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15ФИЛОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ НАУКИ
Lytvyn Andriana
lecturer of the department of Ukrainian and Foreign Languages Lviv State University of Physical Culture
LINGUOCULTURAL PARAMETERS OF ENGLISH INNOVATIVE VOCABULARY IN THE FIELD
OF SPORTS AND TOURISM
Summary: The article is devoted to the study of linguocultural parameters of the English innovative vocabulary in sports and tourism field. The problem of language and culture similarities and differences has been revealed. The linguocultural parameters of sports and tourism vocabulary have been grouped. The analysis of the stylistic features of sports and tourism lexical units has resulted in demonstration the phenomenon of lexico-se-mantic divergence between British and American English. The groups of divergent oppositions have been singled out.
Key words: linguoculture, innovation, vocabulary, divergence, sports tourism discourse.
Intoroduction. The phenomenon of sports and tourism is disclosed in sports tourism discourse. The main feature of sports tourism discourse is determined by the following aspects: a) entertainment; b) overcoming the difficulties (physical or psychological stress); c) broadening the outlook (exploring historical and cultural sights); d) popularity and attractiveness; e) getting new emotions while watching spectacular events.
Researchers indicate the existence of at least three areas of discourse: linguistic, which means interpretation of discourse in relation to speech, text, dialogue; publicistic, which stands for correlation associated with individual style and language; philosophical and sociological discourse, which suggests rational and critical evaluation of values, norms and rules of social life through communication [2, p. 15-16]. However, as it is noted by O. H. Malysheva, a factor that complicates the understanding of the term "discourse" is that all the above areas are complementary and interactive.
We are imposed with the idea that discourse is a pragmatic communicative event of sociocultural nature. When supporting the idea of other researchers, O. H. Malysheva defines discourse as a kind of semantic combination of linguistic forms, knowledge and pragmatic aspects of communicative situation, a social and cultural tradition of communication and a system of communication. The scientist also notes that when studying the discourse researchers investigate its onto-logical features. Albeit the majority of definitions of the term "discourse" are wide enough they are difficult to use when describing specific types of discourse [2, p. 16].
Results and Discussion. Researchers advance the hypothesis that while analyzing discourse one can find out linguocultural parameters of vocabulary. One of the most important aspects that help to research the phenomenon of sports and tourism in depth is to research these parameters which represent cultural specifics through sport and tourism discourse.
The linguocultural parameters of sports and tourism vocabulary includes the following groups: 1) a group which combines all kinds of agents who do sports tourism action ("participants"); 2) a group that describes an action typical for sports tourism ("movement", "entertainment"); 3) a group that indicates the
means by which an action is performed ( "equipment"); 4) a group that describes a place where the action is performed ("place", "nature").
It is known that language is a way to penetrate into mentality of people and their culture. It is also believed that language is able to tell people more than they know about themselves. The issue about language and culture riveted attention of many researchers : V. Humboldt, O. A. Potebnia, V. A. Maslova. Scientists are of the opinion that the structure of language can be compared with the structure of reality. Language is a feature of culture because culture is materialized through linguistic and communicative ability of man, and thus this phenomenon helps us to reflect reality. In turn, culture is a component of language, because the whole culture is reflected through the prism of language. However some researchers claim that although language and culture are semiotic systems and have common features, they also have different characteristics. By common features of language and culture the following is considered: a) language and culture are forms of consciousness that reflect people's knowledge of the world; b) culture and language are interconnected; c) the subject of of language and culture study is a person or society; d) language and culture have inherent normativity; d) histor-icism is a common feature for language and culture; e) both language and culture have inherent antinomy "dynamics - statics". Language and culture are interrelated wihin communicative processes as well as in ontogenesis (language usage), and in the phylogenesis (means of communication). The difference between culture and language is the following: a) language focuses on mass usage, while culture is valued by its elitism; b) although culture is a sign system, it does not tend to organize itself; c) language and culture are different semiotic systems. Thus, culture is not isomorphic (fully consistent) but homomorphic (similar by structure) with respect to language [3, p. 54].
