Ответ на 23 вопрос!

23. Culture bumps: overcoming misunderstandings in cross – cultural communication

(the vision of the world of a nation, realia, words without equivalents, the function of language as a tool of culture, the vision of the world, the sociocultural component, the world of language , the world of reality, different speech communities, actual

“equivalents” in the full sense of the word, mode of living, the moral code, relations between people, the system of values, determined by socio-historical factors)

1. Man – Language – World Relationship

The function of language as a tool of culture has been ignored for a long period of time. However, this aspect of language is extremely important for many reasons.

Language reflects the world of its users. The vision of the world of a nation is conveyed by its language, the latter reflecting not only geography, climate, mode of living, but also the moral code, relations between people, the system of values, determined by socio-historical factors. Thus, culture in the broad, anthropological sense of the word is reflected by language.

Language shapes its user, imposing on him/her the vision of the world and the culture of human relations reflected and stored in it.

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equivalents in both languages as lawyer. Lawyer is the general word for someone whose business is law. In England and Wales there are two kinds of lawyer who have different training and perform different jobs. A solicitor advises people on legal matters such as contracts, wills, and the buying and selling of property. Solicitors may represent a person in a Magistrate’s Court, but have only be able to do so in a higher court since 1992. A barrister may represent a person in any court, but usually only does so in the higher courts. A person’s solicitor advises the barrister about the facts of the case, but does not tell the barrister what to say. In the US a lawyer may also be called an attorney, and there are no differences between the two. A lawyer who represents someone during a trial is sometimes called a counselor.

Let’s consider some more examples. Labor Day – a US national holiday to honour workers, established in 1894. Labor Day is the first Monday in September and is the last big holiday before the school year begins. There are no demonstrations with flags on this day. There is no ideology. There is no Labor Day in Great Britain, but there is May Day. There are still some local customs and celebrations although these may not be held on May Day itself but on the May Day bank holiday, the first Monday in May. In the US young children often dance around a maypole at school, and often leave small baskets of flowers at a friend’s door to be found on May Day morning. May Queen or young woman who is chosen as part of the May Day celebrations, usually because she is judged to be very attractive. She wears crown of flowers and is also called Queen of the May.

At Christmas, British and American people decorate a mistletoe* or a holly*. Mistletoe is a parasitic plant, species of which are found in Europe, Asia, and North America, having evergreen leaves and bearing white berries and small, yellow flowers. Holly – a small tree with dark green shiny prickly leaves and red berries.

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The first two statements are so obvious, so well investigated, so many papers have been written (and are being written) on the subject. But still it is the focus of attention. As is well-known, language is the main, the most explicit, the most obvious, official and socially acknowledged means of communication. The life and development of any human society is based on communication through language (which does not exclude, of course, other ways of communication).

Developing communicative skills is a difficult problem everywhere but it is particularly complicated in this country where for so many years Foreign Language Teaching was generally oriented on recognition while production was neglected.

And although both recognition and production skills cannot be developed without the background knowledge of the world of the language under study, it is speech production, the actual use of language which makes the importance and inevitability of the sociocultural component so evident. Indeed, it is a great misunderstanding to believe that in order to use language, to produce speech, both written and oral, it is enough to know words as lists of meanings and rules of bringing them together in speech (that is grammar and syntax). The problem is that the idea of meaning as a reference to reality invariably leads one out of the world of language into the world of reality. Consequently, bringing words together means bringing objects of reality together. The real worlds may coincide in some physical features but the visions of the world by different peoples representing different speech communities do not coincide. Thus, words of different languages which seem to refer to the same object or idea can hardly ever be actual “equivalents” in the full sense of the word.

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2. Shattering the idea of word equivalence at the level of lexical units

Let us now discuss such common everyday words like parts of the day which have “equivalents” in every language but we mean to compare English and Russian: утро – morning, день – day, вечер – evening, ночь – night. At the level of concepts the difference is quite striking. The English morning is much longer than the Russian “утро”: it takes 12 hours and lasts from midnight till noon covering the whole of the Russian ночь (from midnight to 4 a.m.), утро (from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m.) and part of the Russian день (from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.).

