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29NATIONAL CULTURE IN THE CONTEXT OF GLOBALIZATION (ON THE MATERIAL OF
APHORISTICS)
Korolkova A.,
Smolensk State University, Russia, Doctor of Philology, Professor Novikova T.
Smolensk State Agricultural Academy, Russia, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor
Abstract
The article deals with the aphorisms that reflect both universal values as well as the peculiarities of perception and generalization of the reality by a particular ethnic group. Any linguistic culture has its aphoristics that entirely demonstrates the national specific character and provides insight into national and ethnic self-identity. Keywords: Aphorism, aphoristics, national culture, an ethnic group worldview.
In the modern world, the processes of globalization in various areas of human life have an irreversible character. These processes lead to possible leveling of national cultures. In this context, culture experts, linguists, ethnographers and the scientists of other related fields raise legitimate points concerning the preservation of the individual culture features and national and ethnic self-identity.
Traditionally, it is believed that stable speech patterns of any language express the features of the worldview of an ethnic group. It is true. In the phraseological system of the language, in the paremiological fund, in winged expressions, in aphorisms, "multi-layered data about the material and spiritual culture of a people who speak a particular language are expressed» [5, c. 8].
Aphoristics is a special type of stable speech patterns in any language. According to the scientists' observations, aphoristics expresses both universal values and truths, as well as the peculiarities of perception and generalization of the reality of a particular ethnic group. That is why aphoristics is of particular interest for studying the positive component of globalization processes.
In the history of world literature, the genre of aphorism occupies a special place. The humankind has known aphorisms since Ancient India, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece and Rome. The aphorisms of Hippocrates, Herodotus, Solon, Plato, Epicurus, Cato, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius were included in the treasury of universal wisdom.
Humankind has known the term «aphorism» since the appearance of Hippocrates' work "On the Treatment of Diseases". It was Hippocrates who first used this term. However, the term had a medical meaning and was used in this sense for a long time. In the XII century in Western Europe Johannes Mediolan published a book «Schola Salernitana, sive de conservanda valetudine praecepta metrica». Medical advice in the book was written with aphorisms. Even Dante in his "Divine Comedy" uses this lexeme in this sense. Further, only by the XVI - XVII century, the aphorism concept acquires a political and moralistic character. It is well known that the term "aphorism" is identified not with the fixation of medical concepts, but with the re-
flection of certain philosophical truths after the appearance of Baltasar Gracian's book "Everyday Oracle, or the Art of Being Reasonable».
"Aphorism" is beginning to be perceived as a literary genre and as a form of presentation of political and philosophical judgments. The huge interest in aphoristics, for example, is evidenced by the fact that in the period from 1550 to 1660, in France were published more than 60 books of aphorisms.
In the Western European philological tradition, even then begins the study of the phenomenon of aph-oristics.
The works of the XX century are especially important in this area. Franz Mautner who presented the conclusions at the IV Congress of the International Association of Writers summarized almost all western researches in the field of aphoristics. In particular, he stated, "The core is that an aphorism is a brief linguistic expression of an individual, outwardly isolated thought" [1].
The ideas of Franz Mautner were developed to some extent by Neumann; he pointed out that "the basis for understanding the aphorism nature is the awareness of the dual nature of the language as a medium of knowledge; language in the figurativeness speaks more, so symbolic knowledge allows you to penetrate deeper than conceptual..." The main problem with interpreting the nature of Neumann's aphorism is that it occupies "an intermediate position between direct and individual observation and generalizing utterance". [2, c.31]
However, do not think that in Russia there was no interest in wise sayings, aphoristic rhetoric. Such sayings form the basis of most ancient Russian literary monuments. They are, for example, Metropolitan Hi-larion's "Word on Law and Grace", Vladimir Monoma-kh's "Teaching to Children", "The Tale of Bygone Years", "Prayef' by Daniel Zatochnik, etc.
