Signs and symbols of culture. Innovative Eurasian University

1. The language of culture. language of culture- these are the means, signs, forms, symbols, texts that allow people to enter into communicative relations with each other, to navigate in the space of culture. The relevance of the problem of the language of culture is due to the following circumstances:

1) the problem of the language of culture is the problem of its meaning;

2) language is the core of the cultural system, since it synthesizes various aspects of human life - social, cultural-historical, psychological, aesthetic - and transfers from generation to generation;

3) understanding the language of culture and mastering it gives a person freedom, gives the ability to assess and self-assessment, to choose, opens up ways to include a person, opens up ways to include a person in a cultural context, helps to realize one's place in culture, navigate in complex and dynamic social structures.

To date, the following generally accepted classification of languages ​​has developed:

· natural languages ​​as the main and historically primary means of cognition and communication (Russian, French, Estonian, etc.). they are characterized by a continuous process of change, assimilation and extinction. Changing the meaning of words and concepts can be associated with a variety of factors, incl. and socio-political. The vocabulary of a person is on average 10-15 thousand words, some of them are active, which a person uses, the other part is passive, the meaning of which he understands, but does not use himself;

· Artificial languages ​​are the languages ​​of science where the meaning is fixed and there are strict limits of use. Their appearance is due to the fact that everyday speech is polysemantic, and this is unacceptable in science, where the utmost adequacy of perception is necessary. scientific knowledge seeks to avoid the uncertainty of information, which can lead to inaccuracies and even errors. Artificial languages ​​also include languages ​​of conditional signals (Morse code, road signs);

Secondary languages ​​(secondary modeling systems) are communication structures built on top of the natural language level (myth, religion, art).

One of essential functions culture is the storage and transmission of information from generation to generation. In the history of the human race, two channels of information transmission have been formed. One of them is genetic; through another channel, information is transmitted from generation to generation through various sign systems.

2. Signs and symbols in culture. Sign - this is a material object (phenomenon, event), acting as an objective substitute for some other object, property or relationship, and used to acquire, store, process and transmit messages (information, knowledge). This is a materialized carrier of the image of an object, limited by its functional purpose. The presence of the sign makes it possible to transmit information through technical communication channels and its various - mathematical, statistical, logical - processing. The totality of these symbolic means can be represented by the following:

Ø designation signs, which can be, for example, the basis natural language. A unit of language is a word denoting an object, action, property and other characteristics of the world surrounding a person. Signs-designations also include signs-signs (signs-symptoms), signs-copies (reproductions), sign behavior (imitation);

Ø model signs, which are also substitutes for real-life objects and actions;

Ø symbols are signs that not only point to the depicted object, but express its meaning.

Symbol in culture, it is a universal, multi-valued category, revealed through a comparison of the objective image and deep meaning. Turning into a symbol, the image becomes "transparent", the meaning seems to shine through it. The aesthetic information that a symbol carries has a huge number of degrees of freedom. Far beyond capacity human perception. Everyday life of a person is filled with symbols and signs that regulate his behavior, allowing or forbidding something, personifying and filling with meaning.

All this information is expressed in texts. At the same time, in the modern European tradition, it is customary to consider as a text everything that is created artificially. The text cannot be reduced to a speech act; any sign systems can be considered in this capacity: iconographic, material, activity. In this understanding of the language of culture, the desire to overcome the linguistic plane is manifested. At the same time, in any language considered in isolation, in any sign system, there are contradictory grounds that do not allow an adequate and exhaustive description of reality. For this, a "metalinguage" is needed to make up for the incompleteness. Often this function is performed by a language from another sign system, although the culture of the 20th century is characterized by the desire for an integrative language.

Thus, it is in the semantic field of the language of culture that accumulation, shaping into text, and then, with the help of various sciences, decoding or decoding of information embedded in the deep structures of culture and consciousness takes place.

SIGN, SYMBOL, CODE, MEANING, LANGUAGE OF CULTURE

As already noted, within the framework of the semiotic approach, culture is presented as a system of communications, information exchange, and cultural phenomena are considered as a system of signs.

A sign is a sensually perceived subject (sound, image, etc.), which replaces, represents other objects, their properties and relationships. The possibilities of understanding and translating culture can be realized using various sign systems (or languages ​​of culture): natural language, folklore, traditions, household items, hunting or other activities, rituals, rituals, ceremonies, etiquette, type of dwelling, through artistic images of various types art, written text, and more. The language of culture is a set of all sign ways of verbal and non-verbal communication, with the help of which culturally significant information is transmitted.

