Language is a sign system because. Language as a sign system

The Russian language, like any other language, is a system. System - (from the Greek systema - whole, made up of parts; connection) the union of elements that are in relationships and connections, forming integrity, unity. Therefore, each system:
consists of many elements;
elements are in communication with each other;
the elements form a unity, one whole.
Characterizing language as a system, it is necessary to determine
what elements it consists of, how they are related to each other, what relations are established between them, in what their unity is manifested.
The language consists of units:
sound;
morpheme (prefix, root, suffix, ending);
word;
phraseological unit (stable phrase);
free phrase;
sentence (simple, complex);
text
Language units are related to each other. Homogeneous units (for example, sounds, morphemes, words) are combined and form levels of language. Language units Levels Sections Sounds, phonemes Phonetic Phonetics Morphemes Morphemic Morphemics Words Lexical Leks with icology Forms and classes of words Morphological Morphology Sentence Syngaxic Syntax Language is a sign system. Already in ancient times, researchers considered units of a particular system as signs that carry information. Everything that surrounds us has a sign: nature, man, animal, machine.
There are two types of signs: natural (signs-signs - ki) and artificial (signs-informants).
For example, yellow leaves appeared on the tree. This is a natural sign. He is a part of an object, is one with it, is its attribute. What does this sign inform about? Yellow leaves on the trees indicate the onset of autumn. But if it happens in July? This means that there is a drought in this area, there has been no rain for a long time. It also happens: on one street of the city, chestnuts delight the eye with green foliage, and on the other, all their leaves are withered, and some even lie on the ground. This is a sign that there is heavy traffic on one of the streets and the air is poisoned by exhaust gases. Another option is possible: all the trees in the garden are green, and one has yellow leaves. What is this sign? The tree is sick, it needs to be treated.
Each of those reading this manual, of course, will explain what information natural signs carry: the sheets in the book have acquired a yellowish tint and become brittle; swallows fly low above the ground; the sound has disappeared from the TV; the fruit is too soft; the computer does not execute the command, "hangs".
Natural signs are inseparable from objects, phenomena, they are part of them. Artificial signs, in contrast to natural
ny, conditional. They are created for the formation, storage and transmission of information, for the presentation and replacement of objects and phenomena, concepts and judgments. Symbols serve as a means of communication and transfer of information, therefore they are also called communicative or informative.
Informative signs are a combination of a certain meaning and a certain way of expressing it. The meaning is the meaningful, and the way of expression is the meaningful. For example, a siren howl sounds (meaning - sound signal, meaning - danger); there is a black ribbon on the flag (meaning - color, meaning - mourning).
Language signs are the most difficult. They can consist of one unit (word, phraseological unit) or their combination (sentence). A linguistic sign indicates some object, quality, action, event, state of affairs, when they begin to speak or write about it, a linguistic sign, like any other sign, has a form (signifying) and content (signified). An independent linguistic sign is a word. The morpheme does not function independently in the language. It manifests itself only in the word, therefore it is considered a minimal, non-independent linguistic sign. Sentence, utterance, text - compound signs of varying degrees of complexity.
Language is polyfunctional in nature.
It serves as a means of communication, allows the speaker (individual) to express "their thoughts, and to another individual to perceive them and, in turn, somehow react (take note, agree, object). this case language performs a communicative function.
Language also serves as a means of consciousness, contributes to the activity of consciousness and reflects its results. Thus, language participates in the formation of the thinking of the individual (individual consciousness) and the thinking of society (public consciousness). it cognitive function.
Language also helps to store and transmit information, which is important both for the individual and for the whole society. In written monuments (chronicles, documents, memoirs, newspapers, fiction), in oral folk art the life of the people, the nation, the history of the speakers of the given language is recorded. The function is accumulative.
Apart from these three main functions
communicative;
cognitive (cognitive);
accumulative
language performs
emotional function (expresses feelings and emotions);
function of influence (voluntary).
Here, for example, how, figuratively characterizing language, Aesop, the hero of the drama of the Brazilian theater critic, writer Guillermo Figueiredo "Fox and Grapes", emphasizes its multifunctionality:
Language is what unites us when we speak. Without language, we could not communicate our thoughts. Language is the key to science, an instrument of truth and reason. Language helps build cities. Love is expressed in language. Language is taught, persuaded, instructed. They pray with the tongue, explain, sing. In language they describe, praise, prove, assert. In our tongue we pronounce "beloved" and the sacred word "mother". This is the language we say "yes". It is with the tongue that the troops are ordered to win.
The first sentence points to the communicative function of the language, the second and the third to the cognitive one; the fifth - to the emotive (emotional), the sixth - to the voluntary.
Everything that has been said about the language can be represented as follows:
signed j consists of units, levels
system
natural
original KOM M u N I K ELTIIBI [EYa
cognitive
Language
communication of the team (society)
thinking of the individual and society a means of thinking
preservation and transmission of kult ur no -ist about richo S KIIX traditions of the people (ethnos)
It is no coincidence that the language in all developed countries has been and remains the object of constant attention from the public and the state. What social and political significance was attached to it is evidenced by the facts:
- the first academies (in France, Spain) were created with the aim of studying and improving the language;
the first titles of academicians were awarded to linguists (16th century);
the first schools were created to teach the literary language, and in this sense, history literary language can be seen as a history of enlightenment, education and culture;
The Russian Academy (St. Petersburg, 1783) was also founded to study the Russian language and literature. Her major contribution to lexicography was the creation of a 6-volume Dictionary of the Russian Academy (1789-1794), containing 43 thousand words.

