The interpretation of the concept of "time" in Kyrgyz language view of the world: associative experiment

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Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University

School of intellectual development “Sapsan”

The interpretation of the concept of “time” in Kyrgyz language view of the world: associative experiment

Naimanova Ch., Dr. habil.,

Baizhigitova A.

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

The topicality of the research is based on the growing interest in the study of the concept of “time” in Kyrgyz cognitive linguistics. The concept of time reflects the cultural, spiritual, and moral values of any culture including Kyrgyz. The novelty of the research is that the concept of time has been analysed in the framework of the Kyrgyz Language.

In the framework of this paper, the associative experiment of how Kyrgyz people perceive the concept of time held. The aim of the paper is to study the concept of time in the Kyrgyz linguistic view of the world based on the associative experiment. To reach the aim of the paper the following research methods were used: analysis, synthesis, observation, statistical analysis, interpretation, and an associative experiment. In this paper we have shared the results of the survey hold in Kyrgyzstan, 85 people participated as native speakers of the Kyrgyz language. The age and gender - 13-64 years; the number of women who participated in the Kyrgyz survey is 59 and 26 of them are men.

Kyrgyz people believe that time has both positive and negative qualities. Kyrgyz people associate time with life, irreversibility, hour, age, moments, death, possibilities, happiness, success wrinkles, etc.

Keywords: concept, time, linguistic picture of the world, freedom, associative experiment.

Аннотация

Интерпретация концепта «время» в киргизской языковой картине мира: ассоциативный эксперимент

Актуальность исследования обусловлена растущим интересом к изучению концепта «время» в когнитивной лингвистике Кыргызстана. Концепт «время» отражает культурные, духовные и нравственные ценности любой культуры, в том числе, киргизской.

Новизна исследования заключается в том, что концепт «время» рассматривается на материале киргизского языка. В настоящей статье проводится ассоциативный эксперимент по восприятию киргизским народом концепта «время».

Целью статьи является исследование концепта «время» в киргизской языковой картине мира на основе ассоциативного эксперимента. Для достижения поставленной цели в статье использовались следующие методы исследования: анализ, синтез, наблюдение, статистический анализ, интерпретация и ассоциативный эксперимент. В статье мы поделились результатами опроса, проведенного в Кыргызстане. В эксперименте к качестве носителей киргизского языка участвовало 85 человек. Возраст и пол - 13-64 года; 59 - женщины, из них - 26 мужчин.

Кыргызстанцы считают, что время имеет как положительные, так и отрицательные качества. У киргизов время ассоциируется с такими понятиями как жизнь, необратимость, час, возраст, момент, смерть, возможность, счастье, «успешные» морщины и т д.

Ключевые слова: концепт, время, языковая картина мира, свобода, ассоциативный эксперимент.

Introduction

Linguists of Kyrgyzstan, like all scientists from post-Soviet States, started focusing their research on concept studies. A significant contribution to the development of modern fields of linguistics in Kyrgyzstan was made by K.Z. Zulpukarov, M.I. Lazaridi, E.I. Zholamanova, U.D. Kambaralieva and others. Their comparative researches are based on Russian and Kyrgyz languages.

Kambaralieva's monography “Темпоральная категоризация в концептуальной картине мира” is devoted to a deep study of the theoretical problem associated with the conceptual picture of the world. Here the author has comprehensively analyzed the ways and means of dividing into categories of temporality and temporal relations in the Russian and Kyrgyz languages. The work of Kambaralieva is considered as a valuable and large-scale work, aimed to describe the conceptual picture of the world within the conceptual sphere “Время” and “Убакыт” [1].

There are very few researches devoted to concept studies based on English and Kyrgyz languages in our country.

The article was produced as one of the results of Master thesis entitled “The Concept of “Time” in the English and Kyrgyz Language View of the World” performed by Aisulu Baizhigitova in 2020 under the thesis supervision of Prof. Dr. Cholpon Naimanova.

The topicality of the research is based on the growing interest to the study of concepts in modern Kyrgyz linguistics. The concept of “time” in Kyrgyz cognitive linguistics is one of the least studied, ambiguously defined and hotly disputable topic in linguistics. The concept of time reflects the cultural, spiritual, and moral values of any culture including Kyrgyz one.

