Competitiveness Of Human Capital Of Youth: Determinants And Evaluation Model

Abstract

The article focuses on the study of the speech etiquette characteristics and use in Russian and Kalmyk languages. The subject of the research in this article is a comparative analysis of complimentary remarks in the Russian and Kalmyk languages. Speech etiquette allows us to choose the right direction of conversation according to the regulatory elements such as moral and social norms of behaviour which depend on the type of situation, interlocutors’ social status, temper, and the relationship between them. Speech etiquette comprises phrases expressing requests, compliment, apology, etc. The role of speech etiquette is now considered as an important issue: it is involved in all areas of our social life and mostly depends on the pragmatic factors of speech. On the other hand, according to the foreign and domestic linguistics, speech etiquette can be viewed from the perspective of sign-oriented meanness which depends primarily on the national and cultural characteristics of communication. In terms of social interaction human’s speech etiquette depends on the methods and rules of communication of the specific social group he/she represents. Pragmatics primarily focuses on the effective communication strategies which particularly comprise phrases expressing complimentary remarks. Complimentary remarks or diplomatic niceties become an important part of speech etiquette, they are precisely aimed at the implementation of effective communication particularly in a competitive interaction. Compliments are speech acts which maintain, improve or support the communication and reflects human’s psychological and emotional state. According to the genre studies, compliments are considered as the most influential speech genre.

Keywords: Competitivenesshuman capitalmodelhuman resources

Introduction

The research on the communicative-pragmatic functions of speech etiquette remains one of the most urgent in both domestic and foreign linguistics (Wezhbitska, 1985; Glovinskaya, 1992). In recent decades, speech etiquette requires comprehensive study approach as complimentary remarks of approval, sympathy and other phrases of diplomatic nicety are used to initiate the conversation and widely used in interpersonal speech and non-verbal communication activity, multinational interaction and the whole social life. Whereas, the modern anthropocentric linguistics focuses on this topic.

Complimentary remarks expressing request, compliment, apology and other phrases of etiquette have an important role in different types of communication, they coincide with the pragmatic factor of speech and behavior of the interlocutor. At the same time, foreign and domestic linguistic scientists believe that speech etiquette is an important and symbolic part of human speech and communication.

According to linguists, sign-oriented meanness of the speech etiquette depends primarily on the national and cultural characteristics of communication. In terms of social interaction, human’s speech etiquette depends on the methods and rules of communication of the specific social group he/she represents.

Tolerable human beings interacting with each other usually use appropriate etiquette remarks to maintain smooth verbal communication in accordance with situation, the social status and relationship between the interlocutors. In this regard, complimentary remarks or diplomatic niceties become an important part of speech etiquette and usually aimed at the implementation of effective communication in a particular interaction. Compliments are speech acts which maintain, improve or support the communication and reflects human’s psychological and emotional state. According to the genre studies, compliments are considered as the most influential speech genre (Sedov, 2016, p. 428).

According to Glovinskaya (1992), complimentary remark may refer not only to the interlocutors themselves, but also their possessions, the situation they are in or any event in general. “The subject of the compliment (the one who pays compliment) describes the addressee’s features or character positively, so that they become his/her advantages” (Glovinskaya, 1992, p. 163).

Various dictionaries, including explanatory dictionary (The Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language, 2006, Compliment), define compliment as a positive remark referring to the addressee. “A compliment is the remark referring to not only the appearance, but also the mind, the deed, and any aspect of human activity. The sense of a person consists of ninety percent of good deeds and good is achieved not only by actions, but also verbally, paying compliments to someone, we approve his/her deeds” (Formanovskaya, 1998, p. 202).

The Brief etymological dictionary of the Russian language (1971) defines “compliment” as a “greeting” from French. The dictionary of Vasmer (1986) refers the word to German “compliment’, and Italian “complimento”.

According to Arutyunova (1992) "... a compliment is one of the types of speech acts with the purpose of communication, but not a message of information" (p. 221).

Pankratov (2000) gives the following definition: “Compliment is some kind of boosting person’s advantages he/she wants to see feel”. He mentions the importance of difference between words “compliment vs flattery” (p. 175): “Flattery implies an excessive exaggeration of person’s advantages, or most often ascribing good qualities which is known as a lie; as for compliment, it describes the quality the addressee has”. The importance of difference refers not only to communicative boundaries of the two, but also the equality of the interlocutors of the compliment and the low status of the flattering person. Describing the essential difference between flattery and compliment, Sedov (2016) suggests: “... flattery can be viewed as a lie, because of it is usually not related to the real fact” (p. 18).

