LANGUAGE AND CONCEPTUALIZATION OF SOCIAL REALITY

Diplomsko delo proučuje vlogo jezika in z njo povezano konceptualizacijo družbene realnosti. Jezik predstavlja pomemben del človekovega življenja, saj je eno najpomembnejših sredstev za sporazumevanje in izražanje. Njegova funkcija je, da povezuje ljudi in v večji meri determinira naš pogled na svet, kar pomeni, da jezik posamezniku in posameznici omogoča, da dojemata in opišeta realnost. V filozofiji jezika smo ugotavljali, ali v svetu resnično bivajo samo tiste stvari, o katerih lahko govorimo, in tako zagovarjali tezo, da je jezik slika družbene realnosti. Ker pa se s tem ustvarjajo razlike v percepciji, zaradi katerih prihaja do razlik v kulturi, smo se v diplomskem delu lotili vprašanja, ali drži, da različnost jezikov vpliva na različnost kultur. Opredelili smo jezikovni relativizem, ki izhaja iz nazora, da so vsa spoznanja in vrednote relativna in da jezik realnosti ne opisuje, temveč jo ustvarja. Bistvo teoretičnega dela diplomskega dela je bila tudi dokazati, da vse, kar obstaja v človeškem svetu, obstaja zaradi razloga človeške kognicije in prepoznavanja tega kot realnega. V empiričnem delu diplomskega dela nas je zanimalo raziskovanje subjektovih zmožnosti konceptualizacije družbene realnosti, ki je zasidrana v jeziku. Pozornost smo osredotočili na nosilca in njegov pogled, kajti človek, njegova dejavnost in zavest predstavljajo sfero jezika. Podatke smo zbrali s polstrukturiranim intervjujem, katerega avtor je bil predstavnik jakobške kulture. V večji meri nas je zanimala rekonstrukcija jakobške tradicionalne duhovne kulture, na katero smo sklepali po tipičnem jakobškem besedišču. Prav tako smo želeli raziskati, ali lahko po besedišču sklepamo na človekov vsakdan in ali lahko potrdimo tezo, da jezik postavlja meje človekovega sveta. Raziskali smo tudi, ali drži, da razčlenjenost besedišča določenega področja kaže na pomembnost nekega pojava ali stvari na tem področju za člane neke družbe. Ugotovili smo, da se iz besedišča posameznika ne da rekonstruirati tradicionalne duhovne kulture nekega kraja in da se človekovo besedišče v večji meri navezuje na njegov vsakdan in njegovo zasebno življenje, iz česar izhaja človekov pogled na svetThe diploma thesis is focused on determining the role of language and the subsequent conceptualization of social reality. Language is one of the most important means of communication and expression, thus appearing as a key factor in the life of each individual person. The ability of language to connect people and largely determine an individual’s perception of his surroundings enables the individual to comprehend and describe the aforementioned reality. The philosophy of language was the foundation of our efforts to determine whether the world is, in fact, comprised only from those occurrences and notions which can be successfully described by words. The findings were used to address and support the hypothesis of the language mirroring social reality. Since, owing to cultural differences, the latter is often the cause of variations within individual perceptions, the diploma thesis tries to answer the question whether the difference between individual languages is in direct correlation with the differences in individual cultures by focusing on and defining linguistic relativism, which employs as its basic premise the assumption that all findings and values are relative and that the language does not only describe, but also create reality. The aim of the theoretical part of the diploma thesis was to prove that all notions which exist in the scope of global human knowledge are the direct result of human cognition and the acceptance of the latter as reality. The aim of the empirical part of the diploma thesis is to detail the comprehensive research of the ability of the test subject to conceptualise social reality which stems from language. Since the individual, his actions and conscience present the sphere of language, special emphasis was given to the carrier and his perceptions. The collection of data was carried out by means of a semi-structured interview, conducted with a member of the JakobskiDol community. The main research aspect involved the reconstruction of the traditional spiritual culture of the aforementioned community, which was largely based on the typical lexicon being used within the community. A parallel part of research activities, involving the notion that language can be used to determine the daily activities of the test subject, was later applied to the thesis that language can outline the borders of an individual’s environment. Research was also conducted on the thesis that the complexity of the lexicon found in a certain geographical area can be used to determine the significance of a certain notion or occurrence for the members of communities located in the researched area. Our findings have determined that the lexicon of an individual cannot be the basis for the reconstruction of a community’s traditional spiritual culture. Furthermore, the lexicon of an individual appears to be closely related to the individual’s daily activities and private affairs, which largely determine the perception of his surroundings