The image of a "wise man" in the East Slavonic and British linguo-cultural areas

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THE IMAGE OF A "WISE MAN” IN THE EAST SLAVONIC AND BRITISH LINGUO-CULTURAL AREAS

The article deals with the contrastive research of ethnic peculiarities of image of a "wise man" as the result of the moral-value conceptualization on the material of Ukrainian, Russian, English and Italian proverbs. Basing on the language facts the conclusions are made about world outlook of the representatives of East-Slavonic and West-European cultural areas.

Key words: conceptualization, ethnic mentality, language world model.

Письменна Ю.О., канд. філол. наук, асист.

Статтю присвячено контрастивному вивченню етноспецифічних особливостей образу "розумного" на матеріалі українських, російських, англійських паремій як наслідку морально-ціннісної концептуалізації світу різномовними народами. Досліджуються національно марковані оцінні судження, що відображають особливості етнічного світосприйняття представників східнослов'янського і західноєвропейського культурного ареалів.

Ключові слова: етнічна ментальність, інформема, концептуалізація, національно-мовна картина світу.

Письменная Ю.А., канд. филол. наук, ассист.

Статья посвящена контрастивному исследованию этноспецифических особенностей образа "умного" на материале украинских, русских, английских паремий как результата морально-ценностной концептуализации мира разноязычными народами. Изучаются национально маркированные оценочные суждения, которые отражают особенности этнического мировосприятия представителей восточнославянского и западноевропейского культурных ареалов.

Ключевые слова: концептуализация, национально-языковая картина мира, этническая ментальность.

The research of proverbs of national languages as the source of the studying of ethnic mentality takes the significant place in the modern cultural linguistics. In the context of the cognitive linguistics phraseologisms are often being studied as a result of moral-value conceptualization of the reality by language (I. Golubovska, M. Kovshova, V. Maslova), that explicates the ethnic peculiarities of the worldview along with the universal human values. So the relevance of this article is defined by integration of many modern linguistic works into the culturological problems and interest to the contrastive study of the different language and cultural areas (О. Bliznuk, V. Zhdanova, O. Levchenko, Т. Orlanska, І. Privalova etc.). The purpose of the study is to identify culturally-related moral notions of the nations as they are represented in the national aphoristic funds and to explain the probable reasons of their formation. The actual research materials are the proverbs of Ukrainian, Russian and English, representing the character of the "intelligent person" in the corresponding language and cultural areas.

The phraseological representation of the MIND differs from its characteristics as the cognitive ability. Using the language of the semantic primitives, developed in the works of A. Wierzbicka, the mind as "the ability to think" could be explained through the mental predicate "to think". At the same time the moral-value aspects of the mind, embodied in the proverbs, could be explained through the mental predicate "to know", thus the mind is synonymous to wisdom.

The lexemes, which form the semantic field "wisdom" (ukr. ум, розум, мудрість; rus. ум, разум, мудрость; eng. wisdom, wit), are considered as the species of the generic word.

In the value system of the nations wisdom has the great practical meaning, particularly the level of the welfare of a person depends on his capacity: ukr. Розумна голова сто голів годує, а дурна й себе не прогодує; З умом наживеш - без ума проживеш; Не бажай синові багатства, бажай розуму; [ПП, І, с. 82]; rus. Кто умнее, тот достанет поскорее; Был бы ум, будет и рубль; Без ума суму таскать, а с умом деньги считать; С умом собину нажить, а без ума всё растерять; Глупый разум по миру пускает [ПРН, І, с. 337-338].

In the English language world model the advantage of the mind over money is emphasized: Wisdom is more to be envied than riches; Without wisdom wealth is worthless; Better wit than wealth; Riches serve a wise man, but command a fool; Want of wit is worse than want of money [PDP, р. 258].

Within the British cultural area the wealth appears as a very positive characteristic of a person. The wealth is acquired by the wisdom and by the hard work, so it designates its owner from the best side. Such an attitude towards money within the British and the Anglo-Saxon cultures may be considered as the expression of the "action / work orientation” [Голубовська 2004, 238]. The latter has its source in the protestant religious tradition, where the work is seen as the human calling [Вебер 1994]. Elena Vodovozova, the Russian researcher of the late XIX - early XX century describes the British attitude towards work and money in such a way: "British people think it's impossible to have authority or eminence without money. As long as everyone tries to get both, since early years they have been working so much, that their work becomes their habit, their second nature. To live for British man is to work, and he has turned the work to the religion. As British people say, to work and to overcome the difficulties is to pray [Водовозова 1904, с. 90-91]."

