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Chonmurunova N.J. Methods of representation of the concept of good and evil in ch. t. aytmatov's works (based on the novel “Tavro Kassandry")// Сетевой журнал «Научный результат». Серия «Вопросы теоретической и прикладной лингвистики». - Т.1, №4(6), 2015.
UDC 81.1
DOI: 10.18413/2313-8912-2015-1-4-67-70
Chonmurunova N.J.
METHODS OF REPRESENTATION OF THE CONCEPT OF GOOD
AND EVIL IN CH. T. AYTMATOV’S WORKS
(BASED ON THE NOVEL “CASSANDRA’S BRAND”)_______
Teacher, the Department of Languages. Kyrgyzstan State University named after J.Balasagyn, 394, Jibek Jolu Avenue,
Bishkek, 720033, Kyrgyzstan. [email protected]
Abstract. The article considers the ways of representation of concepts of "good" and "evil" as universals of human thinking in terms of cognitive linguistics, reveals their informative features on the basis of their verbal objectification in the Aytmatov’s language (based on the novel " Cassandra’s Brand").
This article gives linguo-cognitive description of individual authorial concepts of "evil and good".
The study of individual authorial concepts exposes the system of the hierarchy of senses of values of creative language personality. Individual value priorities do not always coincide with the value priorities being generally accepted in the society.
Key words: concept, frame, slots, cognitive linguistics.
Чонмурунова Н.Ж.
РЕПРЕЗЕНТАЦИЯ КОНЦЕПТОВ ДОБРА И ЗЛА
В ПРОИЗВЕДЕНИЯХ Ч.Т. АЙТМАТОВА
(НА МАТЕРИАЛЕ РОМАНА «ТАВРО КАССАНДРЫ»)
The prominent Kyrgyz writer Ch. Aytmatov makes good his position in the history of literature of the XX century. The objects of study in this paper are the texts of his works, the concepts «good» and «evil» as the universal phenomena of human thinking in terms of cognitive linguistics are considered as the subject of study, the paper reveals their substantial features on the basis of their verbal objectification in the language of Ch. Aytmatov (based on the novel «Cassandra’s Brand»).
Many different approaches in contemporary linguistics define the term «concept», the most close definition for us is the definition given by Z. D. Popova and I. A. Sternin.
Z.D. Popov and I.A. Sternin develop the cognitive approach to understanding of a concept, describing the concept as «a global cogitative unit corresponding to a quantum of structured knowledge» [2, p.4].
The terms «frame» and «slot» are used in terms of cognitive linguistics to represent the structure of a concept. Frame is represented formally as the structure of nodes and relations. Vertex levels of a frame are fixed and correspond to the things being always equitable in relation to the supposed situation. Lower of these nodes — terminal nodes, or slots .
It seems necessary to us to take the frame-slot structure of the concept as a basis for structural analysis of the literary concept-opposition «Good — Evil». Moreover, we have taken into consideration
the field concept organization, offered by
I. A. Sternin and I. A. Tarasova, and analyzed the basic (conceptual) layer and peripheral layers of the concept, including associative and figurative and emotive layers. We have also studied the structure of the concept from the viewpoint of realization of the following patterns in it: archetypical pattern, culturological (prototypical) pattern and individual and authorial pattern.
Semantic and cognitive analysis and frame analysis are accepted to be the leading methods in cognitive linguistics. The key term of frame analysis is the term «frame»; equally with «images», «prototypes», «schemes», i. e., frames are interpreted as different coherent constructions, in the form of which human memory stores knowledge about the surrounding world [5,p.65]. The development of such cognitive structures is associated primarily with the works of Ch. Fillmore, G. Lakoff, M. Minsky. Frames, cognitive structures standing for a word meaning and ensuring its understanding form hierarchical elements -subframes, and slots, smaller units, making an aspect or a part of frame.
