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Дополнительные вопросы и задания для обсуждения
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Дополнительные вопросы и задания для обсуждения
1 К каким типам (концепт-схема, концепт-фрейм – ситуативно-объемное представление фрагмента действительности, концепт-сценарий) относятся следующие концепты: «город», «дерево», " базар", «город», «драка», " река"? Объясните, почему вы отнесли эти концепты к данным типам.
2 Дайте пример концепта из русской / белорусской и британской / американской лингвокультур, аналогичный данному на рисунке 3. 1.
Рисунок 3. 1
When the mind makes a generalization such as the concept of tree, it extracts similarities from numerous examples; the simplification enables higher-level thinking.
3 Концепт «глупец» представлен в русскоязычной культуре следующими лексическими единицами: глупец, балбес, баран, болван, бревно, дубина и т. д.; а также фразеологизмами – дурак набитый, медный лоб, пустая башка, без царя в голове, садовая голова, тупой как валенок и т. д.; жестами – постукивание пальцем по лбу, покручивание пальцем у виска. Скажите, какими лексическими единицами, фразеологизмами и жестами можно представить концепт «деньги» в русскоязычной /белорусской и британской / американской лингвокультурах.
4 Проанализируйте следующие слова и выражения и скажите, с какими сферами социальной активности ассоциируется американский концепт honor:
а) military honors, the honors of war, field of honor; воинские почести, отдавать честь, поле чести;
б) honors (degree) – диплом с отличием; honor roll – список лучших учеников и студентов (в школе, колледже, университете); honor society – почетное общество, организация для школьников и студентов, имеющих высокую академическую успеваемость; honor code – свод правил, регулирующих поведение студентов;
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в) to honor a bill (a cheque) – оплатить вексель, чек;
г) honor – право первого удара;
д) to do the honors of the house – принимать (занимать) гостей, выполнять обязанности хозяина дома; to do the honors of the table – выполнять обязанности хозяина за столом, угощать гостей, провозглашать тосты.
5 Назовите ключевые концепты британской / американской русской и белорусской лингвокультур. Проведите сравнительный анализ данных концептов.
6 Скажите, какие зрительные образы вызывают у вас следующие выражения. Представьте в виде рисунка или подберите соответствующую картинку, передающие смысл этих выражений: далёкий хутор на Урале, павой поплыла, бабье лето, изба, самовар, квас, тройка, маршрутка, «автомат». Переведите их на английский язык.
Практические задания
1 Try to render the following words and phrases into Russian; explain the differences between these concepts in British / American and Russian / Belarusian cultures. Make up a story using these words and phrases.
to project into the future; to center on life experiences; to encourage smb to do smth; to make love; to date back to; mainstream culture; a helpful person, self-righteous man, fundraising, self-reliance, nuclear family, outspoken, achiever, materialistic, self-made, competitive, cooperative, etc.
2 Translate the following extracts in which the definition of the main Russian and American concepts is given; explain their differences. Give the definition of the words dusha, vranyo in English. What is the difference between the words vranyoand lie, toskaand yearning. Make up situations with these words.
a) “Dusha is the essence of Russian behaviour. The romantic ethos, dusha, appeals to feeling rather than fact, sentiment over certainty, suffering instead of satisfaction, and nostalgia for the past as opposed to the reality of the present. In a broader sense, dusha is also a reaffirmation of the purity of traditional Russian values against the encroachment of Western enlightenment, rationalism, and secularism in things cultural” (Richmond Y., p. 48)
“They make considerable reference to dusha, the soul, where we appeal to the heart or, more likely, the unconscious. ”(Lourie R., Mikhalev A., p. 38)
“Dusha symbolizes a model person, not just as a distinct physical body with a rational and mindful self within, but further contrasts this organismic entity with a kind of cosmological connectedness, with a transcendent moral (good or bad), deeply feeling, and distinctly inter-human realm” (Carbaugh D, p. 194).