However, there are many Ukrainian and Russian proverbs, which state the power of money and the limited opportunities of a wise, but a poor man: ukr. У нього ума палата, та грошей малувато; Багато ума, та в кишені нема; Грошовитого й дурня почитують [ПИ, І, с. 82]. Рос. Без денег и разума нет; Ума много, да денег не так - и век дурак; Ума-то пола, да гола; Ума палата, да денег ни полуполы; Умён, да карман не ядрён; Голова пуста, да туга сума; Умом туп, да кошелём туг; Не штука разум, штука деньги; Будет именье, будет и уменье; С богатством ум приходит; Горе деньги нажить, а с деньгами дураку можно жить; В холе да в почёте и всяк умён; У богатого гумна и свинья умна (то есть сумеет наесться); У богатого мужика - уроди бог сына дурака (прокормит) [ПРН, І, с. 338] The long-term existence of the serfdom and the rigid social stratification and, as the result, of the injustice, untruth has obviously caused the pessimistic interpretation of the wisdom/money relationship.

The significant characteristics of the wisdom in the Ukrainian and the Russian languages and culture areas are modesty, an ability to yield, to avoid the categorical judgments, to resolve the conflicts: ukr. Мудрий безумному з дороги вступається; Чим розумний стидається, тим дурний величається; Умний смиряється, а дурень надувається [УПП-2, с. 97]; рос. Глупый ищет места, а умного и в углу видно; Умной спеси не бывает; Порожний колос выше стоит; Глупый осудит, а умный рассудит; Умный на суд не ходит, а глупый с суда не сходит [ПРН, І, с. 343].

In the collective ethnic experience, reflected in English proverbs, the wise man is in harmony with himself, respects himself, his wishes and opportunities are balanced. The wise man is able to get the good things of life, but he also knows how to keep them and to use them rationally: He is wise enough that keep himself warm; He is a wise man who, when he is well, can keep so; He is wise that has wit enough for his own affairs; He is not wise, who is not wise for himself; He is wise that knows he is well enough; Wisest is who recks, not who is rich; A wise man cares not for what he cannot have [PDP, p. 258]. The important characteristics of wisdom in the British language and cultural area are also flexibility of mind, self-development, control over emotions: The wise seek wisdom, the fool has found it; А wise man changes his mind, a fool never; А wise man esteems every place to be his own country; He has wisdom and will, that with angry heart can hold him still; Anger begins with folly and ends with repentance" [PDP, p. 257]. The wise man is careful and tries to avoid danger: He that is wise by day is no fool by night; It is wit to pick a lock and steal a horse, but wisdom to let them alone; He is wise that is ware in time [Ibid., p. 256-258].

According to the results of the sociological and psychological surveys for the Russian ethnic consciousness the principal value in the characterizing of wise man have the social and ethical factors -modesty, kindness, decency, honesty and desire to help other people. At the same time almost the last positions are kept by experience, agentive and critical positions - the main values of "the wise British man" [Мельникова 2003, с. 14-15]. As we can see, the proverbs of the East Slavic and the British cultures include the moral- value judgments, similar to the results of the experimental studies. It is significant that the comprehension of wisdom in Russian and English cultures are polar to each other and show the difference in the outlook of the ethnic groups. The researcher M. Ierofeiev notes, that many journals of the ХІХ century reflected the stereotypes of Russian people about England as about the country of the "material civilization" against the spiritual decline. The Russian analysts submitted: "Focusing on the pursuit of material goods the British developed the "practicality", the desire in every case to look for primarily financial gain" [Ерофеев 1982, с. 148]. The ethnocentric perception of the native culture created the opinion, according to which in Russia the spirituality is the most important thing in the life of people and material achievements and successes occupy a secondary and subordinate place (That was the excuse for the poverty of the great number of the population, weak economy and industry etc.) [Ibid., 158].

So the analysis of the language facts within the cultural and historical background let me make the conclusions about the generalized image of the "wise man" in the different language and cultural areas. In the British language and cultural area its main component is the pragmatically-oriented directionality, based on the principle of reasonable rationality. In the East Slavic cultures its social and ethical components are more important. The Russian comprehension of wisdom is determined by the complex of the moral and ethical principles, directed to the satisfaction of the spiritual needs. The Ukrainian comprehension of wisdom is marked with the social functionality and represents the higher level of the practical orientation, compared to Russian.

wise man image peculiarity

Література

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