ЯЗЫКОВАЯ КАТЕГОРИЗАЦИЯ ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ДЕЯТЕЛЯ: ДИНАМИЧЕСКИЙ АСПЕКТ

The category of agent name is one of the central onomasiological categories. In special spheres of language functioning this category has a number of peculiarities, firstly, in expression. From the point of view of content it covers the whole scope of professional activity, and its separate scenes are represented in a compressed form. At present language nominative categories can be analyzed by correlating them with the level of consciousness and with mental structures, because universal language categories appear as representations of the basic mental categories. It is extremely important to study the principles of development of the category of professional agent name in order to investigate human thinking, nature and mechanisms of cognition, because it is activity in which a person conceptualizes the world and forms structures of knowledge expressed by the language [2; 9; 10].

According to N.N. Boldyrev, “categorization is one of the main functions of human consciousness which underlies speech-thinking activity and language organization as a system” [1, P. 16]. Not by chance V. Doroszewski defined the general and fundamental task of linguistics as the study of “how language consciousness divides reality into separate things” [7, P. 201], that is what the processes of language categorization are and how they function.

It is impossible to get a comprehensive idea of the category of agent without addressing to the initial notion of “activity”. Activity is understood as a “specifically human form of active attitude to the surrounding world, the content of which makes up an expedient change and transformation in the interest of people” [14, P. 160]. Any activity includes a target, means, result and process of activity itself. The main integral peculiarity of activity is its realized character. Consequently, in the foreground of activity treatment there is a person as a direct performer of activity, its active beginning (we do not analyze here the understanding of the category of agent in the wide sense as a basis of nominating objects of the material world: cars, mechanisms, etc.).

To define the essence of the category of agent we should establish a set of categorical characteristics which help to bring up the information about this or that really functioning subject to a given category. The most important categorical characteristic feature of the agent is activity of a person, i.e. ability to directed transformation of personal energy into real action. We accept volition, presence of a certain intention to perform an action, as a second characteristic feature. The third peculiarity is monitoring, or an ability to control the process of realizing one’s intention to get the intended result. Thus, the agent is a person who changes the state of things in the real world according to personal initiative, who is able to control and who possesses certain energy used in the process of interaction with the objects of the surrounding world.

The categorical characteristics outlined above find their direct realization in the characteristics of a subject of professional activity. There is no exaggeration in stating that professional activity is the highest form of activity, as it is characterized by such constitutional features as consciousness, purposefulness, successfulness and social importance.

Two most important categories, activity and agent, on the language level come into constant relations with interaction and interdependence, revealing their connection on the mental level. Activity as a specific form of realizing human essence is inseparable from the figure of an agent as an imbedded active initiative, setting direction and purpose to any action. Language material reveals that markers of the agent in professional activities are always of a secondary character, they appear when all the other nominatively important “participants” of activity, the action itself, the object of the action, its product and instrument, have been defined. Creation of an agent name concludes and completes the circle of mental objects included into the notion of activity, thus outlining of an activity sphere is finally formed in the consciousness of a nominator [5].

Belonging to the most important conditions of the existence of human society, activity is constantly structured and differentiated. At the initial point of activity development it appears to be discovered in the most simple (in reality specifically indivisible unity of all the following filiations) kinds of human activity: stone and skin processing, braiding, timber processing, domestication of animals, healing and magic, making musical instruments. The enumerated spheres of activity occurred before the neolithic period, which is traditionally acknowledged as a revolutionary stage in the development of human activity.

The long process of accumulating experience in the object-practical activity of people eventually resulted in the formation of three basic conditions in the creation of the real professional activity: 1) separating farming from cattle breeding, 2) separating craft from farming, 3) singling out trade into an independent sphere of activity. It is from this period, from the initial separation of labour, that we can speak about the formation of a concept “profession” as an element of conceptual sphere of “human activity”. Formation of cities, later states, establishment of the opposition manual vs. mental labour are connected with the development of professional spheres of activity. The main factors, however, are still interdependence, understood by all members of a united society, and activity exchange (to be more precise, exchange of activity products) on the principle of mutual complement.

From the origin of the human society social structure of activity included the opposition of two spheres, productive and nonproductive. In modern society each of these spheres has an autonomous branched structure. Thus, the former includes industry, agriculture, construction, transport and communication, the latter comprises trade, services, public utilities, culture, education, public health, sport, law enforcement, political sphere.