The novelty of the research is that the concept of time has been analyzed in the framework of the Kyrgyz Language. In the framework of this paper, the associative experiment of how Kyrgyz people perceive the concept of time held.

The aim of the paper is to study the concept of time in the Kyrgyz linguistic view of the world based on the associative experiment.

Material and research methods. To reach the aim of the paper the following research methods were used: analysis, synthesis, observation, statistical analysis, interpretation and an associative experiment.

It is known that as a result of using experimental methods for analyzing concepts, it is possible to form a specific nominative field of the concept, and at the same time it is also possible to identify its cognitive features and analyze the content as a whole. For this purpose, we conducted an associative experiment that enabled to show the perception of the concept of time by means of a questionnaire.

As most cognitologists note, the interpretation of results can be carried out through the stage of determining the psycholinguistic meaning, or it can be carried out directly - through the definition of cognitive principles. We are going to share the results of our survey based on the questionnaires.

Results and discussion

We would like to give the results of the questionnaire hold in Kyrgyz language among the native speakers of this language.

First of all, we would like to mention the age and gender of the respondents.

Figure 1. The age of Kyrgyz respondents

Most of the respondents are between 22-30, i. e. young, but of conscious age. The number of women who participated in the survey is 59 and 26 of them are men.

Based on the results of the associative experiment, we came to the conclusion that the main association that Kyrgyz people have are as follows: the most common answer is life. 21 out of 85 (24,7%) respondents said that they associate time with life. The next is the idea that time is irreversible, 14% mentioned it. 12% of surveyed associate time with hour. The following 9.4% state that “the notion of age” come to their minds when they hear the word time. It is worth mentioning that half of these people associate time exactly with old age. 8.2% say that moment is association with time. 3 out of 85 people mention death. Other 25 answers are different views as time is possibility, time is plan, regret about past, happiness, the right way of using time and so on. Kyrgyz people hold the opinion that positive qualities of time are as follows: time changes, and if now is a bad time, tomorrow badness will pass and everything will be okay; time teaches to value things on time; time teaches to use it properly; helps to achieve goals; brings to organization and order; time creates good memories and makes you happy, most of the surveyed believe that time will tell; time gives a hope; exact time (deadline) makes you motivated to finish work on time; time is an opportunity to realize one's dreams and goals; as time goes on, life is being continued; many people believe that time teaches to be reasonable; some of the surveyed said that time heals; shows results of previous works; we try to identify and clarify all the changes in life over time and achieve goals for the future days; time purifies, time is a man's wealth; it helps you forget difficult days and analyse what you have done.

Time passes quickly, sometimes it's a big lesson in life; some believe that in order to have a proper time, we should forget bad thoughts, forgive, and develop; time gives an ability to evaluate it; brings to patience; teaches human rationality; helps you forget the past; some people hold the idea that time is smart, it brings smile in hardship and recalls past memories; it gives value to everything in life, sets boundaries, gets rid of laziness, hurries; majority say that we are given only time, we should spend it on the goodness.

Time teaches a person to be disciplined and systemized. While others think that time is single and we should hurry, others believe that time is enough no need to hurry. One part of surveyed believe that good quality of time is that it gives us leisure time to relax. The benefits of proper use of time are huge: you get an education, work hard to make life happy, valuable, raise offspring, show the way of worthy greatness of society. Other part of surveyed state that time is good because it is unpredictable, if it was to predict the future, it would not be interesting to live. Minority consider the quality of moving forward as good and only one person mentioned that time brings to punctuality.

Negative qualities of time based on the answers of the survey: Almost 50% believe that time is too quick and passes without warning; 20% believe that time brings to old age, subsequently old age implies death; time kills the hope is the next most mentioned answer, time makes us rush, in rush we miss our dreams; time is too quick is the third quality which is negative.

Time never stops, cannot wait and cannot be returned. One part of surveyed answered philosophically that time is not eternal, as time passes, we also pass, i.e. it shortens our lives. Others say that unexpected things happen that spoils the plans. Majority mentioned the improper use of time brings to problems; it means that Kyrgyz people step by step learn about time-management which was unpopular in the past. Time is pitiless, sometimes it is not enough to finish the forethought. One of interviewed compared time to sword: “time is sharp as a sword, and if we waste time, it cuts you with a sword...” 4 people said that time leads to regret about the past. One person believes that time does not have any positive and negative qualities and it just exists.