The totality of these symbolic means can be represented by the following types:

- designation signs, which, for example, are the basis of a natural language. A unit of language is a word denoting an object, action, property and other characteristics of the world surrounding a person. Signs-designations also include signs-signs (signs, symptoms), signs-copies (reproductions), sign behavior (imitation);

- signs-models, which are also substitutes for real-life objects and actions. So, for example, within the limits of the cultural mythological code, the model of a real object, endowed with magical powers, becomes a cultural model - “secondary objectivity”. In this model, information about the meaning and methods of action with the subject is hidden;

symbols are signs that not only point to the depicted object, but express its meaning. The distinction between the concepts of "sign" and "symbol" was carried out already in ancient Greek philosophy.

The symbol as a way of figurative exploration of the world, as an artistic allegorical image is widely used in art. The meaning of symbolic images cannot be deciphered straightforwardly, it must be emotionally experienced and felt, it must be recognized. Well-known culturologist Yu.M. Lotman understood a symbol not only as a sign of some artificial language (for example, chemical or mathematical symbols), but also as an expression of a deep sacred meaning. Symbols of this kind have a great cultural and semantic capacity (cross, circle, pentagram, etc.), they date back to the pre-literate era and are archaic texts that serve as the basis of any culture. Thus, a symbol is a socio-cultural sign, the content of which is an idea that is comprehended intuitively and cannot be expressed in an adequate verbal way.

The specificity of a symbol as a sign lies in the ability to evoke a generally significant reaction not to the symbolized object itself, but to the spectrum of meanings that is associated with this object.

Language plays an important role in the development of culture. The purpose of cultural languages ​​is to express the meanings of culture, i.e. content that cannot be expressed directly and unambiguously.

language of culture in broad sense This concept refers to those means, signs, symbols, texts that allow people to enter into communicative relations with each other, to navigate in the space of culture. The language of culture is a universal form of comprehension of reality, in which all newly emerging or already existing representations, perceptions, concepts, images and other similar semantic constructions (meaning carriers) are organized.

Language fixes ideas that are significant for a person, his relationship to them. In the field social interaction language acts as a conductor, mediator, a means that allows to attach cultural significance to subjective, individual experience, to broadcast socially significant ideas, to give such ideas a generally significant, shared meaning.

The most serious communication problem lies in the translation of meanings from one language to another, each of which has many semantic and grammatical features. In cultural studies, this problem of the effectiveness of cultural dialogue is both on the "vertical", i.e. between cultures of different eras, and along the "horizontal", i.e. the dialogue of different cultures that exist simultaneously, among themselves, is comprehended as a problem of understanding. The complexity of understanding is due to the fact that perception and behavior are determined by stereotypes - ideological, national, class, gender, formed in a person from childhood. Understanding is apperceptive, i.e. new information assimilated by relating to what is already known, new knowledge and new experience are included in the system of knowledge already available, on this basis the selection, enrichment and classification of the material takes place.

Sign systems are the main structural unit of the language of culture. Cultural researchers identify five main sign systems: natural, functional, conventional, verbal, and notation systems.

1. Natural signs are understood as things and natural phenomena in the case when they are pointed to some other objects or phenomena and are considered as a carrier of information about them. Most often, natural signs are belonging, property, part of some whole and therefore provide information about the latter. Natural languages ​​are sign-signs, for example, smoke is a sign of fire.

2. Functional signs are also sign-signs. But unlike natural signs, the connection of functional signs with what they point to is not due to their objective properties, but to the functions they perform. As a rule, these are things and phenomena that have a direct pragmatic purpose, but are included in human activity in addition to their direct functions, they also receive a sign function, i.e. give some information about things and phenomena. For example, production equipment can be attributed to functional signs, since any mechanism or part can act as a sign that has information about the entire technical system, of which it is an element, etc.

3. Conventional signs are signs in the full sense of the word. Their meanings are set not by the objects and processes they inform about, but by agreements between people. There are four types of conventional signs:

a) signals to notify or warn people. For example, the colors of a traffic light, a zebra on a footpath, flag signaling in a fleet;

b) indices - symbols of any objects or situations that have a compact, easily visible form and are used to distinguish these objects or situations from a number of others. For example, instrument readings, cartographic signs, various kinds of conventional icons in diagrams, graphs, professional and business texts, etc.;

c) images are built on similarity, similarity with what they designate. This similarity can be external or internal, meaningful in nature with a complete or partial coincidence of ideas and associations that cause the image and the depicted. For example, pictorial signs indicating pedestrian crossings, escalators, etc.;

d) symbols - cultural objects that act in the communicative or translational process as signs that simply indicate to them the designated object, but express its meaning, i.e. in a visual-figurative form they convey abstract ideas or concepts associated with this object. The simplest forms of symbols are emblems, coats of arms, orders, banners, etc.