Therefore, specialization of activity types, appearance of socially divided labour mark the first stage of forming special subsystems of the language (more often denoted as languages for special purposes). The marking point of the appearance of a new kind of activity was the creation of a name for its active participant, subject of activity, bearer of certain knowledge and skills. The most relevant characteristic feature in the earliest epoch, namely, the final product of labour was at the basis of naming a person by profession. Thus, the name кузнец (smith) is traced to the word кузнь “everything forged, made by a smith”, гончар (potter) is a derivative from the Old Russian горньць «горшок» (most typical representative of pottery). The choice of this motivator requires certain interpretation from the point of view of the evolution of human thought.

Paying attention to things is a characteristic feature of ancient epochs. According to V.N. Toporov, the creation of a thing is “chronologically the last wave of cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis” [13, P. 8], the boundary line where a man becomes a man, creator, demigod, agent; cosmological stage turns to anthropocentric. For the ancient man it was important to stress the fact of creating a thing, because human ideas, knowledge and skills are exteriorized, in it they participate in a removed estranged way from the man.

From the moment when the man mastered the very principle of supporting, developing and perfecting life conditions in relation to any outward and inward changes of a situation we can speak about the origin of culture. It is important for this paper that the origin of culture is inseparably connected with the birth of professions, with the formation of professional activity as such. Profession appears as the beginning of culture. It is not accidentally that mythological thinking outlined the figure of a smith as a founder of crafts in general. This reveals the understanding of the cultural value of his activity. Due to the apt remark of J.M. Lotman, “the history of culture appears in the image of its evolution interpretations” [12, P. 639]. Let us turn to the history of representing the category of agent in the Russian language from these positions.

The whole sum total of the names of people by profession is a “modelling sign system” [11] aimed at receiving, keeping and translating information about a corresponding fragment of reality. The history of this group of naming demonstrates the change of prevailing means of interpretation of a professional agent as a central anthropological category in the system of special sublanguages. There is an inseparable connection between reality, language and consciousness in this continuous movement. Reality changes, so different models for its interpretation are required [6]. While understanding the world in the process of activity new conceptual structures which are brought to the existing categories, transforming and broadening their borders, are clarified in human consciousness. The important part of this process is the fact that a linguistic sign does not hold and fix the whole information connected with the denoted objects and situations but it focuses the attention only on particular details [3]. In other words, in the newly created units of nomination the orientation vector of collective consciousness of a given period is fixed. Changing the fundamental basis of structuralizing activity leads to a “reprofiling” of nomination means, to the transformation of the gravity centre from one activity aspect to another. On the whole, the set of motivation characteristics remains unchanged.

Basic concepts of human thought – object, process, product and instrument (means) are found in the whole variety of naming a person in connection with activity. According to these primary concepts forming the activity structure there are four basic ways of interpreting agent in professional spheres: 1) through the relation to the instrument (крановщик crane operator, гарпунер harpoon shooter, комбайнер harvester operator, весовщик weigher); 2) through the relation to the process (сборщик collector, резчик carver, вязальщик knitter, упаковщик packer), 3) through the relation to the object or the object of labour (жестянщик tin-smith, каменщик brick-laler, мраморщик marble-cutter, стекольщик glazier); 4) through the relation to the final product (печник stove-setter, макетчик model maker, модельщик pattern maker, лекальщик template maker). Moreover, it is necessary to mark another productive means of space representation in Russian which is found on all stages of its historical development, cf.: шахтер miner, подводник submariner, бармен barman, библиотекарь librarian, банщик bath-house attendant, киоскер stand-holder, etc.). A certain aspect of activity comes to the foreground in the interpretation of a professional agent in this or that historical period.

We denote the dominant cognitive model of nomination representing the way of human mental activity in creating a new name and reflecting peculiarities of a certain stage of developing human society as cogniotype. Cogniotype is a realization of the tuned modality of perception in a certain historical period which is conditioned by the experience of interaction of a person with the surrounding environment in the process of activity. The purpose of interpretation realized in names of professional agents is the best adaptation of the person to the environment. In other words, adaptive activity of human consciousness which, according to A.V. Kravchenko, “consists in information control” [8, P. 240] is realized through a cogniotype.

