Concept As An Invariant Basis Of The Communicative Situation

Abstract

The article examines the problem of the significance of the concept as the invariant basis of the communicative situation. Every communicative situation serves as a basis of the field of emergence as well as its concepts of both synonymous and antonymic paradigms. These paradigms depend on linguistic and extralinguistic factors. Hence they are crucial in verbal interpretation of a particular situation. The main idea of the study is the verbal variants realized on the basis of a concept considered the semantic core of the interpretation variant. Emotional perception of the communicative situation causes specific concept selection from the synonymous series. The concept becomes the main tool to verbalize and add emotional features to the text according to the concept’s lexical and stylistic means. Hence the emotional perception is a result of a special semantic, stylistic, as well as lexical uniqueness of the verbal version in every communicative situation. The paper also aims to determine the global vectors of a world image perception and its interpretation. Here comes a macro base of the text which affects the field of emergence in communication. The communicative situation is assumed to be formed on the basis of four main (macro) motivations serving as physical perception (perception obtained by sensory receptors), emotional and psychological condition, intelligence and the religious factor. The field of emergence appears when the communicative situation is verbalized within a complex perception and interpretation of the material universe, emotional and psychological condition, intellectual and religious component.

Keywords: Conceptemergencecommunicative situationinvariantinterpretation

Introduction

 Every communicative situation is based on a certain concept. The concept itself causes the field of emergence which contains a set of verbal models relevant to the particular communicative situation. (Leonenkov, 2005). The perception of a person is interpreted according to linguistic and extralinguistic factors of the communicative situation which itself serves as a certain concept affecting the interpretation (Albekov, 2015; Zherebilo, 2017). Hence the concept as a basis of the interpretation in communicative situation is considered significant invariant unit as well as an important aspect cooperating with all structural-semantic components of a text (Solntsev, 1973).

Problem Statement

It is common that the formation of each text takes place on the basis of a certain conceptual idea, which is mostly expressed by the “key” (main) concept (Albekov, 2015; Vsevolodov, 2009). According to the studies an extralinguistic factor becomes the key factor in interpretation of communicative situation. Hence other factors as social, political, geographical, historical, political have a primary influence on a person in interpretation of communicative situation. The verbal form development in interpretation of the same communicative situation depends mostly on the concept which becomes the core of it. Therefore, the core concepts in interpretation of the communicative situation are built in a certain hierarchy briefly identifying the situation (Karasik & Sternin, 2005).

Research Questions

In order to determine a concept's activity rate in a text building and in the idea of world-image, a number of fiction in English, Russian and Chechen languages were analysed. Along with other objectives the study considers the concepts’ potential in the field of emergence in a specific communicative situation (Bulygina & Shmelev, 1997). The study found concepts to be a part of both antonymic and synonymous paradigms. These concepts, according to our research, are most often involved in the world-image formation based on the particular text or fiction.

There is a table of invariant concepts of communicative situation in fiction (table 1 ), and list of the intensity rate of the concepts in the “key position” of the text as a whole. Of course, the key position of a concept in the interpretation of the speech situation always depends on the perception of the situation in the given situation (Vygotsky, 1999). Nevertheless, the factor of intensity of a certain concept in the world-image formation represented in the text is worth analyzing.

For the study problems to be objective the key position of a concept in more than 500 works of art belonging to different genres were analysed.

Purpose of the Study

The development of communicative situation into a particular verbal form is studied by many sciences. The main aspects, factors, causes and reasons impacting the development of communicative situation into a specific text is still being disputable (Berdychesvsky, 2012; Golikova, 1996). The research questions led to the issue to establish the basic causes or motives of the concept development as the basis of the communicative situation.

There must be many causes and motivation of the concept development based on the communicative situation (Glukhov, 2005). However, the study shows the field of emergence in fictions to be analysed in the research determines wide vectors of causes and motives. These factors impact on the world-image and its perceiving and interpreting. The world-image perception and interpretation become a macrobase and emergence of the text. According to the analysis, the main vectors are connected with:

• physical perception and interpretation of the universe (everything that gives in to physical sensation and perception through the senses), actualizing the speech situation;

• emotional and psychological state (emotions as a motivation for verbalization of the speech situation);

• intelligence (consciousness, calculation, analysis, conclusion, plan as verbalization of the communicative situation);

• religious factor (faith as the basis of the communicative situation motivation).

The list of vectors mentioned above determine the cause, motives and relevance of concept in communicative situations and predict the interpretation of this communicative situation. These parameters explain the prevalence of social or emotional reasons of a particular concept in communicative situation.

As an example, the analysis of the concept of FEAR in fiction (table 2 ).

