latin and Greek roots and differ from “ordinary” words of the language in that they are, ideally, unambiguous in this terminology and do not have synonyms , that is, each term must correspond to only one object of a given science. Each word term has a strict definition, recorded in special scientific studies or terminological dictionaries.
There are terms that are generally understood and highly specialized. Meaning generally understood terms are known to a non-specialist, which is usually associated with studying the fundamentals of various sciences at school and with their frequent use in everyday life (for example, medical terminology) and in the media (political, economic terminology). Highly specialized terms are understandable only to specialists. Let us give examples of linguistic terms of different types Zemsky A.M. Russian language. M., 1994. P. 37.:
· generally understood terms: subject, predicate, suffix, verb;
· highly specialized terms: predicate, phoneme, submorph, suppletivisism.
Terms belong to the literary language and are recorded in special terminological dictionaries and explanatory dictionaries with the mark special.
It is necessary to distinguish from terms professionalism- words and expressions that are not scientifically defined, strictly legalized names of certain objects, actions, processes related to the professional, scientific, and production activities of people. These are semi-official and informal (they are sometimes called professional jargon) words used by people of a certain profession to designate special objects, concepts, actions, often having names in literary language. Professional jargons exist exclusively in the oral speech of people of a given profession and are not included in the literary language (for example, among printing workers: a cap- “large headline”, slur- “marriage in the form of a square”; for drivers: steering wheel- "steering wheel", brick- sign prohibiting passage). If professionalisms are included in dictionaries, they are accompanied by an indication of the scope of use ( in the speech of sailors, in the speech of fishermen etc.).
Vocabulary of restricted use also includes jargon- words used by people of certain interests, activities, habits. So, for example, there are jargons of schoolchildren, students, soldiers, athletes, criminals, hippies, etc. For example, in student jargon tail- “failed exam, test”, dorm- "dormitory", spur, bomb- “varieties of cribs”, in the jargon of schoolchildren laces, ancestors, rodaki- parents, cupcake, baby doll, bump, pepper, person, dude, cartilage, shnyaga- boy. Words included in different jargons form interjargon ( schmuck, funny, cool, party) Zemsky A.M. Russian language. M., 1994. P. 39..
In addition to the term jargon, there are also the terms “argot” and “slang”. Argo- This is a specially classified language. In previous centuries in Russia there was a slang of itinerant traders - peddlers, professional fundraisers, etc. Now we can talk about thieves' slang ( feather- knife, a gun- gun). Slang- this is a linguistic environment of oral communication different from the norm of a literary language, uniting a large group of people. A significant difference between slang and jargon is the increased emotionality of slang and the lack of selectivity of objects for naming using special words: slang is used in almost all speech situations during informal oral communication between people. So, we can talk about youth slang - a means of informal communication among young people aged approximately 12 to 30 years. Slang is updated quite quickly, and the sources of constant updating of slang are units of jargon (over the past few years, youth slang has switched from thieves' jargon as the main "supplier" of vocabulary to the jargon of drug addicts),
Words related to vocabulary of limited use are often used in fiction to characterize characters in speech and create a certain flavor.
Outdated words are opposed neologisms - new words, the novelty of which is felt by the speakers.
Linguistic neologisms- these are words that appear as names for new objects, phenomena, concepts that do not yet have names in the language, or as new names for already existing objects or concepts.
Linguistic neologisms arise in the following ways:
1) a new word, a new lexical unit appears in the language. It appears through borrowing ( shop tour, charter, shaping, image) or the emergence of a new word according to the word-formation models existing in the language from the “old” word ( geography lunography) or neologism-borrowing ( marketing marketing, computer computer, geek, computerization) Beloshapkova V.A. Modern Russian language. M., 1998. P. 29;
2) a word already existing in the language acquires a new meaning, for example, kettle- “a non-specialist with weak skills in something”, hatch- “text correction paste”, round- “negotiation phase”, pirate- “unlicensed”, shell- "garage". In the future, this meaning can break away and form a new homonym word.
If an object, concept, phenomenon, called a neologism, quickly becomes irrelevant, the neologism may not have time to become a commonly used word, master the language, and this word may immediately go into the passive vocabulary, becoming historicism. This fate befell many neologisms during the NEP and the first years of perestroika ( cooperator, gekachepist, voucher).