The difference between the Russian word день and the English day is even more striking. First of all, there are two English words – day and afternoon covering the piece of the Russian mosaic language picture of the world occupied by the word "day". Then, they vary in usage: Good day! – may be used as a dismissing phrase showing displeasure, irritation, etc. Strangely for Russian students of English the translation of a most common Russian greeting Добрый день! is rather good afternoon than good day. The following English contexts with the word "day" have no correspondence with the word день: I'll go there one day – когда-нибудь (sometime), he began his days in a small town – жизнь (life), in my day – время (time), it made my day – осчастливить (to make happy).

Here is a recent example illustrating the importance of sociocultural background knowledge for understanding such word-

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24. National images and intercultural communication

( national image, mentality, national character, stereotype, the English national character, the Welsh national character, the Irish national character, the Scottish national character, the American national character, John Bull, Uncle Sam, Union Jack, St George, St Andrew, St David, St Patrick, Stars & Stripes; floristic symbols : leek, rose, thistle, shamrock, melting pot, etc.)

1. National image. Stereotype. National character. National mentality

Every national entity: ethnicity, country, culture – has a special world view, a unique national scale of values. It is well known that every nation has its stereotyped image in the eyes of other nations. National image – the general opinion about a person, organization, country, a picture formed in the mind. Emblems, logos and other symbols are widely used as a simple way of identifying countries, states, organizations etc. Stereotype (= fixed idea of a person’s character). The character of a person or place consists of all the qualities they have that make them distinct from other people or places. You can use the word national

character to refer to the qualities that people from a particular place are believed to have. e.g. Individuality is a valued and inherent part of the British character. National mentality – a habitual way of thinking of one’s nation; character.

One of the tasks of the linguistic study of the country is to investigate the problem of the national stereotypes, their origin and influence on public opinion. The study of perception of Great Britain, the USA by Russia is very important for understanding the Americans, the British because it gives an opportunity to see Great Britain, the USA from the distance, to see a specific view of

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multiracial, multicultural society. When people get to know Americans as individuals they have a lot more respect and affection for them than the popular, rather negative stereotype based on a casual meeting or on television programmes might suggest. The British find Americans friendly, welcoming to visitors; they have no worries about class.

The US once belonged to Britain, and many Americans have British ancestors, so when Americans think of Britain, they think of a place that seems very familiar. Americans watch British television programmes, especially dramas, see James Bond films, and read detective stories by Agatha Christie. Americans admire the behaviour of the British, although they themselves would never want all their social rules. Americans think of the British as being perfectly polite and proper, always knowing which knife and folk to use, always saying “please”, “thank you” and “excuse me”. The violence associated with football matches is not widely known about in the US. Britons are also famous for their reserve and their “stiff upper lip”, i.e. for not giving their opinion or showing their feeling in public, which makes them seem formal and distant. The British are also thought to use understatement (= to talk in a way which makes things seem less serious or important than they really are).

Americans often say that the British are “quaint” (=old-fashioned), but in a nice way. This impression comes partly from differences in how the two countries speak English. British English has words and structures that have not been used in the US for a long time, and so it sounds old-fashioned or formal. A favourite British adjective is lovely, which is used to describe anything, including the weather, other British words like holiday, smashing, brilliant make Americans smile. The British are snobbish and do not seem very friendly. The famous British reserve seems cold to Americans who are more used to an open, enthusiastic way of communicating.

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rose – England’s official emblem. Red and white roses were chosen as emblems during the Wars of the Roses. Afterwards, the two were combined in the Tudor rose. Other images include a bulldog, often wearing a Union Jack waistcoat, and John Bull, an old-fashioned and fat country gentleman.

