Available via license: CC BY 4.0
Content may be subject to copyright.
!
!
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN
ISSN 2411-2968 (ONLINE)
ISSN 2313-0288 (PRINT)
Russian
Linguistic
Bulletin
№3 (3) 2015
Theoretical and scientific journal.
Published 4 times a year.
Founder: Sokolova M.V.
Editor in chief: Miller A. PhD
Registry number: ПИ № ФС 77 — 58339
Postal address: Ekaterinburg, Krasnoarmeiskaya St., Bldg. 4A, office
17, 620075, Russian Federation
Email: editors@rulb.org
Website: www.rulb.org
Signed for printing: 05.09.2015.
Circulation 900 copies.
Order # 30006
Printed from the original layout.
Printed by "Kompanija POLIGRAFIST" LTD
Berezovsky, Teatralnaya St., Bldg.1, office 88.
Russian Linguistic Bulletin is a peer-reviewed scientific journal dedicated to the questions of linguistics, which provides
an opportunity to publish scientific achievements to graduate students, university professors, persons with a scientific degree,
public figures, figures of culture, education and politicians from the CIS countries and around the world.
The journal is an open access journal which means that everybody can read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or
link to the full texts of these articles in accordance with CC Licence type: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
Editorial board:
Rastjagaev A.V. PhD in Philology
Slozhenikina Ju.V. PhD in Philology
Shtreker N.Ju. PhD in Pedagogy
Levickij A.Je. PhD in Philology
Alikaev R.S. PhD in Philology
Erofeeva E.V. PhD in Philology
Ivanov A.V. PhD in Philology
Magirovskaja O.V. PhD in Philology
Yekaterinburg 2015
!
Table of Contents
ENGLISH LANGUAGE (UDC 811.111) 4
MAMAEV MIKHAIL MIKHAILOVICH, VASILEVICH ALEXANDER PETROVICH ON THE PROCEDURE TO REVEAL GENDER-INTRINSIC
LEXICS IN ENGLISH FICTION / МАМАЕВ МИХАИЛ МИХАЙЛОВИЧ, ВАСИЛЕВИЧ АЛЕКСАНДР ПЕТРОВИЧ ОБ ОДНОМ СПОСОБЕ
ВЫЯВЛЕНИЯ ГЕНДЕРНО ЗНАЧИМОЙ ЛЕКСИКИ В АНГЛОЯЗЫЧНОМ ТЕКСТЕ 4
GENERAL QUESTIONS RELATING TO BOTH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE. PHILOLOGY (UDC 80) 8
SHUSTOVA IRINA NIKOLAEVNA AXIOLOGICAL POTENTIAL OF POLITICAL NICKNAMES / ШУСТОВА ИРИНА НИКОЛАЕВНА
АКСИОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ ПОТЕНЦИАЛ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИХ ПРОЗВИЩ 8
PRIKHODKO SERGEY ALEXANDROVICH «MATERIALISM AND EMPIRIO-CRITICISM» BY V.I.LENIN AS THE MAIN RUSSIAN
LANGUAGE POLEMICAL TEXT OF THE 1900S / ПРИХОДЬКО СЕРГЕЙ АЛЕКСАНДРОВИЧ "МАТЕРИАЛИЗМ И
ЭМПИРИОКРИТИЦИЗМ" В.И.ЛЕНИНА - ГЛАВНЫЙ РУССКОЯЗЫЧНЫЙ ПОЛЕМИЧЕСКИЙ ТЕКСТ 1900-Х ГОДОВ 9
KOVALCHUK LIDIA PETROVNA COMPARATIVE RESEARCH OF BLENDS FROG-WOMAN AND TOAD-WOMAN IN RUSSIAN AND
ENGLISH FOLKTALES / КОВАЛЬЧУК ЛИДИЯ ПЕТРОВНА СОПОСТАВИТЕЛЬНОЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ БЛЕНДОВ "ЖЕНЩИНА-
ЛЯГУШКА" И "ЖЕНЩИНА-ЖАБА" В РУССКИХ И АНГЛИЙСКИХ НАРОДНЫХ СКАЗКАХ 12
KAZAKOVA LYUDMYLA NIKOLAYEVNA CROSSING BRIDGES, DEVELOPING HYPERREALITY: BILINGUAL EPIGRAPHS IN THE
NOVEL "THE GILDED AGE, A TALE OF TODAY" (1873) BY S. CLEMENS AND CH. D. WARNER. / КАЗАКОВА ЛЮДМИЛА
НИКОЛАЕВНА ЭПИГРАФЫ-БИЛИНГВЫ КАК МОСТЫ И ПЕРЕКРЕСТКИ, ФОРМИРУЮЩИЕ ГИПЕРРЕАЛЬНОСТЬ В ПОЭТИКЕ
РОМАНА С. КЛЕМЕНСА И Ч. УОРРЕНА "ПОЗОЛОЧЕННЫЙ ВЕК" (1873) 18
MIKHAILOVA MARINA YUREVNA REPRESENTATION OF SEMANTICS OF INEXPRESSIBLE IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES /
МИХАЙЛОВА МАРИНА ЮРЬЕВНА РЕПРЕЗЕНТАЦИЯ СЕМАНТИКИ НЕВЫРАЗИМОГО В РАЗНЫХ ЯЗЫКАХ ...................................... 19
KUPRIEVA IRINA ANATOLYEVNA, SMIRNOVA STANISLAVA BORISOVNA DISTRIBUTION AND SYNTAGMATIC POTENTIAL
OF MENTAL STRUCTURES’ VERBALIZERS / КУПРИЕВА ИРИНА АНАТОЛЬЕВНА, СМИРНОВА СТАНИСЛАВА БОРИСОВНА
ДИСТРИБУТИВНЫЙ И СИНТАГМАТИЧЕСКИЙ ПОТЕНЦИАЛ ВЕРБАЛИЗАТОРОВ МЕНТАЛЬНЫХ
СТРУКТУР .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22
RHETORIC OF SPEECH. ART OR TECHNIQUE OF ORAL EXPRESSION (UDC 808.5) 24
URSZULA PATOCKA-SIGŁOWY THE MECHANISM OF POLITICAL SPEECHES USING THE EXAMPLE OF THE ADDRESS OF
PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN / УРШУЛЯ ПАТОЦКА-СИЛГОВЫ МЕХАНИЗМ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИХ ВЫСТУПЛЕНИЙ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА
ВЛАДИМИРА ПУТИНА (НА МАТЕРИАЛЕ ПОСЛАНИЯ С 26 АПРЕЛЯ 2007 ГОДА) 24
PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE OF LANGUAGES (UDC 81`24) 28
FEDOTOVA NINA LEONIDOVNA ON THE CONCEPT OF DISTANCE TRAINING COURSE "METHODS OF TEACHING RUSSIAN AS A
FOREIGN LANGUAGE (RFL): TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS" / ФЕДОТОВА НИНА ЛЕОНИДОВНА О КОНЦЕПЦИИ
ДИСТАНЦИОННОГО КУРСА ПОВЫШЕНИЯ КВАЛИФИКАЦИИ «МЕТОДИКА ПРЕПОДАВАНИЯ РУССКОГО ЯЗЫКА КАК
ИНОСТРАННОГО (РКИ): ТРАДИЦИИ И ИННОВАЦИИ» 28
LINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGES (UDC 81) 30
KISELEVA ANNA ARKADIEVNA HIERARCHICAL SYSTEM OF SENSE-MAKING. THE "HUMAN-TEXT" SYSTEM / КИСЕЛЕВА АННА
АРКАДЬЕВНА ИЕРАРХИЧЕСКАЯ СИСТЕМА ПОНИМАНИЯ. СИСТЕМА "ЧЕЛОВЕК-ТЕКСТ" 30
MILEVSKAYA TATIANA VALENTINOVNA, ABBASOVA LEYLA ALAKBEROVNA THE CATEGORY OF COHERENCE AND NATION-
DISCOURSE FORMATION / МИЛЕВСКАЯ ТАТЬЯНА ВАЛЕНТИНОВНА, АББАСОВА ЛЕЙЛА АЛАКБЕРОВНА КАТЕГОРИЯ СВЯЗНОСТИ И
НАЦИОНАЛЬНО-ДИСКУРСИВНАЯ ФОРМАЦИЯ 34
KHALINA NATALIYA VASILIEVNA LINGUISTIC THEORY IN POSTINDUSTRIAL THE DESIGN PROCESS / ХАЛИНА НАТАЛЬЯ
ВАСИЛЬЕВНА ЛИНГВИСТИЧЕСКАЯ ТЕОРИЯ В ПОСТИНДУСТРИАЛЬНОМ ДИЗАЙН-ПРОЦЕССЕ 35
SHISHKOVA DINA DMITRIEVNA LEXICAL AND SYNTACTIC PECULIARITIES OF AN ENGLISH NEWSPAPER ARTICLE / ШИШКОВА
ДИНА ДМИТРИЕВНА ЛЕКСИЧЕСКИЕ И СИНТАКСИЧЕСКИЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ АНГЛИЙСКОЙ ГАЗЕТНОЙ СТАТЬИ 37
THEORY OF TRANSLATION (UDC 81`25) 39
LUNKOVA LARISA NIKHOLAEVNA WHAT WE READ WHEN WE READ IN TRANSLATION / ЛУНЬКОВА ЛАРИСА НИКОЛАЕВНА ЧТО МЫ
ЧИТАЕМ, ЧИТАЯ В ПЕРЕВОДЕ? 39
ALEKSANDROVA OKSANA IVANOVNA, ZAKHAROVA ELENA VIKTOROVNA ASPECTS OF ISLAMIC WORDS TRANSLATION AND USAGE IN
RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH NEWS STORIES / АЛЕКСАНДРОВА ОКСАНА ИВАНОВНА, ЗАХАРОВА ЕЛЕНА ВИКТОРОВНА ОСОБЕННОСТИ
УПОТРЕБЛЕНИЯ И ПЕРЕВОДА ЛЕКСИКИ ИСЛАМА В РУССКОЯЗЫЧНЫХ И АНГЛОЯЗЫЧНЫХ НОВОСТНЫ
ТЕКСТАХ 40
INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES (UDC 811.1/.2) 42
HRISTO KYUCHUKOV NEW TRENDS IN THE PROCESS OF STANDARDIZATION OF ROMANI TERMINOLOGY / ХРИСТО КЮЧУКОВ
НОВЫЕ ТЕНДЕНЦИИ В ПРОЦЕССЕ СТАНДАРТИЗАЦИИ РОМСКОЙ ТЕРМИНОЛОГИИ 42!
!
!
!
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
!
4
!"#$%&'($)"#*)#+(,-./(01121113(
Мамаев Михаил Михайлович, Василевич Александр Петрович
Московский государственный областной университет, Московский государственный областной университет
ОБ ОДНОМ СПОСОБЕ ВЫЯВЛЕНИЯ ГЕНДЕРНО ЗНАЧИМОЙ ЛЕКСИКИ В АНГЛОЯЗЫЧНОМ ТЕКСТЕ
Аннотация
Гендерные особенности языка проявляются, прежде всего, на лексическом уровне. При этом основным исследовательским
приемом является оценка употребительности: одни слова чаще встречаются в текстах, написанных женщинами, другие –
текстах мужчин. Основанная на этом подходе процедура гендерной атрибуции текста была опробована на обширном
англоязычном материале (22 автора) и оказалась достаточно эффективной. Расположение авторов на «шкале маскулинности»
позволяет ставить и решать ряд нетривиальных задач. В частности, выдвинута гипотеза о том, что по сравнению с авторами
XIX века степень маскулинности современных авторов-мужчин в целом значительно снизилась, а авторов-женщин – повысилась.
Ключевые слова: английский художественный текст, гендерные особенности, гендерная атрибуция текста, употребительность
слова.
Mamaev Mikhail Mikhailovich, Vasilevich Alexander Petrovich
Moscow Region State University, Moscow Region State University
ON THE PROCEDURE TO REVEAL GENDER-INTRINSIC LEXICS IN ENGLISH FICTION
Abstract
Gender peculiarities become apparent essentially at the lexical level. So evaluating frequency of use becomes the main research method:
one set of words are more frequent in the texts written by women, other ones are more frequent in men’s texts. The procedure of gender
attribution based on this approach was tested on a large sample of English texts (22 authors) and proved to be rather effective. The
placement of authors on the “scale of masculinity” allows to put forward and solve a number of noteworthy problems. In particular, the
hypothesis was advanced that compared to the 19th century authors the level of masculinity of contemporary male authors has decreased
while the level of masculinity of female authors increased.
Keywords: English fiction, gender peculiarities, gender text attribution, word frequency evaluation.
he issue of sex and gender has become very important
nowadays and it is a matter of utmost interest not only
scientifically but also in sociocultural sphere,
sometimes even on the legislative level. Sex is regarded as a
biological phenomenon; consequently men are opposed to women
on the basis of purely biological characteristics, including
behavioral peculiarities. As to gender, it touches upon the
psychological features and in this respect contrasted notions will be
masculinity and femininity (Kon 2004).
In most cases sex and gender coincide yet some examples of
the opposite have been reported [1].
Since gender is a sharply defined framework of social and
psychological settings, it is assumed to affect the linguistic
behavior of an individual (Maslova 2004, p. 124).
Introducing the parameter of gender into the linguistic research
has opened new prospects in the analysis of various aspects of
language and speech. The term itself emerged in linguistics in the
1980s, i.e. a bit later than in other humanities – History,
Psychology, and Sociology. The ideas of gender linguistics, put
forward by various schools and movements, are being still moulded
in a system (Mamaev 2011).
It must be stressed that the human being not only understands
the meaning of a judgment uttered but realizes his or her
involvement in it. Hence, the word becomes a cultural archetype
and is regarded as an issue that both the outer world and the speaker
have impact on (Lebedev 2008). It seems clear, then, that gender
speech peculiarities are most likely to manifest themselves.
The study of gender aspects has become extremely popular
among linguists lately. Up to the present efforts have been focused
on specific features of men’s and women’s speech. For example,
among feminine linguistic facts the researchers enumerate
frequency of usage of euphemisms; adverbs helping to avoid the
utterance categoricity (e.g. rather, quite); exclamatory sentences,
tag questions, etc. Regarding masculine facts they reckon the
pursuit for word creation; tendency to the usage of archaic, jargon
and dialectal words; omissions of articles and auxiliary verbs; etc.
(Antineskul 2001).
From numerous published results one may infer that gender
peculiarities emerge, mostly, on the lexical level. Ordinarily, words
or phrases are considered to be feminine if they appear substantially
more frequently in the texts of female writers. Consequently, one
should pay utmost attention to the usage frequency of language
units.
The reverse approach may be of interest, too: basing on the
lexical statistics it is possible to study the opposite task: is it
possible to specify gender attribution of the text, i.e. to predict
whether its author is a man or a woman. That would make the main
task of our study: we undertake to find, in any random text, a group
of lexical elements which would allow its gender attribution with a
high degree of reliability.
Although it was ascertained that the usage of slang and Latin
terms are characteristic of the male written speech, we should bear
in mind that these phenomena are not frequent in any text. The
same can be said about feminine texts which should presumably
include many euphemisms and tag questions. The required solution
would be turning to function words.
First of all, function words by their nature are very frequently
used and are met in any type of texts. It is no less important that
they are limited in number is limited and, thus, the process of
analysis wouldn’t be too laborious.
It is worth noticing that gender attribution of function words
hasn’t been practically studied. We can cite only one attempt to
dwell with the problem. It was done on English material:
(Argamon, Koppel 2006; Koppel, Argamon, Shimoni 2001).
The authors are trying to solve the problem of gender
attribution by dividing function words into ‘mainly male’ or
‘mainly female’ words [2]. The algorithm was introduced which is
to identify the gender of the text’s author with high probability. In
has been tested on the large amount of text corpora and defined
gender attribution with at least 80% success rate. The result seems
good enough, however there still remains some opportunity to
further perfect the procedure of the algorithm application.
According to the algorithm, the articles (a, the) as well as
demonstrative pronouns (that, these) are considered masculine
indicators, while a group of pronouns (I, you, she, her, their, myself,
yourself, herself) indicate the belonging to the text written by a
female author. The gist of algorithm is the evaluation of frequency
of every word from the list. The frequency data are
supplemented with the system of coefficients, which regulates
the contribution of every word to the final result. For example,
the coefficient, or the ‘weight’ of preposition with is 52, while
pronoun who ‘weighs’ only 19, article the – 7, etc. Thus, if with is
found in the text 4 times, then its total contribution will be 208 (4 х
52); if pronoun who isn’t present in the text at all, it will have zero
contribution; and if article the appears 69 times, then its
contribution will be rather substantial (69 х 7) – 483.
The total sum of weights for masculine words (who, the,
as, etc.) and feminine ones (with, if, not, etc.) are counted and the
results are summed up. If the total sum of feminine words turns out
to be more than that of masculine ones then the text is attributed as
feminine.
In spite of the authors’ claim that the algorithm functions rather
efficiently, their suggested set of function words gives rise to some
doubts. Particularly, it is not clear why the authors include forms of
the verbs to be and to say in the list. The usage of to is also causes
scrutiny: it is clear that there is serious difference if to functions as a
T
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
5!
!
particle (with the infinitive) or a preposition (the calculations would
not take this difference into consideration at all).
With a glance to the above, we made up our minds to test the
algorithm on the new selection of texts. There were selected 11
novels of British authors of the 19th–20th centuries (cf.: G.K.
Сhesterton ‘Father Brown Stories’ / J. Austen ‘Pride and Prejudice’,
etc.) and 11 modern novels of the 20th-21st centuries (cf.: P. Ness
‘A Monster Calls’ / M. Blackman ‘Noughts And Crosses’, etc.).
Taking into consideration the character of the material (function
words), the corpus seems quite representative. We only confined
oneself to the analysis of three fragments from every novel – in the
beginning, in the middle and at the end accordingly. The amount of
every fragment was nearly the same – 1500 words approximately.
The list of novels is given in the end of the article.
The processing of the texts was conducted with the help of the
Gender Genie algorithm was applied to each text [3]. The algorithm
allows every Internet user process a text, automatically highlighting
the words relevant for the authors’ gender attribution.
The example of the initial matrix is presented in Table 1.!!
!
Table 1 – The initial matrix of the calculation results (fragment)
Feminine words
Masculine words
Word
Was
used,
times
Weight
Total
contri-
bution
Word
Was used,
times
Weight
Total
contri-
bution
Charles
Dickens
her
me
your
…
with
myself
where
27
26
12
…
43
2
3
20
20
40
…
1
4
2
540
520
480
…
43
8
6
the
a
what
…
many
more
below
209
116
15
…
4
7
1
6
10
35
…
6
2
8
1254
1160
525
…
24
14
8
Total
4179
Total
5456
Ann
Brontë
her
me
not
should
…
myself
with
where
61
65
65
8
…
17
51
3
20
18
8
50
…
4
1
2
1220
1170
520
400
…
68
51
6
the
as
a
what
…
more
these
many
170
32
86
23
…
7
1
1
6
30
10
35
…
2
8
6
1020
960
860
805
…
14
8
6
Total
5400
Total
4939
!
According to Table 1, the sum of masculine words prevails in
Ch. Dickens’ text (5456 > 4179), consequently, this text is written
by a male author. On the contrary, in A. Brontë’s text feminine
words prevail (5400 > 4939), so the text is obviously written by a
female. As we see, the program has worked well in both cases.
However, having analyzed all the 22 texts, the results didn’t
turn out that successful. Suffice it to say that the program has
correctly attributed only 6 out of 11 texts by male-writers, i.e. made
mistakes in nearly a half of the cases. Keeping to the hypothesis that
basing on a limited number of function words we can make gender
attribution of the text correctly enough, we have to concede that either
some words from the given list aren’t appropriate, or the weight
system needs correction, or both are true.
Our next step had two main aims:
1) making sure that the initial division of words into masculine
and feminine was accurate and suggesting corrections, if necessary;
2) improving the weight system of the words used.
We summarized the initial matrix data of all the 22 authors. In
case the algorithm attributes a word to the feminine group, than its
total usage frequency in female-writers’ texts should substantially
exceed that in male-writers’ texts, and vice versa.
The analysis shows that the confirmative data have been
received for 10 words out of 15 (e.g. me was found 360 times in
female-writers’ texts and only 180 times in male-writers’
texts; your 138 : 74 and so on). For 4 words no preferences have
been spotted (e.g.with – 360 : 360, when – 160 : 150), and in one
case there is even an opposite result (was – 860 : 1033).
Still more disappointing was the result for the masculine words.
The confirmation was acquired for only 6 words (e.g. the – 3136 :
2330 or as – 486 : 293). In the rest 10 cases data were nearly the
same for males and females (these – 36 : 35, below – 7 : 5, many –
24 : 20) or even with the prevalence for females (to – 1083 :
1240, are – 91 : 132).
In consideration of these data we have taken into account only
the cases with the significant difference in the usage frequency of
words in male- and female-writers’ texts (10 feminine and 7 male
words). The rest of the words from the initial list were eliminated.
Our next task was to correct the weight system of the 17 words.
The way of reasoning in applying weights to words by the
algorithm has been quite dim to us. Here are a few examples
(Table 2)
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
6!
!
Table 2 – The analysis of the lexical units’ weights suggested by the algorithm
Word
Found in male-
authors’ texts
Found in female-
authors’ texts
Word
weight
1
should
32
48
50
around
43
49
10
myself
37
51
4
2
we
102
169
45
what
136
190
35
if
118
146
28
3
a
1347
1111
10
the
3136
2330
6
to
1083
1240
2
The groups (1–3) contain the words of nearly the same usage
frequency. As one can see, the weights in every group differ
significantly, so the necessity to somehow correct the weight system
seems obvious.
In working out the new weight system we took two main factors
into consideration. The first one is the range of frequency difference.
For example, the words in Group 2 have more differentiating force
than the words in Group 1, and consequently they should be given
more weight.
On the other hand, some words (especially articles) have
considerably higher frequency, and applying much weight to them
will cause their taking the substantial part of the general result,
minimizing all other words’ role. In setting a proper weight, we
thought it reasonable to ensure that a word’s contribution to the
whole sum shouldn’t exceed 25%. So, we applied the weights of 4
and 6 to the articles a and the respectively, while if got the weight of
28, and myself – 50.
Lastly, we have perfected the procedure in one more aspect. The
initial algorithm only allows to attribute a text as ‘male’ or ‘female’.
We’d like to go further and arrange the texts on a kind of “scale of
masculinity”. This will allow not only distinguish a male text from a
female one but also compare two texts of the same gender. As a
result, we’ve introduced a masculinity index M, which may serve as
an important feature of the author’s gender style. Index M is based
directly on the masculine / feminine words’ indicator and is
calculated according to the formula:
M!!=!
masc!"
av!"#$
–!
fem!"
av!"#
where M! – index of masculinity of author (i);
masc!" – total sum of masculine words in author i’s text;
fem!" – total sum of female words in author i’s text;
av!"#$ (and av!"# ) – total sum and masculine (amd feminine) words on the average in the whole group of texts.
Here comes an example of calculations for texts by G.S. Chesterton and A. Brontë. In Table 3 one can see fragments of initial data matrices.
Table 3 – Initial data matrices (fragments)
G.S.
Chesterton
Feminine words
Masculine words
Word
Frequency
Weight
Total
Word
Frequency
Weight
Total
we
7
40
280
the
292
4
1168
be
22
10
220
a
163
6
978
myself
4
50
200
as
44
20
880
…
…
…
…
she
1
12
12
around
0
20
0
Total
1585
Total
4572
A. Brontë
me
65
20
1300
the
170
4
680
her
61
15
915
as
32
20
640
myself
17
50
850
a
86
6
516
…
…
…
…
be
17
10
170
around
2
20
40
Total
5515
Total
2684
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
7!
!
Table 4 illustrates the stages of calculating the index M.
Table 4 – The calculations of parameters for the index M
Table 5 – Index M of the whole group of authours
According to Table 5, index M attributes the texts rather
accurately. Certainly, as it usually occurs, there are some borderline
results when M approaches zero (in this category we find 3 male and
4 female authors; they are marked grey). Perhaps, further
improvements of the procedure might reduce the number of such
cases, however efforts in another direction seem no less promising.
In fact, as we mentioned earlier, gender reflects an individual’s
linguistic consciousness, and it shouldn’t inevitably coincide with
his or her biological sex. Consequently, if of an author’s
index M stands out from the rest, this should cast some doubt on his
or her gender identity. To clarify the case, one may need additional
facts from related sciences – Literary Criticism, Psychology, etc.
From this point of view it would be interesting, for example, to study
the results of Brontë sisters whose texts turned out to be in opposite
ends of the “scale of masculinity”.
In conclusion let us raise one more point. As it is seen from the
list of works, our selection of fiction texts is balanced not only
according to gender (11 male and 11 female authors), but also
according to the time of writing (11 texts of 19th–20th century and
11 texts of 20th–21st century). This enables us to juxtapose the
index M values of the two epoques (Table 6).
Table 6 – The correlation between index M and the epoque of writing (average data)
One can definitely infer, from the data, that gender
differentiation among the 19th century writers is more distinct (the
range is 0,74). Among contemporary writers we see some tendency
for convergence, the difference between male and female authors
being only 0,45.
No doubt, such facts call for more research involving new
literary material.
Certainly, the urgent problem might be to develop the procedure
for defining the index M for the material in Russian. If it is
successful, this may help discover new possibilities – for
comparative analysis in the first place. In particular, a very
interesting task would be to analyze the cases when, for example, the
text written by a female-authour is translated by a male-translator
and vice versa.
[1] It’s worth mentioning that English is among the few languages where “sex” and “gender” are differentiated on the lexical level.
[2] In this study the class of function words includes pronouns and modal verbs (30 words in total).
[3] The Gender Genie. URL: http://bookblog.net/gender/genie.php (date of reference: 19.02.2013).
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
8!
!
References
1. Antineskul O.L. Gender as text-formation parameter: Special course teaching aid. – Perm, 2001.
2. Kon I.S. Sexology. Teaching aid. – M., 2004.
3. Lebedev S.A. Historical-philosophical methodological introduction in linguistic theory // Philosophy of social and studies and
humanities. – M., 2008.
4. Mamaev M.M. Multiple-aspect character of studying gender factor in linguistics // Bulletin of Moscow State Regional University.
Series “Linguistics”, №2. – M., 2011.
5. Maslova V.A. Lingvoculturology. – M., 2004.
6. Argamon S., Koppel M., Fine J., Shimoni A.R. Gender, Genre, and Writing Style in Formal Written Texts // Interdisciplinary
Journal for the Study of Discourse. 2006, vol. 23, Issue 3, pp. 321–346.
7. M. Koppel, Argamon S., Shimoni A.R. Automatically determining the gender of a text’s author // Bar-Ilan University Technical
Report BIU-TR-01-32. 2001.
4+"+5)$(6*+&7%8"&(5+$)7%"#(78(987'($%"#*%&7%:&()";($%7+5)7*5+2(<'%$8$8#=(,-./(0>3(
Шустова Ирина Николаевна
Воронежский государственный педагогический университет
АКСИОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ ПОТЕНЦИАЛ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИХ ПРОЗВИЩ
Аннотация
Статья посвящена изучению аксиологических возможностей политических прозвищ. Политические прозвища очень
экспрессивны. Они могут быть референтными и безреферентными. Некоторые прозвища утрачивают своё исходное значение и
входят в состав оценочной политической лексики. В языке политики прозвища часто выступают не только средством оценки, но
и становятся идеологическим оружием.
Ключевые слова: прозвища, аксиологические возможности, выразительные слова, средство оценки, аббревиатура,
референтные и безреферентные прозвища, оценочная политическая лексика, коннотация, язык политики.
Shustova Irina Nikolaevna
Voronezh State Pedagogical University
AXIOLOGICAL POTENTIAL OF POLITICAL NICKNAMES
Abstract
The article is devoted to the study of axiological possibilities of political nicknames. Political nicknames are very expressive. They can
be personal and impersonal. Some nicknames lose their primary meaning to become a part of evaluative political lexis. In the language of
politics nicknames often serve not only as means of assessment, but also as ideological weapon.
Keywords: nicknames, axiological possibilities, expressive words, means of assessment, abbreviation, personal and impersonal
nicknames, evaluative political lexis, connotation, language of politics.
he language of modern politics tends to be less formal.
On the contrary, it becomes more popular among
politicians to speak like common people do, so that they
would be recognized as close to the electorate. This tendency
prevails especially in the USA where most people, figuratively
speaking, got used to “judge a book by its cover” and are not prone
to intellectual reasoning. During the electoral period politicians are
preoccupied with their image and try hard as they can to win the
popularity. Language in this case is one of the most important means
of producing certain image and achieving success.
Regarding the fact that the language of a successful politician
must be simple, smart and bright, speechwriters and image makers
are very particular about the word choice. Specialists advise to
choose such words and phrases that can become memorable, fresh
and entertaining at the same time. That is why the language of
politics contains a lot of expressive words and phrases endowed with
axiological potential. Among the words having rich evaluative
possibilities are political nicknames which meet all the above
mentioned requirements.
Nickname – a name used informally instead of a person’s own
name, usu. a short form of the actual name or a name connected with
one’s character or history. Nicknames are often given at school to
annoy or upset other children, and many last into adult life
(Longman Dictionary, p.899).
Oxford English Dictionary gives the following definition of the
word ‘nickname’: ‘A name or appellation added to, or substituted
for, the proper name of a person, place, etc., usually given in ridicule
or pleasantry’ (Oxford English Dictionary, 1989).
It is evident that such words as nicknames possess high
axiological possibilities because they serve not only as means of
assessment, but also correspond the evaluative attitude, forming the
opinion concerning what is good and what is bad in the society. The
negative potential of nicknames can be applied while characterizing
political opponents. As for political supporters or the politician
himself, nicknames with a humorous colour or positive connotation
are often used. Certainly it depends on the purpose of giving a
nickname.
Many American politicians especially presidents have
nicknames. It can be a short form of the personal name, for example,
Ike – Eisenhower, Teddy – T. Roosevelt, Bill – W. Clinton and so
on. Another form of a nickname is the abbreviation of the full name
of a person, for example, JFK – J. Kennedy, GWB – George Bush –
junior.