Professor, Doctor of Philology, Derbisheva Z. K. mentions in her book that in order to study the writer’s conceptual sphere, it is essential to choose key concepts, mental formulae, idioms, metaphors, similes, i. e. Each of the mental formulae occurred in the depths of his creative consciousness, tormented his soul, heart and
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Chonmurunova N.J. Methods of representation of the concept of good and evil in ch. t. aytmatov's works (based on the novel “Tavro Kassandry")// Сетевой журнал «Научный результат». Серия «Вопросы теоретической и прикладной лингвистики». - Т.1, №4(6), 2015.
became a wise saying, philosophical maxim, bright original metaphor against his will. The conceptual sphere of Ch. Aytmatov is represented by the following concepts: «Дети»/ «Children», «Любовь»/ «Love», «Нравственность»/ «Morality», «Душа» / «Soul», «Зло» /«Evil», «Добро» / «Good», «Слово» / «Word», «Человек» / «Human», «Жизнь» / «Life», «Мысли» / «Thoughts», «Власть» /«Power» , «Совесть»/ «Conscience» , «Природа» / «Nature», «Языковой космос» /«Language Space», «Музыка» /«Music» , «Культура» / «Culture», «Художник» / «Artist», «Религия» /«Religion» , «Судьба» / «Fortune», «Война» /«War» , «Истина» / «Truth», «Память» / «Memory», «Современный мир» / «Contemporary World». Each of these categories is represented by placers of precious thoughts of the writer [3, p.17].
Any literary writer’s word has two views: visual (physical, seen by anyone capable of seeing) and hypothetical, mental (imaginary), it is seen by a possessor of the sight of mind and soul. In this regard, true are the words belonging to L. Cherneyko: «Sight - the function of light, speculation - the function of soul» [4, p.58].
A special place in the conceptual sphere of Ch. Aytmatov is taken by the concept «Evil». He observes that human evil is aggressive, many of his works end tragically, when, having undergone the conflict of «good» and «evil», the main characters suffer a defeat. It is vividly manifested in his novels «Плаха» / «The Block», «Когда падают горы» / «When Mountains Fall», «И дольше века длиться день» / «And the Day is Longer than the Century», «Тавро Кассандры» /«Cassandra’s Brand », «Белый пароход» / «White Steamship». Ch. Aytmatov said in one of his interviews: «Good is incompatible with evil, and «positive» characters meet a defeat in combat with «the negative», but death of the main characters makes us appreciate and understand the sense of right to be free people, as, for sake of this, the characters lay down their lives. Thus, they are attractive and grand to the living. The characters lose their lives not because of despair, but because they are irreconcilable with such state of «things».
We know that the concept evil at the conceptual level has hierarchically complex frame structure consisting of slots (as the element of concept), which are corresponded to in the language by lexical units verbalizing them. The analysis of lexical units filling in the scenario of the concept allows to reveal their ability to realize one or another feature of the concept evil. The concept evil is represented in the novel by the following frames «Cassandra-embryo», «Cassandra’s Brand», «Oliver Ordok», «Crowd». «Miseries», «Philotheus».
1) The frame «Cassandra-embryo» - “iksrody” -devoted revolutionaries of the XXI century. In
individual author’s view, iksrod has nothing to lose, his hand will not falter to deliver a nuclear blow. The writer develops the idea that responsibility of each subject before both the past and the future in the chain of development of human evolution is great. Family guilt, stored by generations in an individual, affects the future generations as well, strengthening a heap of negative information in each newly born into this world in order to continue steadfast movement to apocalypse. Existential life fear of Cassandra-embryos is not accidental, but natural phenomenon, the result of evil, despair and hate have been accumulated for centuries. And the nuclear units of this frame are the slots «Разрушение»/ «Destruction», «Гитлер»/ «Hitler», «Сталин»/ «Stalin», which are realized by such expressions as: Зародыш/ Foetus, подающие негативные сигналы/sending negative signals, неприятие и предчувствие рока и беды/ rejection and a premonition of fate and misfortune, ребенок, относящийся к судьбе негативно/ a negative child’s attitude to the fate, негативное отношение к рождению/ a negative attitude to the birth, ребенок, ожидающий беспросветную нищету/ a child, waiting for hopeless poverty, болезнь и насилие/ disease and violence, пороки и унижения/, vices and humiliation, несчастный зачаток будущего некрофила/ unhappy germ of the future necrophiliac, ужасный преступник/ a terrible criminal, эмбрион/, an embryo, предчувствующий рок, беду/, foreboding of rock , trouble, источник зла/ the source of evil. These expressions point to the fact that Cassandra-embryo can bring evil to the earth.
