Informational structural and tonal (stylistic) characteristics of the text

Each text as an integral speech work is evaluated according to a whole complex of criteria. The main components of these criteria are: 1) information and structural qualities of the text and 2) tonal (stylistic) qualities of the text.

The informational and structural qualities of the text include: 1) consistency, 2) coherence and integrity, 3) accuracy, 4) clarity, clarity, accessibility. The tonal (stylistic) or literary qualities include: 1) correctness of speech, 2) purity of speech, 3) culture of speech.

An ideal text reveals the correspondence of its structure and tonality of the information expressed to the topic, tasks and conditions of communication, the chosen style of presentation, if it is artistic text, or the style specified by the genre and purpose of the text, if it is non-artistic text.

Characteristics consist of adhering to a number of textual construction principles These principles underlie the criteria for evaluating text qualities.

When using the criterion of logic , the interaction of “three logics” is taken into account: the logic of reality, the logic of thought and the logic of speech expression. For example, the notion of contradiction is included in the logic of reality, but a thought expressing these contradictions should not be contradictory in its speech design.

The logical nature of the text implies such qualities as consistency in the presentation of the material, consistency of thought, clarity and sufficiency of argumentation, the ratio of the general and the particular. The logical nature of thought (and, accordingly, speech expression) is also found in the fidelity of the reflection of the facts (objects) of reality and their connections and relationships (common and individual, cause and effect, similarity and difference, content and form, subordination and composition, essence and appearance). The most straightforward logic of thought is explicated in the texts of scientific, educational, official business, analytical newspaper and journalistic.

However, the very notion of consistency can be transformed in relation to artistic texts, where not formal (classical) logic operates, but artistic, where, moreover, everyday logic is taken into account.

From the point of view of logical construction, texts are divided into two groups (as, incidentally, in other cases): texts with a subject-logical structure (objective logic, logic of fact) and texts with figurative-associative structure (subjective logic, artistic; logic is not a fact , and visions of fact, his perception) [1].

The subject-logical structure is peculiar to non-artistic texts.

The figurative-associative structure of the text is subject to specific evaluation criteria.

A.N. Vasil'eva in the book “Culture of Speech”, in particular, gives an example of the text of the imaginative-associative structure - M. Lermontov’s poem “Sail” [2].

Here, everything is subject to a special logic: the contrast of associations (a peaceful picture and disturbing thoughts), and the metaphorical rethinking of a sailboat into a man (alogism from the point of view of common sense and logic of fact). Artistic (subjective, associative) logic directs the author’s lyrical thought in its own way:

Beneath it is a stream of light azure,

Above it is a golden ray of sunshine

And he, rebellious, asks for storms,

As if in storms there is peace.

The very nature of associations, objectively contradictory, is subjectively a reflection of the inner state of the hero’s personality, a changeable, alarming state. The alogism of the messages presented here is based on the contrast of their content.

Connectivity and integrity [3] - the indispensable qualities of the text, which appear in the appropriately constructed text. The coherence of the text is found at the level of theme-rhematic sequences within the framework of inter-phrase unions, when the structural indicators of communication are clearly fixed - explicit and implicit, contact and distant.

Explicit communication is a connection designated by communication signals (by unions, introductory words and combinations; a smooth transition from theme to rem, etc.). Implicit communication is detected by the juxtaposition of speech units, their semantic and positional correlation (without special verbal communication signals).

Text integrity is defined as the global connection of text components at the content level. It is supported by keywords and their alternates. Text integrity is a quality revealed through the conceptual sequence in the presentation. Keywords are conceptual nodes of the text; they, together with the words of repeated nomination, form a system defining the entire content and conceptual perception of the text. Keywords are semantically meaningful; they themselves already carry certain content.

For example, in the cycle “Cypress casket” by I. Annensky [4], through key words that attract conceptually close words to themselves, the theme of the illusory nature of the world, the fragility of the boundary between the world and the earth, the real and the supernatural, is revealed.

