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Ly Toan Thang
УДК 81'23
THE HEART IN RUSSIAN CULTURE AND LANGUAGE: FROM A CROSS-LINGUISTIC AND CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
An attempt of many scholars nowadays is to study intensively the relationship among language, thought and culture, continuing the tradition from W. von Humboldt in Europe and E. Sapir and B. Whorf in America. The evidences for that are the theoretical concepts such as 'ethno-syntax', 'ethno-linguistics', 'cultural linguistics'; 'human factor in language', 'language picture of the world' etc.
In Russian tradition of psycholinguistics, this area of research belongs to 'eth-no-psycholinguistics' which was proposed in 1980s by A. Leontev and his team. In the research area of ethno-psycho-linguistic 'factors', proverbs can provide very good examples showing linguistic, cultural and cognitive specificity of a people because they are "tools for world view study"; and they can show ethno-cultural and ethno-linguistic features of 'language consciousness', 'language mentality' and 'human universal values'.
In this paper, we will study concepts as denoted in the Russian proverb " С глаз долой из сердца вон". For showing a more clear cultural and cognitive difference between 'Western' and 'Oriental' languages, linguistic data of Russian, French and English will be compared with Chinese or Vietnamese, and especially with some languages of families and groups in Southeast Asia which have their representatives in Vietnam (as Austro-Asiatic, Austronesian, Sino-Tibertan, etc.).
Keywords, ethno-psycho-linguistic factors, worldview, consciousness, mentality, values, HEART, MIND, proverb, Russian, Vietnamese, ASE languages.
INTRODUCTION
The tradition of W. von Humboldt in Europe, E. Sapir and B. Whorf in America, who emphasized the relationship among language, thought and culture, is intensively continued nowadays and reflected in terms and phrases such as 'ethno-linguistics', 'ethno-syntax', 'cultural linguistics'; 'human factors in language', 'linguistic pictures of the world', 'linguistic mentality/consciousness'.
In Russian tradition of psycholinguistics, this area of research belongs to 'ethno-psycholinguistics' which was proposed in 1980s by A. Leontev and his team [Markovina, Sorokin 2008; Leontev 1997; Ly Toan Thang 1993, 2006; Sorokin 1988]. According to A. Leontev's opinion [1997], there are different kinds of 'factors' which function at different levels of communication. a) factors connected to cultural tradition; b) factors connected to social situation and social functions of communication; c) factors connected to ethno-psychological characteristics; and d) factors determined by specific features of language of the community. These factors shape 'national-cultural specificities or varieties of communication' and ethno-psycholinguistics explores how they function in, a) speech operations, speech behaviors and speech activity; b) linguistic consciousness, that is cognitive use of language; and c) organization of processes of communication. With these explorations we can see 'ethno-psycholinguistic determinations' of speech activity, linguistic consciousness, and communication.
Very interesting are the studies of Russian scholars concerning the well-established linguistic and psychological notion of 'world picture', 'world image' and 'world view' [Apresjan 1995, 2006; Bulyghina, Shmelev 1997; Jakovleva 1994; Leontev 1997;
Ly Toan Thang 1993, 2006; Plughjan 1991; Shmelev 2002; Tan Aoshuan 2004; Ufimt-seva 1999, 2000; Urison 2003; Zaliznjak Anna 2005]. It is a common knowledge that the 'world picture' or 'world image' encoded in language is ethno-specific for native speakers and reflects a particular 'world view' to be inherent in the language, the ethnicity, and significantly distinguishes them from other languages, ethnicities.
Very interesting are also the investigations of Moscow psycholinguistics concerning the 'language consciousness', 'language mentality' and 'human values' [Tarasov 1996, 2011; Ufimtseva 1996, 2000].
In the research area of ethno-psycho-linguistic 'factors', proverbs can provide very good examples showing linguistic, cultural and cognitive specificity of a people because they are "tools for world view study" [Niemeyer 1982]; and they can show ethno-cultural and ethno-linguistic features of 'language consciousness', 'language mentality' and 'human universal values'.
In this paper, we are also studying the 'world view' related to human body organs and parts, using the proverbs. We are investigating what are denoted by EYES and HEART in Russian and found in the proverb "С глаз долой из сердца вон", and this proverb will be analyzed from a cross-linguistic and cross-cultural perspective. The data from Russian will be compared with 'Western' ones such as French, English and Oriental ones such as Chinese, Vietnamese. We also use examples from different language families and groups (as well as within these families and groups) in Southeast Asia (SEA) which have their representatives in Vietnam.