Language neologisms are used by native speakers in their everyday speech and are known and understood by many. If the existence of a linguistic neologism is justified, pretty soon the neologism enters the active vocabulary and ceases to be recognized as a new word. However, the creation of new words and word creation is also possible in other situations: a literary word, a situation of friendly communication, the speech of a child who has not yet fully mastered the vocabulary of the Russian language. An adult, a poet, a writer consciously resorts to word creation in order to make his speech more expressive or to play with the rich word-forming capabilities of the language, a child does this unconsciously. The results of such word creation are called individual (contextual, author's) neologisms. So, we find in A.S. Pushkin the words ogoncharovanov, kuchelbeckerno, from V.V. Mayakovsky: darling, walk in a hurry, turn blue, lighten.
Language can serve a very wide range of communication needs of an individual and society as a whole. In accordance with different areas of human activity - production, education, science, culture, trade, everyday life, etc. – different areas of language use (or languages, if we are talking about a non-monolingual society) are highlighted.
The sphere of language use is an area of extra-linguistic activity characterized by the relative homogeneity of communicative needs, to satisfy which speakers make a certain selection of linguistic means and rules for their combination with each other.
As a result of such a selection of linguistic means and the rules for their combination with each other, a more or less stable (for a given language community) tradition is formed, correlating a certain sphere of human activity with a certain language code (subcode) - an independent language or a subsystem of the national language. Thus, in medieval Europe, Latin was a means of communication used in worship, as well as in science. Other areas of activity were served by the corresponding national languages and their subsystems. In Russia, the role of a cult communicative tool for a long time belonged to the Church Slavonic language. In modern Pamir, one of the Pamir languages - the unwritten Shugnan - is used mainly in the sphere of family and everyday communication of the Shugnans; in official situations, as well as when communicating with “strangers”, they resort to the Tajik and Russian languages.
Languages and their subsystems can be loosely distributed across areas of activity: one of the languages or one of the subsystems predominates in a given area, but the use of elements of other languages (subsystems) is allowed. Thus, in a family hostel, residents of a modern Russian village predominate in the local dialect, which is also used by them in agricultural work. However, in modern conditions, a pure dialect is a rarity. It persists only among some representatives of the older generation of rural residents. In the speech of the majority, it is greatly “diluted” with elements of literary language and vernacular. Thus, in Belarus, the Belarusian language is used in the field of humanities education (this is encouraged by the officially pursued state policy), but here you can also find elements of the closely related Russian language. In the sphere of production, despite state support for the native language, the Russian language predominates (in special terminology, in technical documentation, in professional communication among specialists). However, it is also not forbidden to use the Belarusian language.
The vocabulary of the Russian language, depending on the nature of its functioning, is divided into two large groups: generally used and limited to the sphere of use. The first group includes words whose use is not limited either by the territory of distribution or by the type of activity of people; it forms the basis of the vocabulary of the Russian language. This includes the names of concepts and phenomena from different areas of social life: political, economic, cultural, everyday life, which gives grounds to identify various thematic groups of words in the national vocabulary. Moreover, all of them are understandable and accessible to every native speaker and can be used in a wide variety of conditions, without any limitations.
Vocabulary of a limited scope of use is widespread within a certain area or among people united by profession, social characteristics, common interests, pastime, etc. Such words are used mainly in unstandardized oral speech. However, artistic speech does not refuse to use them: writers find in them means for stylizing artistic narration and creating speech characteristics of heroes.
Language varieties often appear at the phonetic, lexical, and grammatical levels.
What do we mean when we talk about varieties of language?
The fact is that in a certain territory or within some social groups (for example, student, professional, etc.) separate varieties arise that exist within one language. For example, slang. It functions in a certain social environment. Let's consider some types of language functioning in a certain environment.
Varieties of language of the social environment
Slang
Slang– English word (slang). It means a set of special words or new meanings of existing words used in different groups of people. The essence of slang is very accurately described: “Slang is a vagabond language that hangs around in the vicinity of literary speech and constantly tries to make its way into the most sophisticated society.” And, by the way, many slang words and phrases are now firmly established in the literary language
Youth slang- the most changing variety of language, which is explained by the change of generations. Linguists have even identified three slang “waves” in Russia: the 20s, the 50s and the 70-80s of the 20th century.
Examples of youth slang:
Teacher (teacher)
Pofigist (a person indifferent to what is happening)
Funny (joke), etc.
Currently, youth slang is mainly Internet slang.
Internet (Internet)
Comp (computer)
Windows (Windows operating system), etc.