Most of Kyrgyz people (42%) measure time by clock or hour, direct measurement of time. 26% of interviewed treat time more abstractedly and measure time by moments. The next 15% believe that time is measured by life. 7% of surveyed said that they measure time in days. 3 persons measure their time by achieved success, 2 of 85 people measure time by their wrinkles, 2 by the happiness and only 1 person believe that time is measured by money. In the next figure we will share how time is measured according to Kyrgyz people in the minuend sequences.

94% of surveyed believe that planning is good. Actually, we were not expecting that so many people plan ahead their days (work). It shows how our culture is changing, we suppose it is influenced by globalization and social media. People see how other cultures write check-lists, schedules and plan for the next day and do the same.

Figure 2. The gender of the respondents

Figure 3. The measurement of time according to Kyrgyz people

temporality kyrgyz language cultural spiritual time

5 of the surveyed said that planning is not good, in their view plan will not work because the situation is in God's arms; life is not a question of a person's plan, it is a question of destiny, other person says that life is better when something happens spontaneously, not according to plan, sometimes circumstances confound some plans.

Now let's inquire into answers of those people who believe that planning is good. 90% of answers are almost the same and imply that planning leads to more productive and effective work. Here are some answers:

Easy to navigate according to the plan. Plan helps to achieve succeed.

After all, time passes very quickly and imperceptibly. We can't stop it, but we can use it in proper way.

In order not to waste my time, I plan.

The plan will show what I should do the next.

The question: Why don't we have enough time to do planned? was the next in our questionnaire. In the chart below, you can see the results.

The answers of the surveyed show that more than half believe that the lack of time is connected to the poor time-management, so if a person can't spend his/her time on a certain activity it means that a person can't manage time in the proper way. 13 interviewed consider their thoughts disturb to accomplish all planned things. The next 11 people think that it is connected with the quantity of efforts. 5 people state that lack of time links to the speed of time, it is too fast that is why people can't achieve all plans. 5 people gave other reasons as bad weather, horoscope, unwanted guests, sometimes we plan too much and forget about ourselves and frustrate because we did not accomplish tasks. There are some unexpected interferences. Sometimes circumstances do not allow. The other 4 people see laziness as an obstacle to complete all plans. 2 people say that they have enough time for everything. Finally, one person says if we did not achieve something, it means that it depends on destiny.

Kyrgyz people feel that they spend time well when they do something for their self-development, spend time with their families, work and rest, entertain, do sports and others.

Kyrgyz people consider time devoted to self-development, in other words getting education, reading books, doing activities for future plans, doing steps in achieving goals as well-spent time, 44 of surveyed support this idea. 15 people out of 85 devote their time to work.14 people said the time spent with their families is good for them. 7 people pay attention to religious development, i.e. meditation, everyday prayer. 2 people spend their time on sport, a single person mention rest and 1 person mentioned entertainment.

To the question: Which part of your life do you devote to yourself? 10 of the surveyed said that they never thought about it, 18 people believe that ^XA of their lives. Only 8 people think that approximately 70-80% of their life. Majority spend about 1-2 hours on themselves. Most of them devote their time to their families and work.

The understanding of time in a certain connection with consciousness in one way or another is always present in the theoretical and practical activities of people. Also, the definition of the relationship to time is closely related to the search for the meaning of existence and the affirmation of basic moral values that are necessary for our consciousness. In our opinion, two main trends are of decisive importance in the formation of connections and relations between consciousness and time.

On the one hand, the attitude of our consciousness to time is influenced by the growing sense of transience of life, the outcome of which is death, as a person grows older.

On the other hand, in contrast to these emotional experiences, a person puts a rational attitude to time as a constant physical quantity, to the evenly manifested duration of objective processes. A person discovers in his mind the ability to manage such time, calculating its course with the help of clocks and calendars, calculating his activities in accordance with the time periods established by himself, and using scientific methods to study the properties of this physical phenomenon.

The everyday experience of everyday life, folk wisdom, and artistic creativity reflect various descriptions of the emotional brightness of a person's experience of the transience of life, the transience of people and everything that they created. Comparison of time with a river, current can be found in the cultures of different countries and times. At the same time, the symbolic image of the river, which expresses the degree of emotional perception of time, is associated with the nature of its assessment of the quality of events. Time can “slowly flow” or “rapidly rush” depending on what events fill a person's life and how they correspond to their ideas about well-being.