Wales has two plants, the leek and the daffodil, as its emblems. Scotland has the thistle (= a prickly weed) as its official emblem, but a tartan pattern is used on many products made in Scotland. The national symbol of Northern Ireland is the Red Hand

of Ulster, which appears on its flag. The shamrock and the harp are also associated with Ireland. The Great Seal of the US, which appears on US money and government, show a bald eagle, a very large bird which is itself a symbol of the US. In its mouth the eagle holds the words e pluribus unum (one out of many). Other names of the US, e.g. ‘the melting pot’ (= one country made up from many individual states). Uncle Sam – the imaginary person who represents the US and its government. Uncle Sam has a white beard and wears red, white and blue clothes, with stars on his tall hat. Stars and Stripes the US flag. Old Glory is a popular name for the US flag, first used by William Driver, a ship’s captain from Massachusetts, in 1831.

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American, British problems, to see those features which may be taken for granted and therefore unnoticed by the Americans, the British. At the same time the knowledge sometimes helps to avoid cross – cultural misunderstandings.

2. What the British think of Americans

(a humorous look at the stereotypes)

3. What Americans think of the British

(a humorous look at the stereotypes)

British people have mixed opinions about the Americans, reflecting the close but sometimes troubled relationship between the two nations. For many British people the US is associated with power in international politics, Hollywood, money and violence. The British think that money matters more than anything else to Americans, and they don’t really approve of this and do not like brash displays of wealth. Young people generally have a much more positive attitude and love everything that comes out of America.

The British laugh at the usage of Americanisms: “Gee, honey!” and “Have a nice day!” They think names ending with numbers, like William D Hancock III, are rather silly and pretentious. British people believe that Americans have no culture, and that except for a few intellectuals. Americans spend their free time watching baseball and football, often on television. If they want culture they get television programmes from the BBC.

The popular stereotype of white Americans is created by white Britons, but these people know that the US, like Britain, is a

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multiracial, multicultural society. When people get to know Americans as individuals they have a lot more respect and affection for them than the popular, rather negative stereotype based on a casual meeting or on television programmes might suggest. The British find Americans friendly, welcoming to visitors; they have no worries about class.

The US once belonged to Britain, and many Americans have British ancestors, so when Americans think of Britain, they think of a place that seems very familiar. Americans watch British television programmes, especially dramas, see James Bond films, and read detective stories by Agatha Christie. Americans admire the behaviour of the British, although they themselves would never want all their social rules. Americans think of the British as being perfectly polite and proper, always knowing which knife and folk to use, always saying “please”, “thank you” and “excuse me”. The violence associated with football matches is not widely known about in the US. Britons are also famous for their reserve and their “stiff upper lip”, i.e. for not giving their opinion or showing their feeling in public, which makes them seem formal and distant. The British are also thought to use understatement (= to talk in a way which makes things seem less serious or important than they really are).

Americans often say that the British are “quaint” (=old-fashioned), but in a nice way. This impression comes partly from differences in how the two countries speak English. British English has words and structures that have not been used in the US for a long time, and so it sounds old-fashioned or formal. A favourite British adjective is lovely, which is used to describe anything, including the weather, other British words like holiday, smashing, brilliant make Americans smile. The British are snobbish and do not seem very friendly. The famous British reserve seems cold to Americans who are more used to an open, enthusiastic way of communicating.

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25. Nationally cultural peculiarities of the English, American onomastics

(the most common English / Welsh / Scottish / Irish surnames; traditions of American / British anthroponomastics; author’s inventions, typical Gaelic first names, typical Welsh first names, nicknames : Jock’ or ‘Mac’, ‘Paddy’ or ‘Mick’ ‘Taffy’,‘Yanks’ or ‘Yankees’, a ‘Roller’, ‘Marks & Sparks’ , The Hammers, “The Golden State”, “The Lone Star State,” “The Equality State”).

1. The definition of onomastics.

The subject matter of the science

In the present lecture we attempt to seek the nationally cultural peculiarities of the English / American proper names. The distinction between names and appellatives (common nouns) is generally clear. Names are used in individual reference; appellatives can be used in reference to all members of a class or to any number of them. The science that studies names in all their aspects is called onomastics. The subject of this science is broad because almost everything can have a name and because the study of names theoretically encompasses all languages, all geographical and cultural regions, and all historical epochs. In the most precise terminology, a set of personal names is called anthroponymy and their study is called anthroponomastics. A set of place-names is called toponymy, and their study is called toponomastics. The term toponymy includes inhabited places, buildings, roads, countries, mountains, rivers, lakes, oceans, stars, and so on. Names of streets, roads, and the like are called hodonymy; names of bodies of water – hydronymy, names of mountains – oronymy. The study of the objects, connected with fantasy of people is called mythonomy. The study of the objects connected with creative work of artists, writers is called fictonymy (fiction).