Jargon
Jargon is called sociolect, i.e. lexical and stylistic varieties of language characteristic of any social group: professional, age, subculture. In modern language, jargon has become widespread, especially in the language of young people. In fact, slang and jargon are hardly distinguishable.
There are more than 10 types of jargon. For example, Fenya(thieves' jargon). This language was formed in Rus' a long time ago, back in the Middle Ages. It was originally used by traveling traders called ofeni. The Ofeni created a new language, inventing new roots, but leaving traditional Russian morphology, and used the language to communicate “not for the ears of others.” Subsequently, the language was adopted by the criminal environment, and currently fenya is called thieves' jargon (to speak in such a language is to chat in a hairdryer).
There is journalistic jargon (newspaper duck, moths), military jargon (demobilization, banderlog), etc.
Padonkov jargon (“Albanian” yezig or padonkaff language)
A new type of jargon that arose in Runet in the early 2000s was the style of using the Russian language with phonetically almost correct (with some exceptions like bear, hare, etc.), but spelling deliberately incorrect spelling of words, frequent use of profanity and certain cliches characteristic of slang. The slang has given rise to many stereotypical expressions and Internet memes (for example, “preved”, “rzhunimagu”, “zhzhosh”, “afftar”, “drink up”, etc. It is believed that the “padonkaff” language did not arise spontaneously, but as a result of a purposeful activities of enthusiasts - first in written form on the Internet, and from there it got into oral speech.
Literary language
Literary language is, first of all, normative. It is multifunctional and stylistically differentiated. It functions in both written and spoken forms.
Literary language is the common written language of one or another people, and sometimes several peoples; the language of official business documents, school teaching, written and everyday communication, science, journalism, fiction, all manifestations of culture. This is a historically established language system, which is distinguished by strict codification, but remains flexible, covering all spheres of human activity.
Literary language is not only the language of fiction. “Literary language” and “language of fiction” are different, although correlative concepts. The language of fiction is based on literary language, but includes a lot of individual, not generally accepted, to reflect the life of the characters, the setting and the era in which the events described take place. In different historical eras and among different peoples, the degree of similarity between the literary language and the language of fiction was often not the same.
Vernacular
Vernacular speech is the speech of people who do not know literary norms. Vernacular speech is not limited to any geographical boundaries. The scope of functioning of vernacular is quite narrow and is limited only to everyday and family situations. It is realized mainly in the oral form of speech. But if necessary, vernacular language can be used in fiction to characterize characters.
Examples of vernacular: “skaka” (instead of “how much”), “right now” (instead of “now”), “kada” (instead of “when”), as well as addresses “bro”, “boy”, “father”, names “ Lenok" (instead of Lena), Lyokha, Tolyan, Sanyok, etc.
Social varieties of language
We will consider this question in hierarchical sequence, starting with the larger variety of language.
Adverb
Large subdivision of language. An adverb unites dialects and dialects of a particular language. The adverb could appear as a result of the unification of part of the dialects of the language or the merging into one language of closely related independent languages as a result of the unification of nationalities speaking these languages. In this case, previously independent languages continue to retain the previous differences between them, distinguishing each of them into a special dialect.
This is how the Northern Great Russian dialect came about on the basis of the dialects of Veliky Novgorod. And the South Great Russian dialect of the Russian language is based on the dialects of Kursk and Ryazan.
Dialect
It is a variety of the language of one territory. A dialect is a full-fledged system of speech (not necessarily written) with its own vocabulary and grammar.
Typically, dialects are understood primarily as rural territorial dialects. But now urban dialects are also distinguished: for example, the speech of the black urban population of the USA. Their English is different from other varieties of American English.
Talk
A variety of language that is used in communication between a small area of native speakers of a given language. The conversation can be croaking, cursing, clucking, etc. A group of similar dialects is combined into a dialect.
Idiolect
It is a variant of language used by one person, unique to that person. Each person has his own idiolect.
Idiolects are used by forensic linguists to determine whether a text (written or spoken) was created by the person to whom it is attributed.
Types of language
Types of language differ depending on the operating conditions, the presence or absence of writing, status, sphere of use, degree of proficiency, etc.
Let's look at some types of language.
Types of language depending on generally recognized status and prestige
Language may be state(Russian in the Russian Federation); but there may be several official languages in one country (Belarusian and Russian in Belarus; Russian and Tatar in Tatarstan).
Language may be official language or languages (for example, the Russian language in the official and business spheres of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan with the state status of the Kyrgyz language).
Language may be regional(for example, Russian in Latvia).
Language minorities(eg Turkish in Greece).