Comparison of languages

All languages of the world have a single (sign) structure, although outwardly they can be very different. There are several ways to classify languages:

areal, according to cultural and historical areas (place of distribution);
typological; for example, by the way of expression grammatical meaning languages are divided into analytical, isolating, synthetic and polysynthetic;
genetic, by origin and degree of kinship. Languages are grouped into groups; those, in turn, into families. For some families, it has been proposed to combine them into taxa of a higher level - macrofamilies. Language systematics deals with the classification of languages on the basis of genetic traits.

Language dynamics in the world

The 40 most common languages are spoken by about 2/3 of the world's population. Most people speak Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, English, Russian, Portuguese and Arabic. French is also widely spoken, but the number of those who consider it their native (first) is relatively small.

For a language to be preserved, about 100,000 native speakers are required. Currently, there are just over 400 languages that are considered endangered.

Languages die along with the last carrier, and therefore the danger threatens, first of all, peoples who do not use writing.

One of the reasons for the death of languages is their uneven distribution among residents. So, 80% of the world's population knows only 80 languages. At the same time, 3.5 thousand languages account for 0.2% of the world's inhabitants. The main reason for the disappearance of languages is considered to be globalization and migration. People leave villages for cities and lose the language of their people.

About half of the currently existing languages will be out of use by the middle of the 21st century. Many languages are disappearing due to the fact that their speakers come into contact with a stronger linguistic environment, therefore languages of small nationalities and languages of peoples without statehood are under the threat of extinction in the first place. If less than 70% of children learn a language, it is considered endangered. According to UNESCO's Atlas of Endangered World Languages, approximately 50 languages are currently threatened with extinction in Europe.

Language functions

communicative (or communication function) - the main function of the language, the use of language for the transfer of information;
cognitive (or cognitive function) - the formation of thinking of the individual and society;
informative (or accumulative function) - transfer of information and its storage;
emotive (or emotional function) - expression of feelings, emotions;
voluntary (or invoking function) - function of influence;
metalanguage - explanations by means of the language of the language itself;
phatic (or contact-setting);
ideological function - the use of a particular language or type of writing to express ideological preferences. For example, the Irish language is used mainly not for communication, but as a symbol of the Irish statehood. The use of traditional writing systems is often perceived as cultural continuity, and the transition to the Latin alphabet as modernization.
omadative (or shaping reality) - creation of realities and their control;
metalinguistic
nominative, denotative, representative
conative
poetic
axiological

 Communicative function:

Language as a means of communication between people. This is the main function of the language.

 Thought-shaping function:

Language is used as a means of thinking in the form of words.

 Cognitive (cognitive, cumulative) function:

Language as a means of knowing the world, accumulating and transmitting knowledge to other people and subsequent generations (in the form of oral legends, written sources, audio recordings).

 Nominative function:

Language, as a means of orienting a person in space and time, participates in the knowledge of the world.

 Regulatory function:

The function of controlling the behavior of other people with the help of language.

Language is a multifunctional phenomenon; all functions of language are manifested in communication.

Characteristics of the language

Evolution of language

Note

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Language is an intermediary between man and other semiotic systems. This means that with the help of the language, these systems are taught, the creation and cancellation of individual signs, as well as the implementation of the introduction of any system and the termination of its operation.

The language system is used by all native speakers of a given language, and any carrier can be the creator and recipient of signs. Whereas in other semiotic systems this is not the case. Language as a universal system of signs, as an intermediary possesses the following qualities:

Language has the ability to describe itself, i.e. there is no other semiotic system that describes it.
The language is available for everyone to master, so its material should be simply organized and always ready to use.
The content of linguistic signs is usually such that it can be uniformly and uniformly understood by native speakers.

Every author of a language sign must create the mark in such a way that its audience can determine as precisely as possible how the mark was created. The number of signs of the language, due to its mediating role of universality, should not be limited.

