Practices of explaining metaphors in the professional activities of a teacher

Shlyakhov V.I.

Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor

Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education RUDN University
E-mail: shlyakhovv@mail.ru

 

 

These powerful words can be used to capture the essence of the teaching profession: teachers of both native and foreign languages are constantly forced to convey information about the language to people who know little about their native or target language.

The goal of a teacher of Russian as a foreign language is to teach foreign students to understand the grammar and meaning of written and spoken Russian. The complexity of this task is difficult to overestimate. It's surprising how, at an early age, children acquire their native language intuitively and effortlessly, while later, in school, learning their native language grammar poses great difficulties. It's worth noting that students sometimes need years of dedicated effort to master a foreign language. Logical grammar is not involved in learning their native language in childhood. Moreover, children don't consider how language is structured, how, for example, everything said figuratively is understood, or how one can say one thing and mean something completely different.

Let's return to the problems of learning Russian by foreigners. It is well known that the difficulties of learning Russian grammar, albeit with considerable mental effort, are overcome by most foreign students [6]. Another problem, still requiring a solution, is to bring to students' consciousness the hidden meanings in Russian written and spoken texts containing allusions, irony, euphemisms, and other "invisible" means of indirect thought transmission.

For example, explaining F.I. Tyutchev's words, "A thought expressed is a lie," requires considerable time and a teacher's in-depth knowledge. One might assume that thoughts are not identical to words in that they must be organized by the rules of grammar and the rules for conveying the meaning of words so that they become understandable to others. In this process, thought undergoes distortions and loses the freedom of nonlinear existence, since in the "pre-text" state, thoughts can swarm, build into a gigantic hypertext, etc. [8] V. Khlebnikov, A. Kruchenykh, and the Russian Futurists attempted to overcome these "grammatical constraints" at the beginning of the last century. It should be added that language is created not only to unambiguously convey one's thoughts to others; it is also capable of concealing them. This is why people are able to lie and conceal their intentions.

More than 200 years ago, Swift addressed this problem when describing fictional creatures who knew no lies:

«The master listened to me with an expression of great displeasure on his face, for doubt and distrust are so unknown in this country that the Houyhnhnms do not know how to behave in such a situation. ... When I had to mention lying and deceit, he only with great difficulty understood what I meant ... He reasoned thus: the faculty of speech is given to us in order to understand each other and to receive information on various subjects; but if anyone begins to assert something that is not true, then the purpose of our speech is completely perverted, because in this case the one to whom the speech is addressed cannot understand the interlocutor; he not only does not receive any information, but finds himself in a state worse than ignorance, because he is assured that white is black, and long is short. This was the limit of all his ideas regarding the faculty of lying, so perfectly known and so widely spread in all human societies »[5, p. 322].

Apparently, Swift was thinking about how a person can say one thing, meaning something completely different, and yet the interlocutor is still able to understand him.

Difficulties in understanding spoken and written texts can be attributed to the following characteristic of language. Human linguistic consciousness is imbued with the ability, developed through life's linguistic experience, not only to clearly convey thoughts to others but also to conceal them.

The diverse set of skills required of a foreign language teacher includes those that support linguistic introspection, that is, the ability to observe and analyze one's own linguistic consciousness and understand how thoughts are transformed into texts [6]. On the other hand, the ability to detect both visible and hidden thoughts within texts is required. Clearly, discerning the crystallization of a person's thought in texts, what is expressed "in plain text" and what is implied, is not easy. This requires not only relying on research in linguistics, especially that which fills gaps in understanding the structure of language, but also being able to translate this research into the language of methodology. In other words, a teacher must be able, drawing on this knowledge, to offer students a system of explanations so that they understand the linguistic phenomenon before them, be it the grammatical structure of a sentence, the semantics of individual words, the architecture of a text, or the hidden meanings in oral and written texts.

Consequently, the teacher's arsenal contains numerous scenarios for verbal interaction designed to explain everything foreign students don't understand. Particularly challenging for foreign students is information that isn't expressed verbally but is implied—what's known as metameaning.