Types of language depending on the degree of proficiency of a person
Language may be relatives, learned in childhood, but then lost.
Language may be everyday used in intra-family communication. It does not always correspond to the native language of each family member, for example, in interethnic marriages.
Colloquial language is the language of everyday communication within the family and outside it.
Worker language dominates the workplace
A person can master perfectly second(third, etc.) language.
Foreign language – the language of a foreign country.
Language situation in the countries of the language being studied
1. Structure and types of language situation. Conditions for the emergence of a situation of bilingualism. Language interference and transference.
2. Interlinguistics. International, interethnic and world languages.
3. The language situation in England and the USA.
Structure and types of language situation. Conditions for the emergence of a situation of bilingualism. Language interference and transference.
The specifics of a particular society, the level of its development, the homogeneity and heterogeneity of its composition determine the nature of the language situation in this society.
The language situation includes the following components:
1) social conditions for the functioning of language;
2) spheres and environments of its use;
3) the forms of its existence.
The social conditions for the functioning of a language include: 1) socio-economic formations; 2) forms of ethnic community; 3) level of sovereignty; 4) form of state autonomy; 5) level of cultural development; 6) the number of people and their territorial compactness; 7) ethnic environment.
Areas of language use- the most important component of the language situation. They are determined by the topic of communication, the time and place of communication, and the area of social activity.
The most important areas of economic activity are; social and political activities; everyday life; organized training; fiction; mass media; aesthetic impact; oral folk art; Sciences; all types of office work; personal correspondence; religious cult.
This list is not canonical and, in relation to a specific language, can be smaller or larger.
Environments of language use is communication within a family, within a production team, within a social group, within a locality or region, within an entire nation, interethnic communication, universal communication.
Forms of existence of language are divided into those that unite all speakers (literary form, dialectal, supra-dialectal, languages of interethnic communication) and those that separate speakers (“male” and “female” languages, ritual languages, caste languages, jargons, argot).
So, the linguistic situation is the relationship between the various means of communication used in a given territory (usually within a state, as well as within the boundaries of a certain region of a political-territorial association).
Among linguistic situations, a distinction is made between intralingual (simple - diglossia - a situation of simultaneous use of literary and dialect forms of one language) and interlingual (complex - polylingualism - a situation of multilingualism; the most typical case is bilingualism, bilingualism).
The situation of bilingualism, or bilingualism, arises as a result of language contacts. The mutual influence of languages is one of the constantly operating factors of language development. According to linguists, there is practically no language that has not experienced foreign influence. Language contacts arise where two or more linguistic structures (their sections, parts, elements) meet directly or indirectly in their speech use by the same people.
The main conditions for the emergence of language contacts include the following:
a) when a territory inhabited by one population (with its own language)
occupies a population that speaks another language;
b) when a multilingual population lives peacefully in one territory;
c) when multilingual populations live in neighboring territories, which facilitates mutual communication;
d) when part of the population of one country enters into trade, scientific and other contacts with the population of another country speaking a different language;
e) when a foreign language is studied at school and used in practice.
A linguistic situation in which two languages function in one territory, in one ethnic sphere, is called bilingualism. Persons who communicate in two languages are bilingual. For example, in Canada, where two main peoples live (English-Canadians and French-Canadians), there are two official languages - English and French; in Finland there are two state languages – Finnish and Swedish; in Belarus – Belarusian and Russian; in Tatarstan – Tatar and Russian.
As a result of bilingualism, elements of different languages penetrate each other. A bilingual person may begin to speak and write not in a pure language, but in his native language with an admixture of a second (non-native) language. For example, in the speech of the Tatar population there are many Russian words, and, conversely, Russians often use Tatar words and expressions. There is an adaptation of two language systems to each other while each of them retains its independence and originality. A “mixed” language is not formed.
Bilingualism is distinguished between complete and partial, differentiated and undifferentiated.
Full bilingualism- a linguistic situation in which the entire linguistic community speaks two languages.
Partial bilingualism– a linguistic situation when only part of the team is bilingual.
Differentiated bilingualism develops as a result of special study of a foreign language. A bilingual person is well aware of the boundaries between them. To express one thought, he has two equivalents in one and the other language, without introducing anything from a parallel language. For example, Russian aristocrats con. XVIII – beginning XIX century spoke Russian and French, but did not know how to translate from one language to another. They learned French in early childhood from tutors who did not know Russian. Thus, the study of French proceeded without regard to the Russian language. Consequently, everyone was completely autonomous in consciousness. This is the so called pure bilingualism.