With regard to language, the term sign can be defined by the following points:

The sign must be material, that is, it must be accessible to sensory perception, like any thing.
The sign does not matter, but is aimed at meaning, for this it exists.
The content of a sign does not coincide with its material characteristics, while the content of a thing is limited to its material characteristics.
The content of the mark is determined by its distinctive features, analytically distinguished and separated from the nondiscriminatory ones.

American philosopher and logician Charles Pearce (1839-1914), the founder of pragmatism as a philosophical movement and semiotics as a science, defined the sign as something, knowing which, we learn something more. Every thought is a sign and every sign is a thought.

Semiotics(from gr. σημειον - sign, sign) - the science of signs. The most significant division of signs is the division into iconic signs, indexes and symbols.

Iconic sign (icon from gr. εικων image) is a relation of similarity or similarity between a sign and its object. The iconic sign is built on the association of similarities. These are metaphors, images (paintings, photographs, sculptures) and diagrams (drawings, diagrams).
Index(from lat. index- informer, index finger, heading) is a sign that refers to the designated object due to the fact that the object actually affects it. At the same time, there is no significant similarity with the subject. The index is built on the adjacency association. Examples: bullet hole in glass, letter symbols in algebra.
Symbol(from gr. Συμβολον - conventional sign, signal) is the only genuine sign, since it does not depend on similarity or connection. Its connection with the object is conditional, since it exists due to the agreement. Most of the words in the language are symbols.

German logician Gottlob Frege(1848-1925), offered his understanding of the relationship of a sign to an object designated by it. He introduced the distinction between denotation ( Bedeutung) expression and its meaning ( Sinn). Denotat (referent) Is the very object or phenomenon to which the sign belongs.

Venus is the morning star.

In both expressions, the same denotation is the planet Venus, but a different meaning, since Venus is represented in the language in different ways.

Ferdinand de Saussure (1957-1913), the great Swiss linguist who had a huge influence on linguistics of the 20th century, proposed his sign theory of language. Below are the main provisions of this teaching.

Language Is a system of signs that express concepts.

The language can be compared to other sign systems, such as the alphabet for the deaf, military signals, forms of courtesy, symbolic rites, male plumage, smells, etc. Language is only the most important of these systems.

Semiology- a science that studies the systems of signs in the life of society.

Linguistics Is part of this general science.

Semiotics- a synonymous term for Saussure's word semiology, more commonly used in modern linguistics.

American semiotic Charles Morris(1901-1979), a follower of Charles Pierce, distinguished three sections of semiotics:

Semantics(from gr. σημα - sign) - the relationship between the sign and the object designated by it.
Syntactics(from gr. συνταξις - system, connection) - the relationship between the signs.
Pragmatics(from gr. πραγμα - deed, action) - the relationship between signs and those who use these signs (subjects and addressees of speech).

Language sign

According to F. de Saussure, a linguistic sign is not a connection between a thing and its name, but a combination of a concept and an acoustic image.

Concept- this is a generalized, schematic image of an object in our minds, the most important and characteristic features of this object, as it were, the definition of the object. For example, a chair is a seat with a support (legs or leg) and a backrest.

Acoustic image Is the sound ideal equivalent of sound in our minds. When we say a word to ourselves without moving our lips or tongue, we reproduce an acoustic image of a real sound.

Both of these sides of the sign have a psychic essence, i.e. ideal and exist only in our minds.

The acoustic image in relation to the concept is to some extent material, since it is associated with real sound.

The argument in favor of the ideality of the sign is that we can talk to ourselves without moving our lips or tongue, and utter sounds to ourselves.

Thus, the sign is a two-sided psychic entity, consisting of the signified and the signifier.

Concept- signified (fr. signifié)

Acoustic image- meaning (fr. signifiant).

Sign theory assumes 4 components of the sign process.

The following example involves the following components:

The very real, material, real tree that we want to designate with a sign;
Ideal (mental) concept as part of the sign (designated);
An ideal (mental) acoustic image as part of a sign (denoting);
The material embodiment of the ideal sign: the sounds of the spoken word wood, letters denoting the word wood.

Trees can be different, there are no two absolutely identical birches, we say the word wood we, too, are all in different ways (in different tones, with different timbre, loudly, in a whisper, etc.), we also write differently (with a pen, pencil, chalk, different handwriting, on a typewriter, computer), but a two-sided sign in our minds everyone is the same, since he is perfect.

English linguists Charles Ogden (1889-1957), Ivor Richards(1893-1979) in 1923 in the book The Meaning of Meaning ( The Meaning of Meaning) clearly presented the sign relation in the form of a semantic triangle (triangle of reference):

Sign (Symbol), i.e. a word in natural language;
Referent (Referent), i.e. the subject to which the sign belongs;
Attitude, or reference ( Reference), i.e. thought as a mediator between a symbol and a referent, between a word and an object.