Since the relationship of language and culture is a multidimensional phenomenon, there are several approaches to explain this relationship. The essence of the first approach is the interpretation of language as a reflection of culture. Therefore changes in national cultural stereotypes cause changes in language. The sec-
ond approach which advocates a school of Edward Sa-pir and Benjamin Whorf is the hypothesis of linguistic relativity. The basis of this hypothesis lies in the idea that people understand the world differently, that is through the prism of their mother tongue. Although this theory has been supported by many researchers, there is a criticism of this hypothesis as well. The next approach is the theory that language is a fact of culture which is being passed down from generation to generation; language is a means by which we master culture and only due to language we can interpret culture. Consequently, to understand the phenomenon of culture one can only through analyzing language [3, p. 55 -57]. We agree with the idea that language is only the result of the reflection of the world, but not a self-sufficient unit that can make the world.
Thanks to culture, a national-cultural component of communication is formed. Researchers note that the national-cultural component is formed in the process of socialization. It is a part of cultural competence and it defines national identity of people. This component is also able to identify national specifics of mental and lingual characteristics of the community. This phenomenon helps to distinguish the features of the national character, consciousness and experience of people [1, p. 42].
It should be noted that in the mind of a person there is a certain individual set of knowledge about the world. However the core of this knowledge is formed by social knowledge of the world which results in the formation of stereotypes. The set of knowledge which relates to the national cognitive base is called precedent phenomenon. There are verbal and nonverbal precedent phenomena. Verbal precedent phenomena include verbal units and texts which reflect linguistic and mental activity. Nonverbal precedent phenomena are represented in musical, architectural, artistic and sculptural work [1, p. 44]. In our work, we research verbal precedents that allow us to penetrate into the national consciousness of English native speakers through the language.
We explain precedent phenomena in sports tourism in the light of the precedent situation, precedent text and precedent expression. Precedent situation is an ideal or reference situation which has a set of connotations that are formed in the cognitive base of people [1, p. 47]. Precedent text is a complete and self-sufficient linguistic and intellectual activity the components of which are not able to disclose its meaning completely. The meaning of precedent text is familiar to almost every member of the national linguistic and cultural community. The use of precedent text in speech is associated with the use of precedent expressions or names that are associated with the precedent texts. By precedent texts we mean texts of fiction, lyrics, political journalistic texts, jokes [1, p. 42]. In the area of sports tourism precedent texts can be found in advertisements of tourist attractions and itineraries. Precedent expression is a product of linguistic and mental activity. Precedent expression is a complete unit, in which the number of components do not correspond to its whole meaning. Typically, the meaning is broader. The examples of
precedent phenomena are quotations from texts and saying [1, p. 48].
Scientists distinguish certain groups of precedent phenomena. They are social, national and universal precedent phenomena. Social precedent phenomena are known by almost all members of society. This type of phenomena include extra information that may not belong to the national and cultural heritage. Unlike social precedent phenomena national precedent phenomena form cognitive base of people's world perception. Universal precedent phenomena belong to the overall universal cognitive basis and are considered to be a little hypothetical [1, p. 51]. However the limits of the above mentioned phenomena may change or they can be united.
Storage and transmission of the information are the main components of the language sign; they perform communicative function. That is why people are subjects of sociological life, and should be studied in the light of cultural traditions.
A lot of researchers considered the issue of cultural and linguistic identity. They developed three structural levels, which exhaustively explain the phenomenon of linguistic identity. The first level is verbal and semantic. It determines the level of proficiency. The second level is cognitive; it displays individual language model of the world and culture; the third level is pragmatic - it includes identification and characterization of the motives and objectives that promote linguistic identity.
Researchers emphasize that linguistic identity consists of three aspects: ideological, cultural and personal. Ideological component lies in the interpretation of the world with the means of language and in the formation of the world model that helps to form national character. Culturological approach is associated with the efficiency of culture assimilation that is an effective means when learning a foreign language. This phemomenon helps to avoid misunderstandings that can arise due to the ignorance of the special features of a culture. Personal component is the internal content of man [3, p. 109].
Scientists claim that linguistic identity can be studied by analyzing person's vocabulary. This will determine person's position in society, his/her education, nature, gender. The researchers note that linguistic identity is a social phenomenon that is filled with an individual aspect. The individual aspect of linguistic identity is formed through the inner connection to language and through the establishment of personal language meanings. However, some researchers state that an individual aspect is not able to influence the formation of linguistic traditions.
