Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

of a universal nature

Russian translation:

универсального характера

Added to glossary by Vladimir Dubisskiy
May 27, 2004 17:34
20 yrs ago
English term

of a universal nature

Non-PRO English to Russian Art/Literary Linguistics contextual phrase
Fundamentally, we can understand the way in which language represents the world to us, in terms of two opposing positions. According to one view, human beings generally (whatever their culture or language) are endowed with a common stock of basic concepts – “conceptual primes” as they are sometimes known.
Language, according to this view, is merely a vehicle for expressing the conceptual system, which exists independently of it. And, because all the conceptual systems share a common basis, all languages turn out to be fundamentally similar. According to this position, thought determines language. We might characterize this view as the “universalist” position.
The alternative position maintains that thought is difficult to separate from language; each is woven inextricably into the other. Concepts can only take shape if and when we have words and structures in which to express them. Thinking depends crucially upon language. Because the vocabularies and structures of separate languages can vary so widely, it makes no sense to posit conceptual primes of a universal nature. Habitual users of one language will experience and understand the world in ways peculiar to that language and different from those of habitual users of another language. The latter viewpoint might be termed the “relativist” position.

Proposed translations

+3
4 mins
Selected

universal'nogo haraktera

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Note added at 1 day 11 hrs 51 mins (2004-05-29 05:25:40 GMT)
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универсального характера
Peer comment(s):

agree George Vardanyan
58 mins
благодарю
agree ilbe
1 hr
благодарю
agree spwana
18 hrs
благодарю
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Graded automatically based on peer agreement."
4 mins

универсальной природы

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