The cognition of the world begins with the cognition of oneself

Abstract

The article is devoted to the factors that contributed to the formation of the language of a particular
ethnic group and national character. The author notes that the language initially gives its speakers a
certain picture of the world, and each given language – its own. Based on ethnolinguistic, linguodidactic, psycholinguistic and linguistic researches of the last decades, the author tries to show how the
linguistic and always culturally colored picture of the world influences the person, forming his linguistic
consciousness, nevertheless, cultural and national consciousness.
The article emphasizes the importance of language and culture as important components not only
of the individual linguistic personality, but also of the ethnos as a whole, where personality and ethnos
are not opposed, but correlated, complementing each other. At the same time, according to the author,
the knowledge possessed by the community of people determines the content of its mentality. It is noted
that in the process of learning languages, an idea is formed about the foreign picture of the world, the
ability to communicate harmoniously both in one’s own society and in other societies, to prevent and
overcome conflicts caused by historical, political and religious differences of cultures, that is, creates an
effective basis for establishing tolerant world. The paper presents analogies and comparisons of linguistic
pictures of the world of various peoples. It is indicated that mutual recognition of them leads to a deeper
recognition of oneself.