Borders and Bridges in Minds and Languages Arto Mustajoki, University of Helsinki arto.mustajoki@helsinki.fi Topics of the talk A Model of (mis)communication (with special attention to mental world) Russian and Finnish as languages Stereotypes Bridges = similarities in Russian and Finnish cultures Borders = differences between Russian and Finnish cultures An example of communicative behaviour Concluding remarks Different levels of understanding o John understands (doesn’t understand) modern art / mathematics / his wife(’s behaviour) // Russian / American politics. o John understood (didn’t understand) what Paula said. A model of (mis)communication Mental world of the Speaker Form Meaning Overt interaction Referential world Form Meaning Mental world of the Recipient Ambiguity An old Volvo and Toyota were standing in the street. John studies Chinese language and literature. John studies Chinese language and biology. John studies Chinese language and philosophy. Where is Liza’s photograph? Elements of the Mental World The communicative (linguistic) ability Cultural and intellectual background (mental set, thought structure, scene, script; kartina mira, concepts, kognitivnaya baza, kollektivnoe prostranstvo) The cognitive system (patterns of thinking) Relations between the interlocutors (motivation, chemistry) Emotional and physiological state Contextual elements Modes of communication Normal Mode = no special attention to the listener, egocentric speech Adaptation Mode = regulation of speech by taking into account the mental world of the recipient Russian and Finnish as languages o The only real (psychological) barrier and obstacle is the Cyrillic alphabet o A lot of similarities: o U menya est’ -construction o Rich morphology (several cases, endings in verb o o o o conjugation) Rich word formation (uchit’, uchitel’, uchenik, uchenie, uchebnik etc.) Relatively free word order No articles A lot of impersonal structures Russian and Finnish as languages 2 o Differences cause no trouble because they are familiar from other European languages (more consonants, gender, he/she distinction, forgot where?) o The only really Russian feature: a semi-passive construction expressing something unexpected and caused by an uncontrolled force: o Veter unës lodku (Wind took the boat) = active voice o Lodka byla unesena vetrom (The boat was taken by wind) = passive voice o Lodku uneslo vetrom (“It happened that the boat was taken by wind”) = contamination of active and passive voice Stereotypes: how big are the differences Between the Russians and the Finns? Between the ”Eastern Finns” and the ”Western Finns”? Bridges = similarities in Russian and Finnish cultures Basic features of a civilized Western type living: living conditions, housing, food, clothing, means of transport, rules of politeness, educational structure (schools, universities), urban environment Northern-like climate (clear differences between seasons) Bridges = similarities in Russian and Finnish cultures Special features: Finnish–Russian connections: • the fundamental elements of life: vodka (transparent strong alcohol drink) and sauna / banya; in addition: dacha • Russian impact on Finnish culture and traditions; • about 300 Russian loanwords in Finnish: savotta ‘logging site’; lusikka ‘spoon’; raamattu ‘Bible’; ikkuna ‘window’; also many slang words: mesta ‘place’; cf. only 4-5 Finnish loanwords in Russian, mainly fish names Borders = differences in Russian and Finnish cultures What makes the Russians more alien than a “normal” neighbour for whom people tend to have hard feelings? (cf. Ireland, Portugal) size: Russia is a huge country, a Great Power language: Russian belongs to a totally different language group; the Cyrillic alphabet emphasizes the strangeness religion: Orthodox vs. Lutheran church attitude to equal rights: desire for strong leaders vs. Scandinavian type democracy mentality Special features of Russian mentality (Sternin) o Collective consciousness and existence (sobornost’) o Warmth and cordiality in social relations o Passive observer of what is going on o Historical tolerance o Impulsiveness in everyday behaviour (not thinking too much of the future) o Desire for extremism (avoidance of average) o Need for ideals Special features of Russian mentality 2 (Sternin) o Disdain for laws and rules o Aspiration for justice o Priority of spiritual and intellectual life over the material o National self-criticism o Passivity in gaining knowledge o Hope of a centralized solving of problems o Belief in a quick resolution of complex troubles Communicative behaviour Russia USA Finland ACTIVITY IN CONTACTING PEOPLE high moderate low TENDENCY TO EMOTIONAL VIEWS high low extremely low SMILING IN EVERYDAY LIFE low high moderate POSSIBILITY TO INTERRUPT THE SPEAKER high very low very low very low high very low low high moderate ACCEPTANCE OF SELFPRAISE POSITION OF SMALL TALK Communicative behaviour Russia USA Finland POLITENESS TOWARDS STRANGERS rather low high moderate POLITENESS TOWARDS FRIENDS high high high POLITENESS TOWARDS CHILDREN not necessary necessary necessary POLITENESS TOWARDS WOMEN necessary desirable desirable USE OF EUPHEMISMS IN SPEECH rare frequent not very frequent TENDENCY TO BE SINCERE AND OPEN high low low Experiment on communicative behaviour X is hurrying to a meeting. In the street (s)he meets a friend that (s)he has not seen for a long time. What does X do? Finns Russians After a quick “Hello”, X says that (s)he must hurry to a meeting 48,6 25,4 X tells about the meeting, but stops for a while for an exchange of news 34,1 34,2 X tells about the meeting, but stops for 5-10 minutes to chat with his/her friend 10,5 26,3 X says nothing about the meeting and stays for a longer time to chat with his/her friend 3,9 11,4 X acts in some other way 2,0 2,1 Concluding remarks There are differences in mental worlds between Russians and Finns In background information (who is Pushkin, Leino? What is the historical role of Napoleon, Mannerheim, Lenin) In values and ways of thinking (what do these things mean for me? family, babushka, friends, president, state, democracy, patriotism, law, justice, work, collective at work, holidays, dacha, money, a book, underground) In communicative behaviour (how to act as a host, a tourist, a student; what is the “average” attitude to policemen, politicians, businessmen, immigrants, other ethnic groups) The differences may hinder “fluent” understanding Concluding remarks 2 Two “howevers” There are more bridges (similarities in these cultures) to understanding than we (Finns) usually admit If we are motivated, use of the Adaptation Mode helps to overcome possible causes of misunderstanding