A functional discourse approach to the particle ἀτάρ in Classical Greek

Taking into consideration both discourse structure and the pragmatics of contrast, this paper draws on Functional Discourse Grammar (FDG) to provide a comprehensive and unified account of ἀτάρ in Classical Greek. In classical Greek drama, the particle ἀτάρ designates two main types of contrast. In its most common usage, it marks a discourse contrast, a boundary in conversational structure, such as the beginning of a new exchange or adjacency pair. More specifically, ἀτάρ can signal a change of addressee; the introduction of a new topic or new visual focus; or an abrupt thematic discontinuity such as an interruption. Moreover, ἀτάρ can also mark denial of expectation, especially when preceded by a preparatory μέν. When expressing counterexpectation, the particle instructs the addressee to process the next discourse segment in such a way as to contradict or eliminate some piece of information possibly inferred from the preceding segment. Very similarly, the classical prose of Herodotus, Plato and Xenophon shows analogous usages of ἀτάρ, namely, as a boundary between larger portions of discourse with or without thematic discontinuity, or as a marker of denial of expectation between acts and moves.

AUTHORED LEXICAL SYNTAGMATICS IN A SYSTEMATIC INTERPRETATION

The article considers a stylometric model of systematic interpretation of authored lexical syntagmatics (lexical compatibility) in the classical prose of the 19th century. The article compares the achievements of classical lexicology and modern corpus linguistics and suggest bigrams, i. e. pairs of words used in a common phraseological context, as units of lexical syntagmatics to study texts of great volume. Besides, the articles formulates the requirements for lexical bigrams involved in the lexical-statistical comparison of different individual styles. The article provides examples of original bigrams that recur in different works of the same author over many creative years (e.g., oblokotit’ golovu [to lean a head on elbows] in the novels by L. N. Tolstoy). The problem of cataloguing and systematic interpretation of such recurring stylistic “particulars”, which the author may use deliberately or unconsciously, and the reader may or may not notice in different texts, is posed. On the basis of 19th century classical prose (the works of L. N. Tolstoy, F. M. Dostoevsky, A. P. Chekhov, I. S. Turgenev and I. A. Goncharov), the authors perform a context lexico-statistical comparison of bigrams containing words frequently used by all authors (for example, chelovek/lyudi [person/people], golova [head], govorit’ [to speak], pervyy [first], vdrug [suddenly], dva [two], etc.) is studied. It is noted that each author can identify a different set of words appearing in the original contextual environment. The model of comparative analysis is examined in detail on the example of the contexts of words denoting a person: chelovek/lyudi [person/people], zhenshchina [woman] and rebenok/deti [child/children]. Such combinations as intelligentnyy chekovek [intelligent person], lenivyy chekovek [lazy person], imet’ uspekh u zhenshchin [to succeed with women], deti i vnuki [children and grandchildren] (A. P. Chekhov), nervicheskiy chelovek [nervous person] (I. S. Turgenev), poshchadit’ cheloveka [to spare a person] (F. M. Dostoevsky), kurchavyy chelovek [curly-haired person], nevysokaya zhenshchina [short woman], beremennaya zhenshchina [pregnant woman] (L. N. Tolstoy), zhenshchiny – sozdaniya (prekrasnye, nezhnye, slabye) [women are (beautiful, gentle, weak) creatures] (I. A. Goncharov) are small fragments of authored stylistic systems. The analysis reveals a striking difference between the syntagmatic characteristics of the works of different writers. Conclusions are made about a possible systematic presentation of the material in the form of an authored syntagmatic dictionary of the Russian prose of the 19th century.

Strategies of investigating and translating poetical prose of the classical and contemporary English short stories

The article considers the notion of prose poeticalness from linguistic and translation points of view. Prose poeticalness can be defined as the introduction of poetic features into the prose text with the help of such devices as extended metaphors, intertextual allusions, stylistic convergence, syntactical and phonetic repetitions. The investigation involved the analysis of the fairy tales by Oscar Wilde, the short stories by Kate Chopin and Dylan Thomas, which are referred to as classical prose, and the contemporary American flash fiction stories. The strategy of investigating prose poeticalness involved determining the devices of prose poeticalness in each text, defining the linguistic and stylistic components of these devices and their functions. As a result of our research, it is determined that the most foregrounded device of poeticalness is stylistic convergence. In the classical short stories, convergences function in bigger text fragments, they are based on the extended antropomorphic metaphors or similes in the interaction with alliterations. The stylistic convergences are used for poetical description of nature as human beings possessing the ability to speak, to think, to love (Wilde, Thomas), and even as gods (Rob Carney). Biomorphic tropes are used as the core of convergences, as a device of poetical description of people in the stories by Thomas, fairy tales by Wilde, in the flash fiction stories by John Updike, Grace Paley, Leigh Wilson and other writers. In the contemporary flash fiction stories, convergences foreground the ideas of sympathy, tolerance; they help to create a strong emotional effect. The strategy of rendering stylistic convergences in translation of the poetical prose consists in the exact reproduction of images applying literal translation or synonymic substitution and retaining the sound effect in trope components. Mythological and biblical allusions used as a system in the text are a device of poeticalness typical for Thomas's stories. The strategy of translating implicit allusions involves retaining the intertextual comments and giving explication in the text or in the footnotes. It is suggested that the prospects of further research lie in investigating poeticalness in the novels of contemporary writers.