The base of the triangle is shown with a broken line. This means that the connection between a word and an object is not necessary, conditional, and it is impossible without a connection with thought and concept.

However, the sign relation can also be expressed in the form of a square, if we take into account that the second member of the triangle - a thought - can consist of a concept and a connotation. The concept is common to all speakers of a given language, and connotation, or connotation (lat. connotatio- "consciousness") - associative meaning, individual for each person.

For example, a bricklayer may associate a brick with his work, while an injured passer-by may associate it with an injury.

Specificity of language as a sign system

The most complex and developed sign system is formed by language. It possesses not only exceptional complexity of structure and a huge inventory of signs (especially naming), but also unlimited semantic power, that is, the ability to transmit information regarding any area of observable or imaginary facts. Linguistic signs provide the process of encoding - decoding mental (mental) elements and structures. Almost any information conveyed by means of non-linguistic signs can be conveyed using linguistic signs, while the opposite is often impossible.
For structural linguistics, which allows the possibility of describing a language as an immanent, self-contained system, the following properties of a linguistic sign are of fundamental importance:

its differential nature, which makes each linguistic sign a sufficiently autonomous entity and does not allow it, in principle, to mix with other signs of the same language; the same provision applies to non-sign elements of the language (forming a plan for the expression of phoneme signs, syllabems, prosodems; forming a plan for the content of meaning signs / semanthemes);

arising from paradigmatic oppositions between signs, the possibility that the sign does not have a material signifier (i.e., the existence within a certain paradigm of a linguistic sign with a zero exponent);

the two-sided nature of the linguistic sign (in accordance with the teachings of F. de Saussure), which prompts us to speak of the presence of one or another linguistic meaning only if there is a regular way of expressing it (i.e., a stable, stereotypical, regularly reproduced exponent in speech), and also about the presence of a stereotyped signified by this or that exponent;

the random, conditional nature of the connection between the signified and the signifier;

extreme stability in time and at the same time the possibility of changing either the signifier or the signified.

It is by relying on the last of the indicated properties that one can explain why different languages use different signs to designate the same elements of experience and why the signs of related languages that go back to the same source language can differ from each other either by their signifiers or by their signifiers.

It is possible to divide linguistic signs into classes of complete signs, i.e. communicatively completed,
self-sufficient (texts, statements), and partial signs, i.e. communicatively not self-sufficient (words, morphemes). Linguistics traditionally focused on the signs of names (words). The newest semiotics focuses its attention on the statement as a complete sign, with which not a separate element of experience is correlated, but a certain holistic situation, a state of affairs.

The closest sign system to language is writing, which, interacting with the primordially primary sound language, can serve as the basis for the formation of a written language as the second hypostasis of a given ethnic language. For a linguist, human speech is of primary interest.

Human language as a sound sign system arises during the formation of society and from its needs. Its appearance and development is conditioned by social factors, but at the same time it is also biologically conditioned, i.e. its origin presupposes a certain stage of development of anatomical, neurophysiological and psychological mechanisms that elevate a person above animals and qualitatively distinguish human sign communication from the signal behavior of animals.

LANGUAGE AS A SIGNATURE SYSTEM 1. The sign character of language

The language that a person uses in everyday communication is not only a historically established form of culture that unites human society, but also a complex sign system. Understanding the sign properties of the language is necessary in order to better understand the structure of the language and the rules of its use.

The words of the human language are signs of objects and concepts. Words are the most numerous and main signs in the language. Other units of the language are also signs.

A sign is a substitute for an object for the purpose of communication, a sign allows the speaker to evoke an image of an object or concept in the mind of the interlocutor.

The sign has the following properties:

the sign must be material, perceptible;

the sign is directed towards the meaning;

a sign is always a member of the system, and its content largely depends on the place of the given sign in the system.

The above properties of the sign determine a number of requirements of the culture of speech.

Firstly, the speaker (writer) must take care that the signs of his speech (sounding words or writing signs) are convenient for perception: they are clearly audible, visible.

Secondly, it is necessary that speech signs express some content, convey meaning, and in such a way that the form of speech helps to understand the content of speech more easily.

Thirdly, it must be borne in mind that the interlocutor may be less aware of the subject of the conversation, which means that it is necessary to provide him with the missing information, which, only in the speaker's opinion, are already contained in the spoken words.

Fourthly, it is important to ensure that the sounds of spoken speech and letters of the letter are sufficiently distinct from each other.

Fifth, it is important to remember the systemic connections of a word with other words, to take into account polysemy, to use synonymy, to keep in mind the associative connections of words.

Thus, knowledge from the field of semiotics (the science of signs) contributes to an increase in speech culture.