It is known that there are different ways to get to know the reality as well as to understand it. They are metaphorical, metonymic and rational ways. All these ways are based on methods of logical perception. In order to learn the fragments of the world picture it is necessary to analyze how exactly the above mentioned ways help to understand the world. Metaphoric models can objectify the phenomenon, depending on the specific way of understanding its content. Metaphorical model is a two-component cognitive structure where
the relationship between its components is based on the principles of similarity.
Detailed exploration of metaphor in the sphere of sports tourism allows us to highlight the existence of a national-cultural connotation. The content of the national- cultural connotation is a correlation between a language sign and a certain cultural code that is specific for a particular community. To know the meaning of a cultural code is a key to the correct interpretation of a culture, which is represented in the phenomenon. Since a person is always under the influence of their culture, the culture affects the person's personality. Significant cultural information is embodied in the meaning of a linguistic unit [4, p. 92 - 93].
In the vocabulary of any language there are some main layers of vocabulary which can introduce the main feature of national culture. Typically, national culture is revealed through the prism of realia that reflect daily life, customs, traditions, environment, political situation in the country. The realia are associated with national legends, folk art, cultural and historical associations. Thus, the word embodies the process of thinking and reflects extra-linguistic reality.
It is important to note that in order to interpret any foreign text correctly one should learn national cultural backgrounds of a source text. The national and cultural background can be identified through objective reality. In the sphere of sports tourism we can see that a great part of vocabulary is international. In other words, it is known beyond a single country. Such vocabulary is called non-equivalent: snowboarding, wakeboarding, sky-surfing, planking, bobsleigh. Such words are usually denotative and include denotative realia. These re-alia have no verbal equivalents in other languages dictionaries as well as there are no lexical units that would nominate them (as they do not exist in other socio-cultural community). Therefore, such lexical units enter the vocabulary of a language by the way of borrowing or descriptive translation. However, connotative vocabulary consists with the words that carry a certain emotional and aesthetic value and reflect people's identity.
Researchers believe that if to compare lexical units of different languages and different variants of the same language, it will turn out that the semantic structure of such units includes phenomenal and non-phenomenal semantic elements. Non-phenomenal semantic elements form lexical background. Lexical background is wider than lexical meaning. Thus the words can be equivalent on the level of lexical meaning and non-equivalent on the level of lexical background [4, p. 96]. In terms of lexical background all national variants of the English language are divided into three groups: a) units that are not equivalent in only one variant; b) units with additional connotative meanings; c) units with the opposite meanings. Denotative realities clearly demonstrate national culture. However it is worth noting that words in different language variants may have additional meaning due to national and cultural factors of a target language [4, p. 101].
Since all the words cannot be fully equivalent, there is a need of univerbalization. During the process of univerbalization the principle of language economy is taken into account. According to this principle the
important indicators of culture are nominated by lexical units, however, less important phenomena are nominated by phrases. If the phenomenon that is nominated by a phrase acquires a social importance and becomes frequently used, the phrase may be replaced by one word: scooter riding - scootering. Formation of uni-verbalized units helps to fill the gaps in local language variants. Scientists call such gaps "lacunas". They admit that lacunas can exist not only in the lexical system of different languages but within the lexical system itself, namely in the variants of a language [4, p. 103].
An absolute measure of lexical units to belong to a particular language variant is that the unit does not have a one-word equivalent in the other variants but can be described by synonyms. Such lexical units are called nationally marked units. However, it should be noted that nationally marked lexical units form fairly thin layer of vocabulary in comparison to common English words. In terms of researchers' ideas common English words are lexical-semantic units that are used in all variants of English and have an identical extralinguistic correlation.
Although a small amount of national marked units fails to form a significant layer of vocabulary, it effectively reveals national cultural content of a social group. Thus, each variant contains certain spheres where national marked items can be clearly identified. One of these spheres is a sphere of sports tourism which manifests itself in the light of strong sporting spirit, the drive to experience extremism and new feelings.
Sports tourism is developing rapidly worldwide. However, most active followers of sports tourism are considered to be residents of the UK and the US. It is not surprising that the word stock of sports tourism sphere is formed with lexical units of British and American English. While analyzing new words in sports tourism, we took into account parameters such as lexical nomination, pronunciation, logical correlation, stylistic and emotional features. We have found that there are differences in pronunciation of new words in the above mentioned variants: bellyboarding, bobsleigh, bodyboarding coasteering, mountainboarding, skim-boarding, sky-surfing, slacklining, snowboarding, zorbing. A small number of neologisms has different lexical nomination: canyoning (BrE) - canyoneering (AmE), labour tourist (BrE) - labor tourist (AmE), silent traveller (BrE) - silent traveler (AmE), walkover (BrE) - walkaway (AmE ).