Along with individual conventional signs introduced for one reason or another, in the course of the development of culture, various systems of conventional signs arise. For example, heraldry, sign system traffic, ceremonial systems associated with the performance of various kinds of rituals (wedding, funeral, festive, religious and religious, taking office - coronation, inauguration, etc.). We can say that each area of ​​socio-cultural life has its own symbolic system.

4. The most important sign system is verbal sign systems - spoken languages. Any natural language is a historically established sign system that forms the basis of the entire culture of a particular people speaking a given language. The most main feature verbal system consists in its specific structural organization. The verbal system is a polystructural, branched, hierarchical, multi-level organization of signs. The basic structural unit is the word, which, in turn, is internally structured (root, suffix, prefix, ending, etc.). Words are combined into phrases, sentences, statements. The texts are made up of the latter.

Natural language is an open sign system. It, unlike artificial formalized languages, is capable of unlimited development. This feature of the language is great importance to study culture. The history of the development of culture is reflected in the history of the development of language. New phenomena in people's lives, discoveries in science and technology are captured in words, replenish vocabulary language - vocabulary. At the same time, the words associated with the conditions of life that are receding into the past are becoming obsolete or changing the meaning and stylistic coloring. Social transformations in the country have a particularly strong influence on the evolution of natural language. However, despite the mobility, the main vocabulary fund - the lexical "core" of the language - has been preserved for centuries. Thus, the language basically remains the same for centuries, and this is the basis for mutual understanding of generations, the preservation of the experience of the past in culture.

5. At a relatively high stage in the development of human culture, sign systems of notation are formed: writing (natural language notation), musical notation, dance notation, etc. A feature of sign systems of this type is that they arise on the basis of other sign systems of spoken language, music, dance and are secondary to them. The invention of sign systems of notation is one of the greatest achievements of human culture. The appearance and development of writing played a particularly important role in the history of culture. Without writing, the development of science, technology, law, etc. would not have been possible. The advent of writing marked the beginning of civilization.

The basic sign of a letter is not a word, as in spoken language, and the objective and more abstract unit is the letter. Writing opened the way to the replication of signs - typography.

One of important directions development of recording systems is the creation of artificial, formal languages ​​that play a large role in modern science and technology.

Meaning can be understood as that which ensures the universal coherence of the meanings of the signs of a given language.

Meanings have several levels:

1. The most superficial level of meaning is the so-called "common sense". This is the meaning that has already manifested itself at the level of consciousness, rationalized and generally accepted. It coincides with the meaning and is expressed in a verbal (verbal) way;

2. The deepest level of meaning is the unmanifested content that connects a person with the world of values, laws, patterns of behavior of a given culture. Between these extreme levels are those horizontals of meaning that need a code. If all cultural phenomena are considered as facts of communication, as messages, then they can be understood only in relation to some mediator, because the connection of sign systems with the reality they reflect is not direct. The need for such a mediator is revealed when various phenomena are compared with each other and reduced to single system. Therefore, a system of special features is needed - culture codes.

As part of the analysis of culture, fruitful attempts are being made to interpret culture as a certain structurally ordered, but historically variable given, as a kind of unity of fundamental codes. The very concept of "code" appeared for the first time in communication technology (telegraph code, Morse code), in computer technology, mathematics, cybernetics, genetics (genetic code). Without coding, the construction of artificial languages, machine translation, encryption and decryption of texts are impossible. In all these usages, there is no need to refer to the meaning of the encoded messages. In this case, a code is understood as a set of characters and a system of certain rules by which information can be represented as a set of these characters for transmission, processing and storage. Coding theory solves problems not of understanding, but of optimizing codes. In cultural studies, it is the content and understanding of cultural texts that come to the fore, so the concept of “culture code” becomes so relevant and requires clarification. The need for a cultural code arises only when there is a transition from the world of signals to the world of meaning. The world of signals is the world of individual units calculated in bits of information, and the world of meaning is those meaningful forms, which organize the connection of a person with the world of ideas, images and values ​​of a given culture. And if, within formalized languages, a code can be understood as something due to which a certain signifier (meaning, concept) correlates with a certain signified (referent), then in cultural languages, a code is something that allows us to understand the transformation of meaning into meaning.

The code is a model of the rule for the formation of a number of specific messages.

The main culture code must have the following characteristics:

1) self-sufficiency for the production, transmission and preservation of human culture;

2) openness to change.

All codes can be compared with each other on the basis of a common code, more simple and comprehensive. A message, a cultural text can open up to different readings depending on the code used. The code allows you to penetrate the semantic level of culture, without knowing the code, the cultural text will be closed, incomprehensible, unperceived. A person will see a system of signs, and not a system of meanings and meanings.