2) The following frame is «Cassandra’s brand», which is expanded in the text by the synonyms such as: знак-сигнал/signal-sign, сигнал беды/the sign of misfortune, проклятый знак/ accursed sign, тревожный сигнал/alert sygnal, злополучный знак/ill-fated sign. These units represent the most accurate conceptual and essential nominations of Cassandra’s Brand.
The frame «Cassandra’s Brand» in the conceptual sphere of Ch. Aytmatov includes such slots as: «трагедия»/ «tragedy», «тревога»/ «uneasiness», «проклятие»/ «curse», «катастрофа»/ «catastrophe», «война»/ «war», which are objectified by such expressions as: изощренная дьявольщина/
sophisticated diabolism, порочность и гибельность людского бытия/ viciousness and ruinous results of human being, мучительная участь человечества/ painful fate of humanity, яростное послание/ violent message, наказание из преисподней/ punishment from the hell, грядущий апокалипсис/ coming appokalipsis, зловещее багровое пятнышко/ominous crimson stain, агрессия со стороны космоса/ aggression on the part of the cosmos, подкоп, затеянный со злым умыслом/
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Chonmurunova N.J. Methods of representation of the concept of good and evil in ch. t. aytmatov's works (based on the novel “Tavro Kassandry")// Сетевой журнал «Научный результат». Серия «Вопросы теоретической и прикладной лингвистики». - Т.1, №4(6), 2015.
scheming, started maliciously, с античеловеческой целью/ with the anti-human purpose, сокрушение духа/ the crushing of the spirit, великая смута на земле/ the great turmoil on Earth, предсказательница бед и несчастий/ prophetess of troubles and misfortunes, космическая авантюра/ space adventure, искажение и деструкцию человечегого генефонда/ distortion and destruction of human gene fond, мировое зло/ the world's evil, неизбежный апокалиптический обвал/ inevitable apocalyptic collapse, нечто грозное/ something terrible, вызов брошенный судьбой/ a challenge thrown by fate, роковая проблема/ fatal problem, сигнал о таящемся в нас зле/ signal of evil hidden within us, гадость и позор/disgusting thing and a disgrace, pointing to evil that can bring this signal-sign.
3) The frame «Оливер Ордок»/ «Oliver Ordok»
in the literary text includes the slots «Низость»/ «Meanness», «Наглость»/ «Insolence»,
«Подлость»/«Baseness», being realized by the vocabulary: «Птичье лицо»/ Bird's face, лицо экзальтированного Геббелса/ the face of exalted Goebbels, честолюбивый/ ambitious, жаждущий власти/ power-hungry, юркие черные глаза/ brisk black eye, having negative connotation and estimating hypocritical and mean man who can betray everybody anytime like betrayed Bork.
