In the English and German cultures95

The basic set of time concepts is not static. The time concepts and their features change together with varying historical environment, and reflect the socio-cultural experience of a particular speaking community.

The paper aims at analyses of cognitive shifts in the time concepts in English and German cultures within the three main macroconcepts of time: Christian, monetary, and technocentric ones. We concentrate on the dynamics of the main macroconcepts of time, represented by the basic conceptual metaphors TIME IS THE GIFT OF GOD, TIME IS MONEY, TIME IS A VIRTUAL ENTITY.

1. Christian macroconcept of time

Christian macroconcept of time has been for many centuries central in the conceptual world view of the English and German speaking communities. Christian doctrine has conceptually shaped the experience of the public consciousness; it has predetermined everyday activities, way of life, moral and ethical values as well as the general directions of the cultural development (Barchatova, 2000, 3).

Christianity brought into the conceptual world view of the English and German- speaking communities a Christian macroconcept of time with its central notion of the time as the gift of God given to an individual and to the world for salvation, for inheriting the everlasting life in the Kingdom of Heaven. The mental space of the “gift of God / die Gottesgabeˮ is extremely large, in fact, it includes the whole Universe created by God – with “manˮ, “lifeˮ, “timeˮ, “worldˮ as its constituent elements. In Christianity nothing is considered more important than a human being, since, as theologian A. Schmeman defined it, God Himself became Son of Man in order to show that our calling is divine, that the whole world for the man is God's gift, given for the fulfillment of his divine destiny.

The unity of time, man and life in Christian temporal notions is manifested by the etymology of the words world / die Welt, which have common Germanic origin and occurred as the translation of the Latin noun saeculum in its Christian meaning “world, worldly lifeˮ (with.partly retained original temporal meaning of “age, lifetime of a single generationˮ). Analysis of the lexeme world shows that it is a composition of two root morphemes *wer-(“manˮ) and *alds (“generationˮ, “ageˮ – a noun, derived from the adjective with the meaning “oldˮ / “altˮ). In total it means “the age of peopleˮ, as in old-En. werold, weorold, oldhigh-Ger. weralt, old-Icelandic verold (Stepanov 1997, 100; Gurevitch, 1998, 89). This etymology may be explained by Saint Augustine's statement that all the centuries of human history are made up of human lives. The temporal meaning of the lexeme world / die Welt – “world as time and time as worldˮ (Averintsev, 1977, 263) shows close integration of the concepts of time and human life.

The basic conceptual metaphor of time in the Christian macroconcept is TIME IS THE GIFT OF GOD. A wide range of its linguistic manifestations is found both in the Holy Scriptures and in English and German literary and non-literary sources: we’ll analyze only a few of them.

In the 91 psalm God promises to those that believe in Him: “With long life I will satisfy himˮ (Ps. XCVI) – “Ich gebe ihm ein langes, erfulltes Lebenˮ (Ps. 91)96:

In the book of the Kings God tells Solomon what will the obedience to God and to him: “I will lengthen thy daysˮ (I Kings III. 14) – “dann schenke ich dir auch ein langes Lebenˮ (1 Konige 3, 14);

In his First Epistle General Saint John the Apostle writes about Gods’s mercy: “...he shall ask, and he shall give him lifeˮ (I John 5, 16) – “so bete er, und er wird ihm das Leben gebenˮ (1 Johannes 5, 16).

Christian perception of human lifetime as God's gift is often reflected in the form of wishes. Thus, in the “Epistle Dedicaryˮ, placed before the text of the famous “King James' Bibleˮ of 1611, the translators wrote: “The Lord of heaven and earth bless Your Majesty with many happy daysˮ (The New Testament, 1998, lvii).

The implementations of the TIME IS THE GIFT OF GOD conceptual metaphor institute a characteristic feature of Christians' everyday prayers. For instance, one of the evening prayers of Ch. Dickens included the following request: “We humbly pray Almighty Father that Thou wilt prolong our lives for many yearsˮ(Dickens, 1935, 226). Here too, the length of human lifetime is conceived of as thoroughly dependent on God' mercy.

In Great Britain's national anthem, written in the form of a prayer of the whole British nation and as such reflecting time's comprehension by the whole British community, the “gift of Godˮ metaphor is realized in the verse:“God save the Queen: and her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over usˮ (Hueber, 1958). In this metaphor Her Majesty the Queen herself as well as her happy, glorious, victorious reign lasting a long period of time appear as sent by God.

In American English the instantiation of the conceptual metaphor of time is presented by such contemporary American proverb as “A moment of time is a moment of mercyˮ, with the time conceived of as bestowed by merciful God.

Among contemporary German temporal idioms there is a variety of linguistic manifestations of the ZEIT IST DIE GOTTESGABE conceptual metaphor, e.g. “Alle Tage, die Gott gibtˮ (“All the days that God givesˮ) meaning “immer / waysˮ (Rohrich 1978, 1056), “der Tag des Herrnˮ (“the day of the Lordˮ) meaning “Sonntag / Sunday” (Melzer, 1965, 353). The poetic examples of this conceptual metaphor are the following verses by Jochen Klepper (1903-1942), Rud. Al. Schroder (1878–1962) and Agnes Miegel (1879–1964): “Der du die Zeit in Handen hastˮ “Thou hast time in Thy handsˮ, “Deine Zeit und alle Zeit / Stehn in Gottes Händenˮ (“Your time and the whole time are in God's handsˮ) (Melzer, 1965, 353), “Jeden Tag, den uns Gott gegeben, Müssen wir ringen um unser Lebenˮ (“Every day that God has given to us we must struggle for our lifeˮ).

