Karimov
R.K., Narmukhametova N.M.
Eurasian
National University named after L.N. Gumilyov
Astana,
Kazakhstan
THE
CONCEPT OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE ENGLISH AND KAZAKH LANGUAGES
Linguoculturology is a relatively new science that has arisen at the
junction of two sciences - linguistics and cultural studies. The subject of
today's cultural linguistics is the study of the cultural semantics of
linguistic signs, which is formed in interaction of two different codes – the language
and culture, as each person is both a language and cultural identity.
Therefore, linguistic signs can serve as a "language" of culture,
resulting in the ability of language to display national cultural mentality of
its speakers.
Friendship is a frequently-used word but it is difficult to define it
clearly. Friendship in its various configurations links people and communities
together in some sort of reciprocally beneficial association that forms
societies. Thus friendship is a concept that deserves attention. Although
linguoculturology has investigated little the concept of friendship, there are
such sciences as philosophy, psychology and sociology which have inseparable
links with linguculturology, and which have contributed more to the study of
such reality as friendship.
The mankind never existed isolated: every man had his surrounding, and
defined the relationships with those who surrounded him. From the ancient
times, since our early ancestors inhabited the Earth, there appeared such
realia as family, love, friendship, hatred, etc. which served as the
differentiating notions for the feelings and attitude to certain men or societies.
The study of such reality as friendship involves the study of the culture of
the defined society, which includes the investigation of mental processes (i.e.
psychology, philosophy), folklore, literature, mass media, religion, etc.
Let us look at the contemporary meaning of “friendship”. Most modern
dictionaries don’t give precise definition to such important reality as
friendship. Oxford English Dictionary, for instance, gives the following
interpretation to friendship: “a relationship between friends; the feeling or
relationship that friends have; the state of being friends”. So, here appears
another question: “what is a friend then?” OED gives the definition as “a
person you know well and like, and who is not usually a member of your family; a
person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of
sexual or family relations”. World-famous web-source Wikipedia says that “Friendship
is the cooperative and supportive relationship between people. In this sense,
the term connotes a relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem,
affection, and respect along with a degree of rendering service to friends in
times of need or crisis. Friends will welcome each other's company and exhibit
loyalty towards each other, often to the point of altruism” and lists some
distinctive features of this relationship. The origin of the English “friend” comes from the Old English “frēond”, of Germanic origin;
related to Dutch “vriend” and German “freund”, from an Indo-European root
meaning 'to love'. Thus, we can state that the basis of this relationship was
“love”, however, nowadays it has slightly different semantical colouring.
Looking at the history we can realize that the notion of friendship has
suffered some changes in the course of time. Thus, the concept of friendship
has reduced its emotive depth in its meaning from “the very intimate
relationship, based on love” to “outward feeling, which claims to be friendship,
and which is mostly has its roots in the advantages and profits”. According to
the intimacy of the relationships friends are divided to several groups: best
friends, acquaintances, soulmates, pen pals, comrades, etc. There are several
factors which affected to the change of this concept. Mostly they have social
character.
First of all, it is the liberalization of the relationships. It is best
explained by homophobia, i.e. prejudice against (fear or dislike of) homosexual
people and homosexuality. Liberalization of the relationships has led to the
public expression of the affection of homosexual men and women, and, certainly,
it had its effects upon heterosexuals. From then on there appeared such new to
the English language words as “fruit
flies”, “fag stag”, “fag hag”, “lesbro”, etc. which described the friendship relationships of
straight males with gay males, lesbian girls, and vice-versa.
Secondly, social networking had made its impact in the development of
the relationships in the communities. People began to call those, whom they
have chatted with, and those whom they have in their social networks, their
friends. And this also led to the distortion of the notion of friendship. Social
networking permitted the people to communicate on the distance without any body
contact. Until very recently the notion of friending someone was archaic,
confined to dusty tomes or poetic musings. Now, thanks to the growth of social
networking sites, the use of friend as a verb has been revived, in reference to
the process of adding someone to a list of online contacts (I haven‘t friended my mother on Facebook and
I don’t intend to). This has, of course, opened up whole new realms of
social anxiety, from finding those you have friended
won't friend you in return, to
discovering that someone has unfriended
or defriended you — removed you from
their list of friends (rather than being an adult about it and telling me how
he felt, he unfriended me).