4) The frame «Толпа»/ «Crowd» in the literary text includes the slots «Насилие»/ «Violence» , «Злоба»/ «Anger» , «Убийство»/ «Killing», being realized by the following vocabulary: «Уличная публика»/«Street audience», исчадие ада/ fiend, шумна/ noisy, наэлектризованная уличная демонстрация/ electrified street demonstrations, гнусная сборища врагов отечества/ vile gatherings enemies of the fatherland, кровь/ blood, слезы и стоны/ tears and groans, схватки сотен людей/fight of hundreds ofpeople, обезумевшие люди/ mad people, кипение свирепых/fuming of the ferocious, разрушительных вожделений/ of destructive lust, злобные хохоты/ evil laughter, гул громадного осиного роя/ roar of a huge swarm of wasps, ищущего выхода в излиянии яда/ seeking access in the outpouring of poison, обезумевшая толпа/ frenzied crowd, куча беснующих людей/ a whole lot of raving people, преступники/ criminals, дикая расправа с человеком/ wild violence to the person, бунт /rebellion, хаос/ chaos, смута/ turmoil, бушующий людской океан / raging human ocean, in the individual author’s vision of Ch. Aytmatov in the work «Cassandra’s Brand», «crowd» is viewed as aggressive mass of people plunging forward, carried all before them (killing of Bork).
5) The frame «Невзгоды»/ «Miseries» in the literary text includes the slots «Наказание»/ «Punishment», «Кара всевышнего»/ «Visitation»,
«Негодование»/ «Indignation» being realized by the following words in the literary text: голод/ hunger, трущобы/ slums, болезни/ diseases, СПИД /AIDS, война/ war, экономический кризис/ economic crisis, преступность/ crime, проституция/prostitution, наркомания и наркомафия/ drug abuse and the drug mafia, межэтнические побоища/ ethnic slaughter, расизм/ racism, экологические и энергетические катастрофы/ environmental and energy disasters, ядерные испытания / nuclear testing , черные дыры/black holes, which express evil. And evil which will bring grief and disaster to all.
6) The frame «Филофей»/ «Philotheus» in the literary text includes the slots «Анархист»/ «Anarchist», «Негодяй»/ «Villain», «Злодей»/ «Malefactor», being realized by the following words: грешная душа/ sinful soul, дьявол/devil, злостный вселенский смутьян/ malignant universal troublemaker , космический стукач/space informer, сатана/Satan, Фауст/Faust, враг социализма/foe of socialism, провoкатор/provoker,
мерзавец/stinker, демон/demon, проклятый патриархат/damned patriarchate, самоубийца/ self-killer. These slots from the text describe Philotheus from negative point of view. Philotheus is considered in the text in both positive and negative senses, for example, such as пророк/ prophet, ученый/learned man, солнце из-за горы/ the sun from behind the mountain.
The conceptual component of the concept of good characterizes all the positive, light, pleasing, successful, useful, that is, good works, gestures doing good. The concept of good in the novel consists of the following frames «Энтони Юнгср^АпШпу Junger» «Киты»/ «Whales» «Океан»/«Ocean».
1) The frame «Antony Junger» in individual
author’s conceptual sphere of Ch. Aytmatov comprises the slots «единомышленник»/ «like-minded person», «миссия»/ «mission», «жертвенность»/«self-sacrificingness», being
realized by such expression as: светлый луч/ bright beam. These slots indicate that Antony Junger wants to help humanity.
2) The frame «Krnbi»/«Whales» as embodiment of good in the literary text includes the slots «Радары»/«Radars», «Жертвы»/«Sacrifices», which are objectified by the following expressions: как журавли в небе/ like cranes in the sky, большое стадо/great school, могучие животные/ powerful animals, вселенские радары/ universal radars, обрекающие себя на смерть животные / animals condemning themselves to death - whales, in Ch. Aymatov’s opinion - these animals are the radars of the Universe, subtly catching all the world cataclysms, foreboding of approach of catastrophe. The world of space is outlined by the reality of
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НАУЧНЫЙ
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Chonmurunova N.J. Methods of representation of the concept of good and evil in ch. t. aytmatov's works (based on the novel “Tavro Kassandry")// Сетевой журнал «Научный результат». Серия «Вопросы теоретической и прикладной лингвистики». - Т.1, №4(6), 2015.
