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156CORRELATION OF LANGUAGE AND RELIGION
Badia Omonillayevna Turakhonova
UzSWLU, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Abstract. The article tries to analyze the intersection of religion and language, the influence of religion on language and the reflection of religion on language from socio-pragmatic approach. The article investigates the significance of 'supra-ethnic languages' or 'prophet languages'. The author studies the role of language on religion development, spread and vice versa, the maintenance of language and the impact of religion on cult language. Moreover, the concept of sacred texts language and its social functions are discussed in the article.
Key words: supra-ethnic languages, religious language, sacred texts, Socio-pragmatics, secularization_
I.Introduction
Religion has been a subject of study from various standpoints. Some of the well-known approaches to the study of religion have been through History, Anthropology, Psychology and Sociology.
Diverse nations clasp different cultural values and beliefs, which are reflected in the use of language and how people communicate. We can't find two similar cultures. Wolfson (1989: 2) observes: "each culture has its own unique set of conventions, rules and patterns for the conduct of communication and these must be understood in the context of the general system that reflects the values". The demonstration of communicative acts principally integrates culture-specific restrictions, which administrate how people say what to whom and in what conditions. The influence of religion on language have been conversed according to numerous views by scientists and researchers; e.g. religion and language ideology, religion and language policy and spread, religion and language maintenance.
While investigating the upshot of religion on language, we realize that the influence of religion on people's beliefs, values and attitudes reflects on their own language. In religious societies, the supposed sacredness of religious language informs people's language ideologies, revealing as the desire to use and protect language from venality (purism). From the point of view of semiotics (the science of signs), language and religion are two distinguishing sign systems that have their own content and their own way of conveying this content. The language content plan and the religion content plan are two different images of the world (two pictures, two models of the world), therefore, in terms of semiotics, language and religion are two modeling semiotic systems. From the point of view of philosophy, language and religion are two forms of social consciousness in a series of other forms of displaying the world in people's minds, such as art, philosophy, morality, law, everyday (or everyday) consciousness, science and technology, etc. By the nature of their language and religion, occupy extreme points among other forms of social consciousness: these are polar opposites. Language contains the simplest, most elementary picture of the world; religion is the most complex, while the content of religion includes components of a different psychic nature (sensually visual, logical, emotional, intuitive, and transcendental).
ILLiterature review
Up to the present time, significant attention has been paid to cultural pragmatics research observing how the cultural norms and rules of particular societies influence the use of language. For example, Spencer-Oatey, 2000; Scollon and Scollon, 2001; Wierzbicka, 2003; Chen and Starosta, 2005; Goddard, 2006; Taha, 2006; Kotthoff and Spencer-Oatey, 2007; Cutting, 2008; Peeters, 2009; Rieschild, 2011. Above mentioned cultural and cross-cultural studies have heightened the understanding and perception of interlocutors' use of language in the context of certain cultures, as they focus on the performance of speech acts and strategies used to express intended speech acts.
Nevertheless, the interplay of religion (as a cultural component) and religious factors were not considered as a major influence on both the production and interpretation of speech acts. Although religion has been observed to play a significant role in communication and its influence is undeniable in terms of language choices, interlocutors' views and perceptions of the influence of religion on speech was not under a linguistic focus. To comprehend the sensitivities of interlocutors, we make an empirical examination of the actual presence of religious expressions and their pragmatic and socio-pragmatic functions in everyday communicative language, speakers' preferences for using certain expressions, and the religious ideologies and motivations behind them.
More than a few scientists as Chruszczewski, (2006); Mooney, (2006); Zuckerman, (2006) have discussed the influence of language on religion. In another study, Chruszczewski (2006) investigates religious texts, focusing on how they affect individuals' and communities' lives in general, and their religious lives in particular.
Ferguson (1982) analyzed how religion influences language policy and dissemination, the relationship between religion and language and the influence of religion on language maintenance (Ferguson, (1982); Holmes et al. (1993) in his works. Nonetheless, works of scholars such as Ferguson, 1982; Moelleken, (1983); Sridhar, (1988); Holmes et al. (1993); Schiffman, (1996); Cunningham, (2001); Sawyer, (2001); Kamwangamalu, (2002); Spolskey, (2003); Weeks, (2002); Abdalla,( 2006); Fishman, (2006)do not clearly prove how religion unswervingly effects language as a communicative behavior in diverse cultures and communities.