2. Monetary macroconcept of time

Gradual deviation from Christian doctrine during late Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation resulted in disregard of the initially well understood spiritual value of time as a divine gift of merciful God: “This was a society that had experienced and could not forget the great pandemic known as the Black Death (1347–1350) ... The Europeans of these centuries saw death as standing close by ... The imminence of death made the use of time a crucial concern... Sacred time! Time to save, in both senses of the word 'save', for the time saved (from the pursuit of material things etc.) and well spent was the coin of salvation, but... merchants already understood that time was moneyˮ. They began “to watch the time, and assign things by time, to devote oneself to business and never lose an hour of timeˮ (Landes, 1983, 90–91).

Time became one of the three main factors to shape European progress – together with work and money (Ganslandt, 1991, 99). After the industrial revolution “time became the basic medium and resource for the new industries and for the novel social value of productivity.-Time was referred to as a resource, the more efficient use of which could lead to increased productivity. As a result, time became a major dimension around which society was organizedˮ (Kellerman, 1989, 41). Time became со-modified. With the introduction of the division of labour principle labour became abstract, emptied of content, sold as abstract units of time (Giddens, 1987, 152). Money grew into the “universal standard of value of all thingsˮ (ibid, 1981, 130) and time in a market-driven system began to equal money (Toffler, 1981. 51). This led to the gradual “privatization of timeˮ which “was a major stimulus to the individualism that was an ever more salient aspect of Western civilization... As such it was...key to personal achievement and productivityˮ (Landes, 1983, 89). For, as M. McCormack, founder of a billion-dollar company, formulated it, “it is your time, after all, and you have to take the lead it isn't squanderedˮ (McCormack, 1991, 3).

The use of time to increase one's own individual material wealth resulted in the gradual shift in the source domain of the TIME IS THE GIFT OF GOD / ZEIT IST DIE GOTTESGABE conceptual metaphor. The source domain “gift of Godˮ was ousted by the new source domain “the property of an individualˮ or “commodityˮ. This was the conceptual background for shaping of the monetary macrocmcept of time. The new conceptual metaphor TIME IS A COMMODITY / ZEIT IST DIE WARE was quickly spreading and by the 17^th century had become conventionalized. A categorical shift took place: the concept of time passed from the category “divine donation / die Gottesgabeˮ to the category' of “possession / das Eigentumˮ.

In the United States the establishment of the slave-trade system with people constituting a commodity, led to human lifetime being conceptualised as an object either bought or sold. Hence the development in 18^th century by the word time of a new meaning (“the unexpired time of an indentured servant, or the time of a slave permitted to seek outside employment on condition that he pays a stipulated amount to his ownerˮ) and its frequent use in word combinations of “tradeˮ semantics:

– with verbs buy / sell: “He was a slave to a gentleman who allowed him to buy his timeˮ (The Atlantic, 1965, April); “This Young man wrote to Mr. Samuel Carpenter, and other Quakers of Philadelphia, ... who came forthwith to Virginia, and bought his time and brought him to Philadelphia last yearˮ (1705 Boston News-Letter 5 Nov. 2/1);

– with the noun balance in its economics-related meaning: “I have for a sale a very likely yellow woman, ... [with] between five or six years to serve. The balance of her time will be sold very lowˮ (Mathews, 1951: 1735); Note, that in the above examples it is neither a person, nor his / her labour but his / her time that is bought as a commodity.

In the course of time the TIME IS A COMMODITY metaphor evolved into the TIME IS MONEY / ZEIT IST GELD conceptual metaphor.

Monetary time concept spread widely during the 17^lh–19^lh centuries, accompanying the gradual development of the market-driven economy. Thus, in 1831 there occurred a word combination time bill – “a bill of exchange which contains a definite or determinable date for payment in contract to a demand or right billˮ, in 1853 – time deposit – “another term for a savings account or certificate of deposit in a commercial bankˮ, in 1863 – time draft – “a draft payable at a definite time in the futureˮ, in 1927 – time payment – “an installment paymentˮ (Mathews, 1951: 1735).

In contemporary English temporal component is crucial for verbalizing a variety of banking transactions, cf.: old law expression “time is of the essenceˮ / “time is the essence of the contractˮ (Morris, 1977, 566; Black, 1990). Consequently lexeme time is frequently used in combinations with words of the trade or banking semantic field: time money – “money loaned for a definite periodˮ; time sharing – “form of property ownership; a compound annual rental paid in advanceˮ; time utility – “the usefulness a commodity or service has at a point of timeˮ; time value – “the imputed monetary value of an optionˮ: time-bargain – “an agreement to buy or sell stock at future timeˮ; time-bill – “a bill of exchangeˮ; time-charter – “a specific and express contractˮ; time preference – “a preference for present as opposed to future consumptionˮ; time value of money – “relationship determined by the mathematics of compound interest between the value of a sum of money at one point in time. Time value of money can be illustrated by the fact that a dollar received today is worth more than a dollar received a year from now because today's dollar can be invested and earn interest as the year elapsesˮ; time-credit, time-deposit, time-draft, time-order, time- policy. This group includes also numerous terms with the words day, date, year etc. cf.: day order, day trade (day trading), value date, day-to-day money (Woffel, 1993, 1131; Holder, 1995, 374, 399; Black, 1990; Rubin, 2000, 521; Friedman, 2000; Downing, 2000, 122; Green, 1987, 157).