As for George Bush – junior and his father George Bush –
senior, we noticed that these politicians are sometimes named as the
numbers of their presidential periods – Number 41 and Number 43.
For example,… Although it is currently fashionable to lampoon
Number 43 for his verbal gaffes, we know that Number 41 was in a
class of his own (The Daily Telegraph, Feb.14, 2004, p.6).
Anyway, nicknames make presidents closer to people. And it is
their main function together with the function of assessment in the
language of politics.
In course of our research we also noticed that political
nicknames can be personal when there is a reference to a real person
and impersonal when it is applied to a group of people or a political
party or a political movement.
For example, Robbery Hillham/ Hilla the Hun are offensive
nicknames given to Hillary Clinton during the period of political
fight when she unsuccessfully attempted to become President of the
USA. Both nicknames are personal and characterize Mrs. Clinton
from the negative side, eventually contributing to the destruction of
her positive political image.
Concerning impersonal nicknames, we also provide some
examples. For instance, hawks and doves used to be nicknames but
later became ideologically loaded political words.
Hawk – 2. a person who believes in strong action or the use of
force, esp. one who supports warlike political ideas.
Dove – 2. (in politics) a person in favour of peace and
compromise. (Longman Dictionary, pp.382, 605).
Other examples are donkeys and elephants, boll weevils and
gypsy moths. These are nicknames of American political parties –
Democratic and Republican.
Gypsy moths – those liberal and moderate Republicans in the US
House of Representatives who tend to deny support to President Ronald
Reagan’s domestic and foreign policies. They are called gypsy moths, in
contrast to boll weevils, after a leaf-eating moth found in the north,
T
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
9!
!
because most of these House members represent congressional districts
from the Northeast and Midwest (Jay M. Shafritz, 1988, p.259).
Boll weevils – 1. A long used term for southern Democrats in
the US House of Representatives who support conservative policies.
2. Southern Democrats in the US House of Representatives who
have supported President Ronald Reagan’s economic programs. Boll
weevils are insects that feed on cotton (Jay M. Shafritz, 1988, p.59)
We also should mention that some nicknames tend to lose their
originality and primary meaning to become a part of evaluative
political lexis. Now, let’s consider the examples of such words
together with their etymology:
Lame-ducks — The session of Congress which came to a close
on the 4th of March in the year following the election of a new
president of the USA was nicknamed the Lame-duck Congress
because many of those making up this session of Congress had
been defeated in the November elections and would be replaced by
the successful candidates on March 4th. The session of Congress
which convened in 1922 was the first to be called a Lame-duck
Congress and members of this Congress were known as Lame-ducks
(G.E.Shankle, 1967, p.248).
Egghead — An intellectual; a politician with a highbrow image.
The term was first used in American politics to derisively refer to
Adlai Stevenson (1900-1965) when he was the Democratic nominee
for president in 1952. The term fit Stevenson because he was all that
the word implied, and worse – he had a balding, egg-shaped head
(Jay M. Shafritz, 1988, p.184).
Both above mentioned nicknames have negative connotation.
Nowadays, the word combination lame duck is used to characterize
any American President serving the end of his last term without the
right to be reelected. As for the word egghead, its negative
evaluative potential is used while ridiculing any politician having a
highbrow image (in our opinion, in modern Ukrainian politics
ArseniyYatsenyuk perfectly fits this image).
In conclusion, it is necessary to underline that any nickname has
great evaluative possibilities. The peculiarity of these words
concludes in the possibility to express the assessment indirectly
through the axiological component of connotation. Moreover,
nicknames can form certain opinion about the object of assessment.
That is why, due to their persuasive possibilities, nicknames often
serve as strong ideological weapon in the language of politics.
References
1. Longman Dictionary of English Language and Culture. Longman Group UK Limited, 1992. – 1528 p.
2. Oxford English Dictionary. Ed. J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner. 2nd ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989. OED Online. Oxford
University Press. (http://dictionary.oed.com )
3. Shafritz Jay M. The Dorsey Dictionary of American Government and Politics/ Jay M. Shafritz // The Dorsey press Chicago, Illinois
60604, 1988. – 670 p.
4. Shankle G.E. American nicknames. Their Origin and Significance/ G.E. Shankle//, 2nd ed.: N.Y. The H.W. Wilson Company,
1967. – 524 p.
Приходько Сергей Александрович
Калужский государственный университет имени К.Э.Циолковского
"МАТЕРИАЛИЗМ И ЭМПИРИОКРИТИЦИЗМ" В.И.ЛЕНИНА - ГЛАВНЫЙ РУССКОЯЗЫЧНЫЙ ПОЛЕМИЧЕСКИЙ
ТЕКСТ 1900-Х ГОДОВ
Аннотация
В настоящей статье автор показывает сложную ситуацию, определившую конфликт в русском философском сообществе в
начале двадцатого века. А.А.Богданов и В.И.Ленин, лидеры большевиков, были вовлечены в длительную полемику. Одновременно
материалисты были вынуждены защищать свою теорию от постоянных критических выступлений махистов. Монография
«Материализм и эмпириокритицизм» является главным отражением этой речевой ситуации. В.И.Ленин желал объяснить
философские противоречия и доказать превосходство своего подхода, поэтому вы можете найти значительное количество
полемических приёмов в его тексте. Анализ фрагментов «Материализма и эмпириокритицизма» помогает читателям оценить
полемическое искусство В.И.Ленина. Для аспирантов, лингвистов, ораторов, политиков и студентов.
Ключевые слова: русскоязычный полемический текст, языковая личность, полемика, конфликт, эмиграция, рукопись,
различные стили, оппонент, полемический дискурс, средства скрытого воздействия, полемический приём.
Prikhodko Sergey Alexandrovich
Kaluga State University named after K.E.Tsiolkovsky
«MATERIALISM AND EMPIRIO-CRITICISM» BY V.I.LENIN AS THE MAIN RUSSIAN LANGUAGE POLEMICAL
TEXT OF THE 1900S
Abstract
In this article the author shows the complicated situation determined the conflict in Russian philosophical society at the beginning of the
twentieth century. A.A.Bogdanov and V.I.Lenin, the leaders of the Bolsheviks, were involved in the long-lasted polemics. Simultaneously the
Materialists had to defend their theory from the constant attacks of the Machists. Monograph «Materialism and Empirio-Criticism» is the
main reflection of this speech situation. V.I.Lenin wished to explain philosophic contradictions and to prove prosperity of his approach
therefore you can find a great number of polemical methods in his text. Analysis of «Materialism and Empirio-Criticism»’s fragments helps
the readers to appreciate V.I.Lenin’s polemical art. For linguists, orators, politicians, post-graduates and students.
Keywords: Russian language polemical text, language personality, polemics, conflict, emigration, manuscript, different styles,
opponent, polemical discourse, providers of suggestive impact, polemical method.
ladimir Ilich (Ilyich) Oulianoff (Oulianov, Ul’ianov,
Uljanow, Ulyanov ore Lenin) (1870-1924) is a famous
politician, but it should not be forgotten that he was a
language personality and a philosopher too.
You can see V.I.Lenin’s biography in different articles and
books [Bonnell 1999; Ennker 1997; Garaudy 1968; Krupskaya 1970;
Lutz 2003; Maxton 1932; Possony 1965; Prilezhayeva 1987; Service
2002; Shub 1966;
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Vladimir_Ilyich_Lenin.aspx].
The boy Vladimir, the second son in the family of I.N.Ulyanov,
was a conscientious and intelligent student, a good skater, swimmer
and chess player. Volodya liked to play chess very much. He was
much impressed by his father’s talk of the «darkness» of life in the
villages and of the arbitrary treatment of peasants by officials. A
voracious reader, V.I.Ulyanov became well-acquainted at an early
age with the writings of Russian authors, from A.S.Pushkin through
A.S.Turgenev to L.N.Tolstoi. From a childhood the boy was
especially interested in the works of N.A.Nekrasov. The youth was
also aware of such protorevolutionary writers of the nineteenth
century as V.G.Belinskii, N.G.Chernyshevskii, N.A.Dobroliubov,
A.I.Herzen and D.I.Pisarev. But there was no hint in these early
intellectual activities that V.I.Lenin would become a revolutionary.
V.I.Lenin’s philosophy is mentioned in great number of
scientific works [Althusser 1971; Brockhaus 2004; Cockshott 2012;
Treadgold 2002].
It goes without saying his political views are presented in
various foreign sources [Harding 1977; Hubenschmid 1998; Ivanov
1970; Leites 1953].
In the revolution of 1905 V.I.Lenin was able to exercise almost
no influence.
V.I.Lenin’s influence among the Bolsheviks was challenged by
many other militants including A.A.Bogdanov therefore
«Materialism and Empirio-Criticism. Critical Comments on a
Reactionary Philosophy» challenged the ideas that A.A.Bogdanov
V
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
10!
!
had spread in philosophers’ society in the first years of the twentieth
century.
The main reason of polemics was conflict between V.I.Lenin
and A.A.Bogdanov who was the head of large philosophical group.
A.A.Bogdanov was known as A.A.Malinovskii too. Besides
philosophy A.A.Bogdanov had already achieved great success in
economy and medicine.
The period between defeat of the first Russian revolution and
World War I (1907-1914) was difficult for V.I.Lenin and all the rest
Materialists. The historians called this epoch as a period of reaction.
V.I.Lenin had to leave Russian Empire and live in West-European
countries. During emigration V.I.Lenin could write several
interesting articles, books and speeches.
At the end of 1907 the leader of the Bolsheviks abandoned his
base in Finland and slipped back to Switzerland therefore the
monograph was created not in Russian Empire, but in Switzerland,
France and the United Kingdom.
V.I.Lenin lived briefly in London in May 1908, where he used
the British Museum’s library to write «Materialism and Empirio-
Criticism», an attack on A.A.Bogdanov’s relativist perspective,
which he lambasted as a «bourgeois-reactionary falsehood».
Increasing numbers of the Bolsheviks, including close V.I.Lenin
supporters L.B.Kamenev and A.I.Rykov, were becoming angry with
V.I.Lenin’s factionalism [Service 2002: 192-195].
In December 1908 V.I.Lenin went from Geneva to Paris where
he worked until April 1909 on correcting the proofs of his book. The
attentive author had to agree to tone down some passages of the
work so as not to give the tsarist censorship an excuse for
prohibiting its publication. It was published in Russia under great
difficulties. V.I.Lenin insisted on the speedy issue of the book,
stressing that «not only literary, but also serious political
obligations» were involved in its publication.
V.I.Lenin revived his polemics against the Mensheviks, who
objected to his advocacy of violent expropriations and thefts such as
the 1907 Tiflis bank robbery, which the Bolsheviks were using to
fund their activities. At that very moment V.I.Lenin became heavily
critical of A.A.Bogdanov and his supporters. A.A.Bogdanov
believed that a socialist-oriented culture had to be developed among
Russia’s proletariat for them to become a successful revolutionary
vehicle, whereas V.I.Lenin favored a vanguard of socialist
intelligentsia who could lead the working-classes in revolution.
Furthermore A.A.Bogdanov — influenced by E.Mach — believed
that all the concepts of the world were relative, whereas V.I.Lenin
stuck to the orthodox Marxist view that there was an objective
reality to the world, independent of human observation. Although
A.A.Bogdanov and V.I.Lenin went on a holiday together to
A.M.Gorky’s villa situated in island of Capri, Italy, in April 1908,
on returning to Paris, V.I.Lenin encouraged a split within the
Bolshevik faction between his and A.A.Bogdanov’s followers,
accusing the latter of deviating from Marxism [Service 2002: 189-
192].
Unfortunately the manuscript of the book and V.I.Lenin’s
preparatory material for it have so far not been found.
The author could unite in «Materialism and Empirio-Criticism»
different styles though each of them can be defined as a layer of big
polemical pie. Artistic, colloquial and scientific lexemes are
concentrated in this famous monograph.
Of course the struggle was cruel in the Bolshevik party.
V.I.Lenin realized A.A.Bogdanov was the most dangerous opponent
though their relations were not so bad. Explores knew a century ago
about photography where V.I.Lenin and A.A.Bogdanov had played
chess. According to this famous image V.I.Lenin won that game.
Never the less A.A.Bogdanov was mentioned in work «Materialism
and Empirio-Criticism» more than 200 times. Soon A.A.Bogdanov
and his colleagues were excepted from party of the Bolsheviks.
Evidently V.I.Lenin defined A.A.Bogdanov as a member of
enormous community: «Here we have the true source of all
Bogdanov’s philosophical misadventures, a source which he shares
with the rest of the Machians» [Lenin 2002: 66].
Repeat of lexeme «source» attracts the readers’ attention. The
author’s irony is expressed by generalizing word combination «all
Bogdanov’s philosophical misadventures». Lexeme «misadventure»
underlines the negative appreciation given by V.I.Lenin.
In many cases the polemical text includes critical statements.
They concern the same opponent. For example V.I.Lenin wrote in
his monograph: «Bogdanov swallowed the bait of professorial
philosophy in believing that "introjection" was aimed against
idealism. He accepted the evaluation of introjection given by
Avenarius himself as its face value and failed to notice the barb
directed against materialism» [Lenin 2002: 97].
In this extract V.I.Lenin underlined that A.A.Bogdanov hade
made a mistake. The metaphor «to swallow the bait» makes this
thesis vivid. To V.I.Lenin’s opinion A.A.Bogdanov had not checked
statements of R.Avenarius and simply had agreed with his view in
vain.
V.I.Lenin drew the preliminary conclusion: «Ridicule — that is
the response of the thinking scientists to the idealist philosophy over
which Mach waxes so enthusiastic» [Lenin 2002: 104].
At once the sentence makes the irony the fact («ridicule») and
helps the readers to distinguish real and false philosophers, foes and
friends. V.I.Lenin hoped to receive emotional effect from the readers
that’s why the metaphor «to wax so enthusiastic» is represented at
the end of the conclusion.
Then V.I.Lenin formulated the final conclusion: «No, it is those
who "failed to note" that solipsism is Mach’s fundamental error who
are stricken with "subjective" blindness» [Lenin 2002: 105].
The construction seems to be more categorical because the hints
(«misadventure» and «to swallow the bait») are transformed into the
diagnosis («blindness»). Also graphic method (commas) can focus
the reader’s thoughts on the main V.I.Lenin’s idea: the defects of the
Machists’ theory are natural and unavoidable therefore the
Materialists’ conception is worthy only.
So V.I.Lenin created orchestra of the polemical methods in
«Materialism and Empirio-Criticism». Each of them acts as an
instrument which helps to achieve harmony and makes the sounds
louder.
The book is the outcome of a prodigious amount of creative
scientific research carried out by V.I.Lenin during nine months. His
main work on the book was carried out in Geneva’s libraries, but in
order to obtain a detailed knowledge of the modern literature of
natural science and philosophy V.I.Lenin went to London in May
1908, where he worked for about a month in the library of the
British Museum. The list of sources mentioned or quoted by
V.I.Lenin in his book exceeds 200 titles.
V.I.Lenin’s well-known work «Materialism and Empirio-
Criticism» played a decisive part in combating the Machist revision
of Marxism. It enabled the philosophical ideas of Marxism to spread
widely among the mass of party members and helped the party
activists and progressive workers to master dialectical and historical
materialism.
Before V.I.Lenin came to power, the old regime of Tsar
Nicholas II (Emperor in 1895–1917) had kept him under constant
observation because of his revolutionary and socialist ideas. To
confuse the Tsarist authorities V.I.Oulianoff had used pseudonyms
such as Jacob Richter and Nicholas Lenin. Later he adopted
V.I.Lenin as his preferred name. In fact approximately 150
pseudonyms of the Bolsheviks’ leader were lost.
Jacob Richter was the name he used when he first applied for a
Reader’s Ticket for the Library at The British Museum, with a
reference from I.H.Mitchell, the General Secretary of the General
Federation of Trade Unions. The Admissions Office was dissatisfied
with I.H.Mitchell’s reference because they could not locate his
address. The second letter followed and a ticket was granted, which
was claimed on Tuesday, the 29th, April 1902. The ticket was used
for about a year. During this period he was in Britain to initiate
publication of Iskra, the newspaper of the Russian Social
Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP).
V.I.Lenin may have used the same pseudonym in May 1907, as
there was an entry in the Temporary Admissions Register (number
3782). He later applied to use the Library under his given name of
Vladimir Oulianoff. Again he was only successful on his second
attempt and collected his ticket on the 22th, May 1908. He last
visited the Reading Room on the 11th, November 1911.
If you remembered how hard V.I.Lenin had worked, how
quickly he could finish the book you would be surprised.
The author began to collect sources in February 1908. V.I.Lenin
formed almost all the monograph in October 1908.
The author was eager to present Section I and Supplement to
Chapter IV in March 1909. V.I.Lenin was upset because the first
search of appropriate agent was not successful.
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
11!
!
Finally monograph «Materialism and Empirio-Criticism» was
published in May 1909 in Moscow as a separate book by Zveno
Publishers. Vladimir Ilin was chosen as a pseudonym by the author
himself.
This classical work of V.I.Lenin achieved a wide circulation in
many countries, and was published in over 20 languages [Lenin
2002 etc]. Certainly all the rest works of V.I.Lenin were published in
the Soviet Union and abroad [Lenin 1983]. The articles, books,
documents and speeches written by V.I.Lenin were united in the
USSR in 55 huge volumes and published in the previous century.
The mentioned monograph became the hugest V.I.Lenin’s
work. «Materialism and Empirio-Criticism» happened to be the best
reply of the Bolsheviks for permanent Machists’ attacks.
After the October revolution «Materialism and Empirio-
Criticism» was admitted as the symbol of V.I.Lenin’s victory over
the Machists, who shared conception of idealistical philosophy the
most dangerous enemies of V.I.Lenin’s followers. Some foreign
explores defined it as the Soviet Bible even.
Full understanding of V.I.Lenin’s works will be possible if a
reader involves in the process his own knowledge of the history of
Russia and the 1905 Russian revolution. It goes without saying any
reader should be well-educated. Difficult and long process of
understanding claims that the reader is able to remember the main
statements of Marxist European, Marxist Russian and classical
Russian literature. Facts of V.I.Lenin’s biography and the history of
Russia of course can make the process much easier.
While V.I.Lenin’s impact upon the world has been tremendous,
and his ideas once commanded an immense following, many of the
works in which he expressed his ideas were written with a specific
audience in mind and dealt with issues and controversies which were
peculiar to his age. In addition, it is probably fair to say that
V.I.Lenin’s skills as a political agitator were superior to his skills as
a writer. Consequently, the project which culminated in the
completion of this manuscript posed a number of challenges.
In «Materialism and Empirio-Criticism» V.I.Lenin’s
presentation of theses ranges from obscure to redundant, and the
contemporary reader is often hard pressed to understand subtle
references which were undoubtedly common knowledge in the circle
of Russian emigres in which V.I.Lenin moved in the early 1900s, but
which can be difficult to make sense of out of historical context.
Besides V.I.Lenin’s treatment of the problems of philosophy is
loaded with political relevance. Indeed, it may be said that
«Materialism and Empirio-Criticism» represents not as much a
treatise on philosophy as a manifesto of what its author believed
Marxist philosophy should be.
Thus monograph «Materialism and Empirio-Criticism» is a
facet of argue between V.I.Lenin and the idealists. Only the attentive
reader is able to recognize various nuances of ideology in this
polemical discourse. The ideological connotations include first of all
a great number of evaluation judgments constructions though
context of inform can exist without such expressive markers.
These elements of V.I.Lenin’s discourse are providers of
suggestive impact and active cognitive process corresponding to new
scientific reality. The adaptation to changed conditions and
appearance of new political parties were simultaneous processes.
The members of these parties felt that they were contestants. These
circumstances could explain why V.I.Lenin concentrated his
philosophical and political enemies’ opinions in work «Materialism
and Empirio-Criticism» and criticized them in different ways
including hidden impact. It is possible to explain the meaning of
every polemical method used in this monograph by V.I.Lenin in
separate books only.
References
1. Althusser L. Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. London, New York: Monthly Review Press, 1971. - 253 p.
2. Bonnell V.E. Iconography of Power: Soviet Political Posters under Lenin and Stalin. Berkeley, London, Los Angeles: University of
California Press, 1999. - 363 p.
3. Brockhaus F.A. Materialismus // Philosophie. Ideen, Denker und Bergriffe. Leipzig, Mannheim: F.A.Brockhaus GmbH, 2004. - S.
207.
4. Cockshott P. On Althusser’s Philosophy of the Encounter. Glasgow: University of Glasgow Press, 2012. - 31 p.
5. Ennker B. Die Anfänge des Lenin-Kults in der Sowjetunion. Köln, Weimar, Wien: Böhlau, 1997. - 328 S.
6. Garaudy R. Lenine. Paris: Presses Universite de France, 1968. - 109 p.
7. Harding N. Lenin’s Political Thought: Theory and Practice in the Democratic and Socialist Revolutions. Basingstoke, London:
McMillan Press, 1977. - 387 p.
8. Hubenschmid M. Text und Handlungsrepräsentation: Ein Analysemodell Politischer Rede am Beispiel V.I.Lenins. München:
Sagner, 1998. - 246 S.
9. Ivanov M. Lenin and Prague. Prague: Orbis, 1970. - 126 p.
10. Krupskaya N.K. Das ist Lenin. Berlin: Dietz Verlag, 1970. - 504 S.
11. Leites N.C. A Study of Bolshevism. Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press, 1953. - 639 p.
12. Lenin W.I. Ausgewählte Werke in Drei Bänden. Band I. Berlin: Dietz Verlag, 1983. - 982 S.
13. Lenin V.I. Materialism and Empirio-Criticism. Critical Comments on a Reactionary Philosophy. Stockton, California: University of
the Pacific, 2002. - 391 p.
14. Lutz B. Lenin, Wladimir Ilijitsch (Uljanow) // Metzler Philosophen Lexikon. Stuttgart, Weimar: Verlag J.B.Metzler, 2003. - S. 404-
406.
15. Maxton J. Lenin. New York: D.Appleton & Company, 1932. - 179 p.
16. Possony T.S. Lenin. Eine Biographie. Köln: Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, 1965. - 640 S.
17. Prilezhayeva M.P. The Life of Lenin. M.: Prosveshcheniye, 1987. - 174 p.
18. Service R.J. Lenin: A Biography. London: Pan Books, 2002. - 642 p.
19. Shub D.N. Lenin. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966. - 496 p.
20. Treadgold D.W. Lenin, Vladimir Ilich // The Encyclopedia Americana. Complete in 30 vol. Vol. 17. Danbury, Connecticut: Grolier,
2002. - P. 202-204.
21. Lenin Vladimir Ilyich // http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Vladimir_Ilyich_Lenin.aspx.
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
12!
!
Ковальчук Лидия Петровна
Челябинский государственный университет
Статья подготовлена при поддержке гранта РГНФ № 5-04-00455 "Аналогово-когнитивные процессы в лингвокреативной
деятельности личности"
СОПОСТАВИТЕЛЬНОЕ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ БЛЕНДОВ "ЖЕНЩИНА-ЛЯГУШКА" И "ЖЕНЩИНА-ЖАБА"
В РУССКИХ И АНГЛИЙСКИХ НАРОДНЫХ СКАЗКАХ
Аннотация
Метафорическое восприятие действительности можно по праву назвать одним из самых древних способов познания мира.
Сопоставление различных явлений и феноменов, как правило, приводит к образованию новых терминов и концептов. Подобный
процесс происходит и в сказочном дискурсе. Народные сказки представляют собой способ познания действительности путём
наложения особенностей животного мира на образ жизни общества. Расшифровка метафорического контекста с помощью
теории концептуальной интеграции Ж. Фоконье и М. Тернера показывает национальные культурные ценности, сокрытые в
английских и русских народных сказках. Цель исследования - определить соотношение фантазии, реальности и культурных
ценностей в русских и английских народных сказках, описав процесс концептуальной интеграции в блендах "женщина-лягушка" и
"женщина-жаба". Сопоставительное исследование антропоморфных и зооморфных исходных ментальных пространств
показывает, что в народных сказках по-прежнему сокрыты социальные и культурные формы жизни, а так же традиции и
обычаи, которые существовали много лет назад. За свою многовековую историю они утратили своё значения и стали
восприниматься метафорически.
Ключевые слова: концептуальная интеграция, блендинг, ментальные пространства, народные сказки.
Kovalchuk Lidia Petrovna
Chelyabinsk State University
COMPARATIVE RESEARCH OF BLENDS FROG-WOMAN AND TOAD-WOMAN
IN RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH FOLKTALES
Abstract
The metaphorical perception of reality can be rightfully called one of the most ancient ways of comprehending the world. The
juxtaposition of several phenomena inevitably leads to the formation of new terms and concepts. The same process can be found in the
fairytale discourse. National folktales represent the way of interpreting reality by means of juxtaposing peculiarities of the animal world with
the life of the society. The decryption of the metaphoric context with the help of the conceptual integration theory by G. Fauconnier and M.
Turner reveals national cultural values concealed in Russian and English folktales. The aim of the research is to illustrate the correlation
between fantasy, reality and cultural values in Russian and English folktales by describing the process of yielding two blends frog-woman
and toad-woman correspondingly. For this analysis the structures of the input spaces woman, frog and toad are introduced. The comparative
study of the integration process between the anthropomorphic and zoomorphic input spaces shows that in national folktales we can still find
social and cultural forms of life, as well as rituals and customs that existed in ancient times. But for many centuries they have been
metaphorically modified and lost their real essence.
Keywords: blending, conceptual integration, folktales, mental spaces.
1. The essence of folktales
ll of us are quite aware of the most common plots of
national folktales. We have known them since our
childhood. But we don’t usually think seriously about
their sense. Despite the seeming simplicity of folktales, they can be
examined as an encoded source of information about the historic
background of a certain nation.
The origin of folktales goes back to the archaic epoch. Many
scholars, like Claude Lévi-Strauss (Леви-Строс 2001), Eleasar
Meletinskiy (Мелетинский 1995), Olga Freidenberg (Фрейденберг
1997) considered myths, in a close connection with rituals,
ceremonies and rites of initiation, to be the origin of
folktales. Therefore, national folktales passing from generation to
generation have preserved fetishistic, totemistic and animistic
features together with magic beliefs, practiced in earlier days.
Folktales, in this or that way, illustrate a primitive way of
thinking. A great Russian and Ukrainian philologist of the 19th
century Alexander Potebnya (Потебня 1989: 264) pointed out that
the internal life of a primitive man is characterized by the
development of fantasy, and a special inclination to personification.
Olga Freidenberg (Фрейденберг 1997: 109) denotes that not only
the language of the folktale is metaphoric but also its images. A
rhythm and a word, an action, a thing, a character – everything we
are used to in literature – are various forms of the conceptualization
of reality; their structure is as metaphoric as any other figurative
system. Similar ideas can be found in works of many other scholars
who deal with folktale studies. They all suggest that the basis of the
folktale was formed by a figurative comprehension of reality that
surrounded our ancestors. Thus, the decryption of the folktale
metaphoric context can lead to the revelation of ancient customs.
2. Blending
Metaphor studies cover different aspects of this phenomenon.
There are various approaches to the interpretation of metaphors:
traditional (Aristotle), semantic (Ivor Armstrong Richards, Max
Black) and cognitive (George Lakoff, Mark Johnson). A very
unusual understanding of the metaphor is presented in the theory of
conceptual integration by Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner.
In the book Mappings in Thought and Language G. Fauconnier
remarks,
The most surprising aspect of the organization of language and
thought is the fundamental unity of the cognitive operations that
serve to construct the simple meanings of everyday life, the
commonsense reasoning of our daily existence, the more elaborate
discussions and arguments in which we engage, and the superficially
far more complex theories and artistic and literary productions that
entire cultures develop over the course of time (1999: 189).
He points out various kinds of “mappings between cognitive
domains that are set up when we think and when we talk” (1999: 8):
pragmatic function mappings, for example metonymy and
synecdoche, schema mappings, which refer to grammatical
constructions, and projection mappings, as in the case with
metaphors. (1999: 9-11)
As for our research, we are interested in a very important
cognitive process which, as G. Fauconnier himself says, “depends
crucially on cognitive mappings between mental spaces” (1999:
149), and which, additionally, deals with cognitive metaphors. It is
blending.
The theory of blending is based on two Input mental spaces
that, with the help of the cross-space mapping, yield a third space,
the blend. The blend partially inherits features of the input spaces
and possesses an emergent structure of its own. One more essential
component of this process is the so-called generic space. It reflects
some common structure projected from the inputs. The emergent
structure of the blend appears as a result of three interrelated
processes. They are composition, completion and elaboration. The
projections from the inputs in their correlation produce a new
structure that is not shared by them separately. This composite
structure on the basis of background frames, cognitive and cultural
models turns into a larger, self-contained structure in the blend, and
can later be elaborated and function on its own.
Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner showed this process
schematically as the interplay of circles, representing mental spaces,
and dashed lines, reflecting the connection of mental space elements
(See figure 1):
A
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
13!
!
Figure 1. A full four-space blend
Mark Turner describes the process of blending as something
indispensable:
Blending is not something special or costly. Blending operates
almost entirely below the horizon of consciousness. We usually
never detect the process of blending and typically do not recognize
its products as blends. Very rarely, the scientists can drag a small
part of blending onstage, where we can actually see it. But the mind
is not made for looking into the mind, and as a result, we see
blending only infrequently, and poorly. (2014: 18)
This is actually what we can observe in national folktales.
Application of the theory of blending to Russian and English female
folktale images is an attempt to understand the process of their
creation. Of course, only a small part of this analysis can be dragged
onstage, but this is one of the ways to understand how the human
mind works.
3. Input space woman
The notion of woman exists in every language and is
characterized by strongly marked national and cultural
characteristics. Its interpretation is based upon stereotypes which
have appeared due to biological and social functions carried by
women. It is an input space that serves for yielding various blends
both in everyday speech and in folklore.