When studying a foreign language at school, there is a repulsion from the native language in which a person speaks and thinks, there is a constant glance at the native language; it acts as the dominant language. Language acquisition through the native language also occurs in mixed marriages, when a foreigner lives (in the initial stages) abroad. This situation is called mixed bilingualism.
Undifferentiated bilingualism arises in the context of everyday bilingualism. A person, constantly switching from one language code to another, gradually loses a clear sense of the boundaries between his native and non-native languages.
In conditions of language contact (bilingualism), processes called language interference occur in the mind of a native speaker.
Interference- this is a violation of the norms of a language under the influence of the norms of another language, or a change in the structure or elements of the structure of one language under the influence of another.
During contacts, interference is directed towards the mutual convergence of languages (for example, borrowings from another language, lexical adaptations). Interference is seen as a positive phenomenon. It contributes to the enrichment of mutually influencing languages, the penetration of structural elements of one language into another, and the creation of preconditions for further qualitative changes in the development of their systems.
It’s another matter when the skills of the native language are transferred to the target language, which has a negative, inhibitory effect on the acquisition of the second language. This transfer does not affect the norm and structure of the language being studied. There is no mutual influence of languages here. Such a transfer (and not mutual influence) of elements, features and rules from one language to another is called transference.
For example, we speak Russian I got on the bus, you can't say it in English I sat in the bus. Necessary: I took a bus, which literally translated into Russian – I took the bus.
Or: for an Englishman the tense category of the Russian language is difficult and therefore instead of, for example, the future simple I'll come to you tomorrow(in English I shall come to you tomorrow) he will use the future compound and speak in Russian I will come to you tomorrow.
Difficulties also arise at the phonetic level. Often the English sound [Ө] is replaced by Russian [s] or [z].
What are the consequences of language contact and, in particular, interference? According to most linguists, there is no mixing of languages as such, but one language is gradually replacing another. The mixing of languages, scientists believe, is excluded due to the systemic nature of the language and the closedness of certain linguistic subsystems, primarily grammatical.
During contacts, one language turns out to be the winner (substrate), the other - defeated (superstrate). But in the system of the winning language, changes occur under the influence of the defeated language. For example, simplification of the morphology of the winning language due to adaptation to the needs of foreign-speaking people (simplification of the morphology of the English language after contact with Scandinavian languages); introduction of commonly used words of the defeated language into the vocabulary of the winning language (in modern English, up to 60% of words are of French origin). Which language will be the winner and which will be the loser does not depend on the nature of the language, its features, or the ease or convenience of a particular language system. The language of the nationality that has advantages in contact between two nations wins. The influence of one nationality on another is determined by its higher cultural development. For example, the Mongolian language could not displace the languages of highly developed peoples (Russian, Chinese, Indian); the Balkan languages were not conquered by the language of the Turkish conquerors.
Long-term linguistic contacts between neighboring peoples lead to convergence. Convergence is the consolidation of structurally common features in languages as a result of mutual influence of neighboring peoples. Languages involved in the process of convergence are united into linguistic unions. For example, a linguistic union is formed by the languages of the Balkan Peninsula that are not related by genetic kinship (Albanian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Serbo-Croatian). These languages have many common features in phonetics, morphology, and vocabulary.
The question of linguistic spheres and their sequential delimitation is very important when covering syntagma as the original speech unit. Speech activity is closely related to both areas - sphere of language as a unified code system of generalized denominators, abstract schemes, models and sphere of speech, representing the creative, individual use of language in the process of thinking, communication, assessments, manifestation of will, feelings, their shades, various movements of the soul.
They relate to each other as significant means common to the people, formed as a result of the generalization of centuries-old speech experience (language), and their individual use in the process of thinking and communication on the basis of established laws, traditions, rules and regulations (speech). Over time, the established system of generalized and abstract linguistic material began to be perceived by people, including many linguists, as the fundamental basis of the linguistic life of the people, although in reality it is a typical code system, which has become a kind of code in the kingdom of speech, a product of speech experience, which develops through the accumulation of this experience.
Linguistic material, on the one hand, seems to reproduced, because it is universal, but it is used by native speakers in their own way. So what is it individual reproduction, which indicates subjective generation of speech through personal understanding of linguistic material and its volitional transfer into a special linguistic format - into the speech sphere, with its traditions, characteristics and requirements. At the same time, its semantic quality changes: from generalized it becomes specific, situational. In this regard, linguistic units appear in the speech sphere, which, due to the existence of two forms of speech, are divided into units of oral speech and units of written speech.