Among slang expressions of American English the word year acquires the meaning of “a banknote; a dollar. Thus '5 years' = a $5 bill or five dollarsˮ. To compare, the word yearling, used in financial sphere, means, “a stock issued by British municipal authorities, maturing within a yearˮ (Wentworth, 1967, 591; Green, 1987, 602).

Monetary concept of time is so deeply conventionalised in the English-speaking community that it has lost its initial metaphorical character and time is literally – conceived of as being equal to money. A vivid example of this is the following passage from the book by Mark H. McCormack “The 110% Solution. Using Good Old American Know-How to manage your Time, Talent and Ideasˮ: “When was the last time when you assigned a dollar value to an hour of your time? When was the last time you flew from N.Y. to L.A. and ... considered the dollar value of those hours on the road? If you were kept waiting for a doctor's appointment, would you bill the doctor for your time? ... That is what I mean by time is money'ˮ (McCormack, 1991, 29).

The monetary macroconcept of time can also be represented by the TIME IS A RESOURCE conceptual metaphor, where time is conceived of as one of the most important economic resources, though “time, unlike other economic resources cannot be accumulatedˮ (Linder, 1970, 2). Time serves as the basis for labour and payment measurement, thus justifying the use of time lexemes with words of the conceptual field of labour management, cf.: time management – “managing the use of daily schedules for the purpose of achieving maximum productivity, maximum time utilization, not wasting timeˮ (Friedman, 2000, 696). This definition presents time as being utilized like material resources, cf.: “Sensible utilization of the world's resources must be given priorityˮ (CIDE 1603). Workweek – “normal number of days and hours in an organisation's weekly work schedule...Organisations design their workweek to accommodate their needsˮ (Friedman, 2000, 751). The verb's to design main non- metaphorical meaning is connected with making or drawing plans for material objects (cf.: “Who designed this building?ˮ). Turnaround time – “time it takes to get a job done and deliver the output, once the job is submitted for processing... In most cases a short turnaround time is economically advantageous, making the most efficient use of time and materialsˮ (Friedman, 2000, 711). Man-hour – “unit of labour or productivity that one person produces in one hour's timeˮ (Friedman, 2000, 406). Time and a half – “payment of the basic wage plus 50% extra – for overtime or similar bonus payment; thus double time: double the basic rate, two and a half-time etcˮ. (Green, 1984, 286).

Metaphor TIME IS A RESOURCE provides conceptual basis not only for financial terms, but also for some of the sociological ones, cf.: “cultures with time surplusˮ (cf. the non-metaphorical usage: “The world is now producing large food surplusesˮ (CIDE, 1998: 1469)), “time scarcityˮ (cf. the non-metaphorical use: “Scarce resources should be used sensiblyˮ (CIDE, 1998: 1262)), “time affluence cultureˮ (cf. the non-metaphorical meaning of the adjective affluent: “having a lot of money or possessionsˮ (CIDE, 1998: 22)), “time famine cultureˮ (Linder, 1970, 2).

Time comprehended within the frame of monetary macroconcept retains the characteristic semantic features it has obtained at earlier stages of conceptualisation, the main being “spatial orderˮ. A kind of conceptual blending is taking place. Mental space of “spatial orderˮ blends together with the mental space of “moneyˮ. This blend provides conceptual basis for the formation of the financial terms, cf.: time spread / calendar spread / horizontal spread / spread – “option strategy in which an investor buys and sells Put option and Call option contracts with the same exercise price but with different expirations datesˮ (Downes, 1998, 649). Here time is conceived of as horizontal space or line, on which expirations dates are placed. Long-term debt, long-term debt ratio, long-term financing, long-term gain, long-term investor, long-term liabilities, long-term loss / short-term bond fund, short-term debt, short-term gain, short-term loss, short-term investment – in all these word combinations the term gains a spatial feature of being either short, cf.: “assets expected to be converted into cash within the normal operating cycle (us. 1 year)ˮ or long, cf.: “bond with maturity of 10 years or longerˮ (Downes, 1998, 336–337, 566–567).

In the German-speaking community ZEIT IST DIE WARE, ZEIT IST GELD metaphors date back to Reformation period. In 1524 M. Luther for the first time used the expression auf Zeit verkauffen / Kauf auf Zeit with meaning “sell on creditˮ: “auff borgen und zeyt theurer verkeuffen denn umb bahr gelltˮ (“to sell more expensive on credit and on time than for cashˮ). Afterwards this usage became conventionalized. Various derivatives, such as Zeithandel, Zeitgeschaft, Zeitkauf (Schirmer, 1911, 213) were recorded in the dictionaries. The expression “aussehen wie die teure Zeitˮ (literally “to look as expensive timeˮ) with the meaning “blass und abgemagert aussehenˮ (“to look pale and exhaustedˮ) dates back to 1700. From 1920 onwards in the students', pupils' and soldiers' speech such phrases as “keine Zeit habenˮ, “viel Zeit habenˮ (literally “to have no timeˮ, “to have plenty of timeˮ) were used in the meaning “to be well off', “to be poorˮ, as well as the expression “mal sehen, ob ich Zeit ha beˮ(literally “to see whether one has got the timeˮ) meaning “to check if one has got moneyˮ. In these examples the lexeme Zeit is used as a euphemistic substitution of the word Geld. From 1950 the word Zeit is used together with the adjective krumm, adopted from the trade sphere as the element of the word combination “krumme Preiseˮ (“dishonest, suspicious pricesˮ). The contemporary meaning of the combination krumme Zeit is “odd time, the minute index of which cannot be devided into 5 or 10ˮ (Kupper, 1996, 940). Among the contemporary banking, law and finance terminology composite words with the roots of temporal and monetary meaning are prevailing, cf.: das Tagegt/d, der Tagdohn, der Tagesausweis. die TYzgeeinnahme, der Tagewen, der Tagespre/s, der Tagtsverdienst, das Fagesgeschaft (Herbst, 1989, 880–881).