The study of etymological and encyclopedic material has
revealed some features commonly associated with women in
Russian and English traditions. Thus, in the English
dictionary woman is defined as “1) an adult female person; 2) a
man’s wife or partner” (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary
English 2001: 1646-1647). In any Russian dictionary “женщина” is
a person contrary to a man (Большой толковый словарь русского
языка 1998: 303).
According to the etymology, the Russian
word женщина comes from the Common Slavic root žen-, denoting
a female person of a child-bearing age, and goes back to the Indo-
European root gen- with the meaning generation or giving a life. The
English wordwoman, from Old English wīfmann, meant a female
person.
Further comparative analysis of historical and cultural facts has
shown that interpretation of the notion woman is more or less
identical in both cultures. As a rule, the woman is associated with
beauty, wisdom, domesticity, hospitality, maternity, caring, magic,
or witchcraft, and trickiness. Of course, these characteristics are very
general and may be disputed. Nevertheless, all these features can be
used for building the input space Woman which serves as a basis for
creating other mental spaces, or blends.
Figure 2. The structure of the input space woman
The enumeration of main characteristics in figure 2 is not built
according to lexical or grammatical rules. These elements represent
the so called associative line. The reason of such irrationality is
human mind. In our consciousness thoughts are not produced as an
uninterrupted logical chain, they are rather sudden and subdued.
They are usually imposed on each other. Conceptual integration
process represents a flow of thoughts, which for many years of
evolution has become automatic and indispensable.
4. The formation of the Russian blend frog-woman
In the infancy of manhood animals were an entire part of human
life. They were worshiped; they were sacrificed; and they were
idolized. Thus, in Slavic culture frogs were considered to be the
reincarnation of the female soul (Гура 1997: 381). They were also
associated with wisdom, gimmick and magic forces. The last belief
appeared due to their biological habits: because of their thin skin
frogs sleep in the daytime and keep awake at night. So, frogs were
equated to evil spirits. They were even used in magic rituals.
In general, a frog can be characterized as an amphibian capable
of living in water and on land, leading nocturnal way of life. Sex
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
14!
!
differentiation doesn’t work here because the nomination “frog” is
used both for a male and female unit. Therefore, the second input
space can be presented in the same way as the first one
(See figure 3).
Figure 3. The structure of the input space frog
The two input spaces woman and frog have some features in
common. These features are based on the associative
characteristics. In the Russian culture women and frogs are
assigned such traits as wisdom, trickiness and magic. These three
similar characteristics can be projected from the input spaces into
a generic space:
Figure 4. The structure of the generic space
After composing two input spaces, it is time to address Russian
folktales and see how they interact there.
5. The yielding of the blend frogwoman in Russian folktales
The mental connection between the zoomorphic and
anthropomorphic input spaces can be traced in different variations of
the national folktale The Frog Princess or Tsarevna Frog (Tsarevna
Lyagushka) and also Vasilisa the Wise. Actually, there are more than
5 versions of this tale, but the general plot is almost the same.
The tsar wants to have his three sons marry. He tells them to
shoot arrows and find their brides where the arrows fall. The two
eldest brothers’ arrows land in the houses of the daughters of an
aristocratic and a wealthy merchant. The youngest prince's arrow is
picked up by a frog. Then the tsar decides to test his sons’ chosen
brides. The king assigns them various tasks, such as spinning cloth
and baking bread. Ivan Tsarevich can’t cope with these tasks without
frog’s help. In every task she far outdoes the other brides using
magic. The other brides-to-be attempt to follow her in everything,
but fail. The frog is a bewitched princess. She has to spend 3 years in
a frog's skin for disobeying her father. During the last task she sheds
her skin for a while and the tsarevich burns it. As punishment, he has
to undergo different trials, meet up with Baba Yaga and Koschei to
rescue his bride.
In the Russian fairytale the image of the Tsarevna Frog is very
controversial. First of all, it can be illustrated by the changing
appearances: “Иван-царевич лёг спать, а лягушка прыгнула на
крыльцо, сбросила с себя лягушечью кожу и обернулась
Василисой Премудрой, такой красавицей, что и в сказке не
расскажешь (Afanasjev 1985: 266) [When Ivan Tsarevich went to
sleep, the frog jumped out on to the verandah, threw off its skin and
turned into the wise Princess Vassilisa, a maiden so beautiful that
you can hardly describe her].
This example illustrates the cross-space mapping between two
input spaces. A human, female person, contrary to a man, with
human speech who lives on land is opposed to an amphibian capable
of living both in water and on land. Lexical means also prove it. For
example, froggy habits are made visible with the help of
onomatopoeia: “Ква-ква-ква! О чём Иван-богатырь, ты так
запечалился!” (Afanasjev 1985: 265) [Croak-croak! What troubles
you, Ivan!]. The heroine’s beauty is reproduced with the traditional
hyperbolic fabulous expressions: «такой красавицей, что и в
сказке не расскажешь»; «такая красавица, что ни вздумать,
нивзгадать, только в сказке сказать» [A maiden so beautiful that
you can hardly describe her; she was so beautiful that the guests sat
and stared].
The image of Tsarevna Frog is also controversial due to moral
values. On one hand, she is portrayed as a skilful, domestic woman
who takes care of Ivan Tsarevich and helps him. On the other hand,
she is constantly using various tricks for her own benefit: «Лягушка
смекнула это, взяла замесила квашню, скатала, печь сверху
выдолбила, да прямо туда квашню и опрокинула» (Afanasjev
1985: 261) [The frog, being wise, realized their scheme. After
kneading the dough it made a hole in the top of the brick oven and
poured the dough through the hole].
Domesticity and caring are features typical of the input space
Woman, while trickiness is a common feature for both spaces, as we
have already pointed it out. Another similar element is magic. To
illustrate it, the following example can be used: «Лягушка
тотчасподхватила Ивана – царевича и пошла танцевать; уж
она плясала – плясала, вертелась – вертелась – всем на диво!
Махнула правой рукой – стали леса и воды, махнула левой –
стали летать разные птицы» (Afanasjev 1985: 262) [The wise
Vassilisa took Prince Ivan’s hand and they danced together. And she
danced so marvelously, so beautifully, that all the guests were
amazed. Then she waved her left sleeve, and suddenly a lake was
formed in the hall; she waved her right sleeve, and white swan
floated on the lake].
A negative perception of the wise Vassilisa is connected with
her relation to Baba Yaga and Koschei, the Deathless. In most
versions of the tale she is their daughter. It means that she is closely
related to evil spirits (this element can be projected from the input
space frog). More than that, in search for Vasilisa, Ivan Tsarevich
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
15!
!
goes to the 30th kingdom that in Russian folklore is traditionally
associated with the other world.
Most of the elements given above belong to the input spaces.
But there are also contextual elements appearing from the tale itself.
The most surprising part of the plot is that a marriage between a man
and a frog doesn’t surprise the heroes and is considered as an
accepted fact. This highlights the totemic side of the fairytale. The
context of this tale can be compared with the rite of initiation spread
in many ancient cultures, where a boy had to overcome different
trials to prove that he is strong enough to be a man and to take a
wife.
This plot also arouses interest from a sociological point of view.
The Princess Frog is opposed to aristocratic and wealthy merchants’
daughters. She herself belongs to lower orders. After marrying the
tsarevich/prince, she changes her social status to a higher one:
«Пустил стрелу старший брат – упала она на боярский
двор, прямо против девичья терема; пустил средний брат –
полетела стрела к купцу на двор и остановилась у красного
крыльца, а на том крыльце стояла душа-девица, дочь
купеческая; пустил младший брат – попала стрела в грязное
болото, и подхватила её лягушка-квакушка» (Afanasjev 1985:
260). [The eldest son’s arrow fell into a nobleman’s courtyard,
where it was picked up by his daughter. The second son’s arrow fell
into a merchant’s courtyard, and it was picked up by his daughter.
But the arrow shot by the youngest son, Prince Ivan, rose so high
and flew so far that he didn’t know where to look for it. So he started
to walk, and at last he came to a marsh. In the marsh he saw a frog
with his arrow in its mouth].
Thus, the blend acquires another connotation “the change of the
social status”.
As for the physiological motive that is also present here, the
yielded blend frog-woman symbolizes a move into adulthood. The
fact that the frog sheds her skin shows the transformation of a girl
into a beautiful woman.
Therefore, in various versions of the famous Russian tale The
Frog Princess a cross-space mapping between two input
spaces frogand woman can be easily traced. The new mental space,
or the blend, has partially acquired elements of the input
space woman (a human, female person contrary to a man, capable of
speech, living on land and traditionally associated with caring,
beauty, wisdom, domesticity, trickiness and magic) and the elements
of the input space frog (an amphibian, living both in water and on
land, in ancient Russian culture associated with wisdom, trickiness,
evil spirits and magic). The generic space is formed with features
shared by both counterparts: wisdom, trickiness and magic. The
main heroine in the tale symbolizes the change of social status and a
move into adulthood. All theses elements, having a concealed
contextual meaning, also form part of the blend. Schematically, the
approximate process is shown in figure 5.
Figure 5. Four-space blend frogwoman
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
16!
!
6. The yielding of the blend toadwoman in English folktales
In national English fairytales female features are also blended
with an amphibian. Though not with the frog, but with the toad.
A Swiss psychologist and scholar Marie-Louise von Franz in
her book The Interpretation of Fairy Tales wrote that in European
civilization the toad has always been associated with the Earth
Mother, especially in her function of helping at childbirth:
She was looked on, and is even now regarded, as being a
representation of the uterus. In Catholic countries after a leg or a
hand or some other part has been cured by a saint, a wax image is
made of the injured part and suspended as an ex voto (a token of a
fulfillment of one’s vowel) at the church where healing was
requested. Now if a woman has a disease of the uterus or some
trouble connected with childbirth, she will not make a wax image of
her uterus but will suspend a wax toad in the church, for the toad
represents the uterus. (Franz 1996: 73)
Probably, this tradition is connected with the employment of
toads into English folktales, for example Dragon Castle and The
Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh. Unlike the Russian blend, this
one has a negative connotation, arising from zoological views of the
XVI century.
Actually, toads have long been treated as mysterious and evil
creatures. For many centuries people have been afraid of them and
had scorn for them. From the biological point of view, all toads are
actually frogs. They don’t have great physical distinctions. But toads
can be dangerous. Toads have poison glands. They squeeze poison
on their skin when they are under threat. Mostly it brings harm to
animals and rarely to people, but this fact has been exaggerated in
folktales, and these amphibians have been associated with witchcraft
for many centuries. Another special feature of toads is also their
nocturnal habits, which also encouraged the belief of them being
treated as a demonic spirit of evil.
On the whole, this English counterpart doesn’t differ much from
the Russian one. It also refers to amphibians and has biological
features typical of this class: nocturnal, capable of living both in
water and on land. According to folk beliefs, it has a connection with
evil spirits and is used in magic rituals. The differences between the
input spaces frog and toad are in associative features (the first one
includes wisdom and trickiness) and biological ones (toads are
noxious animals). As in the case with the mental space frog, the
mental space toad doesn’t have sex differentiation in its nomination
(See figure 6).
Figure 6. The structure of the input space toad
Toads live in two environments (land and water). This stipulates
a thought of them as very controversial creatures. Such
inconsistency is also observed in folktale heroines. On one hand
they could be “a highborn lady who was beautiful, quick-witted and
skilled at the charms of love” (Kerven 2008: 50). On the other
hand, “a huge ugly toad, with bold staring eyes and a horrible
hiss” (Jacobs 2005: 118).
Thus, in the folktale blend we have got a mixture of biological
characteristics: a human and an amphibian, a female person contrary
to a man, having human speech. The extended metaphor “the wicked
witch-queen is a Laidly Toad”, formed by means of nominative
structures, also illustrates this idea. The blending of two opposite
input spaces is revealed in the usage of personal pronoun she, in
regards to the toad, and the onomatopoeia: “She croaked, and she
hissed, and then hopped away down the castle steps” (Jacobs 2005:
118). The contrast between woman’s beauty and the appearance of
the toad is expressed with the epithets that, if joined together, sound
like antonyms: “a lady of great beauty” – “a loathsome toad”,
“beautiful and quick-witted lady” – “an ugly, croaking toad”.
Another element that is projected into the folktale blend from
the input space woman is trickiness. One of the main heroines of the
tale The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh is a cruel and cunning
witch. A king of Nothumbria takes her as his queen after his wife’s
death. But she, being very envious, turns his daughter into a dragon.
At the end, the prince, Childe Wynd, comes and saves his sister,
restoring the princess to her natural form and turning the witch-
queen into a toad. Dragon castle is another version of this tale with
slight differences. In both plots the witch-queen is shown in the
same way. She is a beautiful, but foxy woman: “The king was
ecstatically happy. For when the queen poured out his wine each
night, she always laced it with love potion” (Kerven 2008: 51).
The connection of the queen with evil spirits, an element from
the input space toad, can be easily traced in the tales: “She
summoned her familiar imps and said: ‘Childe Wynd is coming over
the seas; he must never land. Raise storms, or bore the hull, but
nohow must he touch shore’ ” (Jacobs 2005: 116).
The generic space in this case is formed by one common
element – magic. Its projection in the blend is stipulated by
nouns witch,magic, spell: “That same night the queen, who was a
noted witch, stole down to a lonely dungeon wherein she did her
magic and with spells three times three she cast Princess Margaret
under her spell” (Jacobs 2005: 115).
The elements not typical of other mental spaces and appearing
only in the blend are jealousy and cruelty. They can be traced from
the following example: “The new queen was jealous of her, and
because of this she bullied her. She locked away the princess’s
jewelery, made her dress in cast-offs and sent her away early from
the dinner table, so that the poor girl grew pallid and thin” (Kerven
2008: 50). The scheme of yielding the blend toadwoman is roughly
presented in figure 7.
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
17!
!
Figure 7. Four-space blend toadwoman
The figure shows that the folktale blend toadwoman combines
the elements from the input space woman (a human, female person,
contrary to a man, speech, beauty, trickiness) and the elements from
the input space toad (amphibian, life in water and on land,
connection with evil spirits). Their common element is
“magic/witchcraft”. Main contextual features are “cruelty” and
“jealousy”.
7. Conclusion
The described conceptual integration process of the formation
of Russian and English folktale blends serves as a prove that
national folktales appeared due to the interaction of imagination and
everyday experience by means of exaggeration and rethinking. It
also shows that, due to considerable investigation of folktale images,
cultural heritage can still be traced in them.
Of course, one remark should be pointed out: this research
doesn’t contain all-encompassing characteristics of the input spaces
and the blends. Input space structures given above can further be
elaborated or changed. The functioning of folktale blends in
everyday life hasn’t also been considered, though it is a great sphere
for study.
For example, in Russian there is an expression “they live as a
wolf and a fox”, meaning they are constantly arguing. The Russians
often use it in speech and rarely think of it as a backward projection
to folktale images. Another example is Catwoman which on the
cognitive level is usually associated with the American superhero
films and comics. Though, it was firstly introduced in English
folktales (for example The White Cat), where cats are inseparably
connected with woman’s images. According to historical facts, cats
always accompanied the Anglo-Saxon goddess of love and
marriage – Freyja. In the fairy-tale discourse the
blend Catwomanappeared as a result of the integration process
between biological and cultural features associated with two input
spaces cat andwoman. The further expansion of the blend became
possible due to the contextual elements not typical of the input
spaces but emerging in folktales. The list of such words and
expressions can be easily extended. It is just a matter of time.
References
1. Fauconnier G. Mappings in thought and language. USA: Cambridge University Press. - 1999. - P. 8-189.
2. Franz M. The interpretation of fairy tales. USA: SHAMBHALA PUB Incorporated. - 1996. - P. 73-74.
3. Jacobs J. English fairy tales. The Pennsylvania State University. - 2005. Available from:
http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/joseph-jacobs/English-Fairy-Tales.pdf [accessed 17 June 2014].
4. Kerven R. English fairy tales and legends. London: National Trust Books. - 2008. - P. 50-54.
5. Longman dictionary of contemporary English. England, Edinburgh Gate: Pearson Education Limited. - 2001. - P. 1646-1647.
6. Turner M. The origin of ideas. New York: Oxford University Press. -2014. - P. 17-18.
7. Афанасьев А.Н. Народные русские сказки. T.2. Москва: Наука. - 1985. - C. 261-266.
8. Большой толковый словарь русского языка. СПб.: «Норинт». -1998. - C.303-304.
9. Гура А.В. Символика животных в славянской народной традиции. Москва: Индрик. - 1997. - C. 380-382.
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
18!
!
10. Леви-Стросс К. Структурная антропология. Москва: ЭКСМО-ПРЕСС. - 2001.
11. Мелетинский Е.М. Поэтика мифа. Москва: Издательская фирма «Восточная литература» РАН, Школа «Языки русской
культуры». - 1995.
12. Потебня А.А. Слово и миф. Москва: Правда. - 1989. - С. 263-265.
13. Фрейденберг О.М. Поэтика сюжета и жанра. Москва: «Лабиринт». - 1997. - С. 109-110.
Казакова Людмила Николаевна
Кафедра иностранных языков Юго-Западного Государственного университета (г. Курск)
ЭПИГРАФЫ-БИЛИНГВЫ КАК МОСТЫ И ПЕРЕКРЕСТКИ, ФОРМИРУЮЩИЕ ГИПЕРРЕАЛЬНОСТЬ В ПОЭТИКЕ
РОМАНА С. КЛЕМЕНСА И Ч. УОРРЕНА "ПОЗОЛОЧЕННЫЙ ВЕК" (1873)
Аннотация
В статье вводится понятие "эпиграф-билингва", рассматриваются взаимосвязи «автор-эпиграф-нарратив-читатель» в
поэтике романа, главы которого предваряют эпиграфы из более 80 языков народов мира. Уникальность эпиграфов-билингв связана
с их способностью развивать новые нелинейные подтекстовые ассоциации . Читатель-интеллектуал, способный оценить
эстетическую и смысловую значимость эпиграфа-билингвы, вовлекается не только в изображаемые события, но погружается в
культурную среду, аллюзией на которую выступает эпиграф. Эпиграф вместе с читателем становится создателем новых
уровней прочтения, формируя дополнительные локусы-реальности внутри художественного пространства произведения. Таким
образом, эпиграфы билингвы, содержащие иноязычные включения, выполняют функцию гиперсылок, развивая гипертекстуальные
отношения. В статье рассматривается роман "Позолоченный век" (1873) М. Твена (С.Клеменс) и Ч.Д.Уоррена как одно из первых
произведений, в поэтике которого множественные эпиграфы- билингвы способствовали формированию гипертекстуальных
оотношений, в современном понимании гипертекста, как нелинейного нарратива.
Ключевые слова: эпиграф-билингва, интертекст, паратекст, гипертекст, подтекст.
Kazakova Lyudmyla Nikolayevna
Southwest State University, Kursk, Russia
CROSSING BRIDGES, DEVELOPING HYPERREALITY: BILINGUAL EPIGRAPHS IN THE NOVEL "THE GILDED
AGE, A TALE OF TODAY" (1873) BY S. CLEMENS AND CH. D. WARNER
Abstract
The article proposes to apply the term "bilingual epigraph", considering "author-epigraph-narrative-reader" relationship in the poetics
of the novel, preceded by numerous epigraphs from more than 80 languages over the world. Bilingual epigraphs are unique because they are
able to develop new and nonlinear subtext associations. The intellectual reader that can value bilingual epigraph gets involved into
manyleveled relations not only of the events portrayed, he also enters new cultural reality, where the bilingual epigraph becomes a key, an
allusion. Epigraph together with a reader start to create new levels of reading, they both develop extra locuses within the artistic space of the
work. Thus, bilingual epigraphs containing foreign-language elements, perform the function of reference (a footnote) developing hypertextual
relationship. This article investigates the novel "The Gilded Age, a tale of today" (1873) by Mark Twain (S. Klemens) and Ch.D.Worren as
one of the first works in which multiple bilingual epigrafs developed Hypertextual relations, in the modern sense of hypertext as a nonlinear
narrative.
Keywords: bilingual epigraph, intertext, paratext, hypertext, subtext.
his article investigates bilingual interrelations between
narratives and their epigraphs, as well as between
epigraphs and foreign expressions incorporated into
them. Bilingual statements in epigraphs have already become
peculiar signs of intellectual writing. We find bilingual epigraphs in
the works by A. Akhmatova, Th. S. Eliot, I. Brodsky, J. Joyce and J.
Updike, and many other great writers all over the world. Bilingual
epigraph originates from two languages and cultures simultaneously,
besides, it ordinates from the primary text. Therefore it has a twice
double nature. For such epigraphs comprising foreign segments the
term ‘bilingual epigraph’ is proposed [L.Kazakova]. Being textual
components and interrelating with allusions and associations,
bilingual epigraphs develop numerous interrelations: intertextual as
well as paratextual and subtextual too. Besides, having
extralinguistic function, they serve as linking elements or doors into
the new cultural worlds. So, bilingual epigraphs functioning
simultaneously inside different cultural backgrounds and having a
deliberate nature transform narrative into a hypertext where they
serve as footnotes, references that allow a reader to transform
narrative into a new deliberate structure depending on reader’s
intellect and way of thinking.
Hypertext is a usual thing in our XXI century reality. This term
was first applied by American sociologist and philosopher Ted
Nelson in 1965 to characterize virtual nonlinear text growing and
mixing with the other texts by one click of a reader. But much earlier
hypertext effect appeared in the artistic world of literature. Really,
hypertext in its literature variant didn’t’ appear first in J. Foer’s
novel “Tree of Codes” (2010). The first try was made much earlier
by other great Americans S. Clemens and Ch. D. Warner in their
novel “The Gilded Age, a tale of today” (1873). This book became
the first experience of making hypertext developed by numerous
epigraphs to this novel. They were collected from about 80
languages, every chapter of this novel is preceded by one or more
epigraphs given in their mother tongues. This complex collage of
epigraphs becomes a visual metaphor to heterogeneous multicultural
reality of the Earth, where epigraphs serve as crossing bridges
uniting distanced realities, languages, and cultures. As the allusions
to the source texts and cultures, these bilingual epigraphs develop
intricate non-linear relations with their old and new narratives,
writers and readers. This novel was written as a great painting about
60-70s of the XIX century, during two hard post Civil War decades,
also known as Grunder or Classic Liberal Period. Irony and
mystification are the key devices in its poetics. They ‘grow up’ from
the preface and epigraph. In the preface the writers mention that “in
a state where there is no fever of speculation, no inflamed desire for
sudden wealth, …there are necessarily no materials for such a
history as we have constructed out of an ideal commonwealth”. So,
satire, parody and irony compose pathos of this novel.
Mystifications start from recollection about German composer R.
Vagner, who in fact wrote nothing about epigraphs. Epigraphs start
every chapter. Whimsical mottoes written in various living and dead
languages all over the world were selected by American philologist
James H. Trumbull. Starting the whole novel epigraph tells an old
Chinese proverb: Hie li shán ching yŭ: tung sin ní pien kin/By
combined strength, a mountain becomes gems: by united hearts,
mud turns to gold. Writers’ joke paraphrase follows it: a maxim
often painted on the door-posts of a Chinese firm which may be
freely translated: two heads, working together, out of commonplace
materials, bring THE GILDED AGE. Writers describe gilded reality,
not gold. So, they express their critical attitude and genre
characteristic of the novel in the epigraph, that is a true password to
the novel based on ironical paraphrase as a key narrative strategy.
Other numerous mottoes starting every chapter are paraphrased
Biblical statements, folk legends, proverbs and literature texts. Some
chapters have two and even more epigraphs. Total collage composes
a complex metaphor of gilded age as an illusion of brightness,
wealth and happiness. This image became more visual in the first
edition of the novel that comprised original epigraphs without their
translations.
Some mottos are sharply satirical. For example, a quote from
“The Pilgrim’s Progress” (1678-1684) by English writer J. Bunyan
(1628 – 1688) W. M. Thackeray used as a title for his novel “Vanity
T
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
19!
!
Fair” (1848). Developing satirical tradition, the XXVI chapter of
Gilded Age starts the following phrase from J. Bunyan’s novel
[Osipova, 2013, 234]. Described in the novel, swindles represent
‘great’ financial projects of the time. Critics said that this book was “as
topical as a daily newspaper”. In 1874 it was translated into Russian
and edited in “Motherland Notes” under the title “Tinsel Age”.
Jed Perl, a regular observer of The Baffler magazine compares
situation in American XXI century national art with a huge
mystification, he names modern art strategy “laissez-faire aesthetics,
cash-and-carry Aesthetics”: “O’kay, the art world is now a variety
show, a great show”, [Baffler, 2012, p.18]. Untrue substitution,
“high and low” vibrations make thoughts unclear, terms ‘trash’ and
‘meta-trash’ became very popular in modern reviews. In fact, J. Perl
has precisely caught the most crucial tendencies that are common for
many countries. Some of them were predicted by M. Twain and Ch.
D. Warner. Modern critics trouble that our spectators and readers
consider the best work of art as vibrant, like an exciting mosaic, not
more. To go out of this “shotgun marriage of high and low” [Baffler,
2012, p.16], critics propose to develop critical thinking in public.
Some epigraphs in The Gilded Age parody romantic pathos. So,
chapters VII–VIII are about Washington Hawkins visit to Hawkeye,
“a pretty large town for interior Missouri”, his discussing Colonel
Seller’s financial plans. The VIIth chapter’s epigraph is a verse
fragment from English romantically oriented poet Benjamin Jonson
(1572 – 1637): “Via, Pecunia! when she's run and gone And fled,
and dead, then will I fetch her again With aqua vita, out of an old
hogshead! While there are lees of wine, or dregs of beer, I'll never
want her! Coin her out of cobwebs, Dust, but I'll have her! raise
wool upon egg-shells, Sir, and make grass grow out of marrow-
bones, To make her come!” (B. Jonson). In Russian translation by
L.V. Hvostenko only one of two Latin sayings has left making high
romantic pathos weaker, low colloquial words develop the same
tendency and strengthen parody style. Сombination of titles
(“Colonel Sellers Makes Known His Magnificent Speculation
Schemes and Astonishes Washington Hawkins”) and epigraphs
where Latin phrases are central to realize verbal irony, expressing
both high and low pathos.
Bilingual epigraphs become true magnetic centers of their
aesthetic realities. They comprise segments from foreign languages,
being simultaneously a quote, an allusion on primary narrative, they
awoke additional indirect and nonverbal associations and ideas.
Thus, they become phenomenal energy centers or crossing bridges to
link different historical epochs, societies, their cultures and
languages. Being textual components and interrelating with allusions
and associations, they develop intertextual relations (paratextual)
and subtextual. Really, they serve as doors into the new artistic
worlds. Bilingual epigraphs transform narrative into a hypertext,
functioning simultaneously inside different cultural backgrounds and
therefore having a double nature. The higher intellectual level of a
reader the more powerful bilingual epigraphs become. Finally, their
power and energy depend on both writer’s and reader’s minds, and
therefore bilingual epigraphs serve as links between them, becoming
essential components of receptive theory. Any preceding narrative
literature epigraph is polyfunctional. It is topical to research
interrelations between the narrative and its epigraph as well as
between the author, his narrative, epigraph and the reader. Any
epigraph is phenomenal because it isn’t a sum of letters or words,
but a cluster of ideas, images and associations. Being a wisdom or a
joke, a paraphrase or an allegory epigraph participates in different
levels of poetics, develops various relations simultaneously.
Bilingual epigraphs make up complex in structure metaphorical
image of art as a diverse mosaic that may be very convenient to
mask hypocritical values and ideas. In our contemporary reality
“The Guilded Age” becomes a true warning to prove an idea that art
and literature should be read and analyzed deeply. Bilingual
epigraphs make novel structure grow like a tree with thick leaves
and numerous branches. Artistic space becomes an easy moving and
many leveled world that is very sensitive to reader’s association and
allusion being able to change and grow with its reader.
References
1. Осипова Э.Ф. Реализм в споре с романтизмом.//Американистика. Актуальные подходы и современные исследования.
Курск, 2013. – Вып.5. – С. 225-235.
2. Старцев А.И. Марк Твен и Америка, Марк Твен. Собр. соч. в 8 томах. Том 1. - М.: Правда, 1980. – 480 с.
3. Твен М., Уоррен Ч.Д. Позолоченный век.//М.Твен. Собр. Соч. в 12 т., М., 1959, – т.3, 120с.
4. Baffler: MIT Press Journals. Cambridge, – №20, 2012. Barth J. The Friday Book, The Johns Hopkins Press LTD, London, 1984. –
281 p.
5. Genette G. Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
6. Twain M., Ch.D.Warner The Gilded Age, a tale of today, 1873: http://www.gutenberg.net
Михайлова Марина Юрьевна
Поволжская государственная социально-гуманитарная академия
РЕПРЕЗЕНТАЦИЯ СЕМАНТИКИ НЕВЫРАЗИМОГО В РАЗНЫХ ЯЗЫКАХ
Аннотация
Показано кластерное бытование семантики невыразимого в прозопографии и шире, - в художественном тексте. К специфике
средств прозопографии отнесены: план выражения семантики невыразимого, лексемы-интернационализмы. Выявлена
значительная частотность сопряженного сосуществования семантики невыразимого, средств прозопографии с языковыми
единицами теистической семантики. Предложен термин «калейдоскоп номинаций, различных по грамматической категории
рода» как методологическая основа анализа прозопографии, показана верифицирующая сила этого термина.
Ключевые слова: функционально-семантическая категория, невыразимое, сопоставительный анализ, план выражения,
стилистический приём, прозопография, дескрипция вымышленного существа, дескриптивная лексика, отрицательные определения,
анализ художественного текста, номинативная цепочка, бурлеск, теистическая семантика.
Mikhailova Marina Yurevna
Samara State Academy of Social Sciences and Humanities
REPRESENTATION OF SEMANTICS OF INEXPRESSIBLE IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
Abstract
The cluster existing of semantics of inexpressible in prosoprography and more widely, - in the literary text is shown in the article. The
plan of inexpressible semantics expression, international words are referred to specific features of prosoprography means. The immense
frequency of the adjacent coexistence of semantics of inexpressible, prosoprography means with the language units of theistic semantics is
revealed. The term "kaleidoscope of nominations, various on grammatical gender category" as a methodological basis of the prosoprography
analysis is offered, the verifying force of this term is shown.