A language sign can be a code sign and a text sign.

The signs of the code exist in the form of a system of units opposed in the language, connected by a relation of significance, which determines the content of signs specific to each language.

The signs of the text exist in the form of a formally and in the sense of a related sequence of units. The culture of speech involves the speaker's attentive attitude to the coherence of the spoken or written text.

Meaning is the content of a linguistic sign, which is formed as a result of the display of extra-linguistic reality in the minds of people. The meaning of a linguistic unit in the language system is virtual, i.e. is determined by what a given unit can mean. In a specific utterance, the meaning of a linguistic unit becomes relevant, since the unit correlates with a specific object, with what it really means in the utterance. From the point of view of the culture of speech, it is important for the speaker to clearly direct the attention of the interlocutor to the actualization of the meaning of the utterance, to help him in correlating the utterance with the situation, and for the listener it is important to show maximum attention to the communicative intentions of the speaker.

Distinguish between subject and conceptual meaning.

Substantive meaning consists in the correlation of a word with an object, in the designation of an object.

Conceptual meaning is used to express a concept that reflects an object, to set a class of objects designated by a sign.

2. Natural and artificial languages

The signs that make up languages as a means of communication in society are called communication signs. Communication signs are divided into signs of natural languages and signs of artificial sign systems (artificial languages).

Natural language signs consist of both sound signs and their corresponding writing signs (handwritten, typographic, typewritten, printer, screen).

In natural languages of communication - national languages- there are rules of grammar in a more or less explicit form, and rules of meaning and use - in an implicit form. For the written form of speech, there are also spelling and punctuation rules enshrined in the vaults and reference books.

In artificial languages, both the rules of grammar and the rules of meaning and use are set explicitly in the corresponding descriptions of these languages.

Artificial languages have arisen in connection with the development of science and technology, they are used in professional activity specialists. Artificial languages include systems of mathematical and chemical symbols. They serve as a means of not only communication, but also the derivation of new knowledge.

Among artificial sign systems, one can single out code systems designed to encode ordinary speech. These include Morse code, marine flag signaling of alphabet letters, various ciphers.

A special group is made up of artificial languages designed to control the operation of computer systems - programming languages. They have a strict system structure and formalized rules for correlating code signs and meaning, providing for the computer system to perform exactly those operations that are required.

The signs of artificial languages can compose texts themselves or be included in the composition of written texts in natural language. Many artificial languages are in international use and are included in texts in various natural national languages. Of course, it is appropriate to include signs of artificial languages only in texts addressed to specialists familiar with these languages.

Natural sound language people is the most complete and perfect of all communication systems. Other sign systems created by man embody only some of the properties of natural language. These systems can significantly strengthen the language and surpass it in one or several respects, but at the same time yield to it in others (Yu. S. Stepanov. Language and method. - M .: 1998. S. 52).

So, for example, the system of mathematical symbols surpasses the natural language in the brevity of information recording, the minimum of code signs. Programming languages are characterized by clear rules and unambiguous correspondence of meaning and form.

In turn, natural language is significantly more flexible, open and dynamic.

Natural language is applicable to describe any situations, including those that have not yet been described using this language.

Natural language allows the speaker to generate new and at the same time understandable for the interlocutor signs, as well as to use existing signs in new meanings, which is impossible in artificial languages.

Natural language is known within the entire national society, and not only in a narrow circle of specialists.

Natural language quickly adapts to the diverse needs of interpersonal interaction of people and therefore is the main and generally irreplaceable means of human communication.

3. The main functions of the language

"Being the most important means of communication, language unites people, regulates their interpersonal and social interaction, coordinates their practical activities, participates in the formation of worldview systems and national images of the world, ensures the accumulation and storage of information, including information related to the history and historical experience of the people and personal experience of the individual, dismembers, classifies and consolidates concepts, forms the consciousness and self-consciousness of a person, serves as a material and form artistic creation"(ND Arutyunova. Language functions. // Russian language. Encyclopedia. - M .: 1997. S. 609).

The main functions of the language are:

Communicative (communication function);

Thought-forming (function of embodiment and expression of thought);

Expressive (a function of expressing the internal state of the speaker);

Aesthetic (the function of creating beauty by means of language).

The communicative function is the ability of the language to serve as a means of communication between people. The language has the units necessary for constructing messages, the rules for their organization, and ensures the emergence of similar images in the minds of the participants in communication.

The language also has special means of establishing and maintaining contact between participants in communication.

From the point of view of the culture of speech, the communicative function presupposes the installation of participants in speech communication on the fruitfulness and mutual usefulness of communication, as well as a general focus on the adequacy of understanding of speech.

Achieving the functional efficiency of communication is impossible without knowledge and adherence to the norms of the literary language.