In Russia, separate books of aphorisms appeared only in the XIX century. For the first time in Russian, the book "Aphorisms, or Selected Thoughts of Various Writers" (1816) by K. Smitten was published, later the collection "Historical aphorisms" by M. p. Pogodin (1827, 1836) appeared. It is worth mentioning the
banned for publication, but the widely known collection of sayings by P. Y. Chaadaev "Excerpts and Aphorisms", etc.
The 19th century is an important milestone in the development of Russian aphoristics. At this time, there are two opposite points of view on aphoristics and the nature of aphorism. V. O. Klyuchevsky, L. I. Shestov, V. V. Rozanov argued that aphorism is a form of expression of philosophical views, a form of cognition of reality and the search for absolute truth. However, they have not written any special works on this issue. Many famous writers and poets tended to adhere to the traditional view that aphorism is a literary genre. At this time in Russia there appeared many different collections of aphorisms and books of aphorisms of individual authors, but in theoretical terms, the topic was developed very poorly. The XX century was very ambiguous both in the history of Russia as well as in the history of Russian aphoristics. At the beginning of the century, aphoristics was on the rise. The interest increased enormously already at the end of the XIX century. It is believed that during a period of clearly felt changes, people try to find answers to their questions in the wisdom of previous generations. It was so at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries and at the turn of the XX and XXI centuries.
Russian "Russian writers' Dictionary of aphorisms" [4], as well as a compiled index of key words of the presented aphorisms, became the material for observing the system of Russian aphoristics.
There were no pre-defined sections and topics of aphoristics in our dictionary. In the process of working on a selection of aphorisms, we identified the so-called keywords in the adage that defined its theme. (In the text of the examples, they are shown in italics).
A. P. Skovorodnikov in "Stylistic Encyclopedia of the Russian Language" suggests that the key words are "words that express the main idea of a whole literary text" [6, c.153]. He believes that this terminological combination has become widely used in modern linguistics. Keywords "create an internal unity of the lexical system of works, becoming an essential element of its compositional construction" [6, c.154]. We join the concept of A. P. Skovorodnikov in the aspect of understanding the nature of keywords.
It is necessary to highlight key words in aphorisms, since it is impossible to extract an adage from the whole text, it is impossible to comprehend its meaning and to perform semantic analysis, and so on.
Keywords don't just introduce an aphorism to their subject circle. In the structure of the adage, they are the main, most significant elements that support the leading, core thought.
Aphorisms are distinguished by their conceptual integrity and semantic completeness, as well as their conceptual completeness, which makes it possible to distinguish a keyword in an aphorism (in some complex cases, a phrase or several keywords).
Some aphorisms are characterized by a certain expressiveness, which is often explained by the personal
nature of the aphorism that expresses the author's feelings (especially in poetic aphorisms). In such cases, the selection of a keyword is not undisputed.
Lexical units that are the key words of aphorisms can be easily combined into thematic groups and more broadly into semantic fields. The semantic field like O. S. Akhmanova we call "a part, a "piece" of reality, isolated in human experience and theoretically having a correspondence in the language in the form of a more or less autonomous lexical microsystem". [3, с. 334].
The semantic field includes lexical units in various manifestations, in all respects, existing in the system of the Russian language. In the semantic fields of aphoris-tics, keywords are actualized in specific adages and enter into systemic paradigmatic and syntagmatic relations.
Comparing the results of our analysis of the subject of aphorisms (semantic fields) of Russian writers and poets with the subject of aphorism, since ancient times, we can say that the range of topics has not changed in many ways. The ideas expressed by Aristotle, Sophocles, Plato, Democritus, Epicurus, La Rochefoucauld, Rousseau find their development in the adages of Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, Mikhail Bulgakov, M. Gorky, etc. The subject of aphorisms is not new; many adages almost duplicate each other. For example:
Много великого есть на свете, но нет ничего
более великого, чем человек. (Sophocles) * * *
При мысли великой, что я человек,
Всегда возвышаюсь душою. (V.A. Zhukovsky) * * *
Тот, кто делает добро другому, делает добро самому себе. Не в смысле последствий. Но самим актом делания добра, так как сознание сделанного добра само по себе дает уже большую
радость. (Seneca) * * *
Добро есть вечная, высшая цель нашей жизни. Как бы мы ни понимали добро, жизнь наша есть не что иное, как стремление к добру.