Despite the general process of substituting the egocentric economic (monetary) macroconcept of time for the Christian macroconcept of time, the latter cannot be completely ousted even from the sphere of banking. This is confirmed by the analysis of English and German banking expressions “days of graceˮ (“a privilege to defer payment of a note, acceptance, draft, or other time instrument after the indicated maturity for a number of daysˮ (Rubin, 2000, 207)), “grace periodˮ (“period after the date the premium is due during which the premium can be paid without no interest chargedˮ (Rubin, 2000, 207)), “Gnadenfristˮ (“letzter Aufschub, der jmdm. gewahrt wirdˮ (“the latest postponement that given a personˮ) (Duden, 1996, 620)).

The structure of the word combination days of grace resembles the expression Year of Grace, meaning “Year of Our Lord, a year of the Christian eraˮ (Brewer, 1981). Their formal likeness indicates that the combinations days of grace, grace period / Gnadenfrist could have occured as its calque. Lexemes grace / die Gnade were associated by the Christians primarily with God: cf. its contemporary definitions both in English and in German: “grace – approval or kindness, esp. (in the Christian religion) that is freely given by God to all human beingsˮ; hence the expressions divine grace, state of grace, Good gracious (CIDE, 1998, 615); “die Gnade – verzeihende Güte Gottesˮ (“God's forgiving mercyˮ) (Duden, 1996, 620). The derived temporal meaning of the word grace – “a period of time left or allowed before something must be doneˮ (CIDE, 1998, 615) could have initially occurred as an implementation of the TIME IS THE GIFT OF GOD conceptual metaphor. Time of the postponement might have been conceived of as given by merciful God through the people (e.щзшg., a creditor) “in additionˮ to the allowed period. With the development of trade and banking the word combination days of grace / Gnadenfrist began to be frequently used in the context of financial transactions in its already narrowed meaning of “deferment of paymentˮ. Now the monetary semantic feature is dominating in the meaning of the combination, yet the initial semantic component of “divine mercyˮ has not disappeared completely.

The process of conceptual metaphors shift is accompanied by conceptual blending occurring at different stages and levels of conceptualisation. Time comprehended within the frame of monetary macroconcept retains its characteristic features of 'special order', which it obtained at an earlier stage of conceptualisation. We can speak about conceptual blending of two mental spaces: 'divine mercy' and 'money'.

3. Virtual macroconcept of time

The ever-growing demand for further timesaving has assisted the telecommunications revolution, which began in the 60s (Kellerman, 1989, 43). Now computer technology is “so ubiquitous that it is as important as safe drinking water and electricityˮ (The Economist, 2000, January 8–14, 18). For the past four decades “the new information technologies...through the combination of telecommunications, fast transportation, and computerized flexible production systemsˮ (Castells, 2003, 74) have changed the traditional time concepts. Computers “increase communication efficiency by allowing the instantaneous transmission of large amounts of information over long distancesˮ (Wessells, 1990, 27). As J. Ury points out, new machines and technologies “dramatically compress or shrink time-space. These technologies carry people, information, money, images and risks, and flow within and across national societies in increasingly brief moments of timeˮ (Urry, 2003, 115). Consequently, “modern electronic communications have influenced the social significance of the present in terms of its speed, form and distanceˮ (Kern, 1983, 6).

Due to the ongoing process of globalization the whole planet is being rapidly “connected in global networks of the information and images that travel throughout the world instantlyˮ (Castells, 2003, 74–75). “The most fundamental aspect of globalization is the pervasive compression of time and space, affecting the way we think, feel and act, introducing speed and proximity as defining attributes of our daily human experienceˮ (Falk, 2003, 425). Information technology is said to have annihilated time, which disappears in the simultaneity of electronic communication, instant messaging, and information retrieval (Newman, 2002).

Linguistic manifestations of the changes in time concepts due to the rapid technological development are connected with the new conceptual time feature – “virtualityˮ. For instance, before the wide-spread use of the Internet day trading (“the practice of buying stocks or other securities and reselling them within a dayˮ) was possible only by spending all your time at the stockbroker's office; otherwise you would not see market results quickly enough to act upon them. Nowadays, day trading can be carried out on line (Downing, 2000, 122). On line trading is uninterruptedly carried out in real time throughout the planet for 24 hours. The attribute day, which in the analyzed word combination might have been initially interpreted as “the light period of the 24-hour cycleˮ, loses its original meaning while “adapted to machine requirementsˮ (Toffler, 1981, 52).

In the sentence “Billions of dollars later Y2K is on the runˮ (Newsweek, 2000, January 10, 43) the computer neologism Y2K (the year 2000) occurs in contextual unity with the metaphoric phrase Billions of dollars later. Semantic combinability in this sentence is violated and time is associated and counted not in minutes or days but in dollars. The semantic anomaly of this utterance is based on the close conceptual interconnection between economy and computer technologies: that is the sphere of computer systems where the language users substitute monetary units for traditional units of time.