b) “In the zone of feeling that exists apart from the state and history, the Russians have developed a cult of spontaneity and sincerity. Their emotional palette is broader than ours and favors the moodier hues. They experience considerable toska, an undefined longing, a sense that what you most need and want is elsewhere, if anywhere at all. ”(Lourie R., Mikhalev A., p. 38)
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c) “Privacy”, a concept with far reaching implications, is absolutely untranslatable into Russian. It would be unfair to ascribe the lack of this concept solely to living conditions in the Soviet era, though, needless to say, communal apartments where 10 families share a bathroom, dormitories and the thin-walled barracks where a few generations lived their lives, as well as the overcrowding in today’s urban dwellings, did and do little to foster the introduction of that concept into our daily experience. Tolstoi and Turgenev lived at a time when privacy must have existed in Russia, but their works contain now word or expression that adequately conveys the range of attitudes bound up with this notion. ” (Lourie R., Mikhalev A., p. 38).
d) Russians can fudge the facts, a national characteristic called vranyo. Dictionaries translate vranyo as “lies, fibs, nonsense, idle talk, twaddle”, but like many Russian terms, it is really untranslatable. Americans might call it “tall talk” or “white lies” but “fib” perhaps comes closest because vranyo, as Russian writer Leonid Andreyev noted, is somewhere between the truth and a lie. ”(Richmond, Y. p. 123).
3 Read the following text. Choose the most appropriate variant of the definition of the “concept”:
What are some other views or ideas of “concept”?
On Defining ‘Concept’
There are at least three prevailing ways to understand what a concept is:
– Concepts as mental representations, where concepts are entities that exist in the brain.
– Concepts as abilities where concepts are abilities peculiar to cognitive agents.
– Concepts as abstract objects, where objects are the constituents of propositions that mediate between thought, language, and referents.
In a physicalist theory of mind, a concept is a mental representation, which the brain uses to denote a class of things in the world. This is to say that it is literally, a symbol or group of symbols together made from the physical material of the brain. Concepts are mental representations that allows us to draw appropriate inferences about the type of entities we encounter in our everyday lives. Concepts do not encompass all mental representations, but are merely a subset of them. The use of concepts is necessary to cognitive processes such as categorization, memory, decision making, learning, and inference.
A concept is a common feature or characteristic. The logical acts of the understanding by which concepts are generated as to their form are:
1) comparison, i. e., the likening of mental images to one another in relation to the unity of consciousness;
2) reflection, i. e., the going back over different mental images, how they can be comprehended in one consciousness; and finally
3) abstraction or the segregation of everything else by which the mental images differ.
In order to make our mental images into concepts, one must thus be able to compare, reflect, and abstract, for these three logical operations of the understanding are essential and general conditions of generating any concept whatever. For example, I see a fir, a willow, and a linden. In firstly comparing these objects, I notice that they are different from one another in respect of trunk, branches, leaves, and the like; further, however, I reflect only on what they have in common, the trunk, the branches, the leaves themselves, and abstract from their size, and so forth; thus I gain a concept of a tree.
4 Answer the following questions. Give the reasons for your answer.
a) What definitions of ‘concept’ are offered?
b) What are the ways to make our mental images into concepts?
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c) What is meant by a concept as a mental representation?
d) What logical acts are concepts generated by?
5 Following are some false statements about the points of the reading selection “On Defining ‘Concept’”. Make true statements by changing the false ones.
a) Concepts are mental representations that allows us to demonstrate our abilities in our everyday lives.
b) The logical acts of the understanding by which concepts are generated are thought, language, and referents.
c) The use of concepts is necessary to cognitive processes such as abilities and the segregation of everything.
d) In order to make our mental images into concepts, one must thus be able to divide all objects into groups.
6 Read the following text, then answer the questions:
a) How is the concept dusha interpreted by Americans and Russians?
b) What argument about the concept dusha continues in a modern industrial society? What approach is it based on?
c) What are the main aspects of the Russian soul?
d) What are the differences between the Russian concept dusha and the British /American concept soul?
Russian dusha is often derided in the West as a fantasy of artists, composers, and writers. If dusha ever really existed, this argument goes, it was the product of a traditional agricultural society which had very little in material goods to offer. In a modern industrial society, the argument continues, dusha is quickly forgotten and Russians become as realistic, practical, materialistic and unromantic as Westerners.
The truth lies somewhere in between. Russians do have a rich spirituality that does indeed contrast with Western rationalism, materialism, and pragmatism. Russians suffer but seem to enjoy their suffering. Obsessed with ideas, their conversation is weighty and lengthy. The rational and pragmatic approach does not always work for them. More often, it is personal relations, feelings, and traditional values that determine a course of action.