Authorial compatibility of words in I.A. Goncharov’s novels: comparative stylometry

The following article deals with peculiarities of unique lexical compatibility in classical prose of the XIX century and contains preliminary results of the cross-disciplinary corpus research performed by group of scientists of the Ural Federal University. This project suggests creation of individual syntagmatic profiles for the famous Russian writers. With works of I.A. Goncharov as an example and compared to the texts of other authors special context surrounding for words zhizn (life) and zhit (live) is systematized. Initial material is extracted through comparative statistical analysis of bigrams lexical pairs, when used in the same phrase context. Lexems zhizn (life) and zhit (live) are one of the most frequent words in Russian language, however, each author tends to use them in his own, special context surrounding. Novels by I.A. Goncharov (A Common Story, Oblomov, The Precipice, Frigate Pallada) provide relatively more issues of authors individual lexical compatibility for these words, than texts created by others; in addition a full list of syntagmatically active words for Goncharovs texts is represented in this article. Context analysis is conducted to show, how semantic connections between words in contexts reflect conceptual characteristics of Goncharovs idiostyle. Comments on the individual use of words zhizn (life) and zhit (live) by other writers A.P. Chekhov, L.N. Tolstoy, I.S. Turgenev and F.M. Dostoevsky are given. Conclusions are drawn about perspectives of performing comparative statistical analysis of lexical syntagmatics in modern philology

Idiostyle Characteristics of Lexical Compatibility in the 19th-Сentury Prose: Ural Stylometric Project

The article presents the project of the Ural Federal University scientists connected with the formalized study of lexical compatibility in Russian classical prose of the 19th century. The study aims to identify idiostylistic characteristics of individual-author syntagmatic. A lexical bigram – a pair of words extracted from one phrase context – is accepted as a unit of compatibility. With the help of their corpus of classical prose (works by Leo N. Tolstoy, Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky, Anton P. Chekhov, Ivan S. Turgenev and Ivan A. Goncharov), the project participants carried out a comparative statistical analysis of lexical bigrams typical for the works of each author and not found in the texts of other writers. A prerequisite for the selection of material is that one of the words constituting a bigram is often used by all authors. Thus, based on the lexical fund common to all authors, the idiostylistical peculiarities of lexical compatibility are revealed. The results of the study are presented on the example of the author’s use of adverbs in the works of Fyodor M. Dostoevsky and comparison of syntagmatic characteristics of these adverbs with their textual embodiment in the works of other four authors. Conclusions are made about stylometric perspectives of formalized research of syntagmatic for idiostylistics and author’s lexicography

GENESIS OF TURKISH HISTORICAL NOVEL

The Turkish historical novel has a history of birth, formation and development. It developed closely related to its historical reality. If the prose patterns based on the first historical novels were reflected in the medieval classical prose of the Turks, then it was formed in the nineteenth century in the literary period of the Tanzimat on the basis of European prose. Therefore, the genesis of the historical novel of the Turks was based not only in the XIX century, but also in medieval Divan literature and folk tales. Due to the fact that the XIX century saw significant changes in world culture, Anatolian Turkish literature did not lag behind this process. Major reforms in the Ottoman society of the XIX century also covered cultural and literary aspects. In particular, they have undergone a major cultural and literary modernization. For the first time, the Ottoman society is approaching European civilization. In some cases, he even wanted to show his Imperial character. However, in this context, the elements of Western culture began to enter into the Turkish culture. Based on the cultural modernization of the Turks, literary processes went through a difficult period. But, despite the fact that the historical novel of the Turks in this period was particularly in demand, and therefore it aroused the interest of Turkish writers. In the literary period of the Tanzimat, the first historical novels adopted the rules of the Western model, but the historical truth was connected only with the reality of the Ottoman Empire.

Sychological aspects of the style of 19th century russian authors: corpus-based analysis of literary texts in interdisciplinary research

The study is based on the corpus of texts of Russian classical prose of the 19th century. It is shown how by means of comparative statistical analysis it is possible to reveal the unique features of a writer’s individual style. The study focuses on the specific cases of the use of the word litso (face) in Anton Chekhov’s psychological prose. The conclusions are made about the potential of corpus methodology in interdisciplinary research.

Stylistic Structuring of Nabokov’s Metaprose in the Context of Modernism and Postmodernism Poetics

The article considers the actual problem of determining the creative method of V. Nabokov in the aspect of artistic principles of modernism and postmodernism. Using the method of historical and discursive analysis, the features of the metanovel as the main genre of the writer's prose are characterized. It is shown that the narcissism of Nabokov's texts appears in the individual rhetoric of the writer, refuting the stereotypes of artistic perception formed in the classical tradition, signaling the aesthetic superiority of the writer. Stylistic codes forming a narcissistic novel are revealed: mythologism, deconstruction, double coding, intertextuality. The ways of their realization in the novels are described: individualization of linguistic techniques, metaphorization, allegorism, rhizomacy of structure of the text, play on cultural codes. It is established that as a means of author's self-expression, the language of Nabokov's works has value in itself, the writer develops his own way of aesthetic attitude to the word. It is concluded, that the identified stylistic codes determine Nabokov's works as belonging to both modernism and postmodernism. These codes form a metatext, or supertext, a special type of non-classical prose, in which the language becomes a specific coding formation, allowing the author to present aesthetic and intellectual information, thus starting creative relations with the reader.