Keywords: functional and semantic category, inexpressible, comparative analysis, plan of expression, stylistic device, prosoprography,
description of a fictional being, descriptive lexicon, negative attributes, analysis of the text, nominative chain, burlesque, theistic semantics.
he Semantics of Inexpressible (SI) is actively studied in
different countries on material of various languages. So,
Ia. Derrida describes the alogism of a combination to
express the inexpressible. In the form of "I haven't enough words"
the speaker actually expresses his or her gratitude: "But after all I
said this recognition. Using the language of recognitions, I addressed
T
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
20!
!
to you, having told already more, than one word. Going beyond the
adopted convention and without any rhetorical figure, I admitted that
I not only can not get words, but also at the same time expressed this
shortcoming as fault for which asked you about forgiveness"
(Derrida, 1997, s. 450). SN is also studied by the Polish researcher
M. Keith, she notes that in Poland "inexpressibleness is entered into
literary criticism as new research category" (Kita, 2002, s. 102).
In Russia semantics of inexpressible is investigated from the
second half of the XX century, most intensively – in the last quarter
of the XX century – the beginning of the XXI century in literary
studies and a linguopoetics (Zaika, 2006; Gavrilova, 2009; Syritsa,
2014, etc.). However as the functional and semantic category of
Russian, having an invariant of meaning and system of expressive
means presented at different levels of the language (indescribable,
inexpressible, inexpressible; couldn't tell in a tale or write with a
pen; it's too beautiful for words, etc.), SN hasn’t been an
independent subject of studying yet.
The purpose of the article is to make a study of representation
of SN in different languages, revealing of general and special
features. G. S. Syrits designated an actual problem of SN
representation in different languages in her article of (Syritsa, 2009).
The general features in SN representation is, in particular,
existence in different languages the adjectives with semantics of
inexpressible, inexpressible with a negative prefix, unspeakable – in
English, unsagbar, unsäglich – in German, neizsakgms,
naprakstgms – in Latvian (Syritsa, 2009, page 294).
The word inexpressibles — in the meaning 'lower men's
drawers' became an international word with the dead semantics of
inexpressible. The euphemistic designation of drawers, underpants
which appeared in the Russian literary language of the second
quarter of XIX century, corresponds to English inexpressibles, (cf.
also loan-translated pictures in Fr. inexpressibles, Germ. die
Unaussprechlichen; see B. Unbegaun. Le calque dans les langues
slaves//Revue des études slaves, t. XII, fasc. 1 et. 2, 1932, river 10)
(Vinogradov, 1999). The euphemistic character of the called
nomination is obvious.
The ban on pronouncing not only the tabooed parts of a human
body, but also subjects (names of underwear), "adjacent" to them,
was strictly observed in the Christian countries. Thus, the
designation of the lower drawers by the lexeme from the dead SN
isn't a direct illustration of representation of inexpressible, and only
outlines borders of the meaning coverage of inexpressible during
different eras, in different countries. We believe that the euphemistic
nomination inexpressibles is a manifestation of an euphemia and
inexpressible semantic fields crossing.
The problem of representation of inexpressible in different
languages is also that fact, that not all transmission media of SN are
caught by translators and respectively translated without loss of
sense. The researcher from Latvia G. S. Syrits notes: "as the analysis
of the translations of these contexts into German and the Latvian
language showed, the considerable part of meanings is transformed
or at all lost" (Syritsa, 2009, page 295).
The object of this research are SN transmission means. The
material for the analysis was the story of E. Zoe "The angel of the
odd". As auxiliary material episodes were taken from M. Ancharov's
novel "Probability theory" and M. Lermontov's stories of "Shtoss".
The general feature in these works is the description of a fictional
being. The descriptions consisting of the description of a fictional
being (the devil, the wood spirit, etc.), are called prosoprography
(Moskvin, 2007, page 590). As the recipient of information has no
empirical experience of perception of a fictional being, the sender of
information is compelled to meet this lack somehow: to give
necessary definitions, at the end of a prosoprography to give a
proper name.
In a prosoprography the writer often addresses to SN. As G. S.
Syritsa notes: "inherently, the transcendental world is inexpressible,
and inexplicable appears both the world Divine, and demonic
manifestations" (Syritsa, 2009, page 294).
Our analysis of the language material showed that there are
three types of SN interaction and a prosoprography: 1) SN precedes
or follows prosoprography; 2) SN is in the introduction of a
prosoprography (we mark three parts of prosoprography:
introduction, the main part and the conclusion); 3) combination of
the first two: SN is both in prosoprography, and beyond its limits.
As the research showed, the precedence of SN transmission
means of prosoprography gives the text philosophical sounding and
generality (the uses of SN in M. Lermontov's story "Shtoss", A. Poe
"The angel of the odd"). The example of the third type of SN means
of introduction to prosoprography is M. Ancharov's novel
"Probability theory".
Before starting to characterize SN representation in A. Poe’s
story we will make the remark on the narrow and broad
understanding of this functional and semantic
category. Inexpressible in its narrow sense is an invariant meaning
of impossibility to verbalize some fact or the phenomenon of reality.
The impossibility to verbalize can be certainly caused by the most
various reasons: collision with the otherness, feeling sick of the
sender, his low language ability, etc. All this reveals by the meaning
'it is impossible to express'. At the level of ordinary consciousness
the word inexpressible, an oxymoron to express the
inexpressible has narrower meaning 'it is impossible to express
something because of his extraordinary qualities', as a rule, it and
there is otherness, a world of the transcendental. In the research we
concentrated attention mainly on such understanding of the
inexpressible.
There is also a broader point of view on SN including not only
inability to express verbally, but also all range of impossibility to
comprehend (unimaginable, incomprehensible, incognizable, etc).
Such point of view is in some way justified as at collision with the
world of transcendental the person isn't only incapable to express
verbally that extraordinary which he faces, but also refuses to
comprehend, imagine how it is possible. To the broad point of view
on SN, as well as on means of its expression, adheres in the
researches of G. S. Syrits (Syritsa, 2009, 2014, 2015).
We adhere to a narrow understanding of SN as at broad
approach the object of research is washed away. At the same time
the zone of crossing of inexpressible, incomprehensible, inexplicable
meanings at collision with the world of the transcendental is too
wide not to consider this crossing. In many cases it is possible even
to speak about a cluster existing of these meanings in the literary
discourse. In particular, E. Poe,s story "The angel of the odd" is an
illustration of SN cluster existing, semantics of inexplicable,
semantics of incomprehensible, etc.
We only then accept to consideration SN cluster existing in
literary discourse when we meet at least one fact of SN means
transmission in its narrow sense in this text. Such is a workable
criterion of SN differentiation in narrow and broad understanding in
our research.
In a case with E. Poe,s story "The angel of the odd" SN
transmission mean is a combination of a personage nondescript,
although not altogether indescribable (трудно описуемый – in
translation into Russian). The game on double denial actualizes SN
which is also a prosoprography transmission mean. Besides, the
theistic subject though given in a burlesque style of a narration
confirms that before us is the plan of the contents and expression of
SN: characters discuss angels’ wings, before going to bed the main
character reads the book "God's Omnipresence", at the end of the
story the Angel of the odd strictly asks: Whether you believe in
me?".
The humorous story of the American literature classic is marked
by the writer as "extravaganza", that is a form of the burlesque
theatrical performance including comedy and circus numbers.
Really, the story is full of unexpected episodes, hyperbolic,
extravagant (something gets to the main character’s eye, and he can't
greet the bride, the bird steals his trousers, the main character flies,
having grasped a balloon rope). Unexpected episodes (in I.R.
Galperin's understanding) explain the factual plan of the story by the
main character’s alcohol abuse; on conceptual it is a parody and
reflections of E. Poe on a philosophical problem of possibility of
other life, its manifestation in the form of strange, inexplicable
events.
As material for the analysis we chose the episodes containing
SN means of expression. These episodes were a subject of
comparison of the original of the E. Poe,s story and the translation of
this story into Russian which is carried out by the talented Russian
and Soviet translator I.M. Bernstein.
SN is presented in the story by a chain of the nominations. At
first a synonymic row of epithets is given (in translation into Russian
is: удивительный, странный, немыслимый, невероятный,
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
21!
!
необъяснимый). Besides a synonymic row in translation into
Russian the homonymous form of a predicative or a short adjective
is presented — inexplicably. The fictional being is transferred in the
introduction of prosopography by SN means of expression:
confronting me at the table sat a personage nondescript. In
translation into Russian SN it is transferred by an indefinite pronoun
somebody and "negative epithets" unimaginable, difficult to
describe. In final part of prosopography the stating nomination – a
proper name is given: I am the Angel of the Odd.
As for the translation of the story into Russian, it is perfectly
made. I.M. Bernstein uses the existence of grammatical category of
gender in Russian, applies stylistic device of game on gender
category. In relation to a prosoprography we will call such device "a
kaleidoscope of the nominations, various on grammatical gender
category". (We will notice that we took a scientific metaphor of V.
V. Babaytseva as a basis of creation of the new term "a kaleidoscope
of the evident and sensual images reflecting the situation"
(Babaytseva, 2014) applied in other meaning). As the
prosoprography describes a fictional being who comes to the world
material from the otherness, it is convenient to the writer to apply a
kaleidoscope of the nominations, on the one hand, to designate, what
sex a fictional being is, on the other hand, to show on a "extra
material" basis of this fictional being. For this reason in relation to a
being the nominations with various grammatical gender of a noun
are applied:
"My pizzness!" ejaculated the thing, "vy vot a low bred puppy
you mos pe vor to ask a gentleman und an angel apout his pizzness!
In translation into Russian:
В переводе на русский язык:
– Дело? – воскликнула эта комбинация предметов. –
Как же ты турно фоспитан, если спрашиваешь у тжентльмена, и
к тому же ангела, о теле!
I.e. in Russian a fictional being the Angel of the Odd is called
as nouns with different gender category: somebody (general); Angel
of the Odd (masculine), combination (feminine) of subjects. The
kaleidoscope of the nominations, various on grammatical gender
category, does not only bring the comic effect in the text, but also
indicates the extra material nature of a fictional being.
Cf. with an episode from M. Ancharov's novel "Probability
theory":
I look — the person not the person, and it seems a figure. It lies
on its side and it seems lies (…) I began to lift it (…).
In the introduction of a prosopography the chain of the
nominations is given: (masculine) person → (feminine) figure → it
(masculine). Further it appears that it is a maiden unclear fine.
Exclusively unprecedented beauty the maiden that only in the fairy
tale happen and to describe which is not in human forces (…). The
nominative chain proceeds the nomination (in the feminine) maiden
with SN. The kaleidoscope of the nominations, various on gender
grammatical category, doesn't come to an end with it, and the
nomination of a neutral gender drops out: Further I wiped eyes —
No, sits, didn't disappear. And I thought, it’s in a drunken condition
a phenomenon to me (neutral).
The use of a pro-nominative It is interesting: And so I’m sitting
without breathing for some long time and I think: "My God, here it
that looked for all life and at night called! (…)". This is a diffusive
use of It, with unremoved homonymy. On the one hand, the
combination here it is can be considered as the whole sentence, on
the other hand, the word it keeps semantics of a neutral gender
implicitly, and therefore implicitly participates in a kaleidoscope of
the nominations.
In the final part of prosopography the stating nomination
ordinary beauty is given. We will repeat that M. Ancharov's example
belongs to the third type of SN interaction and meaning transmission
of prosopography: SN is contained in the introduction of fictional
being description, and also outside prosopography in a right-hand
context: (…) I bowed to her as could and I answered: "Forgive me,
inexpressible (…)".
The kaleidoscope of the nominations, various on gender
grammatical category, is observed and in prosopography from M.
Lermontov's story of "Shtoss", in the scene of the ghost description
of: (in the feminine) figure → (in the masculine) old man → he (in
the masculine) → (in the neuter) ghost → (in the masculine) old man
→ it (in the neuter) → (in the masculine) old man.
Finishing the characteristic of nominations chains in
prosopography, we will notice that the mean of kaleidoscope of the
nominations, various on gender grammatical category, in translation
into Russian of the story E. Poe’s story shows I.M. Bernstein’ s
skill.
About E. Poe’s skill tells the mean of the use of international
words in prosopography: (…) he said that he was the genius who
presided over the contretemps of mankind, and whose business it
was to bring about the odd accidents which are continually
astonishing the skeptic. In one text segment characterizing a fictional
being the descriptions-international words borrowed from different
languages are presented: the genius (from Greek); the contretemps
(from French). The use of international words Neobjjasnimogo
emphasizes the "non-material" nature of the Angel of the Odd. We
believe that the nomination of the German Kirschenwasser to which
the Angel resorts for the authorized story-teller, finishes cumulative
effect of international words.
Thus, SN representation in different languages has general and
special features. The internal form of a number of the lexemes
containing SN in different languages has similar features. The plan
of SN expression finds the interfaced coexistence with
prosopography transmission means, and also units of theistic
semantics. While translation the part of SN meaning is lost. In
talented translations SN finds means of expression, characteristic for
this category in the target language. That, in particular, is the
kaleidoscope of the nominations, various on grammatical gender
category, peculiar to literary texts with prosopography in Russian.
SN in prosopography is more widely, — in the literary text, finds a
tendency to a cluster existing, together with semantics of
incomprehensible, inexplicable, etc. Descriptions-international
words in the story E. Poe’ s story are a mean of prosopography
realization with cumulative effect.
References
1. Бабайцева В.М. Местоимение это и его функциональные омонимы. – М.: ФЛИНТА : Наука, 2014. – 168 с.
2. Виноградов В.В. История слов. – М., 1999.
3. Гаврилова М.В. Никто, ничто и кто угодно: «апофатика» Ю. Буйды // Логический анализ языка. Ассерция и негация. – М.,
2009. – С. 297-305.
4. Заика В.И. Очерки по теории художественной речи. – Великий Новгород: Новг. гос. ун-т, 2006. – 407 с.
5. Москвин В.П. Выразительные средства современной русской речи. Тропы и фигуры. Терминологический словарь. –
Ростов-на-Дону: Феникс, 2007. – 940 с.
6. Сырица Г.С. Семантика невыразимого как этнокультурный феномен // Славянские языки в современном мире. – М.: МГУ,
2009. С. 294-295.
7. Сырица Г.С. Актуализация авторских смыслов в художественном смысле. Лингвопоэтический аспект. – М.: ФЛИНТА:
Наука, 2014. – 160 с.
8. Сырица Г. С. Филологический анализ художественного текста: Учебн. пособие. – М.: ФЛИНТА: Наука, 2015. – 344 с.
9. Derrida Ja. Doctor honoris causa Universitatis Silesiensis. -Katowice, 1997.
10. Kita M. Użytkownik języka wobec niewyrażalnego, niewyrażanego i niewyrażonego // Stylistyka ХI. 2002. Opole, 2002. - S. 101-119.
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
22!
!
Куприева Ирина Анатольевна, Смирнова Станислава Борисовна
Белгородский государственный национальный исследовательский университет, Белгородский государственный национальный
исследовательский университет
Печатается при поддержке гранта Президента РФ для молодых российских ученых (проект № МК-5513.2014.6)
ДИСТРИБУТИВНЫЙ И СИНТАГМАТИЧЕСКИЙ ПОТЕНЦИАЛ ВЕРБАЛИЗАТОРОВ МЕНТАЛЬНЫХ СТРУКТУР
Аннотация
Настоящая статья посвящена описанию синтагматики и дистрибутивного потенциала некоторых вербализаторов
ментальной структуры психических процессов. Выбор этих глаголов предопределен их способностью выступать в качестве
прототипов ментальной структуры психических процессов, то есть называть в наиболее полном виде тот или иной психических
процесс, концептуально соотносящийся с ментальной структурой. В результате анализа фактических данных выявлена
стабильность их лексичекого значения, которая отражается и на синтагматике и на их дистрибутивном потенциале.
Ключевые слова: ментальная структура, дистрибутивный потенциал, синтагматика, этимологическая память, прототип.
Kuprieva Irina Anatolyevna, Smirnova Stanislava Borisovna
Belgorod State National Research University, Belgorod State National Research University
The publication is supported by the grant of the Russian President (project № МК-5513.2014.6)
DISTRIBUTION AND SYNTAGMATIC POTENTIAL OF MENTAL STRUCTURES’ VERBALIZERS
Abstract
This article describes syntagmatics and distribution of some verbalizers of mental structure of mental processes. The choice of these
verbs is predetermined by their ability to act as prototypes of the mental structure of mental processes, that is to serve as the most complete
verbalizers of a particular mental process, conceptually correlated with the mental structure. The analysis revealed the stability of meaning
which is reflected in the syntagmatics and their distribution potential.
Keywords: mental structure, distribution, syntagmatic potential, etimological memory, prototype.
he problem of syntagmatics or the idea of compatibility,
despite its tendency to variations and long history of
existence, is very closely connected with the
transmission of meaning (Рахилина, 2008).
The analysis of mental structures verbalization performed from
the viewpoint of the synergetic approach shows that the meaning of
lexemes is able to change and update on a functional level as a result
of the use of these lexemes in their occasional or systemic meaning
(The syntagmatic approach in our study reveals the evolutionary
nature of any mental structure being represented by verbalizers
constantly changing their meaning in diachrony). This fact
corresponds to the problem of polysemy and synonymous
relationship of such language units, and also points to the complex
nature of the semantic density of the verbalized mental structure.
This fact emphasizes the transparency and flexibility of lexico-
semantic synergetic system due to the changes of lexemic meaning
of its elements. And polysemy (this can be seen from the observation
of actual data) as a system or contextually conditioned, occasional
phenomenon keeps etymological memory and updates the
accumulated information on the level of syntagmatic surrounding of
words.
This is particularly evident with prototypical mental structure’s
verbalizers. And the proof is possible due to the relevant linguistic
procedures, based on etymological analysis, as well as on the
interpretation of syntagmatic surrounding of words. Now we shall
illustrate this fact using linguistic data.
The prototypical verb sense in modern lexicographical
interpretation ("1. To become aware of; perceive; 2. To grasp;
understand" (The Free Dictionary)) is understood like "to perceive
through senses", "understand". The etymological source dates the
origin of the verb approximately as associated with the year 1590
and points to the identity of its original meaning and its modern
interpretation: "to perceive by the senses" (Online Etymology
Dictionary). Also, according to the information given by the
etymological dictionary, since 1960 the meaning of the verb has
become somewhat different, and points to a conscious inner sense
(state) — "be conscious inwardly of (one's state or condition)"
(Online Etymology Dictionary). The shift of the abstract meaning to
the naming of the corresponding inner psychological reaction of the
subject takes place in 1872 ("perceive (a fact or situation) not by
direct perception" (Online Etymology Dictionary)).
At present the verb sense functions as a verbalizer of feeling or
thinking. The predicate sense is combined with a subject, the latter is
represented by any animate noun or a personal pronoun, for
example:
A researcher suggests that humans, like butterflies and other
animals, can sense the earth's magnetic field and use it to navigate
(Wade, 2011).
But she also sensed it wasn't enough. She wanted something
else, something different, something more. Passion and romance,
perhaps, or maybe quiet conversation in candlelit rooms, or perhaps
something as simple as not being second (Sparks).
In the following sentences the subject is expressed by an
animate noun and a relevant pronoun designating a man. And in fact,
in both cases the semantics of the verb sense in combination with its
corresponding subject does not change. Moreover, in this case the
direct systemic meaning of the nuclear verb is displayed as "to
percept, to feel."
It should be also noted that the reference to a body receptor in
the first and in the second case is absent, nevertheless, this fact does
not contradict to semantics, and confirms the systemic meaning of
the verb under consideration.
The following example also represents mental activity but does
not indicate to any organs of perception. But the question here is, not
so much about feelings, but the mental operation. In other words, the
semantics of the verb sense in the following sentence verbalizes the
process of thinking, for example:
He sensed cricket, understood it personally (Ugra).
The accent to the nomination of the process of thinking, not
perception is emphasized by the use of the synonymous
lexemeunderstand, showing the process explicitly.
So we the most typical cases of the use of the verb sense in its
systemic meaning represented above allow it to be combined with a
noun or pronoun to describe the relevant situation.
In the following sentences we speak about the same distribution
on the syntagmatic level, however, the objects are represented by
complement abstract entities, incomprehensible to organs of sense
perception:
He sensed my aura and he felt he should protect him (Fer).
Mourinho says he sensed Chelsea would suffer against Stoke
(British National Corpus).
In the first sentence the noun aura acts as an object on the
syntactic level. It refers only to the psychic level, intuition and
foreboding, that generally cannot be perceived by analyzers.
In the second sentence the object is represented by the negative
emotion, worry about the favourite football team.
In spite the fact that the verb sense can name the perception and
thought (the meaning depends on the context), the verb as it is seen
from the context analysis, can also act as a verb nominating
premonition at a functional level. This state correlates with other
emotional states, but traditionally is considered to be the state
derived from some mental process.
Uses of the verb sense in the meaning of premonition are quite
frequent, if the content of the conceptual component of the object is
an abstract immaterial essence. It shows the diversity of its cognitive
semantic features and increase in the semantic structure of this verb.
And in this case the ability of the verb to be combined with an
animate noun or a corresponding personal pronoun stays unchanged.
But in the case of the use of the verb the systemic meaning changes
in the lexical content of the object stay evident.
T
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
23!
!
The following example seems to be very interesting in the
ongoing research:
It sensed that Thanksgiving was coming (British National
Corpus).
In this case, the actor of the situation is represented by the
pronoun it functioning as a formal subject. This proposal should be
translated as «Казалось, приближается День благодарения».
The atypical use of formal subject with the predicate, which is a
priori possible with an animate noun, is extremely rare. In our
analyzed actual material this is a single case taken from an Internet
blog.
It is obvious that the author tried to achieve a certain stylistic
effect and indicate the general interest to the upcoming holiday.
Despite the fact that the personification of any kind in the
present study is eliminated in some cases we admit metonymy. For
example, the conceptual content of the noun can be not the person
himself or herself, but the body part, where mental activity is
localized — hand, head, heart, eyes, ears etc.
Thus, the speaker manages to shift the focus onto the
involuntary process of dynamic characteristics of the psyche. This
situation is not typical of the verb sense. Nevertheless, in some
cases, we sometimes face some facts of metonymic substitution of a
subject, for example:
Instead, your skin can sense the difference in temperature of a
new object (British National Corpus).
He experienced the joy of scoring Omagh's first two goals in the
opening period but had the opposite feelings of emotion when he
was sent off in the last minute (British National Corpus).
Like all other prototypical lexemes the verb experience,
describing the situation of mental processes and activates in the
mind of the listener the prototypical scheme that is represented by its
core components. The proposition as a scheme of these components
serves as an intermediary between the conceptual and verbal level,
and is the natural expression of the relevant parts of the sentence,
expressed by certain parts of speech.
This fact describes the potential distribution of the lexeme on
the verbal level in the corresponding range of semantic structure.
The latter is also profiled through appropriate syntactic
constructions, verbal content of which depends not only on the
intentions of the speaker (and this is relevant with respect to the
language of the analytical type, which clearly limits the number of
syntactic variations), but also on the so-called etymological memory.
On this occasion E.V. Ponomarenko rightly observes that the
traditional view that the linearity of the elements in the functioning
of the language is actually named syntagmatics of language, and that
the linearity is a form of existence of all elements of the language
and form of functioning of the language (VM Solntsev, Ferdinand de
Saussure, Makarov ML et al.) is correct. However, the content of the
speech production is created as a result of not only the addition of
semantics series — linear fragments of discourse, but also the
emergence of new semantic components, namely the inherent
integrity of the work (Пономаренко, 2013). This statement is
especially true when considering other verbalizers of mental
structures.
The fact is that prototypical lexemes, as it is obvious from the
analysis of actual data, are the so-called attractors of the synergetic
system of mental structure’s verbalizers. Therefore, the
transformation of meaning under the influence of anthropocentric
and/or temporal factors is a rare phenomenon and that exactly
follows from a comparison of data in etymological dictionaries and
advanced lexicographical sources. The information about the
stability of the stable character of meaning of the prototypical verbs
confirm the validity of their selection as the best examples of the
category.
Furthermore, in this case it is appropriate to speak of their
ability to "remember" syntagmatic relations at the level of their
distribution, that is they can combined with a subject and object
regardless of a temporal factor. On the conceptual level, the data of
the propositional framework predetermined by the meaning of verbs
also clearly indicates the ability of each verb to be the verbalizer of
the relevant mental structure. But sometimes it changes its semantics
for the sake of the context under the influence of procedural factor in
the discourse.
Summing up the review of syntagmatic and distribution
capacity of mental structures’ verbalizers the in modern English
discourse, we note that their functioning as predicates in the
sentences, confirms their prototypical status as attractors of the
synergetic system of verbalizers, because they have more or less
stable semantics, as it is obvious on a diachronic level, and also have
etymological memory in their distribution as they act in a fixed
amount of syntactic structures, enabling them to profile these or
those specific features of mental structures.
References
1. Пономаренко Е.В. O самоорганизации и синегретизме функционального пространства английского дискурса. Научные
ведомости БелГУ. Сер. Гуманитарные науки. – 2013. – No 13 (156), вып. 18. – С. 131-141.
2. Рахилина Е.В. Когнитивный анализ предметных имен: семантика и сочетаемость . М.: Русские словари, 2008. – 416 с.
3. The British National Corpus. Oxford University Computing Services. – Oxford, 2010. – Mode of access:
http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/.
4. Fer, Sh. In The Money by. Rap Genius : [site] / Genius Media Group Inc. – New York, 2014. – Mode of access:
http://rapgenius.com/Shad-fer-in-the-money-lyrics#lyric.
5. Online Etymology Dictionary. compos. Douglas Harper. – San Antonio, 2001-2013. – Mode of access:
http://www.etymonline.com/.
6. Sparks N. The Notebook. – London : Sphere, 2007. – 214 p.
7. Wade N. Magnetic field sensed by gene, study shows. The New York Times. – 2011. – June 21. – Mode of access:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/science/28magnet.html.
8. Ugra, Sh. He sensed cricket, understood it personally. The Indian Express. – 2011. – Nov. 20. - Mode of access:
www.indianexpress.com/news/he-sensed-cricket-understood-it-personally/878113.
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
24!
!
?'+785%:(8@(&A++:'2(B57(85(7+:'"%6*+(8@(85)$(+CA5+&&%8"(,-./(0>02D3
Уршуля Патоцка-Силговы
Гданьский университет
МЕХАНИЗМ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКИХ ВЫСТУПЛЕНИЙ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА ВЛАДИМИРА ПУТИНА
(НА МАТЕРИАЛЕ ПОСЛАНИЯ С 26 АПРЕЛЯ 2007 ГОДА)
Аннотация
В статье обсуждaются коммуникативные стратегии проявившиеся в выступлении В.В. Путина (26.04.2007 г.) и способы их
реализации при помощи вербальных и невербальных средств.
Ключевые слова: политическая коммуникация, послание, президент.
Urszula Patocka-Sigłowy
University of Gdansk
THE MECHANISM OF POLITICAL SPEECHES USING THE EXAMPLE OF THE ADDRESS
OF PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN
Abstract
The text analyzes communication strategies present in V. Putin's speeches, as well as ways of their implementation.
Keywords: political communication, missive, president.
anguage is very powerful. Thanks to language, people
have the opportunity to exchange ideas and information
concerning various walks of life: culture, science and
politics. It is clear that in communication, to achieve various goals, a
large quantity of means of communication are used in certain
communicative situations: words, phrases and especially voice,
gestures, facial expressions and body movement.
Political communication differs a great deal from usual
interpersonal communication. The purpose and the message to the
recipient changes which has an effect on the form of the narrative.
Speech is primarily a means of acquiring and maintaining the
authority of power. Words and gestures in the language of power
lose their basic meaning. In order to achieve their goals, politicians
often use manipulation and suasion.
Among the most important political speeches are statements
from heads of state. A speech from the President of a country not
only affects the creation of a positive image of the country in the
minds of citizens and increases their sense of security and
stabilization, but also has an impact on the strengthening of the
state's position in the international arena.
A particular type of speech is a political statement. The ability
to influence public opinion with the help of public speaking has
always been a great mystery and a great art. In order to fully
understand the mechanism of political speech, those taking part in a
master class at the Y.V. Gromyko Higher School of Economics
analyzed the speeches of different politicians in different countries
in different historical eras. They were the speeches of US President
Abraham Lincoln (at the opening of the memorial cemetery at
Gettysburg in 1863), President Putin of the Russian Federation (an
address to the Federal Assembly in 2002) and the speech of US
Presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche (at a conference in
Germany in 2003). The analysis of all these speeches led to the
following conclusions:
• The text of political speech has considerable power if it
contains a reference to a real-life situation.
• The subject of political action is closely linked with the
form of speech in which they conducted.
• The form of political speech is determined by to whom it
is intended or directed and its purpose.
• It is possible to assess political action from the point of
view of the feasibility of action [5].
Success or failure in elections to a large extent depends on the
verbal behavior of the political elite. Choosing a strategy of verbal
behavior depends on the goals which the politician wishes to achieve
by using their speech. The main goals are:
• Convince the target audience of the validity of their
judgments so that they will vote for a certain candidate, party or
bloc, by presenting convincing arguments or through defamation of
a political opponent in the eyes of voters.
• Earn a reputation or strengthen their image.
• Convince the target audience to agree with the speaker and
their opinions and accept their point of view.
• Create a certain emotional mood and trigger a certain
attitude of the target audience.
• Impart knowledge to the target audience and inform them.
It is necessary to consider the sociological factors that affect the
culture of speech of the modern political elite of Russia. Russian
voters are not very susceptible to speeches. They want a politician
talking to them using clear language in which they communicate
daily, without dressing it up. Voters are accustomed not to trust the
words of politicians. It is obvious to them that the speaker says one
thing, implies another and thinks a third. For example: Alexander
Lebed said things such as: “двум пернатым в одной берлоге не
ужиться” [7, p. 24], although they are a long way from examples of
eloquence, they still increased popularity among the electorate. As
evident from that issue, Russia is quite different from the West.