natural objects (ocean, stars) and zoomorphic images (whales, owl). All the images mentioned above are leitmotifs, but dominating of them is the image of whales. The use of it in the text is connected with its reproduction into different semantic planes, projecting Bork’s attitude of these animals: admiration for their beauty , disquieting apprehensions of coming misfortunes, compassion and terror of self-murder (the whales beach themselves for no apparent reason). The character often dreams about the whales, identifying himself with one of them and trying to feel his behavior deeply from within: «И тут, на развороте
самолета по курсу, он вдруг увидел с накренившегося борта большое стадо плывущих в океане китов. Он увидел их настолько отчетливо, настолько едино объемно в
пространстве и движении, это было столь ошеломительно, что дух захватило. А ведь они, киты, ему часто снились.... И вроде бы звали его за собой.... Почему они погибают, выбрасываясь на берег? Самое главное, что в своих снах он ощущал себя китом. Он чувствовал: то, что постигнет китов, постигнет и его <...>»/«And then, at the turn of the plane on the course, from the lifted side, he saw a large school of whales floating in the ocean. He could see them so clearly, so united and dimensional in space and movement, it was so stunning that dazzled. But they, whales, he often dreamed of. ... as if they called him together with them. ... Why did they die, casting ashore? Most important in his dreams was that he felt like a whale. He felt that what befell the whales, would befall him <...> » [1]. The mythologem «кит»/ «whale» directly correlates with the structure of the universe, realizing protective and constructive function. (For example, «сначала землю поддерживали семь китов, однако со временем она слишком отяжелела от грехов, совершаемых людьми. Четыре кита не выдержали нагрузки и нырнули в бездонную пучину. Три кита старались изо всех сил, но предотвратить затопления большей части суши не смогли. Именно, это стало причиной Всемирного потопа»/ «first, earth was supported by seven whales, but over time it became too heavy with the sins committed by people. Four whales could not stand the load and plunged into fathomless depth. Three whales tried to do utmost, but could not prevent flooding of much of the land. It was the cause of the Flood» [3]). These slots show good though the representative of the world of animals: the whales are
represented as those to have presentiment of disasters falling upon the earth. Aytmatov calls people to have sermons in nature and indicates to this idea being rooted in national traditions, mythology. Conscience and wisdom are rendered just through the very images of whale and owl.
In conclusion, we can say that the concept of evil in this novel dominates, as Aytmatov warns us, the living on the earth, about coming dangers of the way of development chosen by us. Anxious about human being «Экзистенциальный страх кассандро-эмбрионов перед жизнью - это не случайность, а закономерное явление, следствие накопленного веками зла, отчаяния и ненависти» Именно накопленное веками зло породило таких как Филофей осознающих, но ничего с этим не могущих поделать людей без роду и племени» /«Existential fear of Cassandra-embryos for life - it is not an accident but a natural phenomenon, a consequence of evil, despair and hatred being accumulated for centuries » . It is evil, accumulated over the centuries has given rise to such tribeless people as Philotheus who are conscious of it, but not able to do with it».
As a result, we can say that, it follows from his works, that the concepts of good and evil in Aytmatov’s works are realized with high efficiency through lexemes of ethics and aesthetics and have certain semantics.
All of them are regularly used to convey the essence of the moral characters. The concepts of good and evil reflect ideological position of CH.T. Aytmatov.
References:
1. Aytmatov Ch., Cassandra's Brand - M .:
"EKSMO», 1995. // URL:
http://www.imwerden.info/ Belousenko / books / Aitmatov / aitmatov_kassandra.htm
2. Cognitive Linguistics / Z. D. Popova, I. A. Sternin. - M: AST: East - West, 2007 - 314 p.
3. "The Universe of Chingiz Aitmatov." Compiler Z. K. Derbisheva.-B.: KTU "Manas", 2012. - 192 p.
4. Cherneyko L. O. Methods of Representation of Space and Time in a Literary Text // Philology. 1994. №2. P. 58-70.
4. Legends and Myths about Whales // URL: http: // kitoboy. livejournal.com/6994.html
5. Kobozeva I. M. Linguistic Semantics. M .: Editorial URSS, 2000.
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