Thus, the true life of language occurs in speech, in movement. Speech is a tool, material and way of expressing thoughts and feelings. By expressing thoughts, its subject encourages the addressee not just to perceive them, but to actively “create speech.” Therefore, one cannot but agree with the opinion of the English linguist A.Kh. Gardiner, who back in the 30s of the last century in his work “Theory of Language and Speech” called for taking into account the actions of both participants in a speech situation - both the subject of speech and the subject of its perception.
At the moment of perception, someone else's speech gives movement to the associative thinking of the addressee (especially the reader, who can stop reading at any moment in order to comprehend the content and associations and allusions that arose during the reading process). He doesn’t just remember someone else’s thought, but thinks it through, critically evaluates it, clarifies it, develops it, and relates it to reality. He can re-read the thought, check it for compliance with his idea of it and for the degree of its compliance with the existing situation in science, as well as for the quality of design. He may try to find a more accurate, in his opinion, expression.
Articulate, coherent speech is generated on the basis of delimitation of the original speech units. In oral speech, a clear delimitation is carried out intonationally by the subject of speech, thanks to which listeners easily understand the meaning of each incremental speech unit and the general content of the speech. Written speech, which the author also composes from initial speech units as a result of their successive accretion, not only presupposes delimitation, it is simply impossible without the reader dividing it (for the purpose of its adequate perception) into the original speech structures from which it was composed. This approach is fully consistent with the logical principle: from what speech units speech is generated, on the basis of these same units it is perceived, because the consistent increase in their meanings creates its content. And the main goal of reading and listening is to understand the subject of speech as accurately as possible.
So delimitation is an essential property of speech, the purpose of which is to highlight and represent all the original units of speech, on the basis of which its generation and perception are carried out.
The need to distinguish between language and speech was first clearly expressed by the Swiss linguist F. de Saussure, who himself did not always follow his thesis. By mixing the units of language and speech, he thereby confused the sphere of language and the sphere of speech. Saussure unconditionally attributed syntagm to language, although, according to his thesis, it could be among the units of language and among the units of speech. To be fair, it should be noted that the idea of distinguishing between language and speech appeared somewhat earlier in A.A. Potebnya, who clearly distinguished between the meaning of a word in language and in speech. “The meaning of the word,” wrote A.A. Potebnya in the book “Thought and Language” - is possible only in speech. A word torn out of connection is dead, does not function, does not reveal its lexical, let alone formal properties, because it does not have them.”
Language is associated with generalizations and abstractions, while speech is a practical necessity, reality, fundamental principle. It is well known that every child, based on the speech practice of the people around him, first masters speech. He has no idea about language. And only at a certain stage of his life does he consciously turn to language as a nationwide system of linguistic means, provisions and requirements. Therefore, it is natural that language was formed on the basis of speech.
However, Saussure considered the study of language to be the foundation of linguistic science, defining it as the fundamental principle and thereby contributing to the emergence of many errors and misconceptions in the activities of his students and followers.
Any fact of language is not simply generated in speech: before receiving linguistic status, it is verified and approved by it. Noting that historically the fact of speech always precedes language, Saussure, at the same time, argued that the researcher from the very beginning needs to stand on the basis of language and consider it the norm for all manifestations of speech activity. For him, language is a kind of charter, in accordance with which speech is constructed.
Thus, Saussure saw only one side of the linguistic iceberg - its current real existence, completely losing sight of the question of where and how this iceberg came from.
The most convincing objection to F. de Saussure was expressed by his student Albert Seche: “Every act of expression, any communication, no matter how it is carried out, is an act of speech... If language is generated by speech, then speech at no point can be completely generated by language: between there is no relationship of interdependence between them. Speech is organized more or less according to the laws of language, which it itself has created in order to be more clear and effective. The states of speech can change immediately to a large extent, but its essence is not affected. Speech contains something spontaneous and living, which is very essential... it is always something more.”
The language is inventoried and organized into a system, it is standardized. Speech is a creative, individual phenomenon, starting from its minimum unit. Any development of language is determined by generalizations of the results of speech. There is nothing in language that would not first appear in speech and not be tested in it. Speech, the ability to speak, and speech skills develop in a person from infancy. He will become acquainted with language as an academic subject, as an arsenal and system later - when his speech activity is already completely independent.