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Literature can have a marked influence as seen in the history of use surrounding Alice (after L. Carroll), Rhett (M. Mitchell “Gone …”).

In Britain the names of William and Harry have become common again since the sons of Prince Charles were given these names.

The name Albert grew enormously in popularity towards the end of the XIX c. as a consequence of the marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert. It does not appear in the list of the top 50 names in 1800, but it had reached the top10 by 1900. Surprisingly Victoria was never intensively used in the XIX c., probably because of the special respect in which this Queen was held, though it became popular during the 1940s.

The first names are used usually as sex distinctive. There are names definitely for boys and definitely for girls. But this distinction is not absolute. Some of them are common for boys and girls. A few examples are the following: Carl, Sessile, Shirley. Some names are differently spelt but pronounced alike. Francis (Drake) – Frances; but most of them differ in spelling and pronunciation: Robert – Roberta; Paul – Pauline; George – Georgia; Patrick – Patricia; Charles – Charlotte. Some names have but a single resonance. Most people know only one Agatha – Christie (1891-1975).

There are also certain names which are almost universally avoided in English-speaking countries because of their taboo status: Judas, Adolf / Adolph, Lucifer.

Some names are author’s inventions. They may have an etymological meaning (as with Shakespeare’s Miranda, in “The Tempest”, which means (“fit to be admired”)) or they may have no obvious meaning at all (as with Wendy, devised by J. M. Barrie* on the basis of a child’s coin age, fwendy-wendy, and used in “Peter Pan” (1904).

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Spencer’s. The Hammers is a football team (for West Ham United) The Emerald Isle (humor, literary) Ireland, so called because of the greenness of its country areas. In the US all states have nicknames: California – “The Golden State”; Texas – “The Lone Star State”; Wyoming – “The Equality State”.

We should also bear in mind that some names are considered to be speaking ones.

Lady Godiva (11th century) the wife of an earl (1) of Mercia. According to legend, she asked her husband to lower the taxes on the people of Coventry and he said that he would do so if she rode her horse & naked through the town. She did this, and the taxes were lowered. Everyone was told not to look at Lady Godiva, but one man, “Peeping Tom of Coventry”, did and he went blind. Notes on the style: He realized that he was watching the lovers like a common Peeping Tom (a person who likes to watch other people when they are doing something private, for example when they are taking their clothes off or kissing someone).

Jekyll and Hyde – a person who has two different natures and can change from one to the other. He’s a bit of Jekyll and Hyde. (from the story “The Strange Case of Dc Jekyll and Mr Hyde” by R.L. Stevenson, in which the main character has one good nature (Dc Jekyll) and one evil nature (Mr Hyde): a Jekyll and Hyde character)

3. Place names

Britain and the US have a rich variety of place names. Many names reflect the history of an area and of the people who once lived there. Many British towns take their name from a river. In Wales and Scotland many towns have names beginning with Aber – which means river mouth, e.g. Aberdeen, Aberystwyth. In England towns close to a river mouth often end with – mouth, e.g. Plymouth*. Plymouth – a city and port on the coast of Devon in south – west England. It has long been associated with ships and the sea.

A town beside a lake may, in Scotland, contain loch - or, in England, - mere, e.g. Lochinver, Windermere. In Scotland there are several place names beginning with Dun-, meaning “hill”, e.g. Dunbar. Any place whose name ends with - don (Swindon), - hurst (Sandhurst), - head (Gateshead) or, in Wales begins with pen - (Penarth), probably stands on or near a hill. Towns near passes may end in - gate, e.g. Harrogate, or, in Scotland, begin with Glen-, e.g. Glencoe.