The environment of the person as a social phenomenon is social environment created by the person himself or herself and which varies in different epochs of human history. In the process of social and economic development of society it is justified to outline four most important stages connected with a certain type of labour division: crafts production stage, manufacture organization of trade, large machine industry stage, and post industrial stage (the period of creating informational society). A cogniotype changes during the transition from one stage to another [4].

In the epoch of craft production the category of agent name was mainly formed by means of naming, indicating the product of craftsmen’s activity. This is a period of realizing “productive” or exterior cogniotype, cf. бердник reeder, гвоздарь nail maker, гребенщик comb maker, зеркальник mirror maker, иконник icon painter, каретник carriage maker, канатчик rope maker, кисельник fruit jelly maker, игольник needle maker, смоляник tar maker, хомутинник collar maker, etc. During the period of manufacture labour organization the processional (operational) way was the leading means of the professional agent conceptualization. The change of the cogniotype in this case was conditioned by differentiation of separate links of the multi-stage production and outlining the “detailed man” as the main production unit: толчейщик crusher, ковщик forger, катальщик porter, литейщик founder, пильщик wood-cutter, обжигальщик kilner, отгребальщик raker, подставщик supporter, промывальщик washer, прядильщик spinner, сеяльщик sower, таскальщик carrier. The period of large machine industry (science and technical revolution epoch) is marked by reorientation in the formation of the agent name to the instrumental means of conceptualization which is connected with frontal changes in the labour character, namely, transition from manual labour to machine on all the stages of production process. E.g. автоматчик automatic operator, аппаратчик appliance operator, вальцовщик rolling-mill operator, дизелист diesel operator, машинист machine operator, станочник machine tool operator, фрезеровщик milling-machine operator, транспортерщик conveyor line operator, бензопильщик petrol driven saw operator, автогрейдерист grader driver, газосепараторщик gas separating machine operator, дробеструйщик shot-blaster operator, карщик car operator, крановщик crane operator, гидропрессовщик hydrolic press operator.

Modern epoch is characterized by a new objective cogniotype. In outlining this cogniotype we take into account the observed complication of the terms designation structure, with various aspect of professional activity being actualized in them. In the new conditions the object gets a widened interpretation, it is not merely an object of activity (at what it is being directed), it is a sphere of professional activity in general. Cf. дизайнер designer, визажист visagist, флорист florist, имиджмейкер image maker; специалист по видеомонтажу expert in video montage (по управлению имуществом property management, по рекламе advertisement, по сбыту sales, по ценным бумагам securities, по внутреннему аудиту inner audit, etc.).

The main principle of development, movement in the system of naming by professional activity can be defined as rotation: there is a constant change of the leading models of nomination which are backed up by the corresponding cognitive models. In each particular time section, in a definite historical period, the direction in the nominative understanding of a subject of professional activity may be likened to a given trajectory of an arrow. The explanation of such a contradictory phenomenon is found by Yu.M. Lotman: “Dual character of the nature of human culture is connected with its essence: conflict combination of its linear direction and cyclic repetition” [12, P. 661]. Thus, the development of the category of professional agent name can be represented as a continuous process of developing new forms which substitute the old ones, and as a cyclic change of a cogniotype. However, “as in biological evolution, early forms of life become ousted only partially, and they evolve considerably, adjusting themselves to new conditions, separation of new dominants in human history and culture by no means leads to the disappearance of the previous” [12, P. 655].

Cogniotype change is the core of realizing adaptive and orienting functions of our consciousness and language as a means of its objectification. Human consciousness is a complex cognitive system which is able to develop and self-develop, which models the world and transforms it in the process of activity. As consciousness is the product of experience, object and practical activity of a person, considerable changes of the content of activity, means of its organization include reorientation of consciousness structures and, consequently, language forms of its objectification as well. Thus language appears as one of the most important products and instruments of conceptual orientation in society. Due to the dominant conceptualization model of professional agent, the choice of an object for the target oriented activity becomes extremely significant in the process of social development.

We suppose that the study of language categorization processes from the point of view of a cogniotype change, i.e. taking into account their realization in a certain social and cultural context and in close connection with real demands of a person, in the interaction with outward environment, widens the possibilities of cognitive linguistics and meets the requirements of modern term studies in the cognition of the mechanism of terminology systems evolution.