So, we consider that this research is to be a socio-pragmatic study. Socio-pragmatics can be defined as "the sociological interface of pragmatics"; it examines interlocutors' beliefs based on relevant social and cultural values (Leech, 1983: 10-11);
Cultures, are historically transmitted patterns of meanings come to life in codes comprise several aspects and
constituents, which are critical for enabling individuals and groups to interact socially. A number of scholars as Tillich, 1968; Geertz, 1993; Schiffman, (1996) have recognized language and religion as distinguishing and influential components of culture. In addition, he discussed the importance of religion and language to some cultures, which he terms "linguistic cultures". He states:
One of the most basic issues where language and religion intersect is the existence, in many cultures, of sacred texts [...]. For cultures where certain texts are so revered, there is often almost an identity of language and religion, such that the language of the texts also becomes sacred...(ibid.: 55)
The connotation of religion and language is obvious in some cultures, especially those where both language and religion are perceived as sacred and hieratic. However, the level of significance placed on each is connected to ideological factors, such as the level of secularization with the society, and the perceived intersection between religion and language in any given culture.
Geertz (ibid) further refers to the importance of language in a culture when establishing that cultural "meanings" and "concepts" are expressed in the forms "by means of which men communicate".
Language acts as a criterion and universal form, the shell of all other forms of social consciousness; religion - as universal content, historically the first source from which all subsequent content of social consciousness developed. We can say that language is a universal medium, a communication technique; religion - universal meanings broadcast in communication, cherished meanings, and the most important for a person and society.
In spite of the polar reverse of the plans for the maintenance of language and religion, there are complex relationships between them - because of their deep rootedness in the human mind, rootedness that goes back to the origins of the human in man.
Religious and confessional factors played (and are playing!) an outstanding role in the fate of languages and, more broadly, in the history of human communication.
Therefore, in the history of religions, language issues often acquired vital importance. The translation of Scripture into new languages often led not to the spread of the teaching, but to its modification. The need for new translations or new interpretations could turn out to be both a manifestation and a factor of various heretical and dissident movements.
The drama and paradox of the connection between language and religion is that language, being "just" a communicative technique, turned out to be able to be a prerequisite (one of the prerequisites) and a form of manifestation of religious contradictions, which, ultimately, led to changes in the content of "cherished meanings."
The geography of supra-ethnic religions coincided with the boundaries of the distribution of religious texts in languages that were or became supra-ethnic and acquired a cult character. In the history of culture, languages in which, were first stated or written down and subsequently canonized one or another religious a doctrine, they began to call "prophetic" or "apostolic" ('messenger') languages. There are few such languages. Among the Hindu peoples, the Vedic language and later Sanskrit close to it were the first cult language. Among the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans - Wenyang (the language of the works of Confucius) and Tibetan; among the peoples professing in antiquity and the early Middle Ages Zoroastrianism - Avestan language; Muslims (Arabs, Turks, Iranian peoples) have written and literary Arabic (the language of the Qur'an) and classical Persian. The apostolic languages of the Christian peoples of Europe are Greek and Latin, the Orthodox Slavs and Romanians, in addition, have their first cult language - Church Slavonic (Old Slavonic), which were translated into the 60-80s. IX century Saints Cyril and Methodius sacred texts. As for the Russian language, its status is determined by Orthodox theologians as it is with the current language, since its extensive theological literature was created in the 19th century.
In religious humanities, the apparent holiness of religious language takes on a fundamental role in establishing language ideologies; for example, the aspiration to use and protect language from venality (purism), and the conservancy of sacred texts against translation. However, in other religions such as Christianity, even though religious texts are not in their original languages, but have been translated into other languages are imbued with a degree of sacredness; for example, Latin, Greek, Syriac, and Slavonic.
The originality of linguistic situations in the middle Ages is largely due to the existence of supra-ethnic religions with their special languages, which in most cases did not coincide with the local folk languages. Therefore, in various regions of Europe and Asia, a special type of cultural bilingualism developed, which formed, on the one hand, the supra-ethnic language of religion and book-writing culture (close to religions), and on the other, the local folk language that served everyday communication.
Confessional supra-ethnic languages, i.e. in fact, the international languages of the middle Ages created sufficient opportunities for communication within the boundaries of their cultural and religious worlds. The communicative significance of supra-ethnic languages becomes especially evident if we take into account another significant feature of the language situations of the middle Ages - the strong dialectal fragmentation of languages.