William Shakespeare's dictionary, according to researchers, is 12,000 words. The vocabulary of a negro from the cannibalistic tribe "Mumbo-Yumbo" is 300,000 words. Ellochka Shchukina easily and freely managed thirty. Here are the words, phrases and interjections, meticulously chosen by her from all the great, verbose and powerful Russian language:

1. Be rude.

2. Ho-ho! (Expresses, depending on the circumstances: irony, surprise, delight, hatred, joy, contempt and satisfaction.)

3. Famous.

4. Gloomy. (In relation to everything. For example, “gloomy Petya has come”, “gloomy weather”, “gloomy event”, “gloomy cat”, etc.)

6. Horror. (Creepy. For example, when meeting a good friend: "creepy meeting.")

7. Kid. (In relation to all familiar men, regardless of age and social status.)

8. Don't teach me how to live.

9. Like a child. (“I hit him like a child,” when playing cards. “I cut him like a child,” apparently in a conversation with a responsible tenant.)

10. C-r-growth!

11. Thick and beautiful. (Used as a characteristic of inanimate and animate objects.)

12. Let's go by cab. (Talking to her husband.)

13. Let's go to the taxi. (To male acquaintances.)

14. Your entire back is white. (Joke.)

15. Think about it.

16. Ulya. (Affectionate ending of names. For example: Mishulya, Zinulya.)

17. Wow! (Irony, surprise, delight, hatred, joy, contempt and satisfaction.)

The words remaining in an extremely small amount served as a transmission link between Ellochka and the clerks of department stores. (Ilf I.A., Petrov E.P. Twelve chairs; Golden calf: [Novels]. Saratov: Privolzhskoe book publishing house, 1988. P. 136-137).

Similar information.

A sign is a sensually perceived object (event, action or phenomenon), which replaces, represents other objects, their properties and relations. The possibilities of understanding and translating culture can be realized using various sign systems (or languages ​​of culture): natural language, folklore, traditions, household items, hunting and other activities, rituals, rituals, ceremonies, etiquette, type of dwelling, through artistic images different types art, written text, and more. The language of culture is a set of all sign ways of communication with the help of which culturally significant information is transmitted.

The totality of these symbolic means can be represented by the following types:

1. Signs-designations, which, for example, are the basis of a natural language. A language unit is a word denoting an object, action, property and other characteristics of the world surrounding a person. Signs-designations also include signs-signs (signs, symptoms), signs-copies (reproductions), sign behavior (imitation).

2. Model signs, which are also substitutes for real-life objects and actions. So, for example, within the limits of the cultural mythological code, the model of a real object, endowed with magical powers, becomes a cultural model - “secondary objectivity”. In this model, information about the meaning and methods of action with the subject is hidden.

3. Symbols - such signs that do not just indicate the depicted object, but express its meaning.

Symbol(from Greek simbolon - identification mark, omen). The concept of "symbol" in Ancient Greece in its primary meaning it was extremely specific: the actual identification sign, evidence of the unity of two disparate parts, combining which one could get the original "whole".

Numerous interpretations of the concept of a symbol that have arisen throughout the history of human thought can be reduced to two main trends. In accordance with the first, the symbol is interpreted as a figurative idea, as a means of adequately translating the content into an expression. According to the second, the symbol carries in itself the primary and further indecomposable experience of thinking that resists definition;

In the philosophy of the XX century. the symbol as a complex multifaceted phenomenon is studied within the framework of the most different approaches: semiotic, logical-semantic, epistemological, aesthetic, psychological, hermeneutic. Such aspects of the problem as the ratio of the symbol, sign and image are considered; the place and role of the symbol in life; symbolism in art, religion, science; symbol as a sociocultural phenomenon; the nature of universal symbols, etc.

Creating a holistic concept of a symbol is associated with a name Ernest Cassirer(1874-1945). In his "Philosophy of Symbolic Forms" the symbol is considered as the only and absolute reality, "the system center spiritual world”, a key concept in which various aspects of culture and life of people are synthesized. According to Cassirer, man is "a symbol-making animal"; in other words, symbolic forms (language, myth, religion, art and science) appear as ways of objectification, self-disclosure of the spirit, in which chaos is ordered, culture exists and is reproduced.

The concept of a symbol occupies an equally significant place in analytical psychology. Carl Gustav Jung(187-1961). The symbol is interpreted as main way manifestations of archetypes - figures of the collective unconscious, inherited from ancient times. The same archetype, according to Jung, can be expressed and emotionally experienced through various characters. For example, the Self - the archetype of the order and integrity of the personality - symbolically appears as a circle, a mandala, a crystal, a stone, an old sage, as well as through other images of unification, reconciliation of polarities, dynamic balance, eternal rebirth of the spirit. The main purpose of the symbol is a protective function. The symbol acts as an intermediary between the collective unconscious and the mental life of an individual, it is a restraining, stabilizing mechanism that prevents the manifestation of irrational Dionysian forces and impulses. The destruction of the symbol inevitably leads to the destabilization of the spiritual life of society, desolation, degeneration and ideological chaos.