Sedov (2016) refers a compliment to one of the speech genres in Russian linguoculture. According to his analysis, there are five key features of the compliment characterized in the specified speech genre. The compliment as it is must be true, sincere; the statement must correspond to the situation of communication, adequately reflect the status-role position of interlocutors (appropriate compliment) and reflect the addressee's individuality.

Choydon (2000), the Mongolian researcher, studied the speech act of compliment in Russian and Mongolian languages. According to his research, the speech etiquette phenomenon in Mongolian languages is less popular and the number of complimentary remarks and phrases as such is considerably fewer than in Russian.

Problem Statement

The famous researcher of the communicative behavior Sternin (2015), comments on Russian complimentary remarks: “the compliment’s main purpose is a positive impact on the addressee's emotional state, rather than praising the addressee or his possessions” (p. 31). The Kalmyk language is a branch of the Mongolian language group therefore, the speech etiquette in Kalmyk and Mongol cultures tend to be similar. Purbeev studies Mongolian national-cultural specificity. According to his research, the world perception of the two cultures is reflected in the national linguistic and its image (Purbeev, 1982, 2015).

Research Questions

The subject of the research in this article is a comparative analysis of complimentary remarks in the Russian and Kalmyk languages.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study is to identify the characteristics of complimentary remarks and statements in the compared languages: Russian and Kalmyk. The modern Kalmyk language comprises extensive borrowed or literally translated phrases from Russian language. However, Kalmyk language remains under considerable influence of Russian language, not all the borrowings are relevant to Kalmyk speech etiquette culture. Therefore, most linguists are concerned by this topic and modern studies in Kalmyk language are focused on the analysis complimentary remarks.

Research Methods

The main research Methods were:

For the purpose of communicative and pragmatic study of the speech activity, complimentary remarks used in accordance with the specific etiquette situations in different ethno-linguistic cultures were researched through the descriptive and direct observational methods.

Findings

Being representatives of Eastern culture, the Kalmyks tend to be less self-centered and complimentary expressive according to others, themselves, and of what is directly related to them. One of the traditional behavior rules among Kalmyks, as well as other Eastern people, is the shown in the speech between the parent and child. For example, a mother in Kalmyk culture do not to praise her children or other relatives in front of others, sometimes it is common to criticize them in public. In this regard, the significance of the common combination of Kalmyks in communication to the child is expressed in the “мини му көвүн” which means “my bad child”: this is how the Kalmyks express love and tenderness to the child, a close relative, etc.

To express feelings the Kalmyks use special phrases as “сәәхн минь” which literally means “you are my beautiful one” and etc.

Nevertheless, the Kalmyk language and culture remains under the influence of the Russian communicative behavior, and they use a wide range of set expressions borrowed from Russian language. Yet most part of the younger generation does not understand purely cultural and national features.

The majority of compliments in Russian language refer to people’s appearance, ability or performance. The last two (ability and performance) are the most common in both Russian and Kalmyk communicative behavior, although, the Russian tend to use them more frequently.

According to the lingua-cultural analysis, complimentary remarks on the skill and performance of a person are used more often than compliments about the general ability of a person in both compared cultures. There is a considerable cultural difference in using compliments about culinary skills of a person: the Russian tend to use praise your skills, whereas the Kalmyk do not.

In its turn, the topic of moral qualities, strength of character, kindness and willingness is a common feature in Kalmyk speech etiquette, Russian language use them rarely.

As for the grammatics, complimentary remarks in the Russian and Kalmyk languages consist of subject, predicate and pronouns denoting the addressee. “You look good” is a fairly common expression in the speech etiquette of both languages. Complimentary remarks according to men in Kalmyk language “йоста залу” literally means “a real man”. In its turn, one cannot use this remarks according to women.

In Russian, complimentary remarks referring person’s qualities mainly consist of a second person pronoun and a short adjective. For example: “Вы прекрасны, ты находчив” which mean “you are beautiful, you are smart”. Also, the complimentary remarks in general are quite often expressed with the help of verb. According to Sergeeva (2006), the compliment in Russian is often used when describing the situation in present. For example the following remarks in both languages describe person’s ability in playing the chess, and means: “you are good at chess” (Table 01 ).

There is another tendency of using complimentary remarks in both languages when meeting after long time. In this case people usually pay compliments regarding their appearance. There is a variety of set expressions according to this case in Russian language, which describe positive attitude towards person’s appearance. One of them is the expression which translates from Russian as “you are still so young and beautiful”. There is no specific expressions according to the person’s appearance in Kalmyk language, so it is usually expressed directly as follows: “Чи улм сəəхрəд бəəнəч, – гиҗ Долдад Күслə келв” (L. Inzhiev). Such expressions imply person’s state of becoming more beautiful and younger than before.

