Language as a system: meaning and sense
https://doi.org/10.24833/2410-2423-2020-3-23-48-62
Abstract
The article examines the dual nature of language as a system: actual (individual information system) and potential (individual conceptual system). If from the standpoint of the information system the act of speaking performed by the individual is a linguistic reflex, then from the standpoint of the conceptual system, the thought-speech activity actualized by the linguistic personality appears as an experience of reflection.
Using the example of creolized discourse, it is shown how operating with language at the level of an information system puts an individual in the position of a passive consumer of the existing meanings (given), which excludes the possibility of considering him from the position of a speech subject. The latter turns out to be achievable in the case when the conceptual system is actualized as a correlate of thought-speech activity, the effectiveness of which is recognized at the level of meaning (created). It is substantiated that if a language as an information system can function without regard to the conceptual system, then the actualization of the language as a conceptual system is impossible without an information system, in the bosom of which it is hidden.
It is argued that, in contrast to meaning, which, being objective, is subject to arbitrary subjectivization in the process of use due to the emotive valence of a word, meaning appears as an intersubjective phenomenon. Moreover, if the actual emotives are directly related to the language as an information system, then the potentials demonstrate their belonging to the language as a conceptual system.
The article is addressed to philologists-communicologists, philosophers and culturologists who are interested in the issues of language as an activity, emotive linguistics, meaning formation.
About the Authors
V. I. Shakhovsky
Volgograd State Social and Pedagogical University (VGSPU)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Shakhovsky Viktor I. – Doctor of Philology, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Professor, Chief Researcher. Sphere of scientific and professional interests: communication of emotions, including intercultural; emotive linguoecology; translation studies
27, prospect imeni V.I. Lenina, Volgograd 400066
P. S. Volkova
Krasnodar Higher Military School. General of the Army S.M. Shtemenko (KVVU)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Volkova Polina St. – Candidate of philological sciences, Doctor of philosophical sciences, Doctor of art history, professor of the 6th department of the Russian language. Research interests: language as an activity, philological hermeneutics, interpretation and reinterpretation of cultural texts
4, st. Krasin, Krasnodar 350063
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Review
For citations:
Shakhovsky V.I., Volkova P.S. Language as a system: meaning and sense. Linguistics & Polyglot Studies. 2020;23(3):48-62. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24833/2410-2423-2020-3-23-48-62
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