In the early years of the twenty-first century, the Russian soul is still spirited. Old virtues endure – respect for parents, deference to old age, regard for learning. Belief in village virtues is still strong – self-sacrifice, sense of duty, compassion, importance of family, love of nature. These aspects of the Russian soul are again the themes of “village writers”, as they are known, who glorify peasant life and encourage a renaissance of traditional Russian values. Grateful audience present flowers to musical and theatrical performers. Before vacating a home where they have lived for some time, Russians will sit quietly for a minute or two, reflecting on the events they have experienced there. Even in the postindustrial age, Russians demonstrate that emotions and personal feelings still matter.
(Richmond Y. From Nyet to Da, p. 48-51)
7 Read the following extract about the Russian concept ”nyekulturno” and discuss with your fellow students what is meant by it.
Everyday Russian life is full of other dos and don’ts, reflecting the state’s efforts to impose patterns of behavior on a newly urbanized citizenry only recently removed from their tradition-bound villages. There is a right way and a wrong way to do almost everything, and Russians will not hesitate to tell you when you are doing something wrong. The wrong way is termed”nyekulturno” (uncultured, bad manners, or vulgar), and a foreign visitor’s behavior will be judged by the same standards.
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Wearing coats in public buildings is nyekulturno, although Russians see nothing wrong in strolling through hotel corridors clad only in pajamas or bathrobes, as if hotel were a large communal apartment. Also nyekulturno are standing with hands in pants pockets, sprawling in chairs, placing feet on tables, crossing legs while seated so as to show the sole of shoe, sitting with legs spread wide, crossing arms behind the head, draping an arm over the back of a chair, or merely lounging. People are expected to behave in public with a degree of decorum. These are not exclusively Russian attitudes; disdain for such demeanor may be found in other European countries as well.
Many other liberties are also nyekulturno. Students do not eat, drink, or chew gum during class. Eating lunch on park lawns in the city is unacceptable. In the evening, theater patrons are expected to dress appropriately for opera, theater, and the symphony.
When you are going into theater aisle to reach your seat, turn to face the seated people you will be passing, rather than showing them your backside. Loud talk in public and being “pushy” are taboo; the quiet “sell” and modesty will get you further. Telling Russians that you have to go to the rest room is also nyekulturno. Simply excuse yourself; they’ll know where you are going. Whistling in a concert hall after a performance is not showing approval; rather, it is a sign of disapproval in Russia (and everywhere in Europe).
(Richmond Y. From Nyet to Da, p. 132-133)
Рекомендуемая литература
1 Попова, З. Д. Язык и национальная картина мира / З. Д. Попова, И. А. Стернин. – Воронеж, 2003. – С. 10-19.
2 Лихачев, Д. С. Концептосфера русского языка / Д. С. Лихачев // Русская словесность: Антология. – М.: Изд. центр «Академия», 1997. – С. 280-287.
3 Карасик, В. И. Языковой круг: личность, концепты, дискурс / В. И Карасик. – Волгоград: Перемена, 2002. – 477 с.
4 Вежбицкая, А. Язык. Культура. Познание / А. Вежбицкая. – М., 1996. - С. 325-340.
5 Степанов, Ю. С. Константы. Словарь русской культуры / Ю. С. Степанов. – М., 1997. - 834 с.
6 Carbaugh, D. “Soul” and “Self”: Soviet and American Cultures in Conversation / D. Carbaugh // Quarterly Journal of Speech, 1993, 79. – P. 182-200.
7 Леонтович, О. А. Россия и США. Введение в межкультурную коммуникацию / О. А. Леонтович. – Волгоград: «Перемена». – 2003. – C. 115-128, 213-214, 242-244.
8 Lourie, R. Why You’ll Never Have Fun in Russian / R. Lourie, A. Mikhalev // New York Times Book Review, 18 June 1989. – P. 1, 38.
9 Гришаева, Л. И. Введение в теорию межкультурной коммуникации: учебное пособие / Л. И. Гришаева, Л. В. Цурикова. – М.: «Академия», 2006. – C. 80-83, 100.
10 Костомаров, В. А. В. В. Виноградов о русском языке как явлении мировой культуры / В. А. Костомаров // Изв. РАН. – Сер. лит. и яз. – 1995. – № 3. – С. 49-54.
11 Richmond, Y. From Nyet to Da: Understanding the Russians. – Yarmouth, Maine: Intercultural Press, 1996. – P. 48-51, 132-133, 127-132.
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