By Claude Levi-Strauss(p. 1908), any culture can be considered as an ensemble of symbolic systems, which primarily include language, marriage rules, art, science, religion. In his works, he describes the special logic of archaic thinking, free from the strict subordination of means to ends. The symbol has an intermediate status between a concrete-sensory image and an abstract concept.

AT domestic science exactly A.F. Losev(1893-1988) is credited with the development of the theory of the symbol in the general cultural aspect, in particular, in relation to language, myth and art. In his work “The Dialectics of Myth” (1930), recognizing in the symbol the inseparability of the ideal and the real, Losev drew attention to the relativity of the concept of a symbol depending on the linguistic, artistic or cultural context: “This expressive form is always a symbol only in relation to something else ”,... “one and the same expressive form, depending on the method of correlation with other semantic expressive or material forms, can be a symbol, a scheme, and an allegory at the same time.” Losev is characterized by the recognition universal value symbolic forms, which allowed him to carry out direct analogies between symbol and myth. From this point of view, a myth is a symbol already because they are characterized by "detachment from the meaning and idea of ​​everyday facts, but not from their factuality." It is obvious that in all cases when we are dealing with a symbol, any of its meaning loses its original concreteness and attachment to any particular situation: thus, it is generally accepted to consider red as a symbol of danger, bread - fertility and hospitality, dove - a symbol of peace. , the image of Icarus - a symbol of human impulse to the unknown, and the sail - a symbol of rebellious human passions, etc. Symbol meaning for human consciousness and for culture in general lies in the fact that through it opens the way to the comprehension of universal truths and meanings, spiritual principles, ideals and values , without which the processes of socialization of a person, his creative activity and the transfer of sociocultural experience. In spiritual culture and in art, a symbol is an image taken in terms of its significance and ambiguity. In this case, the content side of the symbol is not given in its specific formulation, and its comprehension depends on co-creation and the spiritual potential of the perceiving person.

Culture, starting from organization, from order, from ritual, structures surrounding a person the world in certain forms. These forms are sign-symbolic in nature. When we are talking about symbols and signs, the question always arises: a sign - what? symbol of what? This question means that the meaning of these concepts can be revealed only by analyzing their relation to something third, to the original, which may not have (and most often has) nothing in common in terms of physical, chemical and other properties with the reflection carrier. But all are in some connection, being the result of human knowledge, clothing this result in certain forms. The concepts of "sign" and "symbol" are often used in the same semantic context, but this is far from always justified. Consider the specifics of their origin and functioning.

Sometimes you can come across the statement that signs are what distinguishes a person from the animal world. The definition of a sign as a watershed between the behavior of animals and humans is the result of a confusion of the concepts of sign and symbol. However, there is reason to believe that proto-languages ​​arose from sign systems formed in the animal world. The researchers argue that these systems can be quite differentiated. So, for example, dominant males in a flock of vervets can make six different danger signals. Some of these signals mean "simply" danger, some are separate "kinds" of danger ("man" or "snake", "danger from above", "leopard", "danger from below").

The line between culture and nature is generally not as obvious as those who absolutize the shortest of the definitions of culture: "culture is everything that is not nature." K. Levi-Strauss, who conducted field studies in the tropical jungles of Central Brazil among the tribes, where the layer of culture is still very thin and one can trace the connection of man with nature, when the signifier was not yet completely separated from the signified, he concluded that the taboo on incest turned out to be the boundary beyond which nature passed into culture. However, the German ethnologist Bischof proved that the same taboo exists in gray geese and that a similar behavioral pattern is most likely due to hormonal processes.

Based on this kind of research, we believe that human culture begins there and then, where and when the ability of consciousness to symbolize appears. Signs and symbols, wrote E. Cassirer, "belong to two different discursive universes: a signal [E. Cassirer uses this term as a synonym for a sign. – N. B. ] there is a part physical world being, the symbol is a part human world values. Signals are 'operators', symbols are 'designators'... A symbol is not only universal, but extremely variable... A sign or signal is related to the thing it refers to in a fixed, unique way."

So, sign - this is a material object (phenomenon, event), acting as an objective substitute for some other object, property or relationship and used to acquire, store, process and transmit messages (information, knowledge). This is a materialized carrier of the image of an object, limited by its functional purpose. The presence of the sign makes it possible to transmit information through technical communication channels and its various - mathematical, statistical, logical - processing.