Speech always plays a big role for maintaining or gaining the
authority of power of its representatives and transmitters. A low
level of speech culture of a politician can lead to a decrease not only
in their authority among the electorate, but also in the authority of
the power they represent.
Western politicians pay a great deal of attention to their
speeches and spend a lot of time preparing to speak properly and
speak well in public. Soviet practice of preparing written texts and
reading them on a piece of paper has led to a lot of people in the
world of politics, economics and culture to forget about eloquence
and the art of oration. New living conditions in modern times in
Russia have led to the leadership of the country of educated people
who can speak well and speak in public, but at regional level there
are still many people who are unprepared for new conditions.
We must remember that speech is the identity of not only the
person, but also the organisation, the party and the country which
this person represents. Speech plays its part as one of the most
important components in the creation of the image of a court,
statesman or politician. It is important not only for the elementary
culture of speech but also for its rhetoric skill [1].
Each politician has their own style of speech which manifests
itself in their words, pronunciation, energy and gestures. “Политик
должен говорить просто, но не упрощенно; остроумно, но не
вульгарно; литературно, но не заумно” [8]. Of course, Presidents
do not prepare all their own statements themselves. Scriptwriters
take care of this all over the world; they are specialists in preparing
speeches for prominent politicians. Preparing a speech is an intimate
process. While all are well aware that the President has his
assistants, whom he calls his advisers, no one speaks of this loudly.
It is said that Putin has approximately 30-40 advisers working for
him. During the preparation of Presidential speeches, his speech
writers must take into account the nature, characteristics, diction and
mannerism of their “client”. You could say that in a sense, speech
writers identify with those for whom they write. Although politicians
may have a staff of assistants, they carry the responsibility for the
words spoken themselves.
Some believe that if there is any spontaneity in the behaviour of
the head of state, then it is an innate trait. This applies especially to
verbal behaviour which is easier to control than, for example, facial
expressions or gestures. Even in Putin's speeches spontaneity
manifests itself several times, which was probably not the result of
the actions of speechwriters.
Irina Vepreva, Professor of Rhetoric and Stylistics of Russian,
notes that there is a tendency of the simplification of language in
speeches of Russian politicians following Putin. It often appears as
using colloquial language and sometimes even blatantly rude
L
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
25!
!
expressions. This is a consequence of the democratization of
language which “началась со снятием цензуры, табу и запретов в
российском обществе. Вообще-то, это положительное явление.
Европейским странам оно пошло в пользу, а у нас (в России)
демократизация речи превратилась в криминализацию. (…)
Конечно, понятно, что президент с помощью таких выражений
хочет создать образ сильного руководителя” [12].
The Russian President has given political history many
expressions which now form part of eloquent expressions. In 2005,
affirming that Russia would not negotiate any territorial claims with
the Baltic States, Putin said: “не Пыталовский район они получат,
а от мёртвого осла уши”. Putin's response to the question of a
French journalist at the Russian EU summit in November 2002 gave
rise to many comments. The journalist asked him why Russian
forces are using antipersonnel mines in Chechnya and whether he
thinks that the eradication of terrorism is also destroying the nation
of Chechnya. The President first announced that no one can accuse
Russia of suppressing freedom and then went on to try to create a
caliphate throughout the world and began to explain who faces such
a threat from Chechen fighters: “если вы крестьянин, вы в
опастности, потому что радикалы-экстремисты преследуют
крестьян. Если вы атеист, то тоже в опасности, потому что им
не нравятся атеисты. Но если вы мусульманин, то и это вас не
спасёт. Приезжайте к нам, у нас многоконфессиональная
страна, хорошие врачи, сделают вам обрезание (…) и я
порекомендую сделать эту операцию таким образом, чтобы у
вас больше ничего не выросло!” [3, p. 183]. Equally shocking was
Putin’s speech on 22.02.2008, on the subject of recognising the
independence of Kosovo. The Russian President said that this kind
of event is fraught with unpredictable consequences and supporters
of the sovereignty of this region of the state “не просчитывают
результатов того, что они делают”. “В конечном итоге, это
палка о двух концах, и вторая палка траснет их по башке когда-
нибудь” [6]. It is difficult to judge whether these shocking remarks
of Putin should be considered as improvisation, non-programmed
spontaneity of the President, or if they demonstrate the actual
direction of Russian policy. Such statements show that he refers to
world public opinion with cynical contempt. The President of such a
great country like Russia can admit this of course. This kind of
verbal behaviour from Putin is a consequence of new assessment of
the political balance in the world. Russia has assumed the post of
leader of the Eastern world and has every right to it. The present
situation is reminiscent of the challenge launched by the Soviet
Union to the West during the Cold War. Indeed, the West has
become somewhat weaker due to the crisis within the European
Union and the war in Iraq, therefore Russia can take an aggressive
stance. Nevertheless, Russia does not want to integrate with western
countries, for historical and cultural reasons on the one hand, and on
the other, because Russia knows full well that being a part of the
West will always be of no great concern. By staying back, Russia is
forced to be hostile toward the West in order to emphasize its
exclusiveness and position as leader of the Eastern world [4].
The verbal behaviour of Vladimir Putin in many ways
resembles a kind of talk-show. His speech is a picture of
intelligibility and clarity. The responses of the President are always
logical, exhaust the subject, and they are concise yet informative.
Putin will always be able to use any issue to say what he considers
important. Before him, this consumer attitude to the audience was
not noticed in the political arena. So, as a response to a question
regarding the development of the e-commerce market, he said:
“Представляете, Советский Союз рассыпался, а Россия осталась
самой крупной страной в мире!” [2, p. 247].
The biography of the politician and his life experiences are
reflected in his communication tactics. You can see a strong
influence from the Soviet era in Putin's speeches. The most
indicative example is the phrase: “Родина – мать зовет!”. The
Russian people represent a great asset for him too, for whom he has
high hopes and to whom he completely relates. For Putin, “the
nation” is an undivided community and the entire population. This
can clearly be seen in many of his statements, for example: “На
народ надо опираться прежде всего” (Address to the Federal
Assembly of the Russian Federation, 25.04.2005). Often the
President introduces several real-life examples in his speeches to
more vividly express his views and therefore convince the audience
of the correctness of his decisions. This method brings him closer to
the ordinary citizen and so the image of a good President, a man of
the people, grows in people's minds. More often than other
politicians, Putin uses rhetorical questions which are a good method
of asserting the power of the speaker over the audience. The verbal
behaviour of the President of Russia is devoid of emotional
vocabulary. On one hand it may indicate a lack of emotional
response to events in the outside world, but on the other, it may be a
conscious self-restriction intended to conceal his passionate
temperament. Putin exercises great caution in his statements and he
does not like to put himself on the spot. His internal orderliness,
developed while working in intelligence, established his reputation
as a smart, visionary leader and a good organiser. Putin brought a
new style of behaviour to the Kremlin, based on hard work, good
judgement, seriousness and a good sense of humour [9]. The style of
speech of the incumbent President has been evolving since the time
he was prime minister until present day. His speeches were
absolutely expressionless before; they lacked new vocabulary and
the entire speeches were based upon Yeltsin’s clichés. Aside from
his statements on the subject of Chechnya, Putin didn’t prove
himself to be anything special during his time as prime minister.
Shortly after Yeltsin resigned, I had the opportunity to comment on
any issue and to present the public with his political program [13].
Thanks to the work of experts on political marketing and consulting
and of speechwriters, Putin's speech turned into a model of
intelligibility and precision.
Address to the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation
(Moscow, 26 April 2007)
Context of the speech.
President Putin gives his annual Address to the Government of
the country in the Kremlin. The context of the speech has an affect
on his behaviour. He is sure of himself and he acts as the head of
state. He can afford to criticize the work of the authorities, knowing
full well that members of the Government were taking note of his
every word.
Target audience of the speech.
The Address was directed at members of the government and all
citizens of Russia. They are waiting for an explanation and an
assessment from the President of what is happening in their country
and all around the world. The President, of course, selects a topic for
the statement taking into account the characteristics of the audience:
their age, education and belonging to a given social group. We must
also bear in mind the situation in the country, the main issues
concerning citizens and the political situation in the world. All these
factors affect the selection of lexical and stylistic means which Putin
uses. He always tried to speak clearly, accurately and precisely so
that all listeners have understood him correctly.
Form of the speech.
An Address – a written request from a statesman on some
important political or public issue. An Address is a particular genre
of speech. In this, the head of state talked about the situation in the
country and the main directions of domestic and foreign policy. The
style of the words and the linguistic and extralinguistic means fully
comply with the audience. It is a statement made from notes [10]. It
is carefully prepared in advance; all information is selected and
presented in a certain order. Of course, the listener should feel the
mind of the speaker working, and to achieve this, it is particularly
important to maintain contact with the audience.
Purpose of the speech.
This speech is a summary of the work of the government, an
indication of Russia's place in the international arena and an outline
of the goals of the next decade. Putin informed the citizens about
what intentions he and the government managed to implement what
prospects Russian has for the future.
Topic of the speech.
Vladimir Putin began his speech with a reminder of the
achievements of Boris Yeltsin for the consolidation of democracy in
Russia and called upon the government to honour his memory with a
minute of silence. He then moved onto a list of the most important
events of 2007: The State Duma elections and the proclamation of
2007 as the Year of the Russian Language. He highlighted the
importance of the upcoming elections of the State Duma in
connection with the introduction of a new order. He also listed a
number of problems which the state was facing: increasing the
volume of regional and local authorities, improving the library
system, the creation of the Presidential Library named in honour of
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
26!
!
Boris Yeltsin, the expansion of construction for new housing,
increasing the size of pensions, maintaining the development of
small businesses, strengthening the Armed Forces, the efficient use
of natural resources and others. Following that, the President moved
onto Russian foreign policy. He expressed his dissatisfaction with
the CFE Treaty (Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe):
“Пора наполнить ОБСЕ реальным содержанием, повернуть
организацию лицом к проблемам, действительно волнующим
народы Европы, а не искать только «блох» на постсоветском
пространстве” and the plans to place anti-missile defence in the
Czech Republic and Poland. In conclusion, he recalled the upcoming
change of power in Russia and said that although many expected
that “сегодняшнее Послание будет посвящено главным образом
подведению итогов работы (…) предполагали услышать
филосовское оформление рекомендаций на будушее. Однако
(…) давать оценки совместной деятельности здесь неуместно”,
because President Putin “выступать с политическими
завещаниями преждевременно”. It proves indefinitely that
Vladimir Putin did not resign and wants to play a more important
role in Russian politics. The statement of the President was met with
loud applause. At the end of the speech the President announced that
Russia “только тогда займет достойное положение в мире (…)
если граждане будут видеть, будут чувствовать, будут уверены
в том, что все усилия государства направлены на защиту их
кровных интересов: на улучшение их жизни, на повышение их
благосостаяния и их безопастности. (…) Каждый гражданин
России должен чувствовать свою сопричастность с судьбой
государства. И каждый должен иметь шанс законным образом
улучшить свою собственную жизнь, преумножить трудом
богатство своей родины”. The Address of President Putin was
interrupted with applause 45 times. That's a substantial record.
Linguistic Means.
In the Address under examination, Putin used a number of
methods which allowed him to emphasize important information in
the text. Ways to achieve this are characteristic of the verbal
behavior of the President and he uses them in almost all his
speeches. At a lexical level, it is carried out using the words:
• обратить внимание: „Обращаю ваше внимание: мы,
по сути, открываем ещё одно, сопоставимое с общим
финансирование науки, направление – почти в таком же
объёме!”, „Обращаю внимание, что в обеспечение
делегируемых полномочий федеральный бюджет передаст
региональным администрациям 153 миллиарда рублей”.
„Обращаю внимание на то, что впервые в Европе могут
появиться элементы американского стратегического оружия”.
• подчеркнуть: „(…) хочу особо подчеркнуть
необходимость создания эффективной системы исследований и
разработок в области нанотехнологий, основанных на атомном
и молекулярном конструировании”. „При этом подчеркну:
ответственность с органов власти субъектов Федерации и
органов местного сомоуправления никто не снимает”. „(…) ещё
раз подчеркну, (поддержание макроэкономической стабилности
и борьба с инфляцией) напрямую направлено на рост денежных
доходов населения”.
• именно: „Для реализации именно такой стратегии мы
подготовили условия: приняли законы, сформировали
необходимые структуры”. „Государственную поддержку
получают именно те направления развития, которые связаны с
использованием и внедрением самых передовых технологий”.
„И, конечно, в этой связи более правильно было бы назвать его
именно фондом национального благосостояния”.
• отметить: „Отмечу также, что все более
конструктивным становится наше партнерство с Евросоюзом”.
„Хотел бы отметить, что духовное единство народа и
объединяющие нас моральные ценности – это такой же важный
фактор развития, как политическая и экономическая
стабильность”. „В целом отмечу, что за последнее семь лет
объём бюджетов Российской Федерации вырос в шесть раз”.
„Отмечу, что увеличивается и государственная поддержка
общественных организаций”.
• только: „Только в этом случае (опираясь на базовые
морально-нравственные ценности) мы сможем правильно
определить ориентиры развития страны”. „При этом мы
понимаем, что находимся, конечно, только в начале трудного
пути к подлинному возрождению страны”.
Putin uses demonstrative pronouns to emphasize what he
considers important information: “Для этого предлагаю уже в
текущем году направить 300 миллиардов рублей, предусмотрев
в будущем дальнейшие ассигнования на эти цели”, „Только в
этом случае мы сможем правильно определить ориентиры
развития страны”, „И чем более сплоченным будет наше
общество, тем быстрее и уверенней мы сможем пройти этот
путь”, „Но именно в этот непростой период был заложен
фундамент будущих перемен”, „За три года применения этой
системы на региональном уровне количество партийных
фракций в местных парламентах увеличилось почти в четыре
раза”, „Вместе с тем многие из находящихся сегодня в этом
зале предлагают принять правовую норму (…)”, „В этой связи
предлагаю часть средств фонда национального благосостояния
направлять на софинансирование таких добровольных
пенсионных накоплений”. And the adverb of degree:
“необходимы значительные изменеия в стуктуре
электрогенерации”, „Но возможности, конечно, сильно
возросли”, „разрыв между доходами граждан недопустимо
большой”, „Значительно расширены компетенция и
возможности местных органов власти”, „(…) подставить плечо
там, где риски для частных интересов пока ещё слишком
высоки”.
Accentuation of important information is also achieved by
repeating the word with the addition of a feature or pause which is
marked graphically in the text with – dash symbol, for example:
“Вкладывая бюджетные средства в экономику, государство
должно лишь подставить плечо – подставить плечо там, где
риски для частных интересов пока ещё слишком высоки”,
„(…)идея общего мира – общего для людей различных
национальностей и конфессий”, „При сохранении –
безусловномсохранении консервативной финансовой
политики”, „Согласен с этим предположением, но при
условии – при условии – что изменения будут идти постепенно
(…)”. Sometimes Putin repeats whole phrases twice without adding
anything new so that the audience will pay attention to this phrase
and make them think about the significance of what has been said,
for example: “Струдом, с трудом можно себе представить,
чтобы, например, Соединённые Штаты Америки ограничали на
таком основании (договор ДОВСЕ) передвижение войск на
собственной територии”, “В нашей стране за весь –
подчеркну, за весь – советский период было построено 30
атомных энергоблоков”. This method of accentuation is the most
frequently used by Putin. In this speech, he used it over 20 times.
More than ten times he used another method: Constructing a
sentence with и at the start to emphasize the idea of the words after
it: “И основу духовности самого российского народа испокон
веков составляла идея общего мира (…)”, „И российские
налогоплательщики вправе рассчитывать, что их деньги не
будут потрачены на раздувание пустых популистских обещаний
или раскачивание основ государственного строя”, „И уже
первый год реализации нацпроектов показал, что удалось
ориентировать бюджетные расходы на конечный результат”.
A characteristic President Putin's verbal behaviour is the use of
copulative conjunctions with and adversative link: “Считаю,
что нетолько государство, но и бизнес может оказывать
всемерное содействие возрождению отечественного кино и
театра, книгоиздания и литературы”. „Нацпроект в области
аграрно-промышленного комплекса не только доказал свою
эффективность, но и продемонстрировал огромные
потенциальные возможности российского сельского хозяйства”.
„Убеждён, новый порядок выборов не только усилить влияние
партий на формирование демократической власти, но ибудет
способствовать росту конкуренции между ними, а
следовательно, будет укреплять и улучшать качество
российской политической системы”. And the use of inversion
thanks to which highlights the most important information:
“Забюрократизированность вопросов организации
товарищества собственников жилья, чрезмерная налоговая
нагрузка на них, а также непосильные обязательства по ремонту
– всё это тормозит создание эффективных механизмов
реформирования хилищно-коммунального хозяйства”. „И
основу духовности самого ороссийского народа испокон веков
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
27!
!
состовляла идея общего мира – общего для людей различных
национальностей и конфессий”.
To maintain contact with the audience, Vladimir Putin often
asks rhetorical questions, some of them very often in response, for
example: “Конечно, возникает извечный вопрос: где взять
деньги? Но, во-первых, деньги у нас есть, и формирование
расходной части бюджета – это всегда лишь вопрос выбора
приоритетов как на федеральном уровне, так и на
региональном. А во-вторых, у меня есть и конкретное
предложение: направить на эти цели значительные
дополнительные доходы(…)”. „Важнейшее событие этого
года – выборы в Государственную Думу. В чём их главная
особенность и объединяющее значение для общества? Прежде
всего в результате выборов будет объективно определён
уровень поддержки народом России проводимого нами с вами
курса, фактически будет решаться вопрос о преемственности
государственной политики”. You can draw the audience's attention
to the topic of the speech by using exclamatory sentences. Their use
in speech indicates the speaker's emotional approach to issues which
it represents. In the speech examined, Putin raised the tone of his
statements several times. First of all, when talking about the low
efficiency of the members of the government: “Наши грузопотоки
продолжают пути через иностранные порты – ну просто
недопустимо! Правительство как будто специально никаких мер
не принимает. Ну несколько лет мы говорим об этом!” Although
several times the tone of the President's speech turned more stern;
he's still trying to achieve the goals, not by using political blackmail
or threats, but more with the help of the conviction and requests:
“Прошу Правительство рассмотреть вопрос о принятии
специальной программы развития аэропортной системы”,
“Прошу Правительство это сделать”, “Предлагаю
Правительству также проработать вопрос о создании
международного консорциума по строительству второй линии
Волго-Донского канала”. He presents all of his judgments in the
form of suggestions, not orders: “(…) предлагаю часть средств
фонда национального благосостояния направлять на
софинансирование таких добровольных пенсионных
накоплений”, „Для реализации этого проектапредлагаю создать
специальную корпорацию, объединяющую предприятия атомной
энергетики и промышленности”. The entire time he attempts to
maintain an atmosphere of mutual trust and friendship and then
addresses member of the government: “Уважаемые коллеги!”.
One of the most frequently used words was “мы”, which Putin
used more than 20 times: “мы выполним эту задачу”, „мы добились
последовательного снижения инфляции”, „мы много лет вместе
работали”, „мы и до сих пор не преодолели этой проблемы”,
„мы ещё позднее поговорим о проиритетах”, „мы уже ввели
систему грантов”. This demonstrates how valuable team work is to
him and how important it is affiliated to the Russian people. The
President says “our problems” all the time, meaning he fully associates
with his fellow citizens and they, listening to this kind of speech, may
get the impression that the President is one of them, a man of the
people who has a good understanding of all the problems of society.
This is a good marketing technique which affects the increase in the
popularity rating of Vladimir Putin among society. Furthermore in his
statement, Putin used these words more than ten
times: growth and development, when speaking of a situation in the
country and about possibilities: “прошу уже в ближайщее время
принять закон о поддержке и развитии малого бизнеса”,
“развитие портовой структуры”, “стратегия
развития наноиндустрии”,“план развития России”, “развитие ул
ично-дорджной сети”, “бесспорным лидером ростаявляется,
конечно, Интернет”, “рост денежных доходов населения”. The
development of the state and the strengthening of its position in the
international arena is, according to Putin, one of the most important
tasks standing before the government given that “Россия исторически
была сильна”, like it should be today. In his Address, the President
outlined the exact tasks which society must implement in order for
Russia to once again become a great power: “Мы с вами должны с
полной отдачей сил до последней минуты наших законных,
конституционных полномочий и эффективно использовать то
время, которое нам подарила судьба, чтобы послужить России”.
To specify his thoughts, Putin, in the aforementioned Address
as well as here, uses a detachment technique: “Ведь от того, каким
станет российский парламент после 2 декабря этого года, прямо
зависит исполнение наших стратегических планов: это
формирование дееспособного гражданского общества, это
строительство эффективного государства, обеспечивающего
безопастность и достойную жизнь людей, это становление
свободного и социально ответственного предпринимательства,
это борьба с коррупцией и терроризмом, модернизация
Вооружёных Сил и правоохранительных органов, это, наконец,
значимое укрепление роли России в международных делах”.
The use of the order of phraseology has been a means of
increasing the attention to his speeches since 2007: извечный
вопрос(„Конечно, возникает извечный вопрос: где взять
деньги”?), посмотреть правде в глаза („Нужно посмотреть
правде в глаза и признать, что сегодня без поддержки
государства многие наши сограждане, оказавшиеся в наиболее
тяжёлых, сложных жизненных условиях, сами решить этот
вопрос не в состоянии”.), остаться пустым звуком („Прошу,
чтобы это не осталось просто пустым звуком”.), подставить
плечо („(…) подставить плечо там, где рискидля частных
интересовпока ещё слишком высоки (…)”.), сделать
акцент („Поэтому акцент должен быть сделан на увеличение
доли угольной генерации нового поколения”.), перевернуть
организацию лицом к проблемам and words in a figurative sense,
to influence the imagery of the speech: „Пора наполнить
деятельность ОБСЕ реальным содержанием, повернуть
организацию лицом к проблемам, действительно волнующим
народы Европы, а не искать только «блох» на постсоветском
пространстве”.
Extralinguistic means.
As previously mentioned, the gestures of the President during
his speeches in front of his fellow citizens is limited. His hands were
almost the entire time on the podium and from time to time he
leaned his whole body on his left hand, but nevertheless his body
movements were limited. Several times, Putin has made a significant
gesture with his hands: Showing the amount of funding for science
for the first time (почти в таком же объёме!), and for the second
time by listing the individuals of those who have a special
responsibility for the multiplication of wealth of their country:
members of government, federal ministers, governors, deputies and
others. Once there was a significant smile on his face which
expressed his pleasure with the support of the government. The
speech of the President on the topic of dissatisfaction with the work
of the CFE Treaty was interrupted by applause. When the applause
died down a little, Putin then said, smiling: “Следующая фраза
была: «Прошу Федеральное Собрание поддержать эти
предложения» – я так понял, что вы поддерживаете”. An
important use of a phonetic device was the use of a pause to
highlight the significance of information. The longest pause
occurred before the transition to the lyrical part of the President's
address dedicated to the change of power in Russia. It was a moment
that everyone was anticipating as it was the Presidential election in
Russia and it was, at that time, the most important matter for each
and every Russian. The audience applauded Putin's statement that
“political testament” was still “premature”.
An important phonetic device used by Putin is the composition of
logical accentuation, which emphasizes the most significant sentence of
the speech.
Political speech mastery demands careful preparation of politicians
and long-term work under the guidance of experts in the field of public
relations. Not everyone has a clear oratorical talent, but it can be
developed. A good example is the way Putin, from an unknown civil
servant, always sounded like a well-known, effective speaker.
The most important is that Putin has managed to respond to all the
needs of the Russian people, who are in need of a “strong hand” in the
sense of security and stabilization. Vladimir Putin has provided society
with everything it needs.
After analyzing the speech of Vladimir Putin, we can summarize
that what is most important in the speeches of politicians is intelligibility
and clarity. You can achieve your purpose by talking straight with
simple sentences and using vocabulary appropriate to the audience. This
analysis demonstrates perfectly that a selection of certain linguistic and
extra-linguistic tools depends primarily on location, destination, form,
purpose and topic of the speech.
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
28!
!
References
1. Власть и речь в средствах массовой информации. Научные доклады, ред. О.Б. Сиротинина, Саратов 2005.
2. Голуб. И. Б., Искусство риторики. Пособие по красноречию, Ростов-на-Дону 2005, s. 247.
3. Колесников A., Я Путина видел!, Москва 2005.
4. Pipes R., Car bez caratu, „Wprost” 2007, nr 26, str. 84-87.
5. Политическая речь как политическое действие, http://mmk-mission.ru/polit/antrop/20030522-vsest.html [14/08/2015]
6. Путин о Косове: это палка о двух концах, когда-нибудь она “треснет их по башке”,
http://www.newsru.com/russia/22feb2008/kosoput.html [14/08/2015]
7. Цуладзе A.M., Политические манипуляции, или Покорение толпы, Москва 1999.
8. http://www.centr-zlatoust.ru/index.php?name=biblioteka&id=6 [15/08/2015]
9. http://www.expert.ru/printissues/expert/2000/06/06ex-content1/ [10.06.2012]
10. http://www.kreml.org/topics/148082718 [14.08.2015]
11. Путин о Косове: это палка о двух концах, когда-нибудь она “треснет их по башке”,
http://www.newsru.com/russia/22feb2008/kosoput.html [14/08/2015]
12. http://www.nr2.ru/ekb/61538.html [14/08/2011]
13. http://www.panorama.ru/works/patr/bp/6rus.html [14.08.2015]
<5):7%:)$(E"8F$+;#+(8@($)"#*)#+&(,-./(01GHI3(
Федотова Нина Леонидовна
Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет
О КОНЦЕПЦИИ ДИСТАНЦИОННОГО КУРСА ПОВЫШЕНИЯ КВАЛИФИКАЦИИ «МЕТОДИКА ПРЕПОДАВАНИЯ
РУССКОГО ЯЗЫКА КАК ИНОСТРАННОГО (РКИ): ТРАДИЦИИ И ИННОВАЦИИ»
Аннотация
В статье обосновывается подход к построению дистанционного курса «Методика преподавания русского языка как
иностранного (РКИ): традиции и инновации» для повышения квалификации преподавателей русского языка как иностранного.
Благодаря многолетнему опыту подготовки преподавателей РКИ и обучения иностранцев русскому языку определены темы,
которые, с одной стороны, являются базовыми, а с другой стороны, вызывают определенные трудности в процессе преподавания
русского языка как иностранного. Цель курса «Методика преподавания русского языка как иностранного (РКИ): традиции и
инновации» – ознакомить преподавателей-русистов с традиционными методами обучения РКИ и новейшими исследованиями
проблем преподавания РКИ. Предлагаются авторские учебные материалы, разработанные специально для слушателей
дистанционного курса. Полученные знания слушатели курса могут непосредственно использовать в своей практике.
Ключевые слова: дистанционный курс, русский язык как иностранный, повышение квалификации, авторские учебные
материалы.
Fedotova Nina Leonidovna
Saint Petersburg State University
ON THE CONCEPT OF DISTANCE TRAINING COURSE "METHODS OF TEACHING RUSSIAN AS A FOREIGN
LANGUAGE (RFL): TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS"
Abstract
The article explains the approach to the design of the distance course "Methods of teaching Russian as a foreign language (RFL):
traditions and innovations" for the training of teachers of Russian as a foreign language. Through years of experience of the teaching
Russian language and of the training teachers of Russian language for foreigners are defined topics, which, on the one hand, these are basic,
on the other hand, cause some difficulties in the process of teaching Russian as a foreign language. The aim of the course "Methods of
teaching Russian as a foreign language (RFL): traditions and innovations" is to acquaint Russian teachers with traditional teaching methods
RCT and latest research of the problems of teaching Russian as foreign. Authorial educational materials designed specifically for students of
distance learning course. The acquired knowledge students can directly use in their practice.
Keywords: distance course, Russian as a foreign language, training of teachers, authorial educational materials.
редмет исследования. Дистанционный
курс «Методика преподавания русского языка
как иностранного (РКИ): традиции и
инновации» предназначен для преподавателей русского языка
как иностранного, которые хотели бы повысить свою
квалификацию. Цель курса – ознакомить преподавателей-
русистов с традиционными подходами к обучению РКИ и
новейшими исследованиями проблем преподавания РКИ.
Полученные знания слушатели курса могут непосредственно
использовать в своей практике. Благодаря многолетнему опыту
подготовки преподавателей русского языка как иностранного в
СПбГУ и обучения иностранцев русскому языку определены
темы, которые, с одной стороны, являются базовыми, а с
другой стороны, вызывают определенные трудности у
преподавателей РКИ.
Материалы исследования. В процессе обучения
слушатели получают сведения о следующих педагогических
функциях преподавателя РКИ (в трактовке
В. В. Молчановского) [1]:
1. Коммуникативно-обучающая (способность достигать
практической цели обучения и владение знаниями о
коммуникативном, речевом и языковом содержании предмета
обучения – ″русский язык как иностранный″).
2. Информационно-ретрансляционная (способность
воспринимать, отбирать, преобразовывать и передавать
информацию, предназначенную для усвоения учащимися).
3. Мотивационно-стимулирующая (способность
ориентироваться на учащегося как активного субъекта учебного
процесса и выбирать ситуативно обусловленные учебные
действия).
4. Инструментально-адаптирующая (способность
использовать адекватные средства обучения).
5. Функция самореализации и саморазвития (способность
осознавать себя, свою деятельность в учебном процессе,
регулировать и объективно оценивать свои профессиональные
действия, способность к профессиональному самообразованию,
самообучению и самовоспитанию).
В условиях дистанционного обучения развитие личности
преподавателя и его профессиональных качеств осложняется
ограниченными временными рамками. Это предполагает и
бóльшую самостоятельную работу слушателей и оптимальную
организацию обучения, которая в максимальной степени
способствовала бы формированию основных видов
компетенций преподавателя РКИ. В связи с этим в
дистанционном курсе предусматривается работа с научными
текстами по теме раздела (обязательными и дополнительными).