Central conceptual metaphor organizing time comprehension in the new technocentric age is the TIME IS A VIRTUAL ENTITY / ZEIT IST VIRTUELLES WESEN metaphor.

Analysis allowed us to single out the following prototypic features of time in the new concept: time is “simultaneousˮ, “instantˮ, “acceleratingˮ, “solidˮ, “cyclicalˮ.

On the lexical level the most frequent attribute of time – “simultaneityˮ – is also verbalized by the adjectives synchronous, bisynchronous, concurrent. quasi-parallel. On the morphemic level “simultaneityˮ is verbalized by the prefix multi-, the initial quantitative meaning (“having manyˮ) of which has extended under the influence ol the semantic field of computer technologies and acquired a new temporal feature “simultaneously many / gleichzeitig mehrereˮ in the neologisms multitasking, multiuser. multicast. Conceptual attribute “accelerationˮ on the lexical level is manifested by the adjective dynamic and the noun acceleration within various multicomponential terms (e.g., accelerator board, accelerator card, dynamic adaptive routing, dynamic address resolution (Brauner, 1997, 3)). Such prototypical characteristic feature or time as “instantˮ is manifested in special computer terms containing the adjective instant (e.g., IM – instant messaging (Hinner, 2001, 188)), and the adverb immediately. “Cyclic recurrenceˮ is the dominant conceptual component in the meaning of the lexemes, characterizing the rhythm of computer systems: cycle time, frequency, Frequenz.The conceptual characteristics “solidityˮ has developed into the technocentric temporal macroconcept due to the influence of TIME IS A SOLID STRUCTURE / ZEIT IST EINE DICHTE STRUKTUR conceptual metaphor. Initially this metaphor occurred within the TIME IS A RESOURCE metaphor, as illustrated by the following passage from T. Carlstein's article “Innovation, Time Allocation and Time-Space Packingˮ: “innovations affect the packing of activities in a limited population time-budget... Time-saving innovations ... reduce the time requirements for various tasks and projects and thus generate slots in the habitual time-budget, gaps which are then filled with other activitiesˮ (Carlstein, 1978, 152). Linguistic implementations of the TIME IS A SOLID STRUCTURE metaphor – the word combinations time slot, time slice – were borrowed by the cyberlanguage from the everyday language but were immediately specified as characterizing extremely .short periods of time. Temporal “substanceˮ is so “tightly packed with informationˮ, that “slotsˮ necessary to allocate additional information are made by “cutting the time- throughˮ (as during the non-metaphorical process of cutting) and dividing it.

Among instantiations of the new conceptual metaphor TIME IS A VIRTUAL ENTITY / ZEIT VIRTUELLES WESEN there are lexemes naming new temporal concepts, Y2K/Y2k (and numerous combinations with it, cf. Y2K compliant, Year 2000 Prob Y2K consulting industry, the Millennium Bug, Y2K cooperation center, Y2K optin. The noun Millennium (das Millennium), phrase Year 2000 (Jahr-2000). Language in Millennium (das Millennium), Year 2000 (Jahr-2000) initially had only one meaning of “time period / dateˮ but in the course of metonymic transfer they came to conceptualize and verbalize specific technological phenomenon – updating of computer software due to the millennial change of the year digits from 1999 to 2000. These words have as well acquired negative connotations due to the possible spread breaks in software (hence the phrases Y2K troubleshooter, Y2K-related faih Y2K alarm, Y2K-repair industry).

Conclusions.

The time conceptual dynamics in English and German is based on the categorial shifts, accompanied by changes in the source domains of the conceptual metaphors and the process of conceptual blending.

In the Christian macroconcept of time, human lifetime is conceived of on basis of the two main conceptual metaphors: TIME IS THE GIFT OF GOD / ZEIT IST DIE GOTTESGABE and ETERNAL LIFE IS THE GIFT OF GOD / EWIGES LEBEN IST DIE GOTTESGABE. The spiritual value of time as God's gift determins its conceptualisation as the most valuable human treasure. Gradual deviation of Christian doctrine during Renaissance and Reformation results in the foregrounding of a new egocentric economic (monetary) macroconcept of time. The basis for time perception in this age is created by the following conceptual metaphors: TIME IS A COMMODITY, TIME IS MONEY, TIME IS A RESOURCE. In the new technocentric age the time is conceptualized through the following conceptual metaphors: TIME IS A VIRTUAL ENTITY / ZEIT IST VIRTUELLES WESEN, which are shared by the whole postindustrial world. There appears new conceptual time feature – “virtualityˮ, while perception of time as something “solidˮ, “simultaneous” and “acceleratingˮ proves that English and German speakers conceive of time as being “compressedˮ. The processes of “monetarizationˮ and “virtualizationˮ leads to gradual oblivion of the spiritual value of the time and may make human life devoid оf its true meaning.

11. Концептуальный анализ динамики

метафор времени в английском языке97

Целью настоящей статьи является проследить концептуальную динамику представлений о времени носителей английского языка посредством анализа категориальных сдвигов по линии области источника в следующих метафорах: ключевой метафоре христианского понимания времени TIME IS GIFT OF THE GOD; метафорах экономической модели времени TIME IS A RESOURCE, TIME IS A COMMODITY, TIME IS MONEY;метафоре техноцентричной модели времени TIME IS A VIRTUAL ENTITY.