Metameaning is found in the depths of metaphorical constructs; it can also surround speech events in the communicative space with a semantic "cloud." Thus, in scenarios of verbal interaction between a teacher and a student, tactics for explaining indirectly expressed information in the text are revealed. Recently, it has become common to include information about who is speaking, with whom, the purpose of the verbal impact, and so on.

 

Strategies и tactics speech impact в scenarios professional activities teacher RKI

As mentioned above, in their professional work, teachers of Russian as a foreign language use numerous scenarios (schemes, frames) of oral and written communication. Naturally, tactics for explaining what students don't understand or are comprehending for the first time occupy a dominant position in the teacher's professional work.

A scenario is, on the one hand, a condensed cognitive model (schema) of speech behavior stored in long-term memory, and on the other, it is the verbal materialization of this model by interlocutors. Let us recall that a speech behavior strategy is a general plan for speech behavior within a scenario, a plan that allows one to predict future communicative events and select the most effective way to use one's communicative experience to achieve the main communicative goal [8]. Tactics are ideas about how specific step-by-step communication tasks are solved. In real communication, tactics are tied to the immediate goal of communication. For example, if you need to draw students' attention to texts containing metaphorical constructions, you can point out the main distinguishing features of metaphors, their unusualness and illogicality. For example, present metaphors such as "heavy heart," "the weight of years lived," "the weight of memories," "difficult character" and compare them with sentences like: "The child was unable to lift the heavy bag." The idea of lightness as a positive feeling is captured in metaphors such as «light at heart», «it’s easy to communicate with this person», «light gait», «smile slightly», etc. [2].

There are few strategies. One is the strategy of dominance, the second is the strategy of cooperation, which has an altruistic dominant, and the third is the strategy of resistance, countering verbal influence. The main difficulty in studying scenarios with embedded explanatory tactics is the constant need to identify hidden meanings in texts and develop exercises to identify and explain them.

In particular, it will be shown below how the attention and cognitive operations of students are controlled in relation to the understanding of the structure and functions of metaphors in the Russian language.

 

Linguistic theory metaphors

Explanation metaphors on lessons Russian language

Traditionally, it is customary to begin expounding the theory of indirect figures of speech with the linguistics of metaphorical constructions. The study of the deep structures of metaphor, as well as the role of metaphors in understanding new phenomena in the surrounding world, opened the door to the study of such figures of indirect communication (allegories) as irony, allusion, euphemism, evasion, and the like. Defining metaphor is not easy; to begin with, it must be said that the word "metaphor" comes from the Greek metaphora, meaning "transfer." The question remains open as to what is being transferred and how. It is assumed that humans are naturally inclined to define the world around them in words, that is, to name visible, tangible things and phenomena. The primary nomination includes words such as Human, man, woman, child, forest, sea, flow rivers, depth, fast, slow, far, close, high, short, blue, green, blue, wicked, Kind. These words are called archetypes, that is, words that served as the basis for later transformations. Their semantic transformations resulted in the emergence of metaphors. A metaphor is a verbal image of fragments of reality (the environment, society, social relations, a person's appearance, psychology, language), everything that is given to us through sensations and reflections. A verbal image is created through the selection and recombination of familiar meanings extracted from the "old" lexical meanings of words. Scholars developing a modern linguistic theory of metaphor share the opinion that if the meaning of words included in metaphors is taken literally, it creates a sense of absurdity, because in such a reading, metaphors are meaningless [1; 4]. For example, it is difficult for a foreigner to understand the following sentence: "Yesterday we were racking our brains all evening about where to get money to buy an apartment." When people figure out what speakers meant, they engage in a cognitive process common to uncovering the meaning of not only metaphors, but also all other oral and written texts containing the category of indirection. Again, scientists believe that the primary function of metaphor is to designate new phenomena in science, society, and human intellectual activity [Ibid.]. In this process, old lexical material is used, which undergoes semantic transformations. Teaching students to see the results of these transformations is a challenging task in teaching them to understand the meaning of metaphors in Russian verbal communication. As mentioned above, ordinary words used to name new phenomena, especially in the world of mental activity or in the realm of emotions, possess a new quality – figurativeness. The words sound familiar. spicy knife, spicy sword, spicy splinter glass. Words are perceived completely differently. spicy sight, spicy word, wit.