The complimentary remarks in both languages have changed since Soviet Union. Back then paying compliments on person’s weight, for example “You have gained so much weight!” may sound pleasant. Nowadays paying compliments about someone’s shape or weight in this way is not common.

 There is another tendency in Russian and Kalmyk speech etiquette such as paying attention to person’s behavior or describing his quality as positive when giving compliments. Such compliments usually mean: “You are a nice person to talk to” and etc.

There is a special type of complimentary remarks referring to one’s individual style such as the way they dress or wear hairstyle. This kind of compliments are known as politely-neutral remarks and refer mainly to women. Both Russian and Kalmyk languages have set expressions which describe their attitude towards the appearance of the addressee: “this color/dress/hairstyle looks good on you”.

Using comparison or comparative speech parts when paying compliments in both languages is as Table 2 and Table 3 .

The two sentences express horse’s ability of running as fast as hare.

The speech etiquette in Russian and Kalmyk languages requires complimentary remarks made by relatives and friends of the interlocutor. In Kalmyk language one usually pays compliments indirectly. The Kalmyk tend to be less emotional, so they prefer indirect speech to express a compliment. According to the Kalmyk culture, compliments in their everyday life do not function in their infinite form. Thus, there is a special genre of speech in Kalmyk folklore – “the magtal” – “praise”. For example, one the stories in the genre of magtal consist of the complimentary remarks referring to the herdsman’s ability to keeps his herd well, without losing a single horse: “Нүкн болсн бөөргт, нүдм чичм харңһуд, алдл уга хаяд, тәвл уга татдг. Туульсн мөрнәс унад уга, тордсн агтыг алдад уга, аля-дүүвр залу – арһмҗин хан – адуч!”

Mostly magtals are found in the Kalmyk Heroic Epic “Jangar”. The following expressions describe the incomparable beauty of a girl named Khanshi Aga Shavdal (character in Kalmyk epic): “Her shining face reminds of the ocean, her cheeks are ruby and her thoughts are even whiter that snow”.

The two sentences comprise the description of a person’s appearance.

The epic tale comprises various complimentary expressions referring to the heroes of Vladyka Dzhangar (the Kalmyk epic hero) and the horses of the army.

Conclusion

The complimentary remarks in Russian speech etiquette mainly focus on the person’s appearance or possessions, ability and personal achievements. In its turn, the Kalmyk complimentary remarks are mainly referred to the personal achievements, manner and success. In the Kalmyk culture such reaction as interruption, disagreement, a lowered look, slight embarrassment is considered as a common sign and mean the addressee's good breeding.

According to the study analysis, complimentary remarks in the Kalmyk speech etiquette differ from the Russian speech etiquette. The Kalmyk tend to use less complimentы in everyday communication. The speech etiquette of both languages are influenced by the national and cultural specifics, the world perception of the world, which is reflected in the picture theory of the language.

References

1. Arutyunova, N. D. (1992). Communication genres. The human factor in the language. Communication, modality, deixis. Moscow: Science.
2. Brief etymological dictionary of the Russian language. (1971). Moscow, Enlightenment.
3. Choydon, Z. (2000). Comparative description of Russian and Mongolian speech etiquette (from the position of the category of politeness). Ulaanbaator
4. Formanovskaya, N. I. (1998). Communicative-pragmatic aspects of communication units. Moscow: Institute of the Russian language.
5. Glovinskaya, M. Ya. (1992). Russian speech acts and verb type. Logical analysis of language, 5. Models of action. Moscow: Indrik.
6. Pankratov, V. N. (2000). Psychology of people management. Moscow: Publishing House of the Institute of Psychotherapy.
7. Purbeev, G. (1982). Speech etiquette and sign language in Kalmyks and Mongols. National-cultural specificity of speech communication of the peoples of the USSR. Moscow: Science.
8. Purbeev, G. (2015). Studies on the languages and culture of the Mongolian peoples. Elista: Publishing house KalmGU.
9. Sedov, K. F. (2016). General and anthropocentric linguistics. Moscow: Publishing House YASK.
10. Sergeeva, A. V. (2006). Russians. Stereotypes of behavior, traditions, mentality. Moscow: Flint Science.
11. Sternin, I. A. (2015). Models of communicative behavior description. Voronezh: Garant.
12. The Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language (2006). Moscow: OOO (A TEMP).
13. Vasmer, M. (1986). Etymological dictionary of the Russian language. Moscow: Progress.
14. Wezhbitska, A. (1985). Speech acts. NEP. issue Xvi. Linguistic pragmatics. Moscow: Progress.