LANGUAGE IN THE FIELD OF INDIVIDUAL
AND SOCIAL HUMAN BEING
Siberian Federal University
Abstract: issues related to the significance of language in the environment of
individual and social human being are discussed in the article.
Key words: knowledge, means of thinking, communicative role,
emergency of consciousness, social phenomenon, condition of individualization,
form of reflection, internal dialogue.
Speaking about the role of language in the field of
individual and social human being, one should start with the question about the
concept of language itself. A.S. Hornby Oxford Explanatory Dictionary gives the
following definition of language: "Language - is not inherent by a man, it
is an instinctive way of expressing thoughts, feelings and desires by means of
sounds and symbols in order to communicate" [1]. The essence of language
is that language is a means of oral and written communication: oral via sound
system and written with the help of characters (letters, punctuation, symbols,
numbers, etc...).
Language, of course, is a social phenomenon. It arises and
develops only in community, thanks to communication needs of people with each
other, i,e. in the process of communication. There are a lot of languages on our planet, historically any
language was created and developed in the process of verbal communication of
people. The connection between language and speech is that language is
considered as an instrument of communication, it exists historically by the
time, until it is spoken by people and becomes dead when it is no longer spoken
(an example is Latin language).
Over the centuries in the evolution of each ethnic people
community it was producing a sound
system, characters, grammatical categories and concepts that enabled
communication between all members of the community. This system represents the
language of people. As a special form of reflection of reality human language
thus has certain communicative functions in the field of individual and social
human being. This can be represented in the form of an original scheme: knowing
subject - language - object of cognition - language - knowing being.
The development of language is related to the formation of
human consciousness. Communication of people in the process of joint work leads
to the formation of autocommunication,
i.e. internal dialogue with a person himself, that in terms of M.M. Bakhtin, is
the basis of the mechanism of consciousness, "Where consciousness
originates, dialogue appeares" [2,
p. 9-10]. Having developed language, people inreach their world. Knowledge of
the language, indicating the surrounding human objects, allows to deal with
objects that are not directly perceived and are not part of his own experience.
Through language in a man's world enter both directly reflected objects, and the world of images, objects,
relationships and qualities of designated words. This means that "... a
person can arbitrarily call these images regardless of their actual presence
... can arbitrarily control this second world". [3, p. 37]
Language, as a means of communication between people, is
the relation of a man to the world, so language being is a function of human
being in the world. Human being is the first and principal foundation, both the
language of logic and the logic of language. Being is all that is or can be consciousness of the knowing subject. In
other words, the existence of knowable is the cause of everything that is
learned through language by a subject. Irrefutably evident is the unity of a
human being as the knowing subject or the subject of knowledge, and the
knowable existence in a single existence of the objective world, where language
plays an essential part.
The unity of space imaginable by knowing subject, is the
only existence of the objective world, which covers its own objective existence
along with objective being knowable distinctive environment from it. It is
known that the existence of the phenomenon as a whole is the unity of life of
various phenomena as part of it. Accordingly, the known being is the source
of knowledge acquired by thinking,
thinking is carried out, as mentioned above, in the language of people, in the
process of speech activity.
Speech activity is the foundation of every other human
activity, and it is the most common and the most difficult. It precedes,
accompanies, informs and lays the foundation of any activity. As essential and
interdependent components, it is always included in the broader system
activity. Without speech activity can not take place any daily communication
between people, no education, no training, no work activity, etc. There are
many linguistic disciplines concerned with verbal communication: it is the
theory of speech acts, the theory of speech influence and psycholinguistics,
etc. The philosophical approach is in the context of the discussion of personal
sense of linguistic phenomena.
The specifics of the individual human being, i.e. personality
as well as an individual, is the spiritual dimension of human reality. It is
being developed through language and the spiritual essence of a man. Personality
is considered as the highest, integrated form of human reality organization,
while individuality seems to be the depth of personality and the subject of
activity. Thus, becoming personality is the process of socialization, while the
development of personality is the process of individualization of subjective
reality. Formation of personality and individuality is impossible without
language. Language is, on the one hand, a means of objectification of the
individual and the individual contents of the society; on the other hand, it is
a factor in the formation of spiritual world of man. Thus, a person is a
personification, the embodiment of social relations. With regard to public
relations, they are formed by means of linguistic expressions, that is
communication. The concept of identity indicates that a person distinguishes
from the variety of social roles and functions, the aggregate of connections
and relationships with others, allocates its own role; and makes them
absolutely valuable content of its true "I".