 

Modern methods explanations meaning и devices metaphors

Until recently, D. Davidson's words about metaphor were undisputed: "metaphor is a dream, a sleep of language" [3, pp. 172-193]. However, discoveries have been made in the linguistic theory of metaphor that have revealed quite real rules for constructing and understanding metaphors. First of all, it turned out that metaphor is not a "dream of language," which requires psychoanalysis to understand, but a verbal structure that conceals specific semantic material. If it is compared with the original word, the archetype, then the rules for creating new names, that is, metaphors, can be identified. If these linguistic-conventional rules did not exist, then people would be unable to understand not only metaphorical statements but also all other figures of allegory. In contrast to the words about the dream of language, linguists have identified unwritten rules for understanding individual metaphors, as well as idioms that include metaphors.

 

Interpretive procedures в professional activities teacher

1. Recognition metaphors в texts. The goal of the lessons is to teach students to "see" metaphor in text and recognize the difference between the semantics of words in their literal and figurative meanings. Metaphorical interpretation techniques are used to answer the question of how the interlocutor interprets the meaning of what is said if, at first glance, the metaphors sound meaningless. Does a person who steps on someone's foot and is called a bear actually look like a bear? Moreover, no bear has ever stepped on a person's ear to deafen them. A literal understanding of words "kills" the meaning, revealing the words' meaninglessness. For example, a terrifying image arises in the mind if the words in the Russian idiom "A bear stepped on his ear" are taken literally. Therefore, exercises (tactics) are used to identify metaphors, helping students recognize the difference between the literal and figurative meanings of the same words. Students are asked to compare the meaning of texts that convey the meaning directly with texts containing a metaphor. For example, "Before us stretched a sea without end or edge" and "We emerged from the forest and saw a sea of flowers." The teacher's explanations look something like this. The teacher points out that in the process of constructing a metaphor, such attributes of the sea as its depth, water color, waves, and calm are discarded, retaining only the idea of its vast quantity. This idea of a vast quantity of seawater is retained to describe the immeasurable number of flowers. It should be emphasized that one of the most important learning tools in the practice of teaching Russian as a foreign language includes interpretation techniques, assignments, and exercises designed to explain the apparent illogicality or "fantastical nature" of metaphorical texts, which are overlooked by the ordinary consciousness.
2. Awareness devices metaphors. Archetypes of consciousness as source semantic material for creating metaphors

Learning activities at this stage of the educational process are aimed at developing a system of knowledge about how metaphors are structured and the transformations that the donor words used to create them have undergone. During the lesson, the metaphor is "unpacked," revealing its "scaffolding." To reiterate, when constructing a metaphor, certain filters or a semantic "sieve" are applied, eliminating certain features and meanings of the original donor word and recomposing the semantic material, emphasizing certain meanings and adding others, resulting in a new image or a new name for a new phenomenon. Imagine hearing the statement "Well, why are you so down?" for the first time. A direct, literal understanding of the words is perplexing. The meaning of this phrase is imparted by the accompanying information underlying the words. The paralinguistic components of the text give meaning to these words; you understand that your interlocutor knows you are in a bad mood, depressed, and wants to know why you are in a bad mood. If a metaphor is repeated in other communicational episodes, its meaning becomes ingrained in the mind, bypassing the analytical, conscious processes of memorization. "In other words, the individual consciousness of each member of society is filled with knowledge that is common to all speakers of a particular language and culture, enabling mutual understanding" [7, p. 18]. The teacher's simple explanations show students that they are confronted with archetypal notions of being at the top or bottom. Being at the bottom (whoever or whatever is there) is bad. Let's take other figurative expressions as an example: mood falls, turn out to be on day, heart fell, roll down down By official stairs, be on lower social steps And so on. It follows that the techniques of "rearranging" the source linguistic material open up a reverse perspective: if we know what features the donor word imbued the metaphor with, then by "unpacking" the metaphor, we can understand how the metaphor is structured and establish connections between the metaphor and its underlying meanings. As stated, shared social understandings of how reality is structured, and what words relate to—nature, social relations, language—are the basis for understanding the most sophisticated metaphors.