(L.N. Tolstoy) * * *
Властвует над страстями не тот, кто совсем воздерживается от них, но тот, кто пользуется ими так, как управляют кораблем или конем, то есть направляет их туда, куда нужно и
полезно. (Aristotle) * * *
Страсти становятся пороками, когда превращаются в привычки, или добродетелями. Когда противодействуют привычкам. (V.O.
Klyuchevsky) * * *
Кто сам не любит никого, того, кажется
мне, тоже никто не любит. (Democritus) * * *
Кто легко склонен терять уважение к другим, тот, прежде всего не уважает себя.
(F.M. Dostoyevsky) * * *
Взаимная благожелательность есть самое
близкое родство. (Publius Syrus) * * *
Ищи в других людях всегда хорошую сторону,
а не дурную. (L.N. Tolstoy) * * *
Истинное сокровище для людей - умение
трудиться. (Aesop) * * *
Надо поставить свою жизнь в такие условия, чтобы труд был необходим. Без труда не может
быть чистой и радостной жизни. (A.P. Chekhov) * * *
It turns out that the novelty of thoughts is not important for the aphorisms, since they touch upon "eternal themes". However, they cover issues that have always been of concern to humanity. An important element of aphorisms is originality and paradoxical features.
Writers, poets, scientists, and publicists are not free from the trends of the time; their aphorisms reflect many changes in society. Naturally, "radical political, economic and social transformations in the country <...> are determined by changes in the conceptual world of the Russians» [7, с. 114]. The change in the conceptual worldview of the Russian people is also reflected in aphorism.
We have at our disposal Russian aphoristic material of the XVIII, XIX, and XX centuries, as well as aphorisms of English-speaking, French-speaking, and Spanish-speaking authors. Comparing the aphoristics of three centuries, we can conclude that its subject matter and semantic fields, on the one hand, have not changed much. Aphorisms touch upon sociopolitical, moral and ethical, vital, educational, professional, and philosophical subjects. Each of these broad sections is divided into smaller ones. For example, the moral and ethical section includes thematic groups of aphorisms about friendship, love, hatred, vices, weaknesses and shortcomings, and human virtues; the philosophical section contains thematic groups about life and death, the meaning of life, the pursuit of happiness, the joys and hopes of a person, youth, old age and immortality, and so on.
On the other hand, there are aphorisms that reflect the fears, hopes and aspirations of modern man, these are "folk aphorisms" that appear in modern journalism and literary texts.
Aphorisms of authors of different nations are often devoted to the same topics, cover the same aspects of human life and humanity as a whole. This indicates that aphoristics, like language, reflects universal values, but at the same time demonstrates the cultural specific features of different ethnic groups.
The aphoristics shows that the processes of cultural globalization are much older than people think, and that there are many positive things in this process that bring different nations, cultures and countries together.
Aphorism is a unique example of how, in the context of modern globalization, it is possible to preserve the national culture and national mentality, while at the same time perceiving universal values and truths.
References
1. Maunter F.H. Maxim(e)s, Sentences, Fragmente, Aphorismen. - The Hague, Paris, 1966.
2. Neumann G. Ideenparadiese. - Munchen, 1976.
3. Achmanova O.S. The Dictionary of linguistic Terms. - М., 1966
4. Korolkova A.V., Lomov A.G., Tikhonov A.N. The Dictionary of Russian Writers' Aphorisms. - М., 2004
5. Mokienko V.M. Cognition and Culture in the Mirror of Cognitive and Historical Phraseology // Phraseology and cognition. Collection of reports of the 2nd International conference "Phraseology, cognition and culture" - Belgorod, 2010
6. Stylistic encyclopedia of the Russian language - М., 2003
7. Chernikova N.V. Reflection in explanatory dictionaries of changes in the Russian national concept sphere. // Word. Dictionary. Literature. Ecology of language. Materials of the All-Russian conference. - Saint Petersburg, 2005.