После ознакомления с текстами слушатели выполняют
контрольные задания и упражнения. Такой подход
обусловливает сугубо практическую направленность обучения,
что диктует необходимость представления процесса обучения
как деятельности, связанной с решением профессионально-
педагогических задач, которые выступают в качестве единиц
П
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
29!
!
педагогической деятельности. Согласно мнению современных
методистов, задача – это данная в определенных условиях
конкретная цель деятельности, которая может быть достигнута
преобразованием этих условий в соответствии с определенной
процедурой [2].
В дистанционном курсе ставятся функциональные задачи
(обучение коммуникативной деятельности, информационно-
ретрансляционные задачи, задачи использования и адаптации
средств обучения, мотивационно-стимулирующие задачи,
задачи профессиональной самореализации и саморазвития
преподавателя) и дидактические задачи (гностические задачи,
конструктивно-проектировочные задачи, организационные
задачи, задачи педагогического общения).
Цели каждого раздела курса отражают названные выше
задачи. В результате обучения слушатели должны научиться
решать педагогические задачи, благодаря чему формируется
личность преподавателя, а не просто специалист, владеющий
набором деятельностных навыков. По мнению, Г. П.
Щедровицкого «То, чем «владеют» индивиды, осуществляющие
деятельности, существенно отличается от самих деятельностей;
это – «внутренние» субъективные условия и средства,
позволяющие им строить разнообразные деятельности…» [3].
Важна психологическая, интеллектуальная готовность человека
к решению задач. В этом случае можно говорить о
сформированности профессионально-педагогической базы,
которое представляет собой совокупность знаний:
а) знания самого предмета (содержания обучения, т. е.
знания того, чему учить);
б) знания техники и технологии обучения (методики
преподавания, т. е. знание того как, какими средствами обучать,
какие приемы использовать);
в) знания о национально-культурных и индивидуальных
особенностях обучаемых;
г) знания о том, как применять имеющиеся знания в
конкретных ситуациях с учетом конкретных условий обучения.
Как единое целое эти знания соответствуют понятию
профессиональной компетенции преподавателя РКИ и
обеспечивают высокую результативность педагогического
процесса.
В рамках дистанционного курса «Методика преподавания
русского языка как иностранного (РКИ): традиции и
инновации» предусматривается формирование следующих
видов компетенций преподавателя РКИ (в трактовке
В. В. Молчановского) [4]:
1. Общегуманитарная компетенция. Проблемы
межкультурной коммуникации могут быть эффективно
разрешены в том случае, если у преподавателя РКИ имеется
профессионально достаточный уровень общегуманитарной
компетенции.
2. Лингвистическая компетенция. Будучи ведущей
предметной компетенцией, данный вид компетенции базируется
на сформированном языковом сознании преподавателя-русиста.
Основу лингвистической компетенции составляет системно
организованная совокупность знаний о системе русского языка.
3. Психологическая компетенция. В ее состав входят знания
психологии образовательной деятельности (единство
педагогической и учебной деятельности); психологии учебной
деятельности и ее субъекта – обучаемого; психологии
педагогической деятельности (единство обучающего и
воспитывающего воздействия); психологии учебно-
педагогического сотрудничества и общения (И. А. Зимняя).
4. Педагогическая компетенция. Педагогическую
компетенцию составляют четыре блока общепедагогических
знаний:
1) знание фундаментальных идей, концепций, законов и
закономерностей развития педагогических явлений;
2) знание ведущих педагогических теорий, категорий и
понятий;
3) основополагающих педагогических фактов;
4) прикладные знания об общей методике обучения.
5. Методическая компетенция. В данный вид компетенции
входят знания методических теорий, концепций и подходов к
обучению иностранному языку; знание методической
терминосистемы; знание научно-методической литературы по
РКИ; знание приемов, методов и способов преподавания;
знание типологии упражнений, направленных на формирование
соответствующих навыков и умений; знание программ,
учебников, учебных пособий и технических средств обучения.
6. Профессионально-коммуникативная компетенция. Эта
компетенция предполагает умение преподавателя самому
внутренне настроиться на обучение и дать обучаемым
установку на общение; умение добиться коммуникативного
контакта и поддерживать установившийся контакт; умение
установить педагогически целесообразные отношения с
коллегами и другими участниками педагогического процесса;
умение своевременно и адекватно воспринимать и оценивать
изменения в условиях общения; умение правильно оценивать
коммуникативные поступки учащихся, их реакцию на речевое
поведение преподавателя и других учащихся; оперативно
корректировать собственные коммуникативные действия и
действия учащихся.
Кроме того, в состав профессионально-коммуникативной
компетенции включаются: педагогический такт; способность к
импровизации; умение координировать задачи обучения РКИ с
формами и приемами профессионально-педагогического
общения; умение использовать педагогическую коммуникацию
для повышения учебной активности учащихся; умение
создавать условия для комфортного общения учащихся и на
уроке и в реальной коммуникации; умение поддерживать
мотивацию к учебному общению и изучению русского языка;
умение методически правильно дозировать собственный
речевой продукт на уроке; умение обеспечивать успешное
решение запланированных коммуникативных задач.
Слушатели дистанционного курса «Методика
преподавания русского языка как иностранного (РКИ):
традиции и инновации» должны овладеть педагогической
техникой, которая включает в себя:
1) владение техникой речи;
2) владение культурой речи (нормативность, чистота,
уместность, вариативность, выразительность);
3) умение корректно использовать мимику и жесты;
4) умение регулировать свое психическое состояние;
5) умение учитывать национально-культурные особенности
усвоения информации учащимися, принадлежащими к разным
национальным культурам.
Следует иметь в виду, что преподаватель РКИ должен быть
динамичным, активным и рефлексирующим специалистом. При
деятельностно-ориентированном обучении педагогическая
рефлексия предполагает со стороны обучающего не прямое
руководство действиями учащегося, а создание субъективных,
личностных оснований учебной деятельности. Педагогическая
рефлексия проявляется в процессе
1) учебного взаимодействия преподавателя с обучаемыми,
когда преподаватель стремится понять и целенаправленно
регулировать формулирование мыслей, чувства и действия
обучаемых;
2) проектирования деятельности учащихся, когда
преподаватель определяет цели обучения и представляет их в
конструктивных схемах достижения;
3) самоанализа и самооценки обучающих действий.
Профессиональная компетенция предполагает наличие у
преподавателя такой характеристики как адекватность, которая
обеспечивает успешное осуществление педагогической
деятельности. В методической литературе под адекватностью
понимается гибкость, высокая адаптивная способность
преподавателя в конкретных условиях обучения.
Результаты. Перечислим основные проблемные вопросы,
включенные в программу дистанционного курса «Методика
преподавания русского языка как иностранного (РКИ):
традиции и инновации»:
– Психолингвистические проблемы изучения иностранного
языка. В данном разделе рассматриваются такие понятия как
интерференция и трансференция, ошибка в речи на неродном
языке, определяется роль контрастивного анализа при обучении
иностранному языку.
– Цели и задачи обучения русскому языку как
иностранному на разных этапах. Компетентностный подход к
обучению РКИ. Раздел посвящен анализу методов обучения и
методы учения. Уточняются цели и задачи обучения,
предлагается классификация целей обучения иностранному
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
30!
!
языку, разграничиваются виды компетенций и описывается
структура компетенций.
– Структура содержания обучения. Принципиально
важным для методики преподавания РКИ является понятие
содержания обучения. Необходимо обосновать выделение
компонентов содержания обучения, решить проблемы отбора
содержания обучения в зависимости от объекта обучения /
усвоения языка.
– Проблемы билингвизма и обучение иноязычному
произношению. В рамках данной темы анализируются
различные определения термина ″билингвизм″,
рассматриваются критерии описания билингвизма, дается
характеристика языковых контактов.
– Принципы отбора и организации лексического и
грамматического материала на разных этапах обучения. При
работе над грамматикой в курсе русского языка как
иностранного предлагается опора на механизм
коммуникативного синтаксиса: в рецептивных видах речевой
деятельности при анализе коммуникантом высказывания с
целью выявления его значения и в говорении или письме при
выборе говорящим/пишущим грамматического оформления для
своего сообщения. Обращается внимание на то, что обучение
лексике осуществляется благодаря взаимодействию известных
операциональных уровней языка: лексического, фонетического,
словообразовательного, морфологического и синтаксического.
– Проблемы обучения видам речевой деятельности
(чтение, говорение, аудирование, письменная речь). Цикл
лекций охватывает довольно широкий круг вопросов: принципы
отбора текстов для чтения и аудирования, особенности
контроля письменной речи, оценка уровня сформированности
умений в говорении на разных уровнях обучения РКИ.
Выводы. Дистанционный курс «Методика преподавания
русского языка как иностранного (РКИ): традиции и
инновации» позволит слушателям расширить знания о
методах, способах и приемах обучения, ознакомиться с
новейшими исследованиями методических проблем в области
преподавания РКИ с тем, чтобы эффективно применять их при
обучении иностранцев русскому языку.
References
1. Молчановский В. В. Состав и содержание профессионально-деятельностной компетенции преподавателя русского языка
как иностранного: Дис. ... д-ра пед. наук: 13.00.02. – М., 1999.
2. Методика преподавания русского языка как иностранного для зарубежныхфилологов-русистов (включенное обучение) /
под ред. А. Н. Щукина. – М., 1990.
3. Щедровицкий Г. П. Избранные труды. – М., 1995. – С. 125.
4. Молчановский В. В. Преподаватель русского языка как иностранного. Опыт системно-функционального анализа. – М., 1998.
!
J%"#*%&7%:&()";($)"#*)#+&(,-./(013(
Киселева Анна Аркадьевна
Институт Прикладной Психологии "Гуманитарный центр"
ИЕРАРХИЧЕСКАЯ СИСТЕМА ПОНИМАНИЯ. СИСТЕМА "ЧЕЛОВЕК-ТЕКСТ"
Аннотация
В данной статье мы руководствовались гипотезой о том, что исследование процесса смыслопроизводства выявляет
структуру взаимодействия участников в процессе коммуникации и при взаимодействии «человек-текст». С помощью методов
интертекстовых вопросов нами была обнаружена иерархическая структура взаимодействия "человек-текст", выделены
лингвистические особенности текста, которые задают иерархию процесса смыслопроизводства и смыслопередачи. Выделены
основные классы интертекстовых вопросов. Их классификация отражает иерархическую структуру осмысления. Обнаружен
персонифицирующий эффект, способствующий вовлеченности участников коммуникации в процесс смыслопроизводства. Эта
тематика является перспективной для дальнейших экспериментальных исследований в этом направлении, поскольку в настоящий
момент недостаточно изучена.
Ключевые слова: процесс смыслопроизводства, метод интертекстовых вопросов, иерархия процесса осмысления,
персонифицирующий эффект.
Kiseleva Anna Arkadievna
Institute of Applied Psychology "Humanitarian center"
HIERARCHICAL SYSTEM OF SENSE-MAKING. THE "HUMAN-TEXT" SYSTEM
Abstract
In this article we drew upon the hypothesis that the research of sensemaking process discovers the structure of participant interaction in
communication and “text-individual” interaction. With the help of the method of intertextual questions hierarchical structure of this
interaction was discovered, the linguistic particularities of text were identified, that provoke hierarchical level of sensemaking process. The
main classes of intertextual questions were also singled out. Their classification reflects the hierarchical structure of sense-making. The
personified effect has been found, which stimulates more involvement in sensemaking process in communication. This topic is perspective for
further experimental researches in this direction, since nowadays it is not studied enough.
Keywords: sense-making process, method of intertextual questions, hierarchy of sense-making, personifying effect.
e have conducted a series of empirical researches
where our goal was associated with the clarification
of the structure of interaction “human-text” in the
process of sense-making. We have applied system approach to the
research of interaction “human-text”. This system also includes a
human, a text and a process of interaction. The goal of such system
is making of sense.
The text was represented as an element of system which has the
following hierarchical structure:
1. vision – purpose the author pursues during writing the
text; it is organizing, providing coherence and integrity of the text
content;
2. content – the set of actions, objects, participants aimed at
the expression of the author’s vision;
3. language units structured in a certain way and intended to
express certain text content. The text possesses the complexity for a
man at every level of its content. The man in the process of sense-
making overcomes this uncertainty and builds his own subjective
image of the text. As far as the system-formative factor and the final
aim of “human-text” interaction is sense-making (as a result), the
form of a man’s activity (sense-making as a mode) must have
hierarchical organization similar to that of a text.
Before the experiment the hypothesis was formulated that the
structure of “human-text” interaction during sense-making is not
homogeneous and is obviously represented on different hierarchical
levels which, on the one hand, reflect the peculiarities of the
hierarchical structure of the text, and, on the other hand – the
human’ activity aimed at overcoming the text complexity at every
level.
Besides, we have formulated the hypothesis that during the
interaction “human-text” the correspondence between hierarchy of
text complexity and the level of sense-making by the man must be
observed.
For researching the structure of interaction “human-text” we
have chosen the method of intertextual questions, since this method
satisfies the demands for researching the system “human-text”.
The question is the human’s purposeful activity associated with
making sense of the text through which he overcomes text
W
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
31!
!
complexity. So, the method of intertextual questions allows to
explicate and fix the process of interaction “human-text” during
sense-making and to research its structure.
The procedure of the experiment was as following. The
participants were offered a narrative text in Russian language
consisting of 50 sentences, and 2 advertising texts of 15-25
sentences. In order to investigate the structure of interaction
“human-text” in the process of sense-making, that is to have the
possibility to fix the process of interaction during making sense of
the text, we should specify certain fragments in the process of
interaction “human-text”. That is why the text was offered to the
participants by separate sentences. We will call them “positions”.
In the process of experiment we have previously chosen 2 forms
of text presentation. In the first case the participants were
sequentially presented with cards for every text position, in the
second case the text was read aloud by separate positions.
Comparing the questions obtained from the informants, we received
evidence of no significant differences between the answers of the
first and second groups. Meanwhile, the group which was presented
with the cards, worked slowly spending time of thinking their
questions through. There is a well-known fact in experimental
psychology: participants of the experiment have fear that their
results might be evaluated, so they adjust (adapt to) for the goals of
the experiment and seek to control their reactions. It may be the case
in our own experiment. As far as we were interested in the
participants’ spontaneous reactions, we read the text aloud. This
form of text presentation also satisfied the time criterion since the
text offered was rather lengthy and the use of cards, taking into
account the quantity of the participants, would take a lot of time.
45 persons took part in the research with narrative text, and 35
persons – with advertising texts. They were offered the following
instruction.
Instruction. We offer you to take part in the experiment, the
aim of which is to reveal the mechanisms of sense-making. We will
read you the text by separate sentences and you should try to
understand it as well as possible. After each sentence you should
formulate the question associated with the text content which is most
important at the moment of reading. You may ask question
associated with its previous and further presentation. Each question
should be fixed in the questionnaire under its own number that
corresponds the number of a sentence read.
As a result, the massive of intertextual questions was obtained.
As far as we were interested in a structure of interaction “human-
text”, especially in the relationships between the text structure and
making sense of it, we were to classify all intertextual questions.
In the research we have discovered the following classes which
described all the multitude of intertextual questions.
!
Figure 1. Classes of intertextual questions
1st class. Formal level. These questions are asked with the aim
to find out the meanings of words, phrases, the coherence of
language units as well as language forms and word combinations.
These questions are directed towards, basically, connotative,
occasional and figurative meanings of words. The objects of such
questions are basically metaphors, metonymies, idioms.
2nd class. Static content level. Questions at this level are
aimed at clarifying the text aspects associated with its content. The
questions are singled out that are directed towards statistical
dimensions of a sentence; participants, their attribution, status;
objects of action (instruments, devises, elements of objects); place
and time of actions.
3d class. Dynamic content level. The questions on this level
are aimed towards the dynmaic dimensions of the content: to the
direction of action; rapidity of action; the mode of action; the result
of action; action content, specifying the sequecne of the action
carried out.
4th class. Logic and sense level. These questions are aimed at
specification of the relations between content dimensions in the
previous, already presented, or in a current text positions. In so
doing such categories as the purpose of action, its cause and
reasonability are actualised.
5th class. Questions—inferences. They result the text
fragment presented, carry out fixing, completing and integrating
function in the making sense of a certain text fragment, they
summarize. As a rule, such questions are conclusions and statements
in their form. It should be noted that this part of questions-statements
most fully reflect the respondents’ subjective preferences and
abilities to adequately complete making sense of a certain text
fragment.
As a rule, for each text position the participants asked questions
from different groups. The were virtually no such text positions that
were asked with the questions of only one group.
Since this classification describes all the questions that may be
found on every position of the presented text, we may conclude that
this classification of questions reflect the interaction “human-text”
during making sense of this text. We paid attention to the fact that
the resulting classes of questions are not homogeneous and
organized into hierarchy.
Formal question in such case represent the simplest kind of
sense-making – on the level of lexical units; content questions are
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
32!
!
aimed at specifying objective and content aspects of text, on the
level of participants, objects, place, time as well as on the level of
actions that happen to participants, objects in time space; logic and
sense questions and inferences represent the most complex kind of
sense-making aimed at the creation of coherence, integrity
and identification of the purpose of text.
Consequently, this classification reflects hierarchical structure
of sense-making. Hierarchical structure of sense-making was
offered by Y.A. Mikk [6], Z.I.Klychnikova [4], I.Z.Zimniaja [3],
A.A.Smirnov [9], Z.D.Lvovskaya [5]. So with the help of the
method of intertextual questions we have experimentally revealed
that interaction “human-text” during sense-making is heterogeneous
and has hierarchical structure.
In the process of experimental research we formulated an
assumption about the existence of linear dependence between the
number of the text position and the quantity of questions from each
group. In other words, we supposed that there is dependence
between the increasing of a text position number and the decreasing
of formal questions. We also supposed that the amount of inferences
increases as the text unfolds; the amount of the questions of all the
other groups decreases with the number of sentences increasing.
We proceeded from the assumptions about stage-by-stage
change of the text complexity for a reader. We supposes that at the
beginning the subject assimilates the content objective aspect; gets
acquainted with main participants, object surrounding, then he
acquires the actions; establishes causal relations and draws
inferences. So the hierarchy of text complexity increases
sequentially. Our assumption is based on the concept of “text
without context” introduced by M.Gaaze-Rappoport and A.D.
Pospelov [1]. They model texts out of parts where firstly the
participants who don’t have names, only indications, are introduced,
then the actions between them are described and then the causal
relations are explicated.
Reduction of the amount of formal, static, dynamic and logical
questions by the moment of full text presentation is obviously
explained by the main text concepts, gradual acquaintance with the
object surrounding, main characters and logical relations in the text.
The amount of dynamic questions slightly reduces as the text
approaches to its end. It is obviously associated with the fact that at
the end the text is less saturated with actions as it was in the
beginning. The amount of inferences slightly increases, but at the
same time, since there is no explicit increase, the operation of
inferences is obviously evenly presented.
At the same time, we paid attention at the existence of certain
text fragments where our assumption about sequential change of text
complexity along with the increase of position was confirmed. Our
data allow to make a conclusion about the existence of certain
fragments in the text comprising different complexity in them (on
the level of language meanings, on the level of objects and
participants, on the level of actions and logic and sense relations).
And there are certain text fragments for each level of complexity,
their limits don’t coincide.
So, text complexity of each level changes disproportionately to
the increase of the number of text position and concentrates on
certain text fragments. Since these fragments are not ordered
sequentially according to the complexity from the level of meaning
of lexical units to the level of causal relations and inferences, the
conclusion can be made that the complexity of the text doesn’t
change sequentially from simple to complex one in the course of
reading a text. These hierarchical levels can be present
simultaneously and replace each other in a loose order. So, our
hypothesis about the sequential change of the complexity of text
wasn’t confirmed.
Since we were interested in the structure of the process of
interaction “human-text” during sense-making, especially in the
relationships between the features of the text positions and making
sense of them, we needed to analyze the features of such text
positions which correspond certain kinds of sense-making.
The appearance of the dynamic questions is associated with the
description of actions (sequence, rapidity, results). We also paid
attention to the fact that great amount of dynamic questions
coincides with negative peaks of logical questions. It also allows to
say that dynamic and logical questions really belong to different
levels of sense-making and bringing in stimuli at the dynamic level
prevents sense-making on a higher level. Consequently, the
correspondence between the complexity of the text position
presented and the level of making sense of it preserves for dynamic
questions.
Summarizing the content of these positions, we can make a set
of conclusions.
1. These sentences possess the features of sense
completeness in a text.
2. Sense fragments of the text are singled out which are
completed with the increase of the proportion of inferences, that is
on these positions the conclusions about the sense fragment of a text
are made.
3. The tendency of increasing inferences according to the
chronological sequence of position in a given semantic fragment is
observed.
The presence of figurative meanings, comparisons, idioms is
observed in these positions. Others are characterized by the brevity
in content. Such brevity of a text position led to the fact that
informants lost orientation in text content and tried to restore it on
the level of the meanings of language units. The increasing of formal
questions is accompanied by the decreasing of sense-forming
question. In our opinion, it evidences about the mutually excluding
sense-making on the level of meanings of language units and on the
level of logic and sense relations.
So, basing on the analysis of text positions, a conclusion can be
made that the amount of questions of each group depends on textual
content. Moreover, there is a correspondence between the level of
complexity of the presented text position and the level of making
sense of it by the group of respondents. So, our hypothesis about the
correspondence between the hierarchy of the text complexity and the
level of making sense of it was confirmed.
We have also discovered the relationships between the levels of
sense-making. Thus, content and formal levels of sense-making are
in a reverse relations with the group of logic and sense questions.
Basing on this, it can be concluded that sense-making on a lower
level (formal and content) prevents sense-making on a higher level
(logic and sense), and these kinds of sense-making really belong to
different hierarchical levels.
As a result of preliminary research, we have obtained
classification of intertextual questions which describes all the
massive of questions and reflects hierarchical structure of interaction
“human-text”. This classification allows to structure the process of
interaction “human-text” the aim of which is sense-making.
We received evidence that the process of interaction is
heterogeneous (not uniform) and is represented on different levels:
formal, content, logic and sense and the level of inferences. And
sense-making on a lower level prevents sense-making on a higher
one.
Since the hypothesis about the correspondence between the
hierarchy of the text complexity and making sense of it was
confirmed, we can say that the information presented in the text
generates a corresponding level of comprehension. It means that the
text possesses a sense-formative function, that is it influences sense-
making during interaction. Consequently, the quality of the
presentation of textual information will define the character of
sense-making. On the other hand, the correspondence between the
hierarchy of text complexity and making sense of it allows to say
that making sense of a text is more adequate if a person orients to the
text content trying to making sense of it. In this case he reacts more
accurately to the level of the information presented in a text. At the
end of experimental research lets us summarize the data and make
important conclusions.
We have experimentally discovered linguistic features of the
hierarchical structure of a text. Among them we can single out
“simple” and “complex” features. By saying “simple” we mean
those which are fixed by concrete text elements, on one of the
lexical levels, lexical-grammatical or lexical-semantic one. For
example, lexica with notion-objective, processual-acting meaning,
etc.
“Complex” structure features, on contrary, don’t always find
concrete expression in a text. As a rule, they have a set of indicators
both on lexical, grammatical, syntactical and semantic levels. For
example, the novelty of elements, real reference, explicative power
of utterances, the presence of target function in sentences,
reasonableness and conditionality of text elements, etc. We will call
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
33!
!
these features “contextual features of the text”, since they can’t be
singled out without the analysis of the context.
It should be noted, that the main differences of the hierarchical
structure of texts are defined not by “simple” features, since every
text contains lexica with notion-objective and processual-acting
meanings.
The conclusion that the main differences of the text structure
lies in contextual features that organize the structure (architectonics)
of the content and thus define the meaning of a text, is also
important, since the analysis of the meaning of “simple” linguistic
features without contextual ones is not constitutive.
Consequently, it is these contextual features of a text that need
to be investigated, they are basic and define its differences.
Moreover, modeling the text without contextual features is
unreasonable.
However, a question arises: what defines the context and in
relation to what is should be studied? Often during interpretation of
narrative texts (for example, hermeneutic approach) the analysis of
an appropriate historical setting, author’s biography, etc. is
conducted. The need for this arises especially because the purpose of
the text is not expressed. Thus, the researcher has to interpret the
context by himself and to define the purpose of the text for the
author. Is should be noted that sometimes the author himself doesn’t
fully realize the purpose of the text (the difference between the
critics and the author’s opinion). This creates for the researcher
additional difficulties and leads to subjective ambiguity in
interpreting the context and the purpose of a text.
That is why in our research we have chosen special orientated
advertisement texts, that is the texts with a clearly defined purpose
(perlocutive effect): stimulating reader’s actions aimed at
surrounding reality. In this case the context is defined by the purpose
– to make influence. The meaning of the context and architectonics
of the structure and the use of certain language tools must
correspond to the purpose of a text. Here the context is a means for
achieving the purpose. All the above-mentioned allows to make a
conclusion: the text should be studied and designed in relation to this
purpose.
In our work we defined linguistic features of the following
analysis and modeling of texts in actively influencing
communication channels (for example, advertisement). It especially
allows to analyze the linguistic features of an advertisement with a
certain purpose which is expressed as an exclusive sale offer.
Since the texts may be aimed at different purposes, for example,
creation a presentation, understanding, impact on emotional state,
then, consequently, the context for achieving these purposes must be
different as well. So, linguistic features characterizing these contexts
are also different.
Thus, analyzing text in relation to various purposes, we have a
possibility to reveal various phenomenology, characterizing the text
organization (in our case – personifying effect). This topic is
perspective for further empiric researches in this direction, since at
the current moment it is not studied enough.
The offered approach to researching the texts in the actively
influencing communication channels allows to study the context in
relation to the purpose of a text. It can be easily transferred to other
special orientated texts, for example, political ones.
Special orientated advertisement texts chosen for the research
have explicitly expressed purpose – perlocutive effect. System
presentation of interaction “human-text” allows to consider the
features of a human and a text in relation to the purpose and to
define those one that influence the perlocutive effect. We have
obtained interesting experimental data about the respondents’
individual strategies during the interaction “human-text”.
Unfortunately, these materials exceed the frames of this work.
Designing of a research oriented especially towards the process
of interaction as a representative system characteristics allowed to
investigate the system “human-text” as well as linguistic features of
a text in relation to perlocutive effect.
As far as the linguistic features that we discovered characterize
the context as a means for achieving purpose, we will call them
functional-aimed, and the text structure that was the object of
research will be called functional-aimed, correspondingly.
Thus, the feature of a functional-aimed text structure is a
phenomenon of personifying effect that we have discovered. In its
function, personifying effect is similar to “communicative effect” of
an utterance [2]. In authors’ opinion, communicative effect consists
in accepting the utterance by the reader or listener. They also note
that the perlocutive effect of an utterance is impossible without the
communicative one. However, in our case, personifying effect, in
contrast to the communicative one, is aimed not only to the
accepting of utterance but to the influence upon the subject as well.
That is why it is more powerful, active and externally orientated
feature of the functional-aimed text structure and can be considered
as a separate phenomenon.
Personifying effect has linguistic features in a text and is
represented on different hierarchical levels. Thus, on the one hand,
the effect of personification is achieved at the expense of the use of
certain lexical units which can be isolated from the text. For
example, personal pronouns of the second person, verbs aimed at the
reader expressing the possibility, intention, open appeal to action,
lexica of the semantic field “successfulness”. On the other hand,
personifying effect has contextual features, for example, novelty of
the text elements, reasonableness and conditionality of the
appearance of elements of text content, real reference, presence of
the target function in sentences, constructive communicative strategy
(absence of pumping). As we realized, personifying effect can’t be
isolated on the level of “simple” features and is defined by the
contextual features of a text.
On the one hand, it has hierarchically ordered form of
expression in a text. On the other hand, it reflects the quality
(condition) of the functional-aimed structure as a system in relation
to the purpose (perlocutive effect).
Thus, personifying effect directly influences the perfocutive
effect and therefore is an obligatory component and a characteristic
feature of advertisement texts. However, the use of linguistic
attribution of the perlocutive effect doesn’t define its achievement
by itself, that is it has different degree of the adequacy in relation to
the purpose. Thus, for example, “formal” text positions have an
explicit personifying attribution, for example, assertives and
commissives that contain verbs indicating the possibility, intention
and appeal to action; interrogative form of sentences. These features
are also characteristic of the positions that provoke inferences.
Alongside, their usage in “formal” positions is not appropriate,
since it doesn’t take into account contextual features, for example,
reasonableness and conditionality of the content elements by the text
presentation. The absence of the objective function in interrogative
sentences, of the agent and performative verb in assertives and
commissives evidences about the poor quality of organization of
personifying effect in functional-aimed structure in “formal”
positions. It should be emphasized that such analysis of the quality
of personifying effect is possible only in relation to the purpose of
the text.
So, in modeling special orientated texts with the predictable
perlocutive effect, functional-aimed text structure must be such that
the organization of the personifying effect as a necessary condition
corresponds the purpose. And the more the perlocutive effect that
must be expressed, the more simple and contextual expressive means
of the personifying effect should the functional-aimed text structure
include. That is why the personifying attribution is a prerequisite for
a predictable perlocutive effect, and its adequate organization in
relation to the purpose of the text is a its sufficient condition.
It is important to note that linguistic features of the positions
revealed in experiment characterize not only functional-aimed text
structure, but the content one as well. We will consider this
conclusion in more detail.
We have proved in research the hierarchical character of
interaction “human-text”. It is represented in the following ways:
formal, static content, dynamic content, logic and sense, inferences.
As far as the process of interaction “human-text” reflects the features
of the object and the subject, we may state that the hierarchy of
interaction is defined by the text features and conditioned by the
textual structure. This confirms the regularity of the correspondence
between the hierarchy of text position and the mode of interaction
between man and text that we discovered in the analysis of features
of text positions. Thus, “static” positions correspond the lexica with
notion-objective meaning, “dynamic” ones – lexica with processual-
acting, “logic and sense” and “inferences” – lexical markers of the
argumentative discourse and the elements ensuring the content
coherence and the integrity of the text.
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
34!
!
So, we can state that hierarchical structure of the text is
organized on notion-objective and processual-acting levels as well as
on the levels ensuring the content coherence and the integrity of the
text. This structure is called the content text structure, and linguistic
features are called content-structural, correspondingly.