A symbol is one of the most ambiguous concepts. They believe that the word simbolon a half of a shard was called, which was given to the guest and served as his identity card during subsequent visits to the house. Symbol in culture, it is a universal, multi-valued category, revealed through a comparison of the objective image and deep meaning. Turning into a symbol, the image becomes "transparent", the meaning, as it were, shines through it.

The aesthetic information that a symbol carries has a huge number of degrees of freedom, far exceeding the possibilities of human perception. “I call any structure of meaning a symbol,” P. Ricoeur wrote, “where the direct, primary, literal meaning means at the same time another, indirect, secondary, allegorical meaning, which can be understood only through the first. This circle of expressions with double meaning constitutes the hermeneutical field proper.

In table. 6.1 an attempt is made to systematize information about the sign and symbol. It also includes information about such an important category of language as metaphor.

Table c. one

Comparative characteristics of the categories "sign", "symbol", "metaphor"

Criteria			Metaphor
Origin	From the animal kingdom	It arises with the development of the psyche, when the division into reason and feeling is realized, it differs real world and its reflection in artificial forms	Arises spontaneously in the process of artistic development of the world as a result of an intuitive feeling of the similarity of matter and spirit (water flows, time flows), areas perceived by different senses ( solid metal and hard sound)
Place of stay	It exists in the animal world, in various spheres of society: science, religion, art, communications, etc.	Culture as a whole is at the stage when its unity is formed, through the forms of art, science, religion. It exists in personal life, in society, state, ethnic, etc. commonality	Artistic, casual and scientific speech(except for business discourse, where accuracy and unambiguity are required). Does not belong to any personal or social sphere
Purpose of application	Informing, communication	Representation of objects, events or ideas	Coventionalization of meaning
	Both non-groinness and targeting, the desire for classification, a direct connection between the sign and the signified	Designates not itself, but something else, opens access to consciousness, expresses general ideas, extralinguistic, imperative. It has a generalized form. Easily overcomes "earthly gravity", seeking to designate the eternal and elusive, leads beyond reality. Decomposes the image into symbolic elements, turning it into "text"	Verbal structure, seme! accuracy, does not seek classification. Image-individualization. Places a bet on value. It is used within meanings that are directly or indirectly related to reality, and thus deepens the understanding of reality. Preserves the integrity of the image
	Archetypal meanings: based on the unchanging properties of nature and man
		gravitate towards graphic image, stabilize the shape

Everyday life of a person is filled with symbols and signs that regulate his behavior, allowing or forbidding something, personifying and filling it with meaning. In symbols and signs, both the external "I" of a person (self) and the inner "I" (I), the unconscious, given to him by nature, are manifested. K. Levi-Strauss claimed that he had found a way from symbols and signs to the unconscious structure of the mind, and consequently, to the structure of the Universe.

The unity of man and the universe is one of the most ancient and mysterious themes in culture. In legends, people are stars, the spirality of celestial nebulae is repeated many times in the ornaments of all terrestrial cultures, red blood owes its color to iron, and all the iron that is on earth, according to astronomers, arose in stellar matter. Or take the spiral structure of many regions human body: the auricle, the iris of the eye ... It was this sense of unity that allowed the mathematician and poet V. Khlebnikov to create his own model of a metalanguage, consisting of seven layers.

Approaching the riddle, however, only increases its mystery. But this feeling of mystery is "the most beautiful and deep experience, which falls to the lot of a person, - as A. Einstein claims, - lies at the basis of religion and all the most profound trends in art and science. Anyone who has not experienced this sensation seems to me, if not dead, then at least blind.

A sign is a material object (phenomenon, event) acting as a representative of some other object, property or relationship and used to acquire, store, process and transmit messages (information, knowledge). There are linguistic (included in some sign system) and non-linguistic signs. Among the latter, one can single out signs-copies, signs-signs, signs-symbols.

Copy signs are reproductions, reproductions, more or less similar to the signified (photographs, fingerprints, to a certain extent - signs of pictographic writing).

Signs-signs are signs associated with designated objects as actions with their own causes (what is otherwise called symptoms, signs).

Signs-symbols are signs that, by virtue of the visual image contained in them, are used to express some, often very significant and abstract content (for example, images of the actor's mask of the ancient Greek theater as a symbol of modern theater and theatrical art; the word "symbol" is also used simply in sense sign).