The interaction of supra-ethnic cult languages and folk languages in the processes of adding up new literary languages is one of the most interesting and rich in significant pages in the history of the written culture of peoples and another important aspect in the relationship between language and religion.
Ferguson (1982) writes: "[the] distribution of major types of writing systems in the world correlates more closely with the distribution of the world's major religions than with genetic or typological classifications of language". This correlation reflects the influence of the simultaneous introduction of writing systems, in conjunction with the spread of certain religions. The Arabic script was introduced as a writing system to previously
unwritten languages. It replaced preexisting writing systems (such as Malay and Persian) with the new 'Islamic' writing system based on Arabic. Similarly, Latin script was introduced to local unwritten languages in the West, in conjunction with Christianity (ibid).
In general, in the middle Ages, the dependencies between religions and languages were especially diverse and deep. In comparison with modern culture, the Middle Ages is characterized by a closer and biased attention to the word. All these are the features of cultures that developed on the basis of the religions of Scripture.
An additional topic that has drawn some attention, and which concerns the relationship between religion and language, relates to the influence of religion on language maintenance. Probably the most salient case is the effect of Judaism on Hebrew. For hundreds of years Hebrew was not never an official language and nor was it tied to any nationality. Notwithstanding this, Hebrew has survived to become a national language receiving internationally and official recognition (Ferguson, 1982).
According to these researchers, language "shapes our higher cognitive processes, such as social influences and value judgments, by virtue of its inherent involvement in the process of acquiring cultural practices" (Kashima and Kashima, 1998: 462).
III.GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS:
Summing up the study of religion and language interrelation following conclusions can be drawn:
1. Cultural beliefs, values and customs reflect on a language of a person and the way he communicates in society.
2. Language and religion have their certain content and a style for conveying this content.
3. Language comprises the unpretentious, most elementary picture of the world; religion is the most multipart, while the content of religion includes components of a different psychic nature as sensually optical, logical, emotive, instinctive, and inspirational.
4. Apostolic or prophetic languages are the languages which glorified one religious doctrine.
5. While religious texts are translated to other languages they do not lose their sacredness.
6. Intersection of supra-ethnic cult languages and folk languages are very significant pages in the process of adding up new literary language in written culture.
7. Religious and confessional factors played (and are playing!) an outstanding role in the fate of languages and, more broadly, in the history of human communication.
References:
1. Ferguson, C. Religious factors in language spread. In R. Cooper (Ed.). Language spread: Studies in diffusion and social change. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 95-106. 1982.
2. Geertz, C. Ethos, world-view and the analysis of sacred symbols. The Antioch Review, 17, (4), 421-437. 1957.
3. Geertz, C. Religion as a cultural system, in the interpretation of cultures: Selected essays. London: Fontana Press, 87-125. 1993.
4. Kashima, Y. and Kashima, E. Culture and language: The case of cultural dimensions and personal pronoun use. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 29, 461-486. 1998.
5. Schiffman, H. Linguistic culture and language policy. London: Routledge. 1996.
6. Wolfson N. Speech event and natural speech: Some implications for sociolinguistic methodology. Language in Society, 5(2), 189-205. 1976.
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF PROVERBS WITH COMPONENT DENOTING "MONEY" IN
UZBEK AND ENGLISH LANGUAGES
Uzbekistan World State Languages University English second faculty-2 Senior teacher: Polvanova Mahzuna Farxadovna
Uzbekistan, Tashkent
Abstract. This article is dedicated to the comparative analysis of proverbs with component denoting "money" in Uzbek and English languages. And in this article we investigated proverbs with component denoting "money" through analysis of both languages in order to highlight entities that play a role in people's daily life, and to establish the maintain individuality in society. In order to make it easy to perceive for those willing to keep up their educational and scientific carrier in the science of Uzbek and English languages it was purposed to broaden their view on ways of teaching and peculiar features. Moreover proverbs with component denoting "money" c an reflect the wealth of language displaying cultural paradigms of speakers of a particular language. The most attention is paid to the role and place of Uzbek and English proverbs concerning the word "money" and their etymology as well in two countries with the specific features. Except this a language reflects the particular culture of its nation, especially proverbs' role in reflecting national specificities and culture of this nation is considerable. In addition, we can say not only traditions of the people, but also historical places, outstanding people and famous characters of the notion are expressed in proverbs.