Концептосфера времени не является статичной, но подвергается динамическим трансформациям. На динамику представлений о времени оказывают влияние человеческий опыт, общий культурный фон, ценностные ориентации общества. Целевая сфера в метафоре времени описывается целым рядом сфер источника, которые метафорически структурируют различные стороны осмысляемого понятия в силу его подобия нескольким аналогам.

Единое понимание времени у представителей англоязычного социума сложилось под влиянием христианского вероисповедания. Универсальное, инвариантное содержание концепта времени, раскрытое для всей христианской лингвокультуры в канонических христианских текстах Священного Писания и Священного Предания, находит в английском языке свое национально-культурное выражение и получает субъективную, аксиологически маркированную интерпретацию в реализациях концептуальной метафоры time is gift of the god, где время осмысляется как бесценный дар Божий.

Центральное положение во фрейме «Дар» занимает концепт «Податель [дара]». Для христиан Подателем всех даров, материальных и духовных, самой жизни является Творец всей вселенной, Господь: «Creator... who gives timeand takes it again» (The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, 1962. 647); «Their springs and summers came to me // As love- gifts from an unseen Giver ... What shall I render to my God // For fifty years of loving-kindness?» (Farningham, 1907, 270).

Представление о времени как даре Божием впервые возникает в Священном Писании и Предании, как, например: 1. В Псалтири: «Не asked life of thee; thou gavest it to him, length of days for ever and ever» (Ps. 21, 4). 2. В Новом Завете: «Nevertheless he...gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons» (Acts: 14, 17). 3. В «Исповеди» Аврелия Августина: «At your nod the moments fly by. From them grant us space for our meditations on the secret recesses of your law» (Chadwick, 1991, 222).

Однако образ времени-дара не ограничивается произведениями сугубо религиозного дискурса. Он характерен для оригинальных англоязычных произведений, среди которых строки частной корреспонденции, стихотворения, современные работы социологической и даже языковедческой тематики: «May God bless her and you and grant you many years of peace and love» (Wordsworth, 1967, 550); «God speed you, ancient father, // And give you a good daye» (Percy, 1857, 308); «...time was still understood as being 'God given'» (Held, 1998: 211), «One of our major cultural models of life is that each of us is allotted a certain fixed time on earth» (Lakoff, 1989, 34–35).

В аксиологических концептах раскрываются представления о том, что христианин понимает время как бесценный дар, данный для борьбы с грехом, для развития талантов и творчества, для любви и добра.

Среди аксиологических концептов фрейма «Дар» первостепенное значение имеет концепт «Ценность [дара]». «Время осознается как ценность, когнитивным основанием которой являются пропозиции, связанные с этическими убеждениями в культуре какого-либо социума» (Лебедько, 2002, 187). Этот концепт выражается в языке преимущественно экспрессивно и эмоционально окрашенными лексемами с общей антропоцентричной ассоциативной семой “то, чем дорожатˮ, например: «Today the last Sunday of the Church's year and her services all tend to remind us of the preciousness of time» (Ribblesdale, 1930, 99–100);

«A religious outlook meditates on the sacramental value of each moment for eternity» (New Catholic encyclopedia, 2003, 79).

С пониманием ценности времени неразрывно связано представление о том, для чего даруется человеку время на земле, которое составляет концепт «Назначение [дара]». В христианской модели времени в основании этого концепта лежит стремление христианина к святости и память о смерти, ибо, по слову Евангелия, только очищенное покаянием сердце способно воспринять дар жизни вечной: «The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel» [St. Mark 1: 15]. Наиболее ярко среди оригинальных англоязычных произведений эта мысль отражена в молитвах, например: «Honour and praise be given to thee, О Lord God Almighty ...for sparing us so long, and giving us so large a time of repentance» (Stevenson, 1979, 1735).

Истинное покаяние всегда приводит к изменению образа жизни, поэтому существуют различные возможности реализации концепта «Назначение [дара]»: 1) труд во славу Божию: «Thus, most gracious prince, I beseech our good Lord God to send your majesty long life and good health, to God's glory...аnd the wealth of this noble realm» (Crawford, 1994, 204); 2) дела на благо ближнего: «I pray God to give me life to finish these works which I trust will live and do good» (Wordsworth, 1967, 470); 3) спасение души: «It [time] is given to man so that he can seize the opportunity and not pass up salvation» (The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, 1962, 648).

С пониманием истинного предназначения времени неразрывно связано желание правильно его использовать. Основанием для возникновения концепта «Использование [дара]» стали слова св. апостола Павла в Послании к Ефесянам: «See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time because the days are evil» (Ephesians, 5, 15–16). Христиане осознают, что за каждый прожитый день они должны будут дать отчет Богу. Здесь мотивом бережного и осторожного отношения ко времени является опасение напрасно потратить часть полученного драгоценного дара: «duty... to manage it [time] with the utmost diligence» (Adam, 1990, 113).

Понимание того, что время жизни является непрерывной милостью Божией, рождает чувство благодарности к Творцу, которое можно обозначить концептом «Отношение [к Подателю]». В анализируемых источниках этот концепт выражен посредством слов семантического поля «благодарность»: «We shall do nothing but eat and make good cheer, // And praise God for the merry year...» (Stevenson, 1979, 183); «The motivation given by the canons and their commentators is gratitude towards a benevolent God, and joyful celebration of Christ's Resurrection. The modality is gift: the Sabbath was made for man» (Baun, 2002, 4).