The thought-forming function lies in the fact that language serves as a means of forming and expressing thoughts. The structure of language is organically linked to the categories of thinking.

"A word that alone is capable of making a concept an independent unit in the world of thoughts adds to it much of itself" - wrote the founder of linguistics W. von Humboldt (W. Humboldt. Selected Works in linguistics. M .: 1984.S. 318).

This means that the word singles out and formalizes the concept, and at the same time a relationship is established between the units of thinking and the sign units of the language. That is why W. Humboldt believed that "language should accompany thought. Thought should, keeping up with language, follow from one of its elements to another and find in the language a designation for everything that makes it coherent" (ibid., P. 345) ... According to Humboldt, "in order to correspond to thinking, language, as far as possible, its structure must correspond to the internal organization of thinking" (ibid.).

The speech of an educated person is distinguished by the clarity of expressing his own thoughts, the accuracy of retelling other people's thoughts, consistency and informational content.

The expressive function allows the language to serve as a means of expressing the internal state of the speaker, not only to communicate some information, but also to express the speaker's attitude to the content of the message, to the interlocutor, to the communication situation. Language expresses not only thoughts, but also human emotions.

The expressive function presupposes the emotional brightness of speech within the framework of social etiquette.

Artificial languages have no expressive function.

The aesthetic function consists in setting that the message in its form in unity with the content satisfies the aesthetic sense of the addressee. The aesthetic function is primarily characteristic of poetic speech(folklore, fiction), but not only for her - both journalistic and scientific speech, and ordinary colloquial speech can be aesthetically perfect.

The aesthetic function presupposes the richness and expressiveness of speech, its correspondence to the aesthetic tastes of the educated part of society.

4. Russian as a world language

At the beginning of the 21st century, over 250 million people in the world speak Russian to one degree or another. The bulk of Russian speakers live in Russia (143.7 million according to the 1989 All-Union Population Census) and in other states (88.8 million) that were part of the USSR.

Representatives speak Russian different nations the world, communicating not only with Russians, but also among themselves.

Just like English and some other languages, Russian is widely used outside of Russia. It is used in various spheres of international communication: at the negotiations of the CIS member states, at the forums of international organizations, including the UN, in world communication systems (on television, on the Internet), in the international aviation and space communications... The Russian language is the language of international scientific communication, it is used in many international scientific conferences on humanitarian and natural sciences.

The Russian language ranks fifth in the world in terms of the absolute number of those who speak it (after Chinese, Hindi and Urdu together, English and Spanish), but this is not the main feature in defining the world language. For the "world language", it is not the number of those who speak it, especially as a native language, that is essential, but the globality of the settlement of native speakers, their coverage of different, maximum in terms of the number of countries, as well as the most influential social strata of the population in different countries. Great importance has the universal significance of fiction, the entire culture created in this language (Kostomarov V.G. Russian language in international communication. // Russian language. Encyclopedia. M .: 1997. S. 445).

Russian is studied as a foreign language in many countries of the world. Russian language and literature are studied at leading universities in the USA, Germany, France, China and other countries.

The Russian language, like other "world languages", is highly informative; wide possibilities of expression and transmission of thoughts. The informational value of a language depends on the quality and quantity of information presented in the given language in the original and translated publications.

The traditional sphere of use of the Russian language outside the Russian Federation was the republics of Soviet Union; it was studied in the countries of Eastern Europe (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, the German Democratic Republic), as well as by students from different countries of the world who studied in the USSR.

After the start of reforms in Russia, the country became more open to international contacts. Russian citizens began to visit abroad more often, and foreigners to visit Russia more often. The Russian language began to attract more attention in some foreign countries... It is studied in Europe and the USA, India and China.

Interest in the Russian language abroad largely depends on both political factors (stability of the social situation in Russia, development of democratic institutions, readiness for dialogue with foreign partners) and cultural factors (interest in Russia in foreign languages and cultures, improvement of forms and methods teaching the Russian language).

In the context of the expansion of international communication in Russian, the quality of speech of people for whom Russian is their native language becomes an essential factor in its further development, since speech errors of native speakers of the language are perceived by people who study Russian as a language of interethnic communication or as a foreign language, as correct speech patterns, as the norm of Russian speech.

The integration processes taking place in the modern world contribute to the enhancement of the role of "world languages" and the deepening of interaction between them. An international fund of scientific, technical and cultural vocabulary, common to many languages, is growing. Computer terms and vocabulary related to sports, tourism, goods and services are gaining worldwide distribution.

In the process of interaction of languages, the Russian language is replenished with international vocabulary, and itself is a source of lexical borrowings for the languages of neighboring countries.