Linguistic signs do not function independently of each other, they form a system, the rules of which determine the patterns of their construction (rules of grammar, or syntax, in the broad sense), comprehension (rules of meaning, or meaning, sign) and use. The signs that are part of languages ​​as means of communication in society are called signs of communication. These signs are divided into signs of natural languages ​​and signs of artificial language systems - artificial languages. The signs of natural languages ​​(individual words, grammatically correct expressions, sentences, etc.) consist of both sound signs and graphic signs corresponding to these signs. Non-linguistic signs play an auxiliary role in communication (communication). In the natural languages ​​of communication - national languages ​​- only the rules of grammar exist in a more or less explicit form, and the rules of meaning and use are in an implicit form. The development of the sciences led to the introduction into the natural sciences of special graphic signs used to reduce the expression of scientific concepts and judgments and methods of operating with objects considered in science (such, for example, are signs of mathematical, chemical, and other symbols). From signs of this kind, artificial languages ​​are built, the rules of which (including the rules of syntax and semantics) are specified explicitly.

Artificial languages ​​are mainly used in science, where they serve not only as a means of communication (between scientists, research teams, etc.), but also for obtaining new information about the phenomena under study. Among the signs of artificial language systems, one can distinguish: signs of code systems designed to encode ordinary speech or to recode already encoded messages (for example, Morse code; codes used in compiling computer programs); signs for modeling continuous processes (for example, curves showing continuous changes in the course of any processes); the signs from which the formulas used in scientific languages ​​are built are the most important type of signs used in science.

Distinguish subject, semantic and expressive meaning of signs. The sign denotes a given object (or objects). An object denoted by a sign is called its objective meaning "and expresses its semantic and expressive meaning. The semantic meaning (meaning) of a sign serves to highlight its objective meaning - to specify the object designated by the sign (although there may be signs that only have meaning, but do not designate no object, for example, the word "mermaid"). On the other hand, for some signs, the semantic meaning is minimized - these are proper names natural languages. The semantic meaning of a sign is its property to represent, fix certain aspects, features, characteristics of the designated object that determine the area of ​​application of the sign; is what the person who perceives or reproduces understands given sign 37 .

An example is the word "sword". As a thing, it can be forged or broken, it can be placed in a museum display case, and it can kill a person. And that's all - the use of the sword as an object. But, attached to a belt or supported by a baldric, placed on the hip, the sword is a symbol of a free man, a "sign of freedom", and as a symbol it belongs to culture. In the XVIII century, the Russian and European nobleman did not wear a sword - a sword hung on his side. The sword is the symbol of the symbol: it means the sword, and the sword means belonging to the privileged class.

Things are included not only in practice in general, but also in social practice. They become, as it were, clots of relations between people, and in this function they are able to acquire a symbolic character. “The symbols of culture rarely appear in its synchronous slice. They come from the depths of centuries and, modifying their meaning (but without losing the memory of their previous meanings), are transmitted to the future states of culture. Such simple symbols as a circle, a cross, a triangle, a wavy line, more complex ones: a hand, an eye, a house - and even more complex ones (for example, rituals) accompany humanity throughout its millennia-old culture.

Whatever way we define culture, it remains clear that this concept is unique to the human species. In this regard, let us recall L.A. White, who singled out as a criterion for distinguishing a person from an animal the ability to symbolize, i.e. giving a material object or action a meaning that is not inherent in this object by nature. A symbol can be defined as something whose value or meaning is established by the user. A material object or action, color, taste, smell, a certain movement, i.e., can act as a symbol. any phenomenon that we can perceive can be considered as a symbol. It should be emphasized that the meaning of the symbol cannot be understood by observing or perceiving only physical characteristics (for more details, see below). ).

A.F. Losev notes the following characteristics of the symbol:

1. The symbol is "a function of reality, which includes an infinite number of terms, as close or far apart from each other as you like, and which can enter into infinitely diverse structural associations," i.e. a symbol, in principle, can reflect reality in an arbitrarily complex manner.

2. The symbol is the meaning of reality.

3. A symbol is an interpretation of reality.

4. A symbol is a signification (designation) of reality.

5. A symbol is a transformation of reality.

So, symbols form the basis of meaningful human behavior, there is a whole class of objects and phenomena associated with a person's ability to symbolize. These include, first of all, words that serve as the basis of modern communication and transmission of information, as well as almost all phenomena to which we attach symbolic meaning. This important class of phenomena is called "symbolates" (phenomena resulting from the process of symbolization).

Symbols can be considered in various contexts: physical, chemical, social, cultural, etc. In particular, they can be considered both in relation to the human body (in a somatic context) and without regard to it (in an extrasomatic context). One of the main properties of culture is its ability to exist regardless of the human body in the form of symbols, its ability to be transmitted by non-biological means. Such a property can be posited in the definition of culture as a set of symbols considered in an extrasomatic context. At the same time, symbols are studied in interconnection with each other, with other concepts or classes of concepts.

In the process of cognition of the world, a microcosmic man creates an image, a picture, a symbol of the macrocosmic world. Initially this Greek word denoted a shard, which served as a sign of friendly relations: parting with the guest, the host handed him a half of the broken shard, and kept the other part. After what time this guest did not appear again in the house, he was recognized by the shard. "Identity card" - this is the original meaning of the word symbol in antiquity.