Through the analysis of stylistic characteristics of lexical units in sports tourism sphere we have identified the phenomenon of lexical-semantic divergence in British and American English. This phenomenon is associated with the development of the semantic structure of English lexical units. The most typical form of semantic changes in case of divergence is the idea of narrowing the meaning. Unlike British lexical units which describe general phenomena in the field of sports tourism, lexical divergent units in American English have additional semes that have racist and discriminatory meanings. Thus, the lexeme brodog (a young boy who loves watching sport games and spends time in the bar with other like-minded young people) defines a young mus-
cular boy who calls himself a "bro" and is actively engaged in either doing or playing sports. This lexical unit also indicates a young boy who spends a lot of time with female friends. A neologism cliff diving (diving from a height of rock) denotes a dance performance while hiking. A new word fit-shaming (online photographs' repost of people who play sports) in American English denotes a situation when people with low self-esteem criticize those who are actively involved in sports and lead healthy lifestyles. In fact, this behaviour is fueled with the need to justify passivity and laziness. The word glamping (a light form of hiking) in American English means "glamorous camping" which is specially organized for nasty rich women who pay the others for making their holiday comfortable. A lexeme gutter bunny (a person who goes to work by bicycle) indicates an offensive term for a dishevelled, promiscuous woman. This term also nominates a person who considers himself or herself to be an expert in everything, but actually he/she is not. A neologism meander-thal (a person who likes walking) denotes a driver whose behaviour is difficult to predict because he/she moves very slowly and does not turn on any signals. A lexical unit jet-skiing (riding a water bike) in American English nominates a situation when a person loses consciousness because of excessive alcohol intake and is taken home drunk. A new word parkour (to run, to jump over the high objects and to overcome urban obstacles) means to copy the movements of Mario, a video game character. A lexical unit salmoning (cycling in the opposite direction to the overall traffic) nominates a person who runs away from the problems that occur in his/her life. This nomination was formed on the basis of association with the behaviour of a salmon fish (English salmon). A neologism whitewash (a loss with no result to score in the opponent's goal) in American English nominates a person who tends to be like the one of European culture and European lifestyle. A lexical unit yogi (a self-portrait taken during yoga) has several meanings. It is a person who practices yoga or who is a spiritual mentor. In addition, this neologism is used in golf where it nominates a player who is obsessed with this game.
Analysis of the above mentioned neologisms has shown that in American English a large number of divergent units of the have been formed by the means of transnomination. Typically, transnomination is effectuated by metaphorical rethinking of reality. Metapho-rization can be subjective and objective. In fact, the researchers identify two groups of diverging in American English: a) American lexical units which were formed on the basis of objective nomination and b) American lexical units which were formed on the basis of subjective nomination [4, p. 112]. The first group is typical throughout the history of the formation of American lexical units. Instead, the second group is typical for the later period of the American lexical units' formation.
The analysis of the neologisms in the sphere of sports tourism has elucidated the fact that diverging in American English carries subjective characteristics. The metaphorical correlation between units of the British English and divergent units of the American variant is based on associations and is formed on the subjective perception of the reality (fit-shaming, glamping, gutter bunny, whitewash, yogi) as well as on similarities in the structure of action performance: (parkour, salmoning).
In order to study the meanings of divergent units in full we have researched locally marked features. A locally marked feature is the meaning of a lexical unit which was formed as a result of semantic derivation. Semantic derivation is based on metaphorical and met-onymical rethinking of the meaning, its specialization and generalization. It is believed that divergent units are able to contain different schemes of locally marked features. There are three groups of divergent oppositions. The first group includes units with locally marked features typical for only American English. The second group consists of the locally marked units which have lexical-semantic equivalents which are more common for the English language. Finally, the third group of locally marked units contains units that do not have any equivalents used in common English [4, p. 113 - 114].
Conclusion. We have found that divergent neologisms are typically used in American English and they do not belong to common English vocabulary. This phenomenon is due to the fact that the meaning of a neologism has dominant character in contrast to its divergent unit. In the sphere of sports tourism lexical-semantic meaning of divergent units is quite diverse and carries emotionally expressive character.
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