So the spheres of language and speech, although interconnected and forming a common object of linguistics, are at the same time isolated and independent. There are sections of linguistics for which the issue of distinguishing between language and speech is not so relevant, but there are also those for which it is paramount - both in methodological and scientific terms. Such a section, in particular, is syntax, which is not surprising, since it connects the spheres of language and speech. Therefore, in syntax, like in no other section of linguistics, one should clearly understand the boundaries of language and speech, and consistently distinguish between linguistic units and speech units.
Let's pay attention to the chain of the following words: boy, book, read, interesting . All of them, when presented separately, have generalized meanings and relate to the sphere of language, i.e. are generalized denominative (nominative) units of the vocabulary system of the language.
Now let's look at the next row: boy, book, reading, interesting . We have a number of specific morphological word forms. These are also units of language, and they belong to the corresponding morphological paradigms. However, these same word forms that appeared in the human mind as a single intonationally formed structural and semantic block (for example, when answering the question: “ What do you see?”), act as an oral message or proposal - in written speech: Boy reading an interesting book . As a result of the mental activity of the subject of speech, these word forms are connected grammatically, intonationally and meaningfully, reflecting a specific fact of reality in relation to time and reality, i.e. they convey specific content. We already have a speech unit in front of us, and it represents the sphere of speech. This is a syntagma that performs the function of a phrase in oral speech, and the function of a sentence in written speech. In this case, there is and cannot be a pause within the speech block.
But if we are talking about the correspondence of a given speech fragment to one or another typical sentence pattern, as a result of which it will take an abstract form of expression ( N1–Vf), then we again come into contact with the sphere of language, with its generalizations and abstractions. It seems to be a sentence before us, as evidenced by conventional symbols, but this is not a sentence at all and not even its frame, but only basic (typical, but not always explicitly required in real speech) signs-symbols of the “skeleton” of a speech unit. They represent in abstract form only its predicative center.
However, the presence of a predicative center ( N1–Vf) does not mean at all that in any communication situation we actually have a sentence in front of us as a real speech unit. So, speech structure The starlings have arrived conveying information that specific actors performed a specific action corresponds to this scheme and qualifies as an independent sentence.
But if we turn to the proposal And last year the starlings arrived in February, the content of which reflects not so much the fact that specific actors performed the named action, but rather the temporary differences in its implementation, then its main members removed from the structure of the sentence ( the starlings have arrived) fully correspond to the specified scheme of the sentence, but do not really form it, being only part of a specific integral structure, because they cannot convey the content of the sentence from which they were isolated. They are not a sentence because the part is not equal to the whole.
In a general theoretical sense, in isolation from reality, from a specific speech situation and speech activity in general - it seems like yes, this is a sentence (at least very similar to it), but in a real speech situation, in relation to specific information, it is just part of a sentence. Of course, this is structurally its main part, but not at all the main one in terms of content.
In order to objectively understand many problems of linguistics and, first of all, issues of syntax, it is necessary, when studying the structure, meaning and functions of linguistic units, to clearly distinguish between the spheres of language and speech, to consistently delimit them, and not to confuse linguistic and speech units. It is necessary to take into account the form of speech - oral or written - to distinguish between the speech actions of the subject of speech and the subject of its perception, and also to clearly distinguish between units of oral speech and units of written speech. This means that it is necessary to take into account the types of speech activity: speaking And letter as speech production processes, reading And listening as processes of perception.
V.A. Zvegintsev, drawing attention to the dual nature of the object of linguistics (the presence of the spheres of language and speech - E.F.), wrote: “In whatever forms we present the duality of the object of linguistics, it is quite obvious that we are dealing with two different phenomena - somehow they were closely related and in whatever relationship they were. Any linguistic theory that claims to be adequately described not only cannot ignore the fact of this duality, but must take it into its foundation as a starting point. If she doesn’t do this, she is dooming herself to deliberate inferiority from the very beginning.” In our opinion, this idea should be considered the methodological basis of research activities.
In linguistics, other terms are often used to refer to these two linguistic areas. True, they do not always coincide with the opposition “language - speech”. These are terms such as: code And message(R. Jacobson); scheme And usus; language system And process, text(L. Elmslev); language competence And use(N. Chomsky), etc. However, the most accurate and commonly used terms are language And speech, which best correspond to the areas under consideration.