LINGUISTIC, CULTURAL AND COGNITIVE EVIDENCES A. From Russian to French and English
1. In Russian
The Russian proverb mentioned here is: С глаз долой из сердца вон From - eyes - away - from - heart - away 'Out of sight, out of mind'/ 'Long absent, soon forgotten' In general, this proverb means that: something that you say which means if you do not hear about or see someone or something for a period of time, you stop thinking about; and that: if you do not see someone or something frequently, you will forget about it.
In the denotation of this Russian proverb, as we can see, people use two human body organs: EYES and HEART. As they are interpreted in Ozhegov's dictionary, in this case, the organ сердщ HEART' is "the symbol of experiences, feelings, moods of a person".
2. In French
The worldview embodied in the Russian proverb can be observed in French equivalent:
Loin des yeux loin du coeur (Far from the eyes far from the heart)
However, an attention should be paid here to the fact that Russian HEART is not similar to the French ONE in all its metaphorical uses. Compare the following examples: Russian : Oт всей моей души (From - all - my - soul) 'With all my heart'
French: De tout mon coeur 'With all my heart'
3. In English
The English equivalent of Russian proverb "С глаз долой из сердца вон" is:
Out of sight out of mind Two relations can be seen in this proverb:
SIGHT - EYE: The term sight with its synonyms as see, view, vision and the compound eyesight are clearly related with the faculty or power of seeing, and consequently - with the EYES as organs of vision.
MIND - HEAD: The head is considered as the centre of the intellect (as of thought, memory, or understanding); mind. People often use the term mind to mean the same as thought, and in the 'folk psychology' it is the way we talk to ourselves «inside our heads». That is a MIND as a part of a person is related to a HEAD as a human body part.
It is known that our body is divided into four parts: a) head, b) trunk/torso, c) upper extremities, d) lower extremities; that our eyes are on our face, and that our face is found on the anterior surface of our head. Roughly speaking, from a biological perspective there are two body organs used in the denotation of proverb Out of sight out of mind: HEAD and EYES.
Moreover, attention should be paid to the fact that there are an anatomical and functional dichotomy between MIND and HEART in English language and culture:
"heart" is an inner body part (or organ), and metaphorically plays a role of 'locus'(or 'seat' or 'container') for person's feelings (or capacity for love and compassion), that is for human emotional life;
while "mind" is not a body part; it is only a person's ability to think and reason, and it can be seen as the place, the 'locus' for thoughts, for human mental life.
A culturally and cognitively deep difference can be uncovered in analyzing this case. If English chooses MIND/HEAD (a body organ used as a container for human mental life), for Russian and French we can see another way: our HEART (as a container for emotional life) is chosen. In comparison with Russian and French, it seems that the English 'cognitive style' is more 'cold' with thoughts in MIND/HEAD while Russian and French is more 'warm' with emotions/affection in the HEART. Russian and French proverbs seem to be more 'narrow' with a sense related to only persons while English one is more 'broad' with a sense related to someone or something. For example, the feature of 'warm feeling' of French proverb can be observed from the various definitions in which this proverb is often explained:
the distance of two persons weakens the affection which they have for each other (L'éloignement de deux personnes affaiblit l'affection qu'elles se portent mutuellement);
the distance distends the emotional connection (L'éloignement distend le lien affectif); or
the absence destroys or cools the affection (L'absence détruit ou refroidit l'affection) (Source: fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/).
B. Vietnamese vs. Russian, French and English
In Vietnamese the equivalent of the Russian proverb "С глаз долой из сердца
вон" is:
Xa mat câch long
Far face away place of abdomen/inside of belly
It is obvious that there exist two crucial differences between the similar proverbs in Russian, French, English and their Vietnamese equivalent:
(i) Not EYES, but FACE in Vietnamese is chosen; but the term mat 'face' is used here with metonymical meaning, stands for a person, as in the phrase: gap mat (see face) 'meet someone'. Another interesting case is the pair of mat 'FACE' - long 'PLACE OF
ABDOMEN', in which the FACE also denotes the outside of a person, and the PLACE OF ABDOMEN refers to his/her inside:
Content/Consentient - face - but - not - content - place of abdomen 'Be content by face but not by heart' (ii) Not MIND/HEAD or HEART in Vietnamese is chosen, but the term long (the place of abdomen/inside of belly) is used.