American place names based on natural features are easier to recognize. Examples include Two Rivers, River Edge, Mirror Lake, Ocean City, Gulf Breeze, Seven Hills, Shady Valley, Twentynine Palms, Lookout, Little Rock, Round Rock, White Rock and Slippery Rock. French names include La Fontaine and Eau Clair. Some place names describe a product, e.g. Bean City, Cooper City.

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2. Nationally cultural peculiarities of the English/American anthroponomastics

Apart from their surname or last name, most British and American children are given two personal names by their parents, a first name and a middle name. These names are sometimes called Christian names or given names. Some people have only one given name, a few have three or more. Outside the family, the expression to be on first name terms suggests that the people concerned have a friendly informal relationship.

When writing their name Americans commonly give their first name and their middle initial, e.g. George M. Cohan. Both given names are used in full only on formal occasions. In Britain many people sign their name on cheques using the initials of both their given names and their surname, e.g. J.E. Brooks, but may write Joanna Brooks at the end of a letter. The full name (=all given names and surname) is usually only required on official forms.

In some families the oldest boy is given the same name as his father. In the US the word junior or senior, or a number, is added after the name and surname to make it clear which person is being referred to. For example, the son of William Jones Sr (Senior) would be called William Jones Jr (Junior) and his son would be called William Jones III (“William Jones the Third”).

Many popular names come from the Bible, e.g. Jacob, Joshua, Matthew, Mary, Rebecca and Sarah, though this does not imply that the people who chose them are religious.

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Barrie J. M. (1860 - 1937) a Scottish writer of plays and stories, best known for his children’s story Peter Pen, who never grows up but lives in a magic land called Never – Never Land. Peter Pen has a figurative meaning a man whose body or attitudes never seem to change as the years pass; a man who never seems to grow up: the pan of the music business [Longman 1994: 985].

The way in which British surnames have developed is very complicated. Before the Normans arrived, the use of surnames was not really known. Many English surnames were originally connected with a person’s job – Charles Baker, Margaret Thatcher; someone’s size – Jack long, Mary Little; or a family relationship – Robin Williamson (Robin son of William), Peter Richardson. The most common Welsh surnames were all originally Christian names in some form: Dylan Thomas, Roger Davies (a form of David), Geoffrey Jones (from John), David Williams, etc. Many other names come from the tradition of calling a child “son of” his father using the Welsh word ap (or ab). This “p” can be found at the beginning of many common Welsh names, such as Gary Pritchard, which is the same as the English Richardson. Other examples are Prees, Price, Parry, and Pugh.

Welshmen living in England are often called by the nickname “Taffy”. This may come from the River Taff, which runs through the capital Cardiff, or may come from Dafydd, the Welsh form of David. In Welsh English one might hear a John Arthur Jones

being differentiated from a John Bryn Jones, with the middle name acting as a kind if surname (and the true surname often elided, with people talking familiarly about “John Arthur” and “John Bryn”).

Years ago all Irish people spoke Gaelic, and this language is still spoken in some parts of Ireland, although today all Irish people speak English also. The influence of Irish Gaelic is also found in the names of people. Here some typical Gaelic first names: Sean – same as John; Seamus – same as James; Seanna – same as Joanna; Liam – same as William. Paddy (short for Patrick) and Micky (short for Michael) are not Gaelic names but they are found so often in Ireland.

Nicknames based on a person’s race or country can still be heard but are often highly offensive. In England, for example, men from Scotland used to be addressed as ‘Jock’ or ‘Mac’, people from Ireland was ‘Paddy’ or ‘Mick’ and people from Wales – Tabby or Dai.

Members of immigrant groups in both Britain and the US have had to suffer rude names from the native or mainstream population. Nicknames for people in foreign countries, for example, ‘Yanks’ or ‘Yankees’ for Americans, ‘Frogs’ for the French, ‘Jerries’ for Germans.

The British have nicknames for many other things: a ‘Roller’ is a Roll-Royce car and ‘Marks & Sparks’ is ‘Marks and

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