As an example, the plot of “A farewell to Arms” is built on the main theme of abandoning war, so the concept of WAR leads to the particular communicative situation. The idea of war itself causes the fear based on the war consequences as destruction, murder, loss, mutilation, and other tragedies. Clearly, a person in this case experiences panic fear. Major features of war which cause fear are known to be physical and mental pain, death probability or loss of family members etc. Nevertheless, a person in a critical situation hopes for salvation and the chance to continue living in the “other world”. Here comes the divine faith. Physical suffering is defined by the features of war + death + fear ; emotional suffering comes with fear of death + probability + fear ; Divine hope is death + faith (disbelief) + fear . Accordingly, it turns out the speech situation, reflected in the global vector of motivation of perception and interpretation of the picture of the world, which defines the concept of FEAR as dread caused by fear.

The importance of designating the vector of cause and motives is generated by the need to define an invariant concept in a communicative situation. If there is a variant of an interpreted modification of the original text, the specificity of emergence in an interpreted version can be determined in a similar way (Luria, 1979; Sternin, 2007). According to the idea of the study, defining the key concept correctly is important when interpreting the communicative situation of the original. The identity of the interpretational variant depends on the concept definition (Schweizer, 1988; Shaumyan, 1999). As an example, the versions of the text of the first stanza of the Sonnet 77 by Shakespeare (2005), translated by Bryusov (1998):

W. Shakespeare:

Being your slave, what should I do but tend

Upon the hours and times of your desire?

I have no precious time at all to spend,

Nor services to do, till you require. (Shakespeare, 2005, para. 2)

The interpretation of the communicative situation is based on the concept of "love"

:Для верных слуг нет ничего другого,

Как ожидать у двери госпожу.

Так, прихотям твоим служить готовый,

Я в ожиданье время провожу. (Shakespeare, 2005, para. 4)

Translated by Bryusov (1998). At the heart of the interpretation of the speech situation the concept of "friendship":

Твой верный раб, я все минуты дня

Тебе, о мой владыка, посвящаю.

Когда к себе ты требуешь меня,

Я лучшего служения не знаю. (Bryusov, 1998, para. 4)

For example, Shakespeare’s Sonnet 57 the concept of love of a woman serves as a communicative situation. Physical perception is man + woman = relationship. Physical state and its perception come with qualities + admiration + love. The sense of love gives a man hope for being noticed and approved by a woman he loves. Emotional state is admiration + faith + love.

The communicative situation in the excerpt of translation by Bryusov (1998) focuses on male friendship. Physical perception comes with man + man + friendship. Physical perception and state - behavior + actions + friendship, emotional perception - devotion + faith = friendship.

The text specificity and uniqueness appears in emergence as the result of a complex interpretation of the physical universe, emotional and psychological state, intellectual and religious component of the communicative situation (Albekov, 2015; Zherebilo, 2017).

The research explored another factor based on the degree of activity of a concept that is caused by the world-image itself. Therefore, the analysis based on more than 500 fiction contributed to the identification of the potential of activity and passivity of concepts in the world-image formation of the fiction. Moreover, the definition of monosemic or major concepts review the potential of the field of emergence of the concepts based on the communicative situation.

Research methods

The main methods applied in the research are the invariant-variable and statistical method of analysis.

Findings

One of the important factors established in the course of our research is that the concepts of life and body are the foundations of a world-image formation. This means that they are present in all texts, thereby determining the invariant position of these concepts in the world-image formation shown in any fiction

The study suggests, the concepts of happiness or grief, which seem to prevail in human life become more passive when forming the world-image. It means these concepts almost very rarely act as the basis of a communicative situation.

The invariant position of the concepts of life and body can be explained through the idea of existence: the body is there where the life is (although life is not always where the body is), they become the main attributes of the universe. The intensity of the concepts’ development in world-image formation is connected with the famous model of “Three Calms” + 0 -. In our table, we will have three columns indicating positive, absolute, and neutral concepts. The list of concepts is indicated by the degree of intensity development of a world-image formation in the text (table 3 ).

The number of concepts, both positive and negative, that occupy an invariant position in the world-image of the text, is intentionally the same number. The table analysis shows the relative balance of positive and negative concepts in the world-image formation of the fiction.

Conclusion

The study results:

• there is a list of certain concepts that dominate in the formation of world-image fragment in the texts;

• the degree of activity of some concepts in the formation of world-image fragment in the texts prevails over other concepts; nevertheless, the stylistic and genre content difference of the fiction is not significant;

• there are particular concepts equally involved in the world-image formation in the fiction;

• there is a degree of passivity of concepts in the world-image formation in the fiction;

there are concepts that take a minimum part in the world-image formation in the fiction.

Acknowledgments

The research is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project 18-412-200001, “Models for the study of the communicative behavior of Chechen bilinguals”.

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