To better understand the aforementioned proverb in Vietnamese, it is necessary to give an overview of this lexical item long 'place of abdomen/inside of belly' which like English mind or soul has the denotation of non-anatomical part, non-physical place. In modern Vietnamese, the word long denotes only the body part INTESTINE of an animal, but not for a human. Long is often considered as the synonym of bung ('belly') and symbolizes a place for localizing emotion and mental/psychological aspects, spirit, will, character, moral nature of humans as well. Because long is not included in the anatomical list of human body parts, it can be translated into English as: the place of abdomen/the inside of belly. See examples:
Toi dam chm vao nhung suy nghi trong long. I - immerse myself - thoughts - in - place of abdomen 'I was immersed in the thought of my heart' Nghe tin ba mat, no rat dau long Hear - grandmother - die - she - very pain - at her place of abdomen 'Having heard about the grandmother's death, her heart is almost broken'. Tam long vang place of abdomen - gold 'A heart of gold/A golden heart' Tu day long
from the bottom - place of abdomen 'From the bottom of one's heart' Hoc thuoc long learn - know by place of abdomen 'Learn by heart'
In general, there is a certain similarity in terms of meaning between Russian сердщ, French coeur and English word heart and Vietnamese long, whose definition can be easily found in dictionaries. However, Vietnamese long cannot always be translated into Russian сердщ, French coeur and English heart; in some cases not long 'PLACE OF ABDOMEN' but other body part can be choosen like bung 'BELLY' or ruot 'INTESTINE':
+ Rusian - Vietnamese:
с болью в сердце : dau long
(with - pain - in - heart - : pain - place of abdomen)
недоброе серд^ : xau bung
(bad - heart : bad - belly)
Сердце разрывается на части : Ruot dau nhu cat (Heart - torn - apart : Intestine - pain - like - cut off от всей души : tu day long
(from - all - soul : from - bottom - place of abdomen)
+ French - Vietnamese:
Bang mat nhung không bang long
Bon coeur : Tot bung (good - heart : kind - belly) Kind- hearted'
Avoir le coeur sur la main : Ruot de ngoai da
(Have - heart - on - hand : Intestine - be - out - on skin)
'Wear your heart on your sleeve'
+ English - Vietnamese:
Kind- hearted : Tôt bung (kind - belly)
Heart- break : Xé ruot (break - intestine)
There is no absolute similarity between Vietnamese proverb and its equivalent in Russian, French or English. It should be mentioned here that in contrast to most of 'Western' cultures and languages, and like in Chinese and most of other 'Oriental' ones, there is no the opposition between HEAD/MIND-HEART in Vietnamese language and culture. The HEART in Chinese or the PLACE OF ABDOMEN in Vietnamese is conceptualized as a container or location for emotions, feelings and at the same time - for thought and reason. It lies in the fact that there exist two ways of 'world view' in our thinking about the location of human thought and feelings in inner body organs: 'Dualistic cultural construct' in English versus 'Monistic cultural construct in Vietnamese as well as in Thai and Japanese (see Berendit, Tanita 2010).
C. Other languages in Vietnam
According to the official statistics of the Vietnamese government, there are 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam, including the Kinh (Vietnamese) and 53 other ethnicities (or minority groups), and each group has its own language. Among these ethnic minority languages, only Chinese and Khmer have official status elsewhere (in China and Cambodia, respectively). Moreover, in Vietnam there are a variety of language families, subfamilies or groups existing in the larger South East Asia (SEA) as follows:
- Austro-Asiatic languages (including Mon-Khmer with the core consisting of Viet-Katuic and Khmer-Bahnaric languages);
-Austronesian/Malayo-Polynesian languages;
- Hmong-Mien/Miao-Yao languages;
- Sino-Tibetan languages;
- Tai-Kadai languages.
It would be ideal to conduct a multifaceted cross-cultural study of the English proverb with reference to its equivalent expressed in 54 languages. However,-we are only trying to compare the Russian proverb with some languages of five language groups mentioned above.
1. Austro-Asiatic languages with the focus on the Mon-Khmer core: Muong and Khmer
Compared with Vietnamese, the Muong language embodies the same 'monistic cultural tradition' and a similar way of perceiving and conceiving loong/lom 'place of abdomen' (and roit/roach 'intestine', tlông/troông 'belly', da 'place of stomach') as 'locus' for human emotional and mental life. It should be noted that Muong are believed to be most closely related to the ethnic Vietnamese (some ethnologists propose that the Muong have remained in the mountains and developed independently while the Vietnamese have moved to the low country and become influenced by Chinese culture). Linguistic data suggest that in contrast to Vietnamese, in the Muong language BELLY (and INTES-
a) Muong
TINE) is used more frequently than the 'place of abdomen' (and 'place of stomach'). So, the Muong equivalent of Russian proverb "С глаз долой из сердца вон" is: Kha much (hay i) kha troong tlong/troong Far - face - (also) - far - in - belly b) Khmer
Like the Vietnamese, the Khmer language in the South of Viet Nam has a similar 'monistic cultural tradition'. The crucial feature of this similarity is that the 'place of abdomen' is seen as the central locus for human emotions and rationalities. The Khmer equivalent of Russian proverb "С глаз долой из сердца вон" is: Kho-liet cai cha-ngai chat Far - body - far - place of abdomen
It is clear that in the Khmer language neither EYES nor FACE but whole BODY is used, and this feature is very specific in comparison with other languages.