Russian language and electronic written speech in computer technologies

The globalization of the processes of communicative cooperation in the modern world as a result of the proliferation of computer networks leads to an increase in the number of people using "world" languages in communication. This leads, on the one hand, to the universalization and standardization of communication means, language skills, and on the other hand, to the rapid spread of individual and regional characteristics of speech as a result of the lack of editorial and proofreading in the electronic communication environment. The contradictory nature of these tendencies, caused by the new conditions of communication, leads to the emergence of new factors affecting the development of the language, contributes to both its enrichment and a decrease in speech culture. In these new conditions, it becomes especially important to take care of the correctness of the electronic written speech, adherence to the traditions of written communication, attention to the functional and stylistic differentiation of speech genres.

The new conditions of communication increase the responsibility of each person for the fate of the native language and other languages that he uses in communication, the correctness of their use, and the technical capabilities of computer technologies help modern man check the spelling and accuracy of the use of words, edit and beautifully design the text. However, no technology will help to fill the text with the necessary content, to make a person's speech spiritualized, beautiful not only in form, but also in essence.

Freedom of speech is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for a word to improve people's lives. Therefore, in the new conditions of oral (public, television, interactive) and written (electronic) communication, the role of the culture of speech should increase and, above all, due to the deep inner awareness of the participants in the information exchange of their personal role and responsibility for how it will develop native language and other languages used by a person.

5. Russian language as a state language

In accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation (1993), the Russian language is the state language RF throughout its territory. At the same time, Russian is the state or official language of a number of republics that are part of the Russian Federation, along with the language of the indigenous population of these republics.

Knowledge of the state language is mandatory for officials government agencies, it is on it that all the official documentation is compiled.

As the state Russian language, it actively functions in all spheres of public life of national importance. Central and local institutions work in Russian federal level, communication is carried out between the subjects of the federation. The Russian language is used in the army, in the central and local press, on television, in education and science, in culture and sports.

Russian is the second state language in Belarus, official language In Kazakhstan.

The relationship of the Russian language with the history and culture of the people

Language is not only a system of signs, but also a historically developed form of the culture of a people. According to W. Humboldt, "language is not a dead clockwork, but a living creation emanating from itself" (W. Humboldt. Selected works on linguistics. M.: 1984. S. 275). Natural language does not arise as a result of a mathematical calculation of a group of "linguists", but as a result of centuries-old efforts of people belonging to one national community to make their speech generally understandable within the framework of a national community.

The Russian language has evolved over many centuries. His vocabulary and grammatical structure did not form immediately. The dictionary gradually included new lexical units, the emergence of which was dictated by the new needs of social development. The grammatical structure gradually adapted to a more accurate and subtle transmission of thought following the development of national social and scientific thinking. So the needs cultural development became the engine of the development of the language, and the language reflected and preserved the history of the cultural life of the nation, including those stages that have already passed into the past.

Thanks to this, the language is for the people a unique means of preserving national identity, the largest source and cultural value.

As W. Humboldt wrote, "language, no matter what form it takes, is always the spiritual embodiment of the individual life of a nation" (W. Humboldt. Selected works on linguistics. Moscow: 1984. S. 72) and moreover, "language is breath , the very soul of the nation "(ibid., p. 303). Thus, the culture of speech is an important part of the national culture in general.

Bibliography

For the preparation of this work were used materials from the site http://websites.pfu.edu.ru/IDO/ffec/

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Language for philosophers of the XX century. turns out to be a reality that hides the secrets of being, as for the philosophers of the 17th-19th centuries. - thinking.

The term "language", depending on the context of its use, entered into the following meanings:

1. Language is a sign system, which is a universal means of establishing relationships between a person and environment in the process of her life. A person learns the language, and then uses it in various activities for a specific purpose.

2. Language is a system of special signs and symbols, which is interpreted in a certain pragmatic context of its use.

3. Speech - calculus, that is, the construction of a formal model by means of language. It received the name of a formalized, logistic language (see 4).

The functions of language are cognitive, informational (transfer of information, knowledge from person to person, from generation to generation), communicative (communication in a communicative act), representative (a person's representation of his own experiences, moods, feelings, thoughts, etc.), heuristic (with with the help of one language, new languages are created, new sign-symbolic systems, new systems of knowledge), etc.

The modern language is divided into natural (spoken, national) and artificial (formalized).

Natural (national, spoken) language is a sign system that arose historically and reflects, objectified, representing the sphere of sensations, desires, moods, intentions of people, as well as their images and thoughts. The functions of a natural language are communicative, cognitive, informational, representative, etc. The languages that perform these functions include verbal (Latin ver-halts) and non-verbal (sign language, etc.).