From the point of view of linguoculturology, in order to understand a symbol, it is fundamental to correlate it with the content of the cultural information transmitted by it. A.F. Losev wrote that the symbol contains a generalized principle of further development of the semantic content folded in it, i.e. a symbol can be considered as a specific factor in the socio-cultural coding of information and, at the same time, as a mechanism for transmitting this information. The same property of the symbol was emphasized by Yu.M. Lotman; he noted that culture is always, on the one hand, a certain number of inherited texts, and on the other, inherited symbols, for example: a symbol roads at N.V. Gogol, garden – at A.P. Chekhov desert – at M.Yu. Lermontov, blizzards – at A.S. Pushkin and symbolists, smoke - at F.I. Tyutchev, symbol wings and at home at M.I. Tsvetaeva, etc.

Symbol word- this is a kind of "data bank", which can be imagined as a spiral, i.e. circles, as if hidden in each other and passing one into another. This is the semantic spiral of the symbol, which includes wide range values, starting from implicit (hidden, potential), i.e. not expressed in any way in the word, but being an integral part of it, and ending with the scale of semantic substitutes (substitutes), i.e. programmed substitution of one value for another. For example: path approaches death, symbols anger – snake, wasp, nettle, they burn; the fire – a symbol of anger, anger among the Slavs; sun – symbol of beauty, love, fun. In Russian culture, the number seven - symbol of something excessive: behind seven castles(seals) - very much hidden, in deep secrecy; seven spans in the forehead - very smart; for seven miles of jelly slurp - very far; seven sweats gone - very tired; seven west to heaven and all the forest - very much and meaningless; seven Fridays a week change your mind frequently to be in seventh heaven be very happy. This symbol is also present in the Germanic languages, but the number fourty in the meaning of "a lot" is found only in Russian culture, therefore phraseologism forty magpies is culturally specific.

It is possible to select a whole a number of signs of the symbol: figurativeness (iconicity), motivation (which is established between the concrete and abstract elements of the symbolic content), the complexity of the content, polysemy, the vagueness of the boundaries of meanings in a symbol, the archetypal character of a symbol, its universality in a particular culture, the intersection of symbols in different cultures, national and cultural specificity of a number of symbols, the built-in symbol in myth and archetype.

The most important property symbol– its imagery, so many scientists approach the concept of a symbol through image.

Each person, due to his human properties, is able to speak the language of symbols and understand it; the language of symbols does not need to be taught, its distribution is not limited to some groups of people, because the symbol has an archetypal nature and is transmitted to us at an unconscious level.

Archetype- genetically fixed ancient images and socio-cultural ideas that are the property of the "collective unconscious" and underlie artistic creativity. These primary images and ideas are embodied in the form of symbols in myths and beliefs, in works of literature and art. All poetry is permeated with archetypes, which are primary images, first of all, of nature: forest, field, sea, birth, marriage, death etc. The purest archetypes are found in mythology and folklore. Therefore, when we are talking about mythologemes in phraseological units or other linguistic phenomena, then most often the term "mythologeme" turns out to be a synonym for "archetype". The main archetypes identified by Jung: shadow, hero, fool, wise old man (old woman), Prometheus, mother and etc.

Archetypes are embodied in in large numbers symbols, so we can talk about archetypal symbols, such as World Tree, World Egg, World Mountain etc.

So, having analyzed different conceptions of a symbol, we came to the conclusion that a symbol is a thing rewarded with meaning. From the point of view of Yu.M. Lotman, symbols form the core of culture. They, as a rule, come from the depths of centuries, but there are also those that have arisen relatively recently: pigeon - a symbol of the world ("the father" of this symbol is P. Picasso), shaking hands – a symbol of friendship between peoples, etc.

Symbols can be color terms. As Louis Wittgenstein said: "Color encourages us to philosophize." At all times, scientists have struggled to solve the problem of color. Recent studies in this area show that 10 pigment genes are responsible for color in humans, making up a certain set - each has its own, so two people can look at the same object, but perceive its color in different ways. Therefore, human color language is mental in nature. People see meaning behind color. Black color, coming from fire, it symbolizes ugliness, hatred, sadness, death, i.e. symbolism opposite to the world. Night also a symbol of grief, because it is black, dark. Green color is also related to light, but symbolizes youth (young-green). The green color also symbolizes beauty, fun (spring is called bright, shiny and cheerful; by the way, the words happy and Spring consonant, and perhaps even related). Thus, we see that the adjective denoting color turns from a pictorial epithet into an evaluative one. The researchers also noticed that the estimated value is very stable. Therefore, we can say that color symbolism is archetypal in its structure.