Thirdly, some kinds of relationships, especially cross-gender
friendships are hard to distinguish from the other types of the relationships.
Thus, such terms as “Boston marriage”,
which has been established in the US, but also widely spread in the UK, “open relationship”, “casual relationship or friendship with benefits”, “blood brother”, “bro”, “buddy”, “mate”, and “frenemy” are closely associated with friendship. The last word, a
portmanteau of the words fr(iend) and enemy, the term frenemy refers to someone who pretends to be a friend but actually
is an enemy – a proverbial wolf in sheep’s clothing in the world of
friendships. This is also known as a love-hate relationship. As for the term
“mate” in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, blokes often refer to
each other as 'mates', for example, introducing a male friend as their
"mate", or a circle of male friends as "mates". In the UK,
as well as Australia, this term has begun to be taken up by women as well as
men.
All stated above and other factors have led to, on the one hand, the
enrichment of the English word stock, and to the broadening of the concept of
friendship, on the other.
Kazakh dictionaries also do not give any detailed definition to the
notion of “friendship”. Both Wikipedia and National Encyclopedia of Kazakhstan
state that “Friendship is the quality of the people dedicated to and smoothly
trusting each other with a common interest and common point of view. Friendship
is a sign of responsibility and care, spiritual closeness to each other. Real
friend gives impetus to a man, helps a person not to give up before the
failures that arise in life, to overcome together all the troubles and
difficulties, fallen on his friend’s head”.
Though in the Kazakh society there is no such liberalization of the
relationships and sexual orientations, but other factors also remain in the
Kazakh culture. Certainly, there are people with untraditional sexual
orientation, but it is not so declared as in the UK for example. This fact is
more alarming, because people do not know what to expect from each other and
they become more cautious.
So, how homophobia affected Kazakhs? Even it is not declared, but people
are afraid of it. Kazakh language has such words as “kizteke” – for boys behaving and looking girlish and “erkek shora” – for girls with the boy’s
manners. Unlike Englishmen, Kazakhs don’t have words denoting those who have
friendship ties with gay/lesbian people, because it is not clearly expressed,
and not yet accepted by the norms of this society.
Social networking has distorted the value of the very word “friend”. The word friend in the Kazakh
language had as its definition very philosophic wisdom of this nation, saying
that “friend is the person who is there for you when even you don’t
believe in yourself, who supports you with all his body and soul, with all his
knowledge and experience, who helps you with not only his advice, but also with
his service”. The origin of the word “dos”
(friend) is Persian “dost” which
means “friend” or “guest”.
The semantical field of the concept of friendship in Kazakh language is
very broad and goes far beyond the notions like “fidelity”, “trust”, “support”, etc. Kazakhs give the
metaphorical “tamir dos/dostik” where
the word “tamir” has the meanings of
the “vein”, “root”. It shows us how close Kazakh people treated their friends.
For Kazakhs not any person deserved to be called “friend” because of the
importance and the depth of the meaning of this word. Kazakh language is rich
for the proverbs on the theme of this important relationship. For example, the
Kazakh proverb “a faithful friend is more expensive than gold” illustrates
friend’s value by comparing him with the gold. But nowadays, thanks to the
development of the internet and open relationships, the value of friendship has
decreased, and it is going to the emergence of the question if there is a
friendship in its natural sense: whether between the same sex representatives
or not, not in how we understand it now. But this is another question to
discuss, not in the frame of the linguistics.
To conclude, we can say, undoubtedly, that most characteristics of the
concept of friendship are the same in any culture because this notion
represents the deepest and the most affectionate feeling which lies on the
basement of love, but, nevertheless,
it should be considered from the point of view of the culture as cultures of
the nations were and will never be the same except those traditions and
customs, which are purely religious, other spheres as mental processes,
folklore, etc. must have to be treated separate from the general notion of
friendship.
Bibliography:
1. “Babalar sozi” Scientific publication, 65th volume (Kazakh
proverbs and sayings (in Kazakh language) – Astana, Foliant, 2010
2. “National Encyclopedia of Kazakhstan”, 3rd volume – Almaty,
2001
3. “Oxford English Dictionary” – Oxford University Press, 2005
4. Maslova V.A. “Lingvoculturology” Tutorial for the students of high
educational establishments – 2nd edition, stereotype – Moscow,
“Academia”, 2004