2. Within Austronesian languages: Cham
In Cham language, a similar 'monistic cultural tradition' exists. Like in Vietnamese, the Cham equivalent of Russian proverb "С глаз долой из сердца вон" is: Atah bokpok hatian
Far - face - narrow - belly/place of abdomen
There is another equivalent: Atahpalei karei tian
Far - village - different - belly/place of abdomen
This proverb means that if you do not see or hear about someone who lives in your village, when he/she is far away (from the village) for a period of time, you stop thinking or worrying about them. As it can be seen here, the specific feature of this Cham proverb is that it refers to two entities: one is a human body organ BELLY, but the other is a spatial object VILLAGE. This is a culturally and cognitively specific difference between the Cham language on the one hand and Russian, English, French, and other languages in Vietnam on the other.
3. Within Hmong-Mien languages: Hmong
In comparison with other SEA languages in Vietnam, Hmong (or Mong, or Meo) language is very specific in its linguistic, cognitive and cultural aspects. In Hmong's mode of thinking, LIVER is the center of human affective states, processes and activities or their cognitive counterparts.
The Hmong equivalent of the Russian proverb "С глаз долой из сердца вон" is: Dez flu mak kuok saz Far - face - far - liver CONCLUDING REMARKS
In my comparative study of the Russian proverb "С глаз долой из сердца вон" and its equivalents in the aforementioned languages, we have examined different evidences in language, culture and cognition. Theoretically, as a result, a new typology' of our ways of viewing and thinking or feeling about humans, animals, plants etc... around us can probably be established. In the case of the Russian proverb "С глаз долой из сердца вон", for example, it is the typology of cultural conceptions of human body parts functioning as a container or locus of thoughts and emotions; and the data collected from different languages have revealed that they can probably be divided into the following 'cultural- linguistic' groups:
1. Regarding human body parts used in the first half of the proverb, there are two 'world-views', 'cognitive styles' or 'modes of thinking' as follows: (i) Using only human parts or body organs:
In this case, only English chooses the couple EYES - MIND, but in Russian and other
languages EYES - HEART, FACE - BELLY or FACE - PLACE OF ABDOMEN have been
Russian, French and Chinese choose EYES, while FACE is selected by Vietnamese and other languages of SEA.
The Khmer language uses entire BODY
Using human body parts and physical objects or places:
In this case only the Cham language chooses the pair VILLAGE - BELLY.
2. With regard to human body parts used in the second half of the proverb, it seems that there is a moving down along vertical axes of the body in choosing its parts:
- In Russian, French, and Chinese, the HEART which is contained in the upper body part is referred to; - In English proverb, the HEAD (related to MIND) is chosen.
- In Vietnamese and many languages of SEA, the BELLY or the PLACE OF ABDOMEN which belongs to the lower part of the body is preferably used.
In terms of psychology and linguistics, and in the case of the aforementioned proverb of different languages, we can see that there is:
(i) a group of languages as English which has a 'MIND/HEAD-cognitively oriented strategy' (or 'MIND/HEAD- cognitively oriented style');
(ii) a group of languages as Russian, French or Chinese which has a 'CHEST/THO-RAX-cognitively oriented strategy' (or 'CHEST/THORAX- cognitively oriented style');
(iii) and a group of languages as Vietnamese, Muong, Khmer, Cham and Hmong which have 'ABDOMEN-cognitive oriented strategy' (or 'ABDOMEN- cognitively oriented style'), that is another inner body part or place (as BELLY, LIVER, PLACE OF ABDOMEN) chosen for 'container/locus' function.
* We express special thanks to the informants who as the representatives of different ethnic groups have filled out our questionnaire: Thach Doi and Dao Son Nam (Khmer), Nguyen Thi Hang and Tran Thanh Huong (Muong); Nguyen Ngoc Thanh and Giang A Pao (Hmong), Phu Van Han (Cham).
In Russian:
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