Наряду с вышеперечисленными концептами в структуре источникового фрейма «Дар» был выделен находящийся на периферии концепт «Получатель[дара]», в роли которого выступает мир/человек: «Human beings are allotted their appointed span of life» (Bromiley, 1988, 853); «Temporality is the God-given form of existence for the creature world» (The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, 1962, 647).

Можно заключить, что в христианском понимании отношение человека ко времени определяют ценностные приоритеты. Восприятие земного мира как ступеньки к миру небесному вызывает стремление христианизировать все стороны жизни, сделать веру определяющей в отношении к людям, труду, богатству. Земное подчиняется небесному, временный земной отрезок бытия воспитывает душу для Вечной Жизни (Сурова, 2000, 147).

Отход Западной Европы от христианства, начавшийся с церковным расколом 1054 г. и усилившийся в эпоху Возрождения, приводит к постепенному забвению духовной ценности времени как данного человеку Богом. С отходом от христианства постепенно изменяется понятие о цели человеческого существования. Новое, эгоцентричное отношение к жизни предлагает вместо блаженства вечного «блаженство» временное, земное, быстро преходящее. Центром становится человек, стремящийся к самоутверждению, которое возможно прежде всего за счет «правильного» использования времени. И если первоначально рачительное использование времени имеет моральный смысл, то впоследствии на первый план выдвигаются экономические соображения, которые стимулируют увеличение ценности времени сугубо в денежном эквиваленте на производстве, а вскоре и во всем сообществе.

Изменения в образе мыслей приводят к постепенному категориальному сдвигу в сфере источника концептуальной метафоры времени. Из фрейма области источника «Дар» удаляется центральный концепт «Податель [дара]». Как следствие, происходит нарушение всех отношений внутри сферы источника: в центр фрейма выдвигается периферический концепт «Получатель [дара]», который становится ключевым концептом нового источникового фрейма – концептом «Владелец». Концепт «Обладание», присутствовавший во фрейме «Дар», становится переходным звеном в процессе образования новой концептуальной метафоры TIME IS A RESOURCE, для которой характерен иной набор концептов.

В центре находится концепт «Владелец», которым становится человек/общество: «…the school bell structures secular time, a time that no longer belongs to God but to a human collective» (Adam, 1990, 106); «The time which used to belong to God alone was the property of man» (Le Goff, 1980, 51).

Человек распоряжается «Ресурсом» времени: «...in a businessman's civilization believing “time is money”, social time is like raw material to be harnessed by capital» (New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2003, 79); «Time, unlike other economic resources, cannot be accumulated» (Linder, 1970, 2).

Центральное место занимает также концепт «Стоимость», пришедший на смену концепту «Ценность»: «…money is made by providing the most output per unit of input and that includes the input of time» (Stalk, 1990, 149).

На область времени проецируется целый ряд концептов, связанных с областью «Ресурс»: 1) концепт «Потребление»: «We... only end up exploiting and devaluing each other's time» (Rifkin, 1987, 11–12); 2) концепт «Дефицит» указывает на ограниченное или недостаточное количество ресурса для достижения цели: «It is commonly perceived that... there is an increasing shortage of time» (Southerton, 2003, 6); 3) концепт «Изобилие» обозначает достаточное/большее количество ресурса, чем необходимо для достижения цели: «Cultures with a Time Surplus...Cultures with a superfluity of time are to be found in the poorest countries» (Linder, 1970, 17); 4) концепт «Эффективность» обозначает наиболее успешное и рациональное использование ресурса: «The social demand for more efficient time-use brought about technological innovations to satisfy this demand» (Kellerman, 1989, 42); 5) концепт «Напрасная трата» обозначает разницу между фактическим потреблением и идеальным потреблением ресурса: «wasted time does not litter the floor like wasted material» (Stalk, 1990: 149–150); 6) концепт «Сбережения» обозначает разницу между фактическим потреблением и большим потреблением ресурса, которое могло бы иметь место: «...periods of rest...are seen above all as reserves which may be drawn upon for purposes of rationalization» (Held, 1998, 217); 7) концепт «Контроль» объединяет представления об управлении ресурсом: «technology dictated temporality modes to a large degree, it was turned into “applied time controlˮ» (Kellerman, 1989, 42).

Концепт «Стоимость», занимающий центральное место в структуре фрейма «Ресурс», становится переходным звеном в процессе возникновения двух, связанных отношением метонимии, концептуальных метафор времени: метафоры TIME IS A COMMODITY и метафоры TIME IS MONEY.

Центральным концептом области источника в концептуальной метафоре TIME IS A COMMODITY является концепт «Торговля». Впервые представление о времени как о товаре возникает в Европе в связи с вопросом о ростовщичестве, которое длительное время понималось как торговля временем (Noonan, 1957). Об этом убеждении свидетельствуют, в частности, слова Джона Дунса Скота (ум. 1308), профессора теологии в Оксфорде: «Other rationales for the usury prohibition are indicated in two rules by which usury may always be determined. The first is that any sale of time is uswy» (Noonan, 1957, 61). Широкое распространение концептуализация времени как товара для торговли получает в XVIII–XIX вв. в США, где в связи со сложившейся системой работорговли время человеческой жизни, онтологически не имеющее денежного эквивалента, продавалось и покупалось: ср.: «I have for a sale a very likely yellow woman ... [with] between five or six years to serve. The balance of her time will be sold very low»; «He was a slave to a gentleman who allowed him to buy his time» (The Atlantic. 1965. April), (Mathews, 1951, 1735). Понимаемое как товар, время стало стандартным, заменимым, покупаемым: «Linear time is commodified time, because time is money» (Oian, 2004, 191).

