К.філол.н . Кравченко В.Л.

Полтавський національний педагогічний університет імені В.Г. Короленка , Україна

Concept “ sense of Beauty ” in Japanese culture : cross - cultural aspect

 

The cultural relationship modernization, the modern society cross-cultural development and the cross-cultural movements of the integration processes led to the mental space changes. The problem of the present and the future the dichotomy East-West, concept JAPAN is taken under special research in different scientific spheres: political science, sociology, philosophy and cognitive linguistics etc. The correlation of language and social reality, language and culture is taken under the constant attention in the modern linguistics. The actual directions of the researches in this sphere is Conceptual Analysis within Cognitive Linguistics.

Cognitive Linguistics can bridge the gap between Culture and Language. One of the significant aim of this research was to single out how human beings (students) conceive of, manipulate, and metaphorically extend meaning, how cultural concepts are embedded in language. As Laura A. Janda has claimed, “u se of Cognitive Linguistics to examine cultural linguistic phenomena is a new line of research, relevant to the identities of thousands of speech communities on Earth” [2]. This research proved the fact of the cross disciplinary dimensions between Culture and Language study.

The topicality of this research is determined by the tendency to the cultural concept study which are the means of conceptualization the different intangible objects (in our case – culture, sense of beauty, the area of further development of the Japanese culture). With this study the problem of investigation the cross-cultural discourse types is continued to consider.

The aim is to disclose the semantic peculiarity of the basic cultural concepts of English cross-cultural discourse and to give their interpretation. This presentation is limited by the peculiarities characteristics of the concept “ sense of Beauty” in Japanese culture representation with the help of so called cultural conceptual metaphor in the English cross-cultural discourse.

In the range of conceptual analysis the metaphorical models representing concept “ sense of Beauty” were examined. In this research the metaphorical models were picked out on basis of target-domain as SENCE OF BEAUTY, ART . To the cultural conceptual metaphor in the English cross-cultural discourse such source - domains are attributed as empty space , silences , motion , ambiguity , clothing , music , reading between lines , nature , art , architecture , garden .

In Japan , it has become popular today for people to wear blue jeans, to listen to rock music, to eat fast food, to sleep in a bed, and to eat with a knife and fork. Since ancient times, the cultures of other coun tries, especially those of China and Korea , have greatly influenced Japanese life. However, with the opening of Japan in the nineteenth century after many years of seclusion, and especially after World War II, the Japanese have tried to “keep up” with Western people and become like them. As a result, lifestyles from Western cultures have been increasingly accepted and adopted in Japan , and a Westernized way of life is now widespread among the Japanese people. As a result, many people are beginning to ask where one can find original Japanese culture with its deep sense of beauty, which was so apparent in the past but which is now rapidly disappearing. A partial answer to this question can be found in an examination of Japanese aesthetic traditions as they exist today, especially in terms of fashion, music, painting, and language [3].

Japanese art was originally painted in monochrome in such a way that a few simple strokes of the brush in outline could represent entire mountains and forests. It was done with India ink on paper or silk cloth using primitive tools in a contemplative atmosphere. Western art, however, is what most people know as “art” in Japan today, that is, art painted in vivid colors, in a direct, complete, and explicit way.

Japanese art focuses not on what is logically considered beautiful, but on what people feel is beautiful. The Japanese aesthetic is very subjective, and there are no absolute criteria as to what this should be. In the West, however, what is beautiful is beautiful in and of itself, so there are explicit and well-established criteria for beauty. Aware is said to be representative of the Japanese sense of beauty, and it is a term of great subtlety, which is quite difficult to understand because it relates specifically to the Japanese feeling of appreciating something that is regarded as worthless. For example, in the West people tend to think that flowers in full bloom are most beautiful, but when withered they are not. This is not the case with the Japanese sense of aware ? people are aware of the beauty of full blossoms, of course, but are more touched and deeply moved when these blossoms are falling or beginning to wilt. Similarly, they think that a moon partially covered by clouds is more appealing than one that is full [1] . Aware is thus connected to feelings of regret for things losing their beauty, and paradoxically finding beauty in their opposite. Moreover, anything can ultimately be appreciated as beautiful in Japan , and what is beautiful depends upon people's subjective point of view. However, such fundamental notions of beauty are sometimes criticized for their vagueness and seem to be less appreciated and are disappearing in modern Japan , and many young people today cannot feel the beauty of aware [3, p. 37] .

Today, the Japanese language is changing as people express themselves more decisively and directly and sometimes become irritated with vagueness for its own sake. However, there is also a danger in losing the ability to appreciate those silences (ma) that often seem to be worthless and contain no value (aware), except to those who have developed the ability to read between the lines [3, p. 38].

An empty space is marked off with plain wood and plain walls, so that the light drawn into it forms dim shadows within emptiness. There is nothing more. And yet, when we gaze into the darkness that gathers behind the crossbeam, around the flower vase, beneath the shelves, though we know perfectly well it is mere shadow, we are overcome with the feeling that in this small corner of the atmosphere there reigns complete and utter silence; that here in the darkness immutable tranquillity holds sway.

Since code values are often used to represent conceptual domains; a conceptual domain for “days of the week” might have the same set of values as the conceptual domain for “colours in the rainbow”. And while the value domains are identical, they don’t refer to the same conceptual domain . Modal-evaluation approach was in describing the word-combination as “Japanese culture”: unique , traditional , patriarchal etc. But at the same time in Japanese culture were revealed such lexemes as development , advanced with the preserving the traditions . W hen students think about Japan in comparison with Europe , they emphasize how unique Japan seems to be , regarded Japan as this very exotic distant culture. So Japan is expected, to be unique .Perhaps what makes Japan seem unique is that the combinations of institutions – say education, religion, family, and so forth – the way that those are combined may be somewhat different from what we expect in Europe.

From the obtained data we may distinguish the following value systems of Japan : JAPANESE VALUES – obligation to the group, behaving according to status, harmony, effort, self-improvement, self-criticism, collectivism; Japanese “sense of beauty” ? empty space , silences , motion , ambiguity , clothing , music , reading between lines , nature , the spirit of the art , a ware.

Though image about concept j apan is considered the second richest c ountry and leader of technology in the world, and known for having a unique culture. Japan could not have attained this height of cultural advancement without outside influence. Using examples in Japan’s history, it is shown that as an isolated country, Japan’s cultural evolution was slower, compared to Europe where cultural diffusion played a big role in their history. The examined nominations enable us to trace the formation and functioning mechanism of a concepts japan and Japanese “ sense of Beauty ” . The analysis has proved that these concepts are forming with the help of means of discourse.

 

The list of references:

1. Keene D. The pleasure of Japanese Literature / D. Keene. ? New York : Columbia University Press, 1988. ? 133 p.

2. Laura A. Janda 2011. From Cognitive Linguistics to Cultural Linguistics. UNC-Chapel Hill/University of Troms ? [ Web resource ]. – Access mode :   http :// www.unc.edu/~lajanda = (accessed on: 10.11.2011).

3. The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese culture / by Roger Davies, Osamu Ikeno . ? Rutland , Vermont : TUTTLE PUBLISHING, 2002. ? 270 p.