Through language is perceived objective truth. Thus, according
to the German philosopher von Humboldt language is a living activity of the
human spirit, it is the energy of people, coming out of people's depth. In his
paper "On the difference between the structure of human language and its
influence on spiritual development of mankind", he puts forward the idea
of the relationship of language, thought and spirit of the people. Language is
a means of development of internal power of
a man, his feelings and outlook, he is a mediator in the process of
"transformation of the external world in people's minds, as it promotes
their self-expression and understanding ...", "... the word is a mark
not of the object itself, but its sensory image in our soul "... therefore
philosophical - linguistic study of language should strive for "...
thorough study of the different ways in which countless people decide the
problem of universal attainment of objective truth through language."[3,
p. 69].
Through language man forms his moral principles,
responsibilities and demands on his own implementation. Man determines for
himself the meaning of life, life position and ambitions, which depend on its
actual achievements, the ability of an individual to express himself in the forms
of life, as well as language. Under the "meaning of life" is meant
not only the future, but also is achieved a measure of a man, the assessment
made by the existing criteria for the
individual.
The meaning, in which fixed object properties, that are
essential from the point of view of social practice, can be considered as a
transformed form of activity. the objective world surrounding a man, the
surrounding reality, it is not as Kant's "thing in itself" which
preserved the existing irrespective of the social practice of human
characteristics and qualities, as well as a "humanized world", as a
cultural historical existence of a man.
New forms of man's awareness of reality through words
generated new forms of activity of the subject. The new "figures of
consciousness", and therefore, new forms of its "image" -
values, are expressed in words. Values of its semantic content, are not ideal
"otherness" of the object, and the converted form the subject of
activity, knowing subject and subject transforming the world through his speech
activity. The value in this case is the result, which reaches the subject,
having made a number of prescribed actions. The resulting end products are
given new names, so in the language of conceptualisation appear new concepts
such as: nanoparticle, Collider, mechatronics and others.
For human being thinking and language is not only a means of
communication, but also a means of opening his own existence in the world. Man
has not only the subject of thinking, but also the mind by which he perceives
the truth. Guided by the mind, the individual is doing everything for the
benefit of its essence, both a body and spiritual. Formation of human mind,
consciousness is directly related to the development of language. Without language
phenomenon there is no logical structure of thought. The meaning, in this case,
is a generalized ideal model of the object in the subject's consciousness, in
which the recorded material properties of the object are selected in the
aggregate of social activities.
Coding in symbolic form leads to the enrichment of his total
social experience, to streamline the original content in the forms of its
organization, developed social practice. The subject does not see the scheem of
an image and receives no value, but the marked image. Human consciousness does
not only duplicate reflected reality using symbolic means, but allocates in it
attributes and properties important for the subject, establishes them in ideal
generic models of reality and all of this takes place through language.
Abstracting properties and their grouping in a new structure
allows us to build the ideal model of reality, expressed in the meaning of the
word. Handling these values according to the laws of syntax and grammar, containing
the rules of human thinking (logic of scientific thinking and everyday
consciousness) allows us to obtain new knowledge deductively. The ability to
separate, isolate and re-bind in the dismembered highest unity of the object
and its properties, the individual objects and the relationships between them,
etc. It is a feature of human consciousness as the highest form of reality
reflection.
"To be aware of the reality means being able to break it
into elements and install certain connections and relations between them:
similarity, identity, differences, accessories, sequences, etc. And the more
the object or situation may be disolated and re-connected, the higher is the
level of reality awareness"[5, c.23].
Thus, summing up the above mentioned, it should be noted, that
it is impossible to overestimate the role of language in the field of
individual and social human being, it plays a fundamental role. Language - is a
unique and brilliant phenomenon, which is a tool and a means of communication,
a means of knowledge, a way of thinking, learning tool, a carrier of social
experience, the individualization of a condition, a special form of reflection
of reality, the core personal meaning, a means of opening his own life in the
world, a means of attainment of objective truth, etc. It is the language that
forms the basis of society communication. Without language there could be not
any person or society.
References:
1. Hornby A.S. Training
Dictionary of Modern English / A.S. Hornby, E.V. Getenbi, Mr. Wakefield./ M
.AST, -2006.
2. Bakhtin M.M. Principles
of Dostoevsky's Poetics. M., - 1979.
3. Luria A.R. Language
consciousness / A.R. Luria, E.D. Chomsky./
Moscow State University. M. - 1979. S. 320.
4. Humboldt W. On the
difference between the structure of human languages and their influence on the
spiritual development of mankind / W.
Humboldt. Selected works on linguistics. Veche, M. - 1997.
5. Chuprikova N.I.
Consciousness as the highest dissected and system-ordered form of reflection
and brain mechanisms. Psychological magazine, ¹6. M. - 1981.