Концептуальная метафора TIME IS MONEY лежит в основе осмысления времени как денег, одного из видов материальных ресурсов. В английском языке выражение Time is money впервые встречается в 1572 г. в произведении английского автора Уилсона «Discourse upon Usuary» (Mieder, 1992, 599) и в дальнейшем получает широкое распространение. В XIX в. слово time начинает использоваться для обозначения финансовых операций: time bill (1831) – «вексель, содержащий установленную для его оплаты дату»; time deposit (1853) – «временной вклад»; time draft (1863) – «временной чек». В этот же период выражение on time приобретает новое значение – «в кредит» (Mathews, 1951, 1735).

Время, концептуализируемое как ресурс и товар, приобретает характеристики материального объекта. Возникает концептуальная метафора TIME IS A SOLID OBJECT (Липилина, 1998, 99), в которой время, наполненное событиями, понимается в виде физического тела, обладающего плотностью. Время осмысляется как имеющее конкретные очертания и формы, как некий жесткий каркас, структурирующий существование человека и общества: «Organisation within a time-grid of calendars and clocks facilitates precision» (Adam, 1990, 106). Время приобретает определенное физическое строение: «one of the fastest- spreading innovations during the 1970's was 'flextime» (Toffler, 1981, 246). Время, обладающее плотностью, может подвергаться внешнему воздействию: а) может быть разделено на более мелкие фрагменты: «What time we do have is chopped up into tiny segments» (Rifkin, 1987, 11); б) может быть сжато или деформировано: «the compression in both time and space that result...» (Taylor, 2003, 3); в) может быть вытянуто или расширено: «The metropolis gives the appearance of stretching time, lengthening and expanding it» (Paolucci, 1998: 271); в) во временной материи могут быть проделаны отверстия: «Men more commonly expressed a right to leisure and created time slots for leisure outside the home» (Steward, 2000, 67).

Представление о времени как способном подвергаться внешнему воздействию, прежде всего уплотнению и деформации, становится концептуальным основанием для формирования во второй половине XX в. нового техноцентричного образа времени. Использование множества компьютерных систем приводит к резкому сокращению, «сжатию», компрессии времени и пространства (Urry, 2003, 115).

Возникает новая концептуальная метафора TIME IS A VIRTUAL ENTITY, в которой на концептуальную область времени проецируются свойства и характеристики, присущие области компьютерных технологий.

Как источник времени воспринимаются заложенные в компьютер программы: «...computer...can represent time symbolically, communicate a sense of time that is not necessarily the time, and thereby produce virtual time» (Strate, 1996, 359). Время уподобляется явлению технического порядка: «Digital time is...time as a sequence of numbers» (Strate, 1996, 356). Возникают новые темпоральныеконцепты компьютерного времени: «Many people first experience the difference between the worlds of computime and clock time when playing video games...» (Rifkin, 1987, 16); «...the cyberspace that is associated with computing and computer- mediated communication has a counterpart: cybertime» (Strate, 1996, 352). Виртуальное время компьютерных технологий приобретает новые прототипичные характеристики: 1) «абстрактность» (оторванность виртуального времени от природных ритмов и человеческого существования): «The new “computimeˮ represents the final abstraction of time and its complete separation from human experience and the rythms of nature» (Rifkin 1987, 15); 2) «высокая скорость»: «cybertime is quicktime, based on the hyperspeed of the nanosecond» (Strate, 1996, 359); 3) «одновременность»: «The meter of our day is more likely to be synchronized to the network and its internal asynchronicity» (Hassan, 2003, 235); 4) «мгновенность»: «Timeless time...may take form of compressing the occurrence of phenomena, aiming at instantaneity...» (Castells, 2004, 125); 5) «фрагментарность»: «Each involves novel ways in which different times, of intensively commodified future, nanosecond instantaneity, the hyper-fragmentation of time» (Urry, 2002, 21). Под влиянием компьютерных технологий меняется понимание сущности времени, высказывания носителей языка свидетельствуют об изменении и даже исчезновении времени: «Network time constitutes a new and powerful temporality that is beginning to displace, neutralize, sublimate... other temporal relationships» (Hassan, 2003, 235); «cybertime is nontime» (Strate, 1996, 357); «The instantaneity of electronic speed is commonly said to annihilate distance...but it also annihilates duration...» (Strate, 1996, 357).

Анализ концептуальной динамики метафор времени в английском языке позволяет сделать вывод о том, что движение концептов осуществляется как по вертикали – из одной источниковой зоны в другую, так и по горизонтали – в результате проецирования новых концептов источниковой зоны на целевую зону времени. Происходит переход от христианской метафоры TIME IS GIFT OF THE GOD к экономическим метафорам TIME IS RESOURCE/ COMMODITY/ MONEY/ SOLID OBJECT и техноцентричной метафоре TIME IS A VIRTUAL ENTITY, сопровождающийся проецированием меняющихся концептов источниковой зоны на целевую зону времени. Таким образом, концептуальная динамика метафор времени отражает смену ценностных установок членов языкового сообщества.