This content structure is similar to the structure of the narrative
text in a preliminary research which allows to make a conclusion
about its basic and universal character for the texts with various
purposes. In D.A.Pospelov’s terms [8], the content structure is a
“text without context”.
As far as the purpose is a system-formative factor for a text,
then functional-aimed structure organizes the content one in relation
to the purpose and creates the contexts facilitating the achievement
of the perlocutive effect. So, by means of analogy, we can call
functional-aimed structure as “context without text”.
No let us pay attention to the function of such modes of
interaction “human-text” as logic and sense and inferences. We
suppose that these modes ensure the relation between the content
and functional-aimed structures and the purpose of the text. By
saying “inferences” here we mean those text positions which express
its purpose, perlocutive effect. Positions that provoke inferences
must adequately express the objective (purpose) function of the text.
In such case the respondents’ inferences will evidence that the
perlocutive effect is achieved.
References
1. Гаазе-Раппопорт М.Г., Поспелов Д.А. От амебы до робота: модели поведения. Москва. – 1987.
2. Еемерен Ф.Х. ван, Гроотендорст Р. Аргументация. Коммуникация и ошибки. – Санкт-Петербург. – 1992.
3. Зимняя И.А. Психологическая характеристика понимания речевого сообщения //Оптимизация речевого воздействия. –
Москва. – 1990.-С. 72-87.
4. Клычникова З.И. Психоогические особенности восприятия письменной речи: Автореф. на соиск. степени доктора
филологических наук. – Москва. – 1975.
5. Львовская З.Д. Глубинная и поверхностная структура научного текста // Иностранный язык для специалистов. – Москва. –
1990. – С. 46-59
6. Микк Я.А. Оптимизация сложности учебного текста. – Тарту. – 1981.
7. Миллер М., Галантер А., Прибрам С. Планы и структуры в поведении. – Москва. Прогресс, – 1976. – 286 с.
8. Поспелов Д.А. Моделирование рассуждений. – Москва. – 1989
9. Смирнов А.А. Проблемы психологии памяти. – Москва. – 1966
Милевская Татьяна Валентиновна, Аббасова Лейла Алакберовна
Южный федеральный университет, Южный федеральный университет
КАТЕГОРИЯ СВЯЗНОСТИ И НАЦИОНАЛЬНО-ДИСКУРСИВНАЯ ФОРМАЦИЯ
Аннотация
В статье анализируется вхождение/невхождение компонентов в один концепт как основа связности. Рассматриваются
концепты, в том числе и цветовые. В качестве иллюстраций рассматриваются публицистические и рекламные тексты.
Ключевые слова: связность, национально-дискурсивная формация, концепт, цветовая номинация.
Milevskaya Tatiana Valentinovna, Abbasova Leyla Alakberovna
South Federal University, South Federal University
THE CATEGORY OF COHERENCE AND NATION-DISCOURSE FORMATION
Abstract
The article deals with entry/non-entry of components in the same concept as the base of coherence. The concepts including colour
concepts are regarded. Publicistic and advertising texts illustrate it.
Keywords: coherence, nation-discourse formation, concept, colorism.
very nation as a language community regularly and
constantly interacts according to the base of common,
known to everybody signs. The concrete language
encodes the worldimage relevant for members of the definite nation.
It should be mentioned that linguistic worldimage is a dynamic
phenomenon, reflecting and changing in the way of life of the
language community. People, not only speaking one language but
living in the same socio-common and culture-political conditions,
for example in the same time in the same country, have the equitable
linguistic worldimage. All these facts limit members’ of an
interlanguage communication pattern of background knowledge
independently of individual preferences. Thus “time” and “place”
limit generated utterances due to identity of the members’ of the
communication positions. This gives a reason to regard the concrete
language community as a different from other nations discourse
formation (we use this notion coined by M.Foucault in “The
Archaeology of Knowledge” – Milevskaya T.V., Abbasova L.A.) and
to describe a range of people having identical background
knowledge as a nation-discourse formation [1, 24].
The discourse analysis of texts generated during one period
allows to determine relations set up among concepts which are
actual for the concrete society during the concrete period (sometimes
rather continuous). It seems to us that periods of contiguity of
concepts differ. From 1917 to 1991 the soviet epoch had been
connecting such concepts as «труд», «союз», «красный», for
example. Besides the abolition of the communist system did not
break the relations among these concepts in the native speakers’
language awareness in one stage. Here “the native speakers” is “the
soviet people” as the community of vehicles of identical ideology
and stock of knowledge that presents notion-discourse formation.
The refusal of static character within the scope of ideology caused
the dynamic of the discourse. In support of this conjecture, we can
carry out cognitive-discourse analysis of the situation of 90s in The
Russian Federation.
“Ваучер” had been intimately connected within the scope of
nation-linguistic formation with the concept privatization. Every
native speaker of that relatively impermanent period realized this
notion as a part of the concept «государственная экономика» in its
turn. The extracts from the chronicle of 1992 “Независимая газета”
illustrate the functioning of the lexeme ваучер and its co-occurrence
range, that provides the basis for the coherence within the scope of
the articles in point.
Ельцин получил свой ваучер
Президент РФ Борис Ельцин получил вчера свой
приватизационный чек. «Не хочу пользоваться дополнительной
месячной отсрочкой для получения своего приватизационного
чека», — сказал Ельцин журналистам. Он подчеркнул, что
вместе с другими гражданами России хотел бы воспользоваться
чеком в период перехода к рыночному хозяйству.
"Ваучеры", или приватизационные чеки, были выпущены в
январе 1992 года. По сути, это было массовое частное
инвестирование в приватизируемые госпредприятия, —
отметила эксперт. — Каждый мог купить себе частичку завода,
колхоза, банка, магазина.
The lexeme ваучер groups with the verb получить. In the
headline, the author uses this lexeme, but in the text he replaces it
with the collocation приватизационный чек. This proves the
synonymy of ваучер and приватизационный чек. The relative
adjective приватизационный refers to the notion приватизация,
whitch characterizes the economic circumstances in the country
when the article was written, the phrase «воспользоваться чеком в
период перехода к рыночному хозяйству» proves this. The notion
приватизационный чек was the part of the concept приватизация.
E
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
35!
!
It is obvious that now such conceptual connection is not set as
primary and it is not actualized in everyday communication.
The word combination «приватизационный чек» can be used
in the modern discourse only within the reference to Russia at the
beginning of 90s.
The reality (present for the author) is reflected in the discourse.
The connection of the notions ваучер, чек and приватизация was
familiar (regular) for members of Russian discourse-language
formation, in other language formations such connection was not set
without the reference to the events in Russia.
A coherence within a discourse is based on relevant for a
concrete language community connections of a language unit. These
connections can be determined during the analysis of the functioning
of so-called colorisms.
We can study well-known nominations «Красная Москва» and
«Красный мак» as the realization of the coherence between the
concept красный and the notions Москва and мак. At the present
time such connection in the native speakers' Russian worldimage is
not set. The unit Москва and the adjective красный are not
contiguous. The connection between красный and маки is possible,
but in this case the denotatum changes: the word combination
красные маки in the language awareness correlate to red poppies,
not to cosmetic production like in the soviet epoch.
The analysis of the advertising discourse allows to observe the
coherence of nominations of one colour field, sometimes – of the
whole concept.
In the nominations of colour shades we can observe the
coherense of the colorisms describing them through interrelationship
between the subject of the comparison and the advertised colour
shade of the cosmetic product (white: снег, арктический белый,
снежный ландыш, искрящийся снег; beige: естественный
бежевый, топленое молоко, сливочным крем, песочный,
бисквит; red: красная смородина, страстный алый, дерзкий
красный, глинтвейн, жажда огня, красный мак; brown:
шоколадный мусс, орех, аппетитное какао, горячий кофе,
теплый каштан).
The analysis of the discourse reveals that the reflection of
colour concepts is not only proper colour nominations (черный,
белый, красный) but lexemes mean subjects and phenomena
connected with describing colours. Besides a communicant-producer
encodes the information in such a way that due to identity of
background knowledge perceiving a message recipient without extra
intellectual efforts recreates an encoded colour characteristic relying
on a coherence between components and in a discourse both in an
awareness.
A national causality and linguistic wordimage predetermination
can be illustrated with a striking instance of the colour nomination of
art goods кассельский коричневый (Faber-Castell, Germany). It is
obvious that a native Russian speaker can not realize the shade of
brown without extra reference sources. The source of
communicative failure is the difference between Russian and
German language communities' background knowledge, the absence
of conceptual coherence between the components of the colour
nomination. Thus in the act of translating a colour nomination the
connection between this unit and the denotatum can be lost because
of the absence of this unit in one of these linguistic worldimages.
So a coherence is conditioned with entry/non-entry of a
particular component in a definite concept fixed in a particular
language community's awareness. What is more a cultural
experience is essential.
References
1. Фуко М. Археология знания. Гуманитарная академия. СПб. - 2012. - С. 24
Халина Наталья Васильевна
Алтайский государственный университет
ЛИНГВИСТИЧЕСКАЯ ТЕОРИЯ В ПОСТИНДУСТРИАЛЬНОМ ДИЗАЙН-ПРОЦЕССЕ
Аннотация
В статье когнитивная теория Р. Лангакера рассматривается как образец лингвистической теории, адаптированной к
нуждам постиндустриального дизайна и основывающейся на математическом варианте проектировочного знания.
Ключевые слова: когнитивная грамматика, дизайн процесс, философия языка.
Khalina Nataliya Vasilievna
Altai State University
LINGUISTIC THEORY IN POSTINDUSTRIAL THE DESIGN PROCESS
Abstract
The article is devoted to the cognitive theory which was created by R. Langacker is described as the example of linguistic theory which is
adapted to the needs of post-industrial design, relies on a mathematical variant of the design knowledge.
Keywords: cognitive grammar, design process, philosophy of language.
n the middle of the 70s of the last century N. Cross
highlights one of the features of society that are included in
the post-industrial era: relevant is the notion of design,
gradually separated from the production process and referred to as
"post-industrial design process" [Cross 1982]. Adaptation to the
needs of post-industrial design assumed a new look at the ability to
design, which was defined as "designer ways of knowing".
The ability to design, or the ability to designing, is recognized
as more important than before, more like the ability to "think" that
includes the talent of knowledge to realize “how understand", "how
to imagine" any object, appearance, phenomenon. Design knowledge
was also recognized as a strategic form of knowledge that supports
problem solving methods based on previous decisions. Design in its
new understanding is proposed to classify three categories: image,
problem solving and the search for the ideal.
The change in the socio-interpretative status of design in post-
industrial society meant a change in the strategic approach to the
description of "state of Affairs" in academic discourse and, as a
consequence, the change of state of science, involving the actual
change of the content of science. It is at this point J. Freeman and G.
Skolimowski, discussing the concepts, which the mind must possess
to develop the science, and by which it can comprehend the content
of science [Freeman, Skolimowski 2006]. In the works for Them.
Kant such basic concepts that contribute to the perception of
knowledge was defined as «schemes of the mind» («the schemata
view of the mind») [Kant 1994].
In the process of knowledge acquiring the mind, as suggested
by H. Skolimowski, follows a certain, predetermined structural
template pattern, or acts in accordance with certain thought patterns
[Freeman, Skolimowski 2006]. The patterns of thinking are the
organizing units of knowledge that allow to structure knowledge into
intelligible forms. R. Langacker’s cognitive grammar should be
considered, as we believe, as a pattern of thinking that represents the
specificity of the linguistic theory of post-industrial society,
characterized by "designer ways of knowing" and systematization of
design knowledge.
Any new hypothesis, argue J. Freeman and G. Skolimowski
[Freeman, Skolimowski 2006] is a new invention of a possible
world, or, in the terminology of G. Fauconnier , mental space
[Fauconnier 1985].
Mental space of R. Langacker is based on the theory
of Fauconnier’s cognitive models, which includes provisions
relating to mental spaces and cognitive models that structure these
spaces. Mental space of R. Langacker, like any other mental space,
is the environment of conceptualization and thinking, appropriate to
any ‘state of affairs’ in its infancy.
Conceptualization in the mental space, based on the provisions
of the post-industrial design process, primarily represented by the
category "portraying". Portraying process, according to N. Cross,
can't really create new products, because the portraying
process itself is a process which involves only the transformation of
the design image (projective image, imaginary or abstract imaginary
I
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
36!
!
concept in the mind of the designer) in a specific shape or form.
Thus, the portraying process is creative only that invests in a non-
existent imaginary shapes and forms. Moreover, the essential nature
of creativity of this process lies in the design image which shape, or
form then submit.
One of the active forms of Langacker’s representation
[Langacker 2008] the content of the new format of language theory
are schematic drawings that, on the one hand, are
representante organizing pieces of knowledge that allows you to
structure knowledge into intelligible forms, or patterns of thinking,
on the other hand, represent a projective transformation of the image
(design image), or abstract imaginary concept in the mind of the
designer-scientist into some particular shape, more understandable to
“the reader" of theory.
Thus, reasoning about the features of the organization's
meanings include the elements of design knowledge, which, in
accordance with the theory of R. Langacker, consists of conceptual
content and special construction methods of this content. The term
design refers to the theory of R. Langacker with a person's ability to
understand and reproduce similar situation alternative ways. As an
illustration of the described ability R. Langacker leads the following
illustration diagram:
!
Fig. 1
Conceptual content lies in the question: does the concept of a
glass the water, which occupies half of its volume. At the conceptual
level, probably we can intensify this content in a neutral manner, as
R. Langacker suggests. But as soon as we decode the content
linguistically, with the necessity we ascribed to this substance some
interpretation, explanation – construal. Figure-diagram shows four
options of interpretation due to the difference designata. Each
element implies the existence of some content, in turn, each content
is constructed through some form.
Thinking about the peculiarities of the lexical meaning involves
the search for an answer to a question what includes a lexical
meaning. R. Langacker, answering the question about the content of
the lexical meaning, begins with consideration of the traditional
view. Traditionally, it is recognized that lexical meaning consists of
multiple correlated semantic features or descriptive units
(establishments), specifically linguistic in nature, really different
from the basic knowledge concerning the type of objectivity that it
belongs to.
So the basic properties of a bull, for example, are described by
the semantic features [MALE], [ADULT] and [BOVINE]. In such a
case, the lexical meaning is more like the dictionary entry, than an
article in the encyclopedia. Such an approach is metaphorically
described as a dictionary view on linguistic semantics (Fig. 2). The
circle represents the whole body of knowledge that the speaker has
about the issue under discussion. Discrete set of specifications that
constitute the lexical problems of meaning represented by a small
rectangle inside the circle
Fig. 2
An alternative view, metaphorically correlated with an
encyclopedic semantics, mainly used in cognitive linguistics. In this
approach, lexical meaning is represented in a special way as an open
body of knowledge related to a certain type of reality. This
knowledge is represented in the figure by a set of concentric circles,
showing that the components of knowledge have varying degrees of
centrality.
Ranking relative to the center is one of the dimensions of a
conventional set of values of lexical meaning. With an encyclopedic
point of view the lexical meaning can never be absolutely free or
absolutely fixed. Absolutely free it can't be, because the expression
involves the use of a certain grade of knowledge and specifies the
particular way of its introduction. The path cannot be absolutely
fixed, because centrality is the question and the subject determined
by contextual factors.
Theory of language by R. Langacker demonstrates the
possibilities of the application of design method of cognition within
analytic philosophy, in which, according to V. Ya. Shramko
[Shramko 2007] logical analysis as a kind of so-called
transformative (or interpretive) analysis, takes the first place. A
prerequisite of the latter is the expression of an adequate logical
form a parsed entity through its transformation in some suitable
formal logical language.
When placing the concept of R. Langacker in the context of
analytical philosophy of W. V. O. Quine [Quine 1968], we can
conclude that the graphical representation of the theory of R.
Langacker may be interpreted as ways of cognitive theory
portraying, descriptive marks, which are singular terms. These
singular terms belong to a new universe, "running" quantified
variables of the theory logical form. Subsets of the new universe are
selected as extensional of single predicates, being the basis of
interpretation.
Each interpretation of the theoretical forms of R. Langacker in
the context of ontological relativity of W. V. O. Quine will be
referred to as a model, if this form is true in the interpretation. In this
case, in the theory of R. Langacker as model may be
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
37!
!
recognized only the component of the theory, which is accompanied
by a graphic representation and translates the linguistic mind from a
mental space, defined by linguistic competence to mental space of a
system of pairwise mutually exclusive events, or the space of the
system entropy. The entropy is taken in its understanding in applied
combinatorics [Kofman 1975] as the mathematical expectation of
some random variable, which is able to detect itself if there is a
certain probability, contribute to the occurrence of the event, which
will become the material carrier of magnitude.
Cognitive theory R. Langacker is described as the example of
linguistic theory which is adapted to the needs of post-industrial
design, relies on a mathematical variant of the design knowledge
that discovers the identity at the level of the inner form of the
philosophy of language "generative grammar" and theory of
language "cognitive grammar". In this case, from the point of view
of ontological relativity W. V. O. Quine the definition of the
universe of cognitive grammar is meaningful only relative to prior
theory – generative grammar − and some choice of the transfer of
transformational theory into cognitive theory. As the transfer
method, in our opinion, the design knowledge is selected what
allows in the designing metal space pairwise mutually exclusive
events to replace linguistic competence by the ability to design,
defined as "designery ways of knowing", and thus, to make
next theoretical transformation of everyday reality.
References
1. Kant Im. Kritika chistogo razuma [Tekst] / Im. Kant. M, 1994.
2. Kofman A. Vvedenie v prikladnuju kombinatoriku [Tekst] / A. Kofman. M., 1975.
3. Frimen Ju., Skolimovskij G. Poisk ob#ektivnosti u Pirsa i Poppera [Tekst] / Ju. Frimen// Jevoljucionnaja jepistemologija i logika social
4. Shramko Ja.V. Chto takoe analiticheskaja filosofija? [Tekst] /Ja.V. Shramko // Jepistemologija i filosofija nauki. 2007. T. XI. S. 87-
110.
5. Cross N. Designerly Ways of Knowing [Text] / N. Cross // Design Studies. 1982ю Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 221-227.
6. Fauconnier G.. Mental Spaces: Aspects of Meaning Construction in Natural Language [Text] / G. Fauconnier. Cambridge (Mass.),
1985.
7. Langacker R.W. Cognitive Grammar. A Basic Introduction. Cognitive [Text] / R.W. Langacker. New York, Oxford University Press.
2008
8. Quine W.V.O. Ontological Relativity [Text] / W.V.O Quine //The Journal of Philosophy. 1968. Vol. LXV, № 7. P. 185-212.
Шишкова Дина Дмитриевна
Образовательная студия "Тьютор"
ЛЕКСИЧЕСКИЕ И СИНТАКСИЧЕСКИЕ ОСОБЕННОСТИ АНГЛИЙСКОЙ ГАЗЕТНОЙ СТАТЬИ
Аннотация
В данной статье рассматриваются особенности английского газетного стиля. Приводятся результаты исследования
лексики, синтаксиса и структуры английской газетной статьи. В качестве материала исследования автор использует выпуски
газеты The Guardian с 01.12.12 по 01.04.13.
Ключевые слова: газетный стиль, публицистика, английская газетная статья.
Shishkova Dina Dmitrievna
School "Tutor"
LEXICAL AND SYNTACTIC PECULIARITIES OF AN ENGLISH NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
Abstract
The article considers pecularities of English journalese. The results of research on lexics, syntax, structure of newspaper articles and
headlines are provided. The author uses ussues of “The Guardian” from 01.12.12 till 01.04.13 as research data.
Keywords: journalese, english newspaper article, publicism.
ournalese, the style of newspapers, formed in the English
language in the middle of 19th century. It has come a long
way of shaping. The first English newspaper, called «The
News of the Present Week» was published in 1622. Before that there
had been periodic news leaflets. But due to the law that permitted
using the printing press without king’s personal permission, all the
information that was to be published in the leaflets was strictly
censored. In the end of the 17th century this law was abolished and
since that time the history of the English journalese began. For years
newspapers have been one of the main sources of information and
thanks to their availability in the Internet they stay up to date till
today. The language that we see on the newspaper pages has its own
lexical and stylistic peculiarities. These peculiarities will be
examined in this article.
The structure of the English article.
The majority of English articles have the structure of an
inverted pyramid. This means that the main information of the
article is summarized in the first paragraph, thus turning the text
upside down. The ending, the consequences of an event are put in
the first place, whereas the details and the initial cause are revealed
later. The aim of such structure is to bring the vital information to
the reader’s attention as soon as possible, which is in the first
passages of the article. Secondary information is introduced in the
third-forth paragraph of the article, though the reader might not read
so far. In his article “the birth of the inverted pyramid” an American
journalist and writer Chip Scanlan says that the appearance of the
structure of the inverted pyramid owes much to the invention of the
telegraph, that happened 150 years ago. Given that the massages
were expensive, journalists tried to avoid the copious style of 19th
century and invented a new, compressed style. [6]
According to the research 48 articled out of the analised 50
have the structure of the inverted pyramid and only two have the
chronological structure. It should be pointed out that this structure is
very convenient for news texts as it gives the reader the possibility to
learn about the changes in a particular situation very quickly.
Peculiarities of English newspaper headlines.
The distinguishing feature of an English headline is simplified
grammar. In passive constructions the verb “to be” is often omitted:
Chinese traffic police given anti-smog nasal filters
(27.03) instead of Chinese traffic police IS given anti-smog nasal
filters;
French driver trapped for an hour in speeding 125mph car with
no brakes (13.02) instead of French driver WAS trapped for an hour
in speeding 125mph car with no brakes.
Articles and possessive pronouns are also omitted: Princess
Diana’s dress snapped up by anonymous bidder as surprise for
wife.(19.03).
The Present Simple Tense is mainly used in headlines, even if
past actions are described. The Present Simple tense gives a reader
the feeling of simultaneity of events:
Paris fashion week: Raf Simons repeats Oscars triumph for
Dior. (1.03)
Andrew Marr leaves hospital nearly two months after suffering
a stroke. (01.03)
The use of quotations and direct speech is common for English
headlines:
73-year-old bank robber 'wanted to return to jail'. (13.02)
Nicolas Sarkozy: I’d return to politics only to
save France. (06.03)
Relaxation of US cannabis laws ‘violates UN drug
convention’. (22.03)
The jobseeker's story: 'I'm not proud to say I've gone
begging'. (22.03)
J
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
38!
!
Indirect speech is also occasionally used: World’s oldest person
Jiroemon Kimura 115, says rise with the sun, read a paper. (07.03)
Adoption reforms must slow down and give more support to
parents, say peers. (06.03)
Foreign words and emotional lexics are often used:
French Communist party says adieu to the hammer and
sickle (10.02) (adieu – french “Good bye” ); Bonjour … David
Beckham introduces himself as a Paris Saint-Germain
player. (31.01) (Bonjour – french “Good afternoon”).
Minami Minegishi of AKB48 appears in tearful mea culpa on
YouTube after breaking her band's strict rules on dating, (mea
culpa – (from Latin, often humorous, used when you are admitting
that sth is your fault).
Readers can also come cross tropes in newspaper headlines:
Fashion renews its love affair with the royal family
(metaphor). (22.03)
It should be pointed out that the main function of English
headlines is the informative function, the author in the first place
informs the reader what the article is about and only after that tries
to attract attention and advertise his work: Syria crisis: European
countries expected to start arming rebels. (01.02), Paralyzed people
could get movement back through thought control. (17
.02), Childcare costs rising by more than twice the rate of
inflation. (06.03)
A few words must be said about the structure of an English
headline. Most commonly a headline is a two-member sentence
which has a subject and a predicate. Single words and phrases
seldom make headlines: Obesity crisis: doctors demand soft drinks
tax and healthier hospital food (18.02), Spanish city's ban on Islamic
veils overturned (28.02)
Lexical and syntactical peculiarities of an English article.
One of the main peculiarities of English articles is without a
doubt the role of passive voice. It is especially evident in news
reports:
More than 200 medicinal products are affected…( 27.02)
The message was received, loud and clear. (01.03)
…he could be sent to prison for up to 20 years. (13.02)
Thus, it can be said that passive constructions are more
common than active constructions. Apart from passivizing, peculiar
is the amount of non-finite verbs: gerund, participal 1 and participal
2, that make the text more informative and logical:
Reading helps (31.01)
…. to talk to families about receiving help (19.03)
She also agreed that the property, accessed by narrow lanes,
was an “open house” for family, friends and then her
boyfriend (19.03)
However, all were discharged within two days to two
weeks having gained weight and none had long-term damage.
(20.03)
Clichés are often used in newspaper articles. This is one if the
features of newspaper style: according to federal complaint,
according to state media report, presumed, estimated, to be reported,
it is claimed, it was announced, one the one hand … one the other
hand, … declined to comment, on the agenda etc.
Frequent is also the occurrence of infinitive phrases, such as: to
be expected, to be said to, to appear to, to be likely to do, to fail to
do:
… and the proposal appears to have the support of David
Cameron. (13.03)
But newspaper groups appeared to be moving to boycott the
new system… (19.03)
The aid is expected to include civilian vehicle… (02.03)
The woman is said to have injured herself escaping from her
first-floor room… (19.03)
Talking about cliché expressions and infinitive phrases, one
should point out the verb “to allege” – to assert to be true, affirm;
and its derivative phrases – to be alleged, allegedly. This verb is
used almost in every article and it is fair to assume that it is very
important in the modern press. As well as the infinitive phrases “to
appear to”, “to be said to”, the phrase “to be alleged to” is used in
those cases when the author is not absolutely sure in the reliability of
the information that he transmits:
A British tourist in India has been injured after she fled her
hotel in fear when a man allegedly tried to barge into her
room (19.03)
The prosecution has said the motive for the men’s alleged plot
may never be known. (19.03)
Newspaper articles are also rich in complex and compound
sentences:
Local newspapers and magazines could also set up on their
own, insiders have warned, while Scotland is also threatening a
separate system. (19.03)
Jobcentre employees across the country say that as a direct
result of this sort of pressure they are now expected to hit a
“minimum expected level” of sanctions (22.03).
Complex sentences are more common in English newspapers
than compound ones.
Frequent is the use parenthesis such as: of course, although,
finally, meanwhile, however, at first glance, therefore.
Newspaper article abound in phrasal verbs, that are the feature
of colloquial speech: come up, turn in, draw up, dry up, carry out,
cash in, stand up, sum up, put off, get by, catch up etc.
Proverbs and saying are often used:
Charity begins at home ‘A lot of families in this country need
help’.(19.03)
Prevention is better than cure. (31.01)
Colloquial lexics is often used: plonk, booze, gag, spoof, cool,
dorky, soap (from soap opera).
Texts of newspaper article are rich in idioms:
If the couple intended to keep a low profile, they
succeeded (07.03) (keep a low profile – to stay out of public notice)
The sporting world seemed poised to give the cold
shoulder to Oscar Pistorius after a court in South Africa allowed the
Olympic and Paralympic star to return to international
competition (31.04) (to give the cold shoulder – to behave towards
someone in an unfriendly way ).
His statement suggests the issue is likely to come to a head on
Monday… (13.03) (to come to a head –to reach a critical, crucial
stage)
Tropes can often be found in articles: Beckham was asked how
it felt to be the granddaddy of French sport. (01.02) (metaphor)
Common are also abbreviations: DWP (Department for Work
and Pensions) ILF (inductive loss factor), FTSE (Financial Times
Stock Exchange Index); V-E day – Victory in Europe day,
GP (general practitioner) PR (public relations).
Apart from abbreviations the articles include shortenings. Due
to the fact that The Guardian is quality press, it does not include as
many shortenings as tabloids. However, some common ones occur
in separate articles: it’s, aren’t, haven’t, won’t, doesn’t, teens instead
of teenagers, high-tech instead of high-technology etc. Such usage of
shortening can be justified on the one hand by the tendency to
economize speech, increased speed of transmitting massages, one
the other hand, by one of the essential features of newspaper
articles – simplicity and intelligibility to every member of society.
Apart from all that, the usage of shortenings makes the speech more
modern, fresh and expressive. And due to the fact that all the used
shortenings come to newspaper language from everyday life, the
reader has no problem deciphering them. It is convenient for the
journalist to use shortenings as synonyms of full word forms to
avoid excessive repetition.
Since journalistic genre is often described as expression versus
standard, special terms can also occur. Law and economics terms
occur quite often: trafficking, misdemeanor, felony, defendant,
inflation, bailout, stock market.
The results of the research show that the English newspaper
article has the following features: lexical variety (from colloquial to
scientific terms), the use of stylistic figures and tropes which realize
the influential function of newspaper texts. The syntax of the articles
includes complex sentences, non-finate verb. All these features of
newspaper article are determined by the striving for shortness, quick
delivery of information as well as influential function.
References
1. David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language, Holyhead, 1994. – 498 c.
2. Макаренко Е.А., Богданова О.Г., Стилистика английского языка/ Учебное пособие . – Ставрополь: Изд-во СГПИ, 2008. – 92 с.
3. Malkolm Millet, Handbook for Journalists of Central and Eastern Europe Washington, 1990. – 101 с
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
39!
!
4. Кузнец М.Д., Скребнев Ю.М. Стилистика английского языка: пособие для студентов педагогических вузов/ по ред.
Амосовой Н.Н. – Л.: 1960. – 174 с.
5. www. guardian.co.uk
6. www.poynter.org
K'+85=(8@(75)"&$)7%8"(,-./(01GHD3
Лунькова Лариса Николаевна
Московский государственный областной социально-гуманитарный институт
ЧТО МЫ ЧИТАЕМ, ЧИТАЯ В ПЕРЕВОДЕ?
Аннотация
В статье рассматривается феномен понимания как коммуникативный процесс в целом. Чтение художественного текста
позиционируется в этой связи как вариант коммуникативного процесса, где писатель - это отправитель сообщения, а читатель -
получатель. Отдельным аспектом процесса понимания выделен процесс и результат понимания переводного текста. Автор
анализирует механизмы и этапы процесса декодирования сообщения в условиях изменения внешней детерминанты. В статье
приводятся некоторые эмпирические данные на основе сопоставления оригинала и перевода художественного текста,
иллюстрирующие теоретические положения.