The linguistic world includes the sphere of language as a stable system of established means, their qualifications, changes and the sphere of speech, which marks the use of linguistic means in the process of speech activity, in connection with which some scientists, following N. Chomsky, talk about linguistic competence (knowledge of the means of language) and speech competence, use (i.e. the ability to use them). All linguistic units, depending on the scope of their functioning (not presence, but functioning) can be divided into linguistic and speech. Linguistic units (phoneme, morpheme, word, word form, phrase pattern, sentence pattern, etc.) have a generalizing or abstract nature of meaning. For them, the main thing is to reflect the essential feature of a unit-type or scheme (model) as a typical structure. Thus, words are independent linguistic units; they imply generality and separateness, corresponding to the formula “reality - name”. In speech they are usually used not independently, not separately, but in groups. At the same time, the degree of actualization of their individual meaning and its quality change. As their meaning and scope change, their status changes. This is no longer just a group of words, but a minimal communicative unit of speech with situational meaning, which presupposes specificity and compatibility
Minimal speech units are specific and meaningfully situational. They are generated on the basis of linguistic units, taking into account their essential features and updating the incidental indicators of the realities they denote, therefore they have a specific, situational nature of meaning. They are individual and associated with a specific speech situation, which is reflected directly in their content. All other speech structures are made up of them. This phrases, messages(in oral speech), and also simple and complex sentences, sayings and texts(in writing).
The first linguist who tried to actually distinguish between these spheres and their units was I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay. He saw significant differences in the meaning of units of language and speech. To reflect this with scientific accuracy and not to mix units of different spheres, he used different terms in relation to words token And syntagma. Under lexeme he meant a word in the language system with its generalized meaning (as a carrier of the essential idea of the designated reality, in contrast to all other realities), and by syntagma- a word in speech (in a sentence) with its situational meaning as a result of the activation of the display features of a specific reality in a circle of similar ones. Perhaps the term he proposed syntagma, which existed in science since ancient times and was not etymologically correlated with one word (Syntagma - from Greek: built together, connected), turned out to be not entirely successful. Therefore, it did not take hold in the meaning that Baudouin de Courtenay gave it. By abandoning Baudouin’s understanding of this term and not offering a suitable replacement for it, linguists thereby abandoned the scientifically convincing idea of the need for a clear and consistent distinction between the spheres of language and speech, as well as their units.
Language as a tool and material for thinking is common to all its speakers, but thinking itself is individual, and therefore speech, as a form of reflection of an individual’s thinking, is also individual. Moreover, it is individual already at the level of syntagmas, which is confirmed by the so-called catch words and expressions, which have their own authors, often exist in the form of a syntagma, and not just in the form of a sentence.
So communication takes place at the level of syntagmas. Syntagmas are speech structures in which linguistic material, as a result of the mental activity of the subject, is transformed into specific speech. During their formation, successful, less successful, or even unsuccessful speech-generating actions of the individual are possible. Therefore, their study has one of the main practical goals: to promote the development of skills in quickly and skillfully constructing speech structures in oral and written speech, as well as clear and quick perception of them when reading texts. Syntagms are not only an individual product of the use of language in speech activity in accordance with theory and cultural speech tradition, but also rich material for the further development and improvement of language and speech. What was knowledge today, tomorrow becomes a method and technique for studying linguistic theory or the formation and development of skills and abilities in the analysis of linguistic material, as well as the development of all types of speech activity - both producing and receptive.
All new facts of social and individual use of language, becoming the object of study and scientific research, developing theory, simultaneously enrich speech practice. Syntagmas born in the process of speech provide rich material for studying the features of a real combination of words and developing their expressive capabilities.
The units of study of language syntax (language domain) are phrase And offer as metastructures, as typical generalized syntactic patterns, abstract schemes, or models, as well as syntax And sentence member as components of phrases and sentences. Status syntaxes any morphological form of a word or an unchangeable significant word automatically receives, falling into the realm of syntax.
The metalinguistic purpose and functions of a phrase are to clarify the possibility of combining certain words, the features of the syntactic connection of combined words, types of connection, its means, as well as to establish the syntactic relationships that arise in this case.
Syntagma is an extremely minimal unit that marks the sphere of speech; it is the initial means of a specific speech situation. This is the minimum unit of speech syntax. Language represents the totality of all generalized and abstract units with a system of their forms and various options for use in speech. Language, as defined by A.I. Smirnitsky, means communication and thinking, and speech is a reflection of countless ways individual and creative use of this tool. Language forms speech, in it it exists, is preserved and develops. Language and speech are adjacent linguistic autonomous spheres. They cannot be confused, much less identified.