The theory of archetypes in linguistic consciousness played an important role in explaining the meaning and structure of metaphorical constructions.

 

Archetypes How warp classifications metaphors

As we know, an archetype is a prototype, a prototype, a model. Thus, metaphors draw on the earliest ideas about the animal world, the structure of the human body, family ties, space, and time.

The archetypes underlying metaphors are divided into the following classes:

1. Isomorphic metaphors include constructions in which connections with the animal world can be seen: growl from anger; iron against wool; wool on end from fear; rush on people; lick wounds etc.
2. Through metaphors of kinship, analogies are established between relationships in the family and society, family and political realities, and nature: father nations; nature mother; mother everyone cities; fraternal relationship between peoples; cities twin cities; ancestor scientific schools.
3. The somatic (analogies, associations with the human body) type includes metaphors: hang/hang nose; lower hands; turn back nose; from hands out Badly; stone on heart; break head; to attack on throat; play muscles; deadlift ridge economy; vote legs; forests – lungs planets The somatic code is the primary code for creating metaphors intended to describe the surrounding world; humans establish semantic connections between the structure of the body and fragments of reality. Somatic metaphors are found in all languages and provide fertile material for exploring the uniqueness of a particular national culture. The national uniqueness of metaphors can be seen in the following texts: в one ear entered, в other it happened, wind в head, span lands, by hand submit (about the distance), finger о finger Not hit (about laziness) etc.
4. Concepts of the natural world are the basis on which natural classes of metaphors are built: flow thoughts; depth thoughts; vertex success; sunset life.
5. Spatial and orientational metaphors are based on ideas about distance, position in space, the movement of time, etc.: far/close relative; distant past; Life live through Not field go to; approximation New years; Time stopped; Vital path etc.
6. Emotive metaphors serve to establish associations between the human sensory world and the external environment: excitement seas; sad sunset; joyful morning.
7. The gastronomic metaphor is intended to describe abstract concepts in terms of taste sensations: bitter thoughts; sweet memories; cloying words.

There are no impenetrable barriers between the listed semantic groups of metaphors; a unique exchange of semantic material often occurs between them. For example, the zoomorphic system supplies semes for the creation of metaphors describing human emotions. A person becomes enraged, snaps in response to insults, growls in anger, sniffs, that is, gathers information, and so on. The alternation of light and darkness, day and night, the life of plants, the flow of rivers, calm and stormy seas are associated with the cycles of human life and their moods: Beauty is blooming и fades; is coming sunset life; Life It happens stormy, а Maybe flow calmly etc. Taste sensations are transferred to a person’s feelings and thoughts; he may have bitter thoughts, sweet dreams, a sour mood, etc.

This article does not address the stage of the educational process where students learn to use metaphors in oral and written communication. It is known that the ability to appropriately use metaphors lies within the realm of higher communicative competencies. Modern Russian language teaching methods have made progress in addressing this issue. However, questions regarding the structure of nationally specific metaphors remain beyond the scope of this article.

 

Conclusions

A metaphor consists of ordinary words and expressions, but it is structured in such a way that ordinary words sound figurative, since those semantic features of the source words, which, after being reorganized, lend imagery to what is said, are selected for the metaphor. Imagery does not "hide" reality, but rather presents it in a new light. All metaphors originate from or are attached to known facts, phenomena, or events in the surrounding world and in the linguistic environment. The primary functions of metaphor are to reinterpret the familiar through associations and thus define what previously had no name. A metaphor consists of ordinary words and expressions, but it is structured in such a way that ordinary words sound figurative, since those semantic features of the source words, which, after being reorganized, lend imagery to what is said, are selected for the metaphor. The professional skills of a teacher should include the use of exercises, assignments, and commentary that accompany a collaborative learning strategy. They are divided into three groups depending on the specific learning objectives: informational (the goal is to inform the participants of the educational process about the structure and semantics of metaphors), interpretative (the goal is to develop the ability to recognize a metaphor and discover the metameaning in the deep structure of a metaphor), linguopragmatic (the goal is to show the conditions for the functioning of metaphors in communication, to teach to understand the purpose of metaphors in verbal communication).