Artificial (formalized) language is a logically constructed language, a special system of signs, based on the purpose of coding certain information, mathematical and logical operations on artificially created symbols, etc. The peculiarities of artificial languages are the accuracy of their construction according to clearly defined rules; unambiguity of their understanding. Artificial languages include coding systems, traffic signs, scientific speech (the language of mathematics, mathematical logic, etc.), a programming language, etc.

depending on the sphere of cognitive and practical activities people distinguish between the following types of languages: common (everyday); language of the media; business; scientific; philosophical; legal, etc.

Language is the object of study of philosophy and such sciences as linguistics (linguistics), semiotics, logic, psycholinguistics, the theory of artificial intelligence, each of which develops its own concept of language.

Philosophy and specific sciences study language in a structural sense: "objective reality - thinking - language"; the relationship of thinking and language. In the XX century. speech as an object of research acquired an independent meaning and began to be studied in its immanent existence and functioning as a special system of signs. According to a new line of research, language began to be considered: as a manifestation of thoughts; as an image of knowledge; as a syntactic system, where there is a relationship between graphic characters, etc.

Semiotic concept of language

Semiotics (Greek semeiotike - the doctrine of signs) - the science of signs and language as a sign system; a humanitarian discipline that examines all the facts of culture (language, science, philosophy, art, theater, cinema, literature, etc.) as phenomena that have a symbolic expression. The ideas of semiotic analysis of language were considered in their works by philosophers (Aristotle, T. Hobbes, D. Locke, G. Leibnitz) and linguists (A. Humboldt, F. de Saussure, E. Benvenist, O. Potebnya), but as a special science ( system of knowledge about signs) was formed at the beginning of the XX century. The founders of semiotics are American philosophers and linguists Charles Pierce (1830-1914) and Charles Morris (1901-1979).

Semiotics studies signs and language as a sign system in three aspects - semantic, syntactic, pragmatic.

Semantics (Greek semantikos - signifying) is an integral part of semiotics, a theory that studies the meaning and meaning of linguistic expressions, analyzes language as a sign system with functions of definition and designation. The main semantic categories are statements, name, term, meaning, meaning, denotation, reference, description (the content of these categories will be defined in 2.4).

Syntax (Greek syntaxis - connection, construction) is an integral part of semiotics, which studies the rules for the combination and placement of linguistic signs in a certain sign system, abstracting from the functions of definition and designation that semantics investigates.

Pragmatics (Greek pragma - action, deed) is an integral part of semiotics, which studies the ways of using signs and language as a sign system in specific practical situations.

The main object of research in semiotics is the sign.

Sign (Latin nota - sign, label, notch) - an object (object, image) that represents another object, the properties of the object, connections between objects, actions, events, situations, state of affairs, etc. in the process of practical and cognitive activities of people. It contains certain information about the object it represents. For example, fingerprints at a crime scene are a sign that informs that there was a person at the crime scene who can be identified with the subject of the crime.

Each sign has its own definition and designates a specific object (the signified and denoted function of the sign). The definition of the sign constitutes its meaning, and the designation constitutes its objective meaning (see 2.4).

Types of signs:

1. Depending on the element of which system there are certain signs, they are divided into linguistic and pozamovnі. A linguistic sign is a letter, a symbol (a unit of a natural or formalized language as a sign system) that has graphic image... The totality of linguistic signs creates the alphabet of the language. The order mark is an item in the ordering system. For example, a change in the habitat of some wild animals is a sign of a violation of the ecosystem on Earth.

2. According to the method of connection with the designated object, signs are divided into copy signs, index signs, signs-signs, signs-symbols.

A copy sign means the similarity between the sign and the signified object. Examples of copy signs: reflection of a person in a mirror (the image of a person in a mirror is a sign of a person's authenticity and his mirror image); the photo; copies of documents; fingerprints on a specific item.

Sign-index (Latin index - an index) - in mathematics and logic - a symbol (numerical or alphabetic indicator), which is attributed to other symbols in order to distinguish them from each other. For example, Av A2, Al, xv x2> xn, where 1, 2, n are index signs.

Sign-sign (omen, symptom, pointer) is a sign of the relationship between an object and its properties, between objects. Examples: smoke is a sign of fire; a high temperature in a person is a sign of illness; a broken car on the road is a sign of a transport accident.

A sign-symbol is a sign that does not resemble the signified object, but expresses concretely something general, abstract (concept, idea, hypothesis, theory, quality, property, abstract essence of a certain object). For example, the coat of arms, flag, anthem are symbols of a certain state (symbolize the idea of statehood).

The process of functioning of signs is designated by the term "semiosis" - (Greek zeta - sign). It means the interpretation of signs and denotes the very process of interpreting a sign in the relation "object - sign - interpretation", as a result of which the phenomenon of the birth of the meaning and meaning of the sign arises. The semiotic concept of language as a sign system forms the basis of modern logical-semantic and pragmatic concepts of language.