One of the most important characteristics of time is its movement and course. Throughout various historical periods, people have held a variety of ideas about the passage of time. Time was perceived as cyclical, as linear (having an end point), through the change of generations, through the change of seasons, and so on.

Time refers to the phenomena of objective reality, which is very difficult to give a specific definition. Time has always been the subject of research by scientists in various fields, but even today it does not have a single definition. One of the existing definitions describes time as an irreversible change in the reality around us. Everything that exists has a beginning and an end. Everything changes, but at different speeds. People divide time into the past, present, and future to navigate the world that never stays the same.

Time is one of the most important resources and values of human life. But why is the role of time in our lives so great? The value of time is determined by what we use it to measure.

Our life is measured by time. Only by recognizing time, by dividing all events into what was, what is, and what will be, we realize that man is not eternal. For the first time this idea occurs even in preschool age.

The value of time is connected by its limit. Lack of time for necessary or pleasant things leads a person to the next stage - time planning.

The awareness of time limitations and, as a result, the planning of life (for days, for weeks, for years) creates an opportunity for a person to influence their life. This is manifested in the fact that each of us classifies everything according to the degree of importance for him. The easiest way is to divide them into groups. The first group includes what a person wants to do in their lifetime (often this list includes creating a family, a career in a particular field, travelling, etc.). The second group includes what would be desirable to do (however, the absence of these things will not lead to disappointment in life). The following groups include those that are given a lower value. Thus, the construction of this hierarchy encourages a person to be active, achieve goals and make dreams come true.

Time brings a person to the realization of the finiteness of life. The reaction to this is different for each individual, but it can be generalized by dividing it into three groups:

1. To live more complete and vibrant life. A person goes to his goal, focusing on priority things that he wants to have time to achieve before his natural result comes;

2. To leave your mark on history. By this phrase, everyone understands different things. Some want to extend their line in children, grandchildren and their descendants. Others are going to leave behind something that would make people remember them. This includes scientific inventions, works of art and literature, and many things related to the names of people whose lives have long passed, but whose legacy still exists.

3. The loss of the value of life. When some people realize that life is finite, they refuse to see any meaning in it. This approach is reflected in the phrase "Why should we live if we die anyway?". Its supporters question family values, social norms, and moral standards, and this approach is not positive and affects the life of a person accordingly.

It should be mentioned that time has such a characteristic as its subjective perception. In other words, the duration of time is perceived quite differently, depending on the age and activity of the person. When doing interesting things, people think that hours last like minutes. By doing unpleasant things, people, on the contrary, feel like every minute is dragging.

Conclusions

After analysing the above, we come to the following conclusions about the value of time in our lives:

Time allows us to understand the mortality of a person;

Limited time leads a person to plan his/ her life;

Planning motivates a person not just to go with the flow of life, but to find and implement their own path in an attempt to achieve their goals;

Awareness of the finiteness of life motivates a person to leave a legacy in one sense or another;

The heritage of ancestors in the form of their descendants, as well as their knowledge, skills, traditions and culture, allows society to develop more and more, without losing everything acquired.

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to Prof. Dr. Kambaralieva for writing and producing such a wonderful monography devoted to the deep study of the theoretical problems associated with the conceptual picture of the world and the issue of temporality and temporal relations in the Russian and Kyrgyz languages. Her wonderful book gave us an idea to do a comparative research of the concept of “time” based on English and Kyrgyz languages.

Reference

1. Kambaralieva, U.D. (2013). Temporal'naya kategorizatsiya v kontseptual'noi kartine mira. Bishkek.

2. Baizhigitova, A.N., & Naimanova, Ch.K. (2019). Verbalizatsiya kontsepta vremya v angliiskoi i kirgizskoi yazykovoi kartine mira (na osnove poslovits i pogovorok). Nauka, novye tekhnologii i innovatsii Kyrgyzstana, (11). 248-251.

Список литературы

1. Камбаралиева У.Д. Темпоральная категоризация в концептуальной картине мира. Бишкек, 2013. 490 с.

2. Байжигитова А.Н., Найманова Ч.К. Вербализация концепта время в английской и киргизской языковой картине мира (на основе пословиц и поговорок) // Наука, новые технологии и инновации Кыргызстана. 2019. №11. С. 248-251.

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