Ключевые слова: понимание, коммуникация, перевод.
Lunkova Larisa Nikholaevna
Moscow Region Stste Institute of Social Studies and Humanities
WHAT WE READ WHEN WE READ IN TRANSLATION
Abstract
The article treats the phenomenon of understanding as a communicative process in general, and reading a literary text is positioned as a
type of communication process. In it the author is the message sender and the reader is the message recipient. Reading a translation of a
literary text as a process and as a result is analyzed by the author particularly as an aspect of the process of understanding. The article also
dwells on the mechanisms and stages of the decoding process when the linguistic and extra linguistic conditions are changed. The theoretical
assumtions are illustrated by empirical data received in a research specially held by the author.
Keywords: understanding, communication, translation.
he communication act, according to R.Jacobson, is a
linear interaction between the sender and the recipient
mediated by the code, the contact and the context.
Logically we may similize reading a text to oral communication.
Thus, text understanding and interpreting are obviously determined
by the same factors as verbal communication. Understanding of a
literary text is the fulfillment of a definite communicative task.
Which means that the difficulties in the text interpretation are similar
to the difficulties in the interaction of communication participants.
And the failure in decoding leads to the fact that the sender’s idea is
not perceived at all or at least transformed.
In our thinking the reading process being likened to the
communication act may be also linear and the stages of the
information processing are placed successively and alternately.
Thus, we suggest an adaptation of the familiar scheme of the
communication act and develop it in connection with the reading
process. It becomes evident that the information sent and the
information received may differ both in quality and in quantity
because the reconstruction the reader has to hold is determined by a
different set of factors than the author’s and a new semantic entity, a
new construction is given birth to.
Obviously its components will differ in quantity from the
original one since any information transference implies information
loss. More than that, the components of the recreated construction
are far from identical to the original in quality. For, in the first place,
they undergo individual processing by the reader, and, secondly, are
affected by numerous linguistic and extra linguistic factors that
change both their importance and their significance. Some
researchers call it “the reader’s determinant” meaning a variable
element “determined by the reader’s experience and the background
(the reader’s mental context)” [3; c.10].
The text recreation process itself may be modeled as a kids
puzzle-picture building – attaching separate pieces to each other. But
this metaphor does not give way to the great scale of variations that
a text reconstruction suggests every time it is read. In a puzzle-
picture a particular place is ascribed to a particular piece in
accordance with its shape and its “contents”, the places are fixed and
preset by the programmed result – the original picture. The text
recreation process can be also compared to the reconstruction of the
patchwork quilt. The pieces are normally identical in size, they most
definitely every time change their places, though remaining always
the same in number. This never happens when reading a text, so
neither analogy works here.
Text reconstructing is not predetermined by the expected result,
neither it is directed towards a definite final product. Even the
number of initial elements may differ in the recreated text, actually
it always does. In other words, reading a text, or reconstructing a
text, – is a creative process unlikely to be programmed and limited
by the result.
The recipient is evidently made to search for the key or the
signal to the most complete reconstruction of the text sent by a
speaker or a writer. But reconstructing is logically a secondary
process. It follows that the reconstruction is a variation to a certain
degree different from the originally sent message.
The theory of communication operates with the basic scheme:
“the sender – the message – the recipient”. Its mechanism includes
three stages: first there is a code preset by the discourse type, then
there is a text coded within this system, transferred and decoded.
The code is a constant, the text is a variable. Ideally the “input-text”
and the “output-text” are identical, but in practice there is always a
loss of information [2]. Y.M. Lotman states that this can’t be
avoided a priori. However, it may be disputable, for in the
reconstruction process information may not only be lost but also
incremented through the influence of the new context. In this
connection we can hardly treat the transformation of the initial text
in terms of the information loss.
Quite definitely, if the input and the output are not identical
both in structure and in contents it is a loss. Because even if the
reader manages to preserve the number of information slots does it
mean that the lost original element and the new replacing element
will be fully equivalent.
Our research goes further than that. We suggest that reading a
literary text in translation makes a more complicated mechanism of
information processing for it’s mediated by another participant. The
linear scheme is getting longer which leads to larger transformations
of the original message. The communication chain is extended
through another member. And the reconstruction as a product
undergoes an extra transformation mediated by the interpreter. The
new piece is characterized by a greater amount of both semantic loss
and semantic increment. Consequently the message sent and the
message received are inevitably different. The semantic
transformation on the whole is especially obvious when it goes about
the analysis of the original and a translation of a literary text.
The theoretical hypothesis has been studied empirically. We put
under the comparative analysis the original and the translation of
texts by the contemporary British author J.Fforde. The units of
different language levels were studied: occasional words, proper
names, allusions, quotations, parodies, stylizations and epigraphs.
The research proved the semantic loss, the semantic increment or
semantic transformation of the original text depending on many
factors.
T
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
40!
!
A few of the most demonstrative results deal with the
associations and intertextual links of proper names in the original
text and its translation. Statistics show that almost 80% of possible
associative links are preserved in the translation. They are the cases
when in the original and the translating linguacultures there are
direct received equivalents, or when it runs of the universal
precedents. Here refer proper names from the world literature,
history, politics, culture. It is this fact that allows to preserve the
allusive background of the original in the text of the translation. The
20% are made by unique proper names. They are produced by means
of language play and mostly demand transformations thus changing
the original semantics of the unit in particular and the text as a
whole [1].
Summing it up, the semantic loss is inevitable in the process of
translation, since there is always something greater than a human
being in it. And in spite of the assumptions that it’s quite possible to
represent particular language phenomena by means of another
language to a full extent, still there are reasons why it is possible just
in theory. These reasons are the grammatical types of languages,
differences in lexical systems, cultural background etc. So the
translation process is directly connected with many circumstances
which finally define the quality of the “output-text”.
Coming back to the question set as a title of this paper — What
We Read When We Read In Translation? – we will sooner guess
that it is a product different from its original version. It’ll be safer to
say that reading in translation we are reconstructing a reconstruction
and recreating a recreation.
References
1. Лотман Ю.М. Семиосфера. СПб., 2000. Фоменко И.В. Практическая поэтика. М., 2006. Лунькова Л.Н.
Интертекстуальность художественного текста: оригинал и перевод. Дис. ... докт. филол. наук: 10.02.20.- М.:РУДН, 2011.
Александрова Оксана Ивановна, Захарова Елена Викторовна
Российский университет дружбы народов, Российский университет дружбы народов
ОСОБЕННОСТИ УПОТРЕБЛЕНИЯ И ПЕРЕВОДА ЛЕКСИКИ ИСЛАМА В РУССКОЯЗЫЧНЫХ
И АНГЛОЯЗЫЧНЫХ НОВОСТНЫХ ТЕКСТАХ
Аннотация
Статья посвящена проблеме употребления арабизмов исламской тематики в русскоязычных и англоязычных новостных
текстах в связи с их актуализацией и лингвокультурным особенностям их перевода.
Ключевые слова: лексика Ислама, арабизм, актуализация, русскоязычный новостной текст, англоязычный новостной текст,
перевод, коннотация.
Aleksandrova Oksana Ivanovna, Zakharova Elena Viktorovna
Peoples Friendship University of Russia, Peoples Friendship University of Russia
ASPECTS OF ISLAMIC WORDS TRANSLATION AND USAGE IN RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH NEWS STORIES
Abstract
The article deals with the problem of arabic Islamic words usage in Russian and English news stories in the context of their
actualisation and linguacultural aspects of their translation.
Keywords: Islamic words, arabic words, actualisation, Russian news stories, English news stories, translation, connotation.
owadays mass media more often than ever use in their
news stories the confessional vocabulary of the Arabic
origin. The actualisation of the words of the above
mentioned semantic group is seen in Russian, as well as in other
languages, which can be accounted for by extralinguistic factors,
namely by the activization of the world Islamic movement. Despite
the active usage of such Arabisms by both English and Russian
speaking journalists, there are certain peculiarities of their
introduction in the Russian and English news stories, namely the
additional connotations of their meaning in the latest decade such
Arabisms as mujahiddin, wahhabit, shakhid, juhad, talib and some
others have taken root in the Russian language clue to mass media.
As compared with their Arab etymons the meaning of these
borrowings has experienced transformation. Thus, the
word Shakhidwhich in the Arabic language means «a martyr for the
faith» — «ijkl» in Russian semantically has negatively evaluated
component of «Islamic suicide-bomber, kamikaze». The
word Mujahiddin, which in Arabic means ikmno «a fighter for the
right cause», in Russian has two meanings: 1) «a soldier of the
armed forces supporting the opposition in the Afgan war (1979-
1989)»; 2) «a terrorist». The Arabic word Wahhabi jpmkq meaning
in Arabic «self-denying» in Russian is used as the name of the
religious political movement meaning» an Islamic adherent
preaching religious purity, renouncing luxury, etc.»; Juhad in its first
meaning in the Arabic language is «labour in the name of Allah (1),
in Russian it means «holy war of Muslims against infidels, armed
struggle», etc.
This discrepancy of meanings of the original word and
borrowing is a vivid reflection of the opposite points of view
concerning the same phenomena of life in different languages: thus,
a martyr turns into a suicide-killer, a fighter for the right cause
becomes a terrorist militant, service of God grows into armed
struggle.
The above mentioned Arabic words-etymons are formed from
the widely-used verbs with neutral stylistic and positive emotionally-
expressive colouring: pkq , ikl , ikn.
In Russian Arabisms acquire negatively evaluated connotations
supported by contexts.These borrowings are used in the texts,
connected with war, extremism, terror, crime. The negative emotive
meaning is manifested due to the compatibility of Arabisms with the
words having the semantic component «violence»: target, executed,
weapons, armed, terror, attack, explosions, etc., which the examples
from Russian news stories:
1. «инструкторы и военные инженеры остаются такой
же желанной мишенью для моджахедов, как и французский
спецназ на границе с Пакистаном» — instructors and army
engineers are as desired a target for mujahiddins, as the French
special task force on the boarder with Pakistan»;
2. «на одном из экстремистских сайтов появилось
сообщение: священник был «казнен» за оскорбления «Корана и
нашего Пророка» в брошюрах и в ходе диспутов. Имя
стрелявшего не упоминается, сообщается, что этот человек
после «операции» перебрался на Кавказ, где до того не бывал,
присоединился к моджахедам и стал шахидом» — «there was a
message on one of the extremist sites: a church man was executed
for insulting «Koran and our Prophet» in brochures and in the
disputes. The name of the person who shot him was not mentioned.
The killer was said to move to the Caucasus, where he had never
been before, to join Modjuheeds and become a shakhid»;
3. «ни один новый солдат больше не поедет на войну
с талибами; талибы, облаченные в «пояса шахида»,
были вооружены стрелковым оружием и пытались прорваться
внутрь зданий» — «not a single new soldier will go to the war
against talibs. Talibs, wearing suiside-bomber's belt, were armed
with cartridge ammunition and tried to get inside»;
4. «из молодых дагестанских юношей и девушек
делают шахидов и шахидок» — «young boys and girls from
Dagestan are turned into shakhids»;
5. «…имелись в виду в том числе и те, кто
разжигает джихад на Северном Кавказе» — «… among others
there were meant those who instigate jihad in North Caucasus»;
6. «неоднократно заявлял, что «намерен
совершить джихад» в Азербайджане и взрывы в местах
массового скопления людей» — «[he] repeatedly said that «he
intends to commit jihad» in Azerbaijan and explosions in densely
populated areas»;
7. «24-летний Двораковский, более известный как
«русский ваххабит», обвиняется в подготовке теракта,
N
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
41!
!
посягательстве на жизнь милиционеров, незаконном обороте
взрывчатки, а также в мошенничестве и экстремизме» –
«Dvorakovsky, 24, more known as a «Russian vakhabit» is charged
with planning a terror attack, infringement on the lives of the
militiamen, illegal trade of explosives, as well as fraudulent
activities and extremism» [8].
Double meaning of certain Arabisms and their usage in mass
media are publicly discussed:
the famous politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky, for example,
opposed suicide bombers called shakhids, as some mass media
practise. Zhirinovsky said that for the Muslims of North Caucasus
the word shakhid is a synonym of a hero, and the Prime Minister
Dmitry Medvedev agreed with him. People of the central TV
channels get certain instructions from the President administration
including the list of the unsuitable term and preferable euphemisms.
The greatest part of it is Arabisms джемаат, шахид, моджахед,
ваххабит, пояс шахида, джихад, амир, эмир, имам, шейх which
should be changed for ideologemes devoid of the Islamic semantic
components. These recommendations are politically charged, the
actions of the Chechen militants should not be associated with
Muslims as a whole. Despite the criticism of the political leaders,
Islamic terms are still widely used in news stories, which can be
explained, firstly, by their usual usage and recognition, and
secondly, by the vividness of their expressively evaluated colouring,
which is a bright means of publicistic style which is aimed to
influence the Russian-speaking readers who are the target audience
of our mass media.
In English news stories the similar Arabisms also function in
similar contexts. The connotation is also emotively pejorative, for
example, in the words: abduct, slavery, prisoners, arrest, terrorist
attacks, suicide bombings, invade etc.:
…gain insights into the world of Roald Dahl, hear the striking
story of Mende Nazer who was abducted by the Mujahidin in Sudan
and sold into slavery, and hear why the future looks bright for
scientists;
…the group also says it wants to unify the mujahidin,
including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and liberate Muslim prisoners
from Israeli jails;
The two men were arrested in the eastern state of Bihar earlier
this month and have been brought to Mumbai to be charged. The key
suspect, the head of the Indian Mujahideen group, is still at large;
Described by a Spanish judge as "spiritual head of
the mujahideen in Britain" the UK authorities have previously said
he gave advice to those who aimed "to engage in terrorist attacks,
including suicide bombings".
«Mullah Omar and the Taleban," they say, "would never
abandon the jihad in the way the Iraqis did."The mujahidin must
watch out," says another, "an important Gulf state is hatching a plan
to transfer the Awakening project to Pakistan and Afghanistan;
To us the Ugandans, Ethiopians and Americans are all the
same, they have invaded us and I am telling
the Mujahidin [fighters], Ugandans must be one of our priorities," a
tough talking Sheikh Ayro said in the audio on Dayniile website;
We should not underestimate the extent to which
the Taliban were taking a risk" and acknowledging they were going
into talks with the Americans [7].
Besides as the examples show, Arabisms are the linguocultural
markers, referring to the reality of Muslim countries and directly
indicating the place of the events: Sudan, Israel, Mumbai, Iraq,
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uganda.
As compared with English texts, Russian news stories use
Arabisms when describing the development s both in the Middle
East and the realities of the Russian life. The existence of pro-
Islamic groups and more than often provocative activities of those
people in Russia itself and in the boarder areas arouse the negative
reaction of the population Muslim theologs (in particular, the council
of Russia's Mufti) denounce the activities of such groups which, as
they see it, go contrary to the teaching of Islam and are of aggressive
and are inhuman nature. Thus, the substitution of ideas is in the
transmission sphere (most often, polylingual). Being nontransparent,
the semantic meaning of foreign Islamic terms wears away and they
become tags which characterise only the organisations using these
terms as self-designation — ваххабиты, моджахеды, талибы. For
this reason English texts often give the names of such groups as
proper ones: Mujahideen, Hamas, Taliban.
When speaking about English texts of foreign mass media, one
should point out that they use the terms ваххабиты and шахидquite
rarely. It is notable, that such terms may characterise of all other the
events in Russia: In the name of God the Merciful, the
Compassionate… Who is responsible for the attacks on Rusnya
[derogatory word for Russia]? By the Grace of Allah,
the Shakhid [martyr] battalion, Riyad us-Saliheen [Gardens of the
Righteous] has carried out several successful operations on the
territory of Rusnya. The regional Shakhid unit of Moscow was
responsible for the blasts on Kashirskoye Road [main approach
road to Domodedovo Airport] and the Rizhskaya metro station in
Moscow [7].
The given text is very emotional it gives explanatory
notes Shakhid (martyr) and describes nothing but the Russian
realities: Rusnya [derogatory word for Russia]. It seems likely to be
the translation of the Russian text. In this case the Russian language
becomes a lingua franca in the process of borrowing and participates
in the fixation of the additional meaning component in the English
language (the explanation of the term given in brackets proves that a
neologism of foreign origin is introduced into the context).
Russian news stories which describe the events outside Russia,
especially when it is the translation from English, more often use the
above-mentioned ideologemes-synonyms of Arabisms, which have a
wider meaning and don't contain the semantic component of Islam,
for example, a «террорист—смертник на мотоцикле при
самоподрыве унес жизни семи гражданских и двух полицейских
на базаре в городе Каджаки» [8] — «a suicide-bomber on a
motorcycle claimed the lives of seven civilians and two policemen
when he self-destructed himself on the market in the town of
Kadjaki». The use of such a general term to a certain extent
neutralises the context lessing the possible effect of Islamophobia.
Nevertheless, even in the translated Russian texts one can note
the greater number of the borrowed Islamic terms, than in the
English-language stories. It can be proved when comparing a part of
the original article «..аn influential Muslim scholar has issued a
global ruling against terrorism and suicide bombing…» [7] and its
Russian translation «…Влиятельный мусульманский проповедник
доктор богословия Тахир Кадри намерен издать в Лондоне
всемирную фетву против терроризма и взрывников-
смертников…[7]», where «a global ruling» is translated
as Fatwah. This Arabism in Russian means «Mufti's statement on a
certain problem, basing on the Koran, Sunnah or Shariat» [2. С.
822]. As for the expression «suicide bombing» a traditional neutral
translation was used (though, the lexico-grammatical meaning of the
action was replaced by the subject of the action (suicide bombers) as
the verbal noun denoting the idea of committing the act of bombing
does not exist in Russian. In the Russian text the name of the issued
document is more exact, underlining its belonging to Islam and its
orientation against terrorism, which has nothing in common with
Islam.
The above-mentioned examples may lend to certain
conclusions. Firstly, the official status and the growing expansion of
the Islamic religion in Russia leads to the usualisation of the Islamic
terminology, which is reflected in mass media texts.
Secondly, the Islamic vocabulary in Russian texts acquires a
more vivid emotive meaning as compared with English news stories,
as it belongs to the Russian realities and due to the wish of the
authors to influence the target audience.
Thirdly, unlike the English language sources, the Islamic
terminology in Russian mass media is more diverse, it is
denominative, though it does not always passes the transparent
semantics.
In their turn, English-speaking journalists (notably, BBC
reporters) use Islamic terms rather carefully, mainly, when speaking
about the Muslim states and most often as the names of the parties
and groups, for example, Taliban, Mujahideen (at that they preserve
the form of the Arabic etymon, while in Russian they are no longer
the names and acquire the new morphological forms, for example,
those of a noun).
In the fourth place, if an Islamic term is used in the English
texts, the commentary specifying its meaning, is more often needed
some words of the Arabic origin (shahid, for example) are used
when translating Russian texts and are connected with the Russian
reality.
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
42!
!
In the fifth place, when translating English mass media texts
into Russian and vise versa it is necessary to be neutral and use
Arabisms very carefully, giving preference to ideologemes.
In conclusion, there are some variants of the translation of a few
Islamic terms from Russian Russian and English news stories:
Table 1
Russian
English
моджахеды
Mujahidin, mujahideen
Шахид
(террорист-смертник)
Shakhid, martyr
(suicide bombing)
ваххабит
Wahhabi
пояс шахида
Suicide belt, shakhid belt
талибы
Taliban
Хамас
Hamas
джихад
Jihad
фетва
ruling
Мусульманский проповедник
Muslim scholar
муфтий
Mufti
джамаат
group
эмир, амир
Leader, head
References
1. Баранов Х.К. Арабско-русский словарь. - М.: Русский язык, 1985. - 944 с.
2. Крысин Л.П. Толковый словарь иноязычных слов. - М.: Изд-во Эксмо, 2007. - 944 с.
3. Крылова О.А. Лингвистическая стилистика. В 2 кн. Кн.1. Теория: Учеб. пособие. – 2-е изд., стер. – М.: Высш. шк., 2008. - 319 с.
4. Комлев Н.Г. Словарь новых иностранных слов: (С переводом, этимологией и толкованием). - М.: Изд-во МГУ, 1995. - 144 с.
5. Толковый словарь русского языка начала XXI века. Актуальная лексика / Под ред. Г.Н. Скляревской - М.: Эксмо, 2007. - 1136 с.
6. Шилова Г.Е. Особенности семантики и функционирования иноязычных слов в современной российской публицистике: На
материале газет, радио и телевидения: Дис. ... канд. филол. наук. - Воронеж, 2005. - 212 с.
7. http://news.bbc.co.uk
8. http://www.izvestia.ru
L";8M!*58A+)"($)"#*)#+&(,-./(01121N2H3(
Христо Кючуков
Свободный университет, Берлин
НОВЫЕ ТЕНДЕНЦИИ В ПРОЦЕССЕ СТАНДАРТИЗАЦИИ РОМСКОЙ ТЕРМИНОЛОГИИ
Аннотация
Статья представляет некоторые новые тенденции в развитии ромского (цыганского) языка в связи с процессом его
стандартизации. Проанализировав опубликованные международными организациями документы на ромском языке, автор
пытается найти некоторые правила в процессе развития ромских неологизмов, основанных на английских заимствованиях. В
статье дана классификация различных грамматических категорий ромского языка (существительное, прилагательное, глагол).
Ключевые слова: ромский язык, стандартизация, неологизмы.
Hristo Kyuchukov
Free University of Berlin
NEW TRENDS IN THE PROCESS OF STANDARDIZATION OF ROMANI TERMINOLOGY
Abstract
The paper presents some new developments in Romani (Gypsy) language in connection with the process of its standardization. After
analyzing published documents by international organizations such as Council of Europe, European Commission and others in Romani, the
author tries to find some rules in the process of developing Romani neologism based on English borrowings. A classification on different new
grammatical categories in Romani (nouns, adjectives and verbs) is done.
Keywords: romani language, standardization, neologisms.
t is known that Romani is not a standardized new-Indian
language-formed outside of India, spoken in Europe,
Americas and Australia, influenced by Armenian, Greek,
Romanian and Slavic languages. Roma are bilingual and
multilingual — they speak at least 2 Romani dialects and the official
language of the country where they live and also some of the
international languages such as English, Spanish, French, Russian or
German. Last two decades or so there were some international
I
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
43!
!
conferences organized by different universities or by different
governments on the issue of standardization of Romani language
(Kyuchukov, 2009). In countries such as Romania, Serbia, Slovakia,
the governments accepted “standardized” Romani alphabets for that
particular country only. And nowadays in these countries
newspapers, journals, and books/textbooks are published using
different orthographies.(Samko, 2010, 2014)
Alan Patten (2003:297) writes about two principles of
bilingualism: ”The principle that citizens should enjoy the same set
of language rights no matter where they are in the country is
commonly referred to as the “personality principle”. The opposing
principle, that language rights should vary from region to region
according to local conditions, is generally labeled the “territoriality
principle”.
Applying the “territoriality principle” of Patten to the
standardization process of Romani language there are three levels of
standardization of a language:
I level: Standardization of Romani for Roma in a particular
country- Slovakia, Sweden or Romania. It means a particular
orthography and loan-words in Romani language from the majority
contact languages.
II level: Standardization of Romani on Regional level- Balkan
countries- Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo and Serbia.
III level: Standardization of Romani for international purposes
— for communication between Roma from different parts of the
world.
The standardization on national level usually goes through the
following process – one of the most popular Romani variety is
chosen and it is used as a mean of communication, for publications
and etc. The terminology chosen is the most comprehensive for all
other groups.
On Regional level – the similar varieties which exist in
neighboring countries are used for standardization. The common
terminology is used as a base (usually from a language which was in
a contact with Romani in early stage of its development, for
example from Turkish) In Balkan countries where most of the
Roma are Muslim and at the same time Turkish speaking the
common terminology is form Turkish.
Examples of standardization of Romani terminology
In my earlier work (Kyuchukov, 1998) I showed different
lexico-semantic groups from Turkish which are used in different
varieties of Romani:
• Names of plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables;
• Names of animals;
• Words from the nature;
• Names of minerals;
• Names of foods and drinks;
• Names of plays and musical instruments
There are different strategies for creating a standard common
terminology on international level. One of them is using loan-words
from Armenian and Greek, which are the same in all varieties
around the world. Roma in their way from India to Europe come in
contact with Armenian and Greek in early12 c., and there are a lot of
examples from Armenian in the international Romani:
• Parts of human body:
čekat (forehead); morči (skin); koč (knee) (v)ogi (soul)
• Names of vegetables and fruits:
dudum (pampkin)
• Names of foods:
bokoli ( small flat loaf); xumer (dough)
• Names of animals:
grast (horse); khuro (young horse); rikono (puppy)
P. Bakker & H. Kyuchukov (2000) have some examples from
Greek
• Metallurgical terms:
amoni (anvil); kakavi (kettle); petalo (horseshoe); karfin (nail);
sviri (hammer)
Standardization of Romani on International level
A group of Roma activists and linguists interested in Romani
language have been working for last 20-25 years in different
countries and there is some new developments. The levels which the
group of scholars accepted are the following:
• Creating of a common Romani language on oral level-
speakers of different Romani dialects from different parts of the
world, coming together on international events find ways to
communicate;
• Creating a common orthography;
• Creating a common grammar;
• Creating a common lexicon.
Methodology
For the purpose of this study I analyze documents published by
different international institutions and organizations written in
Standard Romani (Council of Europe, European Commission,
European Roma Right Center, Open Society Institute). Special
attention is paid to English-root terminology, and trends for creation
of new terminology in Romani are observed.
New Terminology in Romani
The new terminology in Romani is created mainly from English
terminology with added suffixes from Romani:
-a (sg.); -e (pl.)
Examples (nouns)
Romani
English
specifika
specifics
lingvistika
linguistics
analizo/analiza
analyses
sistemo/sistema
system
baziso
base
logika
logic
forma
forma
literatura
literature
leksika
lexics
fonetika
fonetics
-o (sg.); -ja (pl.)
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
44!
!
Examples: (nouns)
Romani
English
Romani
English
Romani
English
telefono
phone
leksikono
lexicon
specialisto
special
treno
train
seriozo
serious
elemento
element
computero
computer
minoriteto
minority
autoro
author
prezidento
president
principo
principle
varianto
variant
regiono
region
mediatoro
mediator
dialecto
dialect
karaktero
charachter
levelo
level
deficito
deficit
seminaro
seminar
alternativo
alternative
proceso
process
fondo
fond
mandato
mandate
kongreso
congress
faktoro
factor
interneto
internet
testo
test
problemo
problem
sistemo
system
leksikono
lexicon
analizo
analyze
intereso
interest
moderatoro
moderator
-ija; -ije
Examples: (nouns)
Romani
English
ortografija
orthography
strategija
strategy
etnologija
ethnology
metodologija
methodology
leksikografija
lexicography
etnografija
ethnography
-alno (sg.); -alne (pl.)
Examples: (adjectives)
Romani
English
emocionalno
emotional
regionalno
regional
internacionalno
international
lokalno
local
socialno
social
specialno
special
globalno
global
spiritualno
spiritual
leksikalno
lexical
-(a)no; -(a)ne
RUSSIAN LINGUISTIC BULLETIN 3 (3) 2015
45!
!
Examples: (Adjectives)
Romani
English
urgentno
urgent
politikano
political
lingvistikano
linguistic
modernikano
modernized
tehnikano
technical
gramatikano
grammatical
-cija; -cije (-zija; -zije)
Examples: (Nouns +Verbs)
Verbs
Romani
English
Romani
English
Romani
English
fondacija
foundation
relacija
relation
unifikacija
unification
kondicija
condition
variacija
variation
standartizacija
standardization
edukacija
education
populacija
population
kodifikacija
codification
organizacija
organization
funkcija
function
komunikacija
communication
deklaracija
declaration
kooperacija
cooperation
participacija
participation
rezoljucija
resolution
deskripcija
description
konservacija
conservation
konferencija
conference
institucija
institution
izolacija
isolation
tradicija
tradition
informacija
information
ratifikacija
ratification
generacija
generation
proposicija
proposition
kolaboracija
collaboration
konkluzija
conclusion
konvergencija
convergence
segregacija
segregation
komlikacija
complication
kompetencija
competence
desegregacija
desegregation
!
Conclusion
The process of standardization of Romani started already some
25 years ago. During international meetings, where Romani is one
of the used language for translation, in published documents and
reports of International institutions and NGO organizations, the
English based Romani terminology is take more often place. The
task of the linguists now is to make much better classification of the
neologisms in Romani, which did not exist some 25 years ago.
These kind of systematic work is needed not only for national and
regional standardization but also for standardization on international
level.
May be it is also time to start more precise classification of
different categories terminology as I tried to do in modest way in
this paper. The system shown here may be can be used for further
developments of Romani terminology. The use of it in schools and
university textbooks will bring Romani to another level of
development.
References
1. Bakker, P. and Kyuchukov, H. (eds) (2000) What is the Romani Language? University of Herefordshire Press.
2. Kyuchukov, H. (1998) Turkish and Armenian Loanwords in Bulgarian Romani. Grazer Linguistische Studien,50, pp. 103-108.
3. Kyuchukov, H. (ed.) (2009) A language without Borders… Endangerded Languages and Cultures. Uppsala: Uppsala University
Press, vol. 5.
4. Patten, A. (2003). What Kind of Bilingualism?. In: Kymlicka, W. and Patten, A. (eds.) Language Rights and Political Theory.
Oxford University Press, pp. 296-321
5. Samko, M. (2010). Attitudes of Roma to languages: a case study. In: Kyuchukov, H. and Hancock, I. (eds). Roma Identity. Praha:
Slovo 21.
6. Samko, M. (2014). Inkluzívny vzdelávací program: jazyk a kultúra žiakov z MRK v inkluzívnom vzdelávaní. In: V. Klein (ed.)
Pedagogický model inkluzívneho vzdelávania v základných školách. PRined projekt INkluzívnej EDukácie. Prešov: MPC.
!
!
!
!
