Translated material
New sensitivity. How does language change in the era of emotionality and aggression?
In the Humanitarian lecture of the Skolkovo business school, a cycle of lectures “Rules of New Publicity” continues, dedicated to how the boundaries of the personal and public in the modern world are changing. The first lecture of the culturologist Yuri Saprykin, who talked about how we became so sensitive, can be found here . Now Republic is published by the lecture of the philologist, professor of the Higher School of Economics Hasan Huseynov about how the speech of the post -Soviet man is changing.
Why are we talking about the onset of the era of emotions, about a new emotional sensitivity? My colleague, sociologist Sergei Medvedev, recently noticed that on the tennis courts of Wimbledon, the extra-class players behave completely differently than 20 years ago. Previously, they did not shout as now, they did not break the rackets on the court. We are constantly faced with examples of this kind. Everyone has become much more emotional.
I analyze how our language changes, and for this conversation we need the theory of language functions. It is quite working and goes back to the observations of Plato and Aristotle. So, the functions of the language are five. The first is expressive, or expressive. I yelling so that it does not hurt, I express my feelings. The second is communicative: we need a language to build our relationship with the world.
The third is cognitive. The word older. It is no coincidence that in all traditional education systems they begin with language, with grammar, logic, rhetoric - and only then move on to mathematics, physics and other sciences. The word is primary. To formulate the conditions of the problem and make sure that another person is that the task is completed, we need a language.
The fourth is a managerial function, extremely important, which acts at two levels. One floor is a cybernetic function of the language. This is a representation of some common high tasks, the solution of which we must all work together. But there is also the concept of manipulativeness: with the help of language, we can manipulate each other.
And finally, there is a fifth function. I call it performative, or transforming. This function borders on the religious idea of the language: someone must say "Let there be light!" This phrase in the Old Testament or in the Torah says the creator, and at first he says, and then sees that light is good. That is, at first something is pronounced-with risk elements.
Everything seems to be balanced in this system - this is such an ideal pentagon as on the Soviet sign of quality. Or a five -pointed star. But in fact, in real life, we artificially suppress many of these functions. For everyone, this happens in different ways. We cannot turn on the expressive function of the language at full power, we cannot behave in the team as Serena Williams after defeating on the court. Many people are fatally non -communal. Some are unpleasant to lead others, they have to suppress the management function. And so on.
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