These words are:

Ghostly ( trefoil ghostly, ghostly life, planets ); shadow ( pissing shadows, shadow mute, languid shadows, shadow of affliction ); the moon (the symbol of the mysterious, unsteady ); smoke ( suffocating smoke goes to the heart, smoky melting - actualization of the sense of deceit and anxiety); the same meaning is associated with the word "fog" ( fog rains ). These words are combined in one semantic field, combining with others like words ( darkness, dusk, mist ), form the general meaning of the cycle - deceptiveness, vagueness, anxiety, unreality, lifelessness. Communication, creating the integrity of perception of meaning, thus, is carried out at a meaningful level.

Keywords perform the function of supporting words, which, combined with other words, form a single semantic field, telling the text meaningful integrity. A text or a fragment of a text is perceived as something single, organically welded. Such a supporting word was, for example, the word “freshness” in “Antonov apples” by I. Bunin [5]. This word creates a single background of perception of the picture drawn here: I remember an early, fresh, quiet morning ... I remember a large, all golden, dried up and thinned garden, I remember maple alleys, the delicate aroma of fallen leaves and the smell of Antonov apples, the smell of honey and autumn freshness <...>; It is so nice to lie on the wagon, look into the starry sky, smell the tar in the fresh air and listen to how the long wagon train creaks in the dark along the main road.

“Freshness” here is associated with autumn, and autumn is a time of ripening, fruitful time. Thus, the “freshness of autumn” (not spring!) Is overgrown with a new, symbolic meaning — taking on a mature, fruitful, healthy life; it is “a joyful hymn to nature”, “the highest earthly good”. The image of freshness is repeated in other stories ( I feel the cold and fresh smell of the January blizzard, strong like the smell of cut watermelon. - "Pines"), and in poems ( Stormy thunderstorms and freshness of nights. - "Wildflowers"; The day is cold and gloomy and fresh “I wander free in the steppe all day. ” “Birds are not visible"; fields smell, fresh grass, meadows cool breath! From haymaking and oak groves I catch fragrance in it. "Smells like fresh fields;" the green and sweet smell of rye. - “Two Rainbows”).

The informational qualities of the text include accuracy, which can be in the very reflection of the facts of reality by thought and in the reflection of thought in a word. Elementary is the coincidence of the naming by the author and the reader's perception of concepts and concepts. However, as well as logic, accuracy of accuracy is different. Again, differences in understanding are related to the character of the text itself.

There is no doubt that the accuracy of the use of the word (in full accordance with its meaning) is the dignity of the text and a necessary condition for the adequacy of its perception. Inaccuracy in the use of the word, as a rule, boils down to incorrect (non-standard) word usage: for example, “traveling” in relation to a person the words "optimal", "priority", "adequate" with distributors indicating the degree of the trait, etc. These inaccuracies are linguistic, and they testify to the insufficient culture of the writer. There are inaccuracies actual. These are inaccuracies in the very reflection of reality. Sometimes an inaccuracy of this kind arises when there is insufficient interpretation of the concept. For example, in a legal document using the term "family" does not mean what is included in this concept (nephews, uncles? Etc.). Or the term "housing structure". What it is? House, barn, villa, cottage? Such general concepts require decoding.

But the understanding of accuracy / inaccuracy in the communicative plan deserves a special conversation. Under the communicative accuracy refers to accuracy, taking into account the specific, described situation. For example, the theorist of judicial eloquence P.S. Porokhovshchikov [6] (The Art of Speech at the Court. St. Petersburg, 1910. p. 19) wrote that in an accusatory speech about the doctor who committed the criminal operation, the prosecutor called the deceased girl and her father, who initiated the case, by surname. “It was unnecessarily unclear precision: if he had said:“ girl, ”“ father, ”these words would remind the jury every time about the dead young woman and the grief of the old man who buried his beloved daughter.

Hence, the accuracy of the fact can not have a self-sufficient value. What is important is the choice of those traits of fact that under the given conditions would prove to be the most convincing and, therefore, effective. The communicative expediency of the given fact is important.

There is one more shifted notion of accuracy - this is artistic accuracy. In this case, the concept has an emotional and psychological basis. For example, accuracy as a phased, clear disclosure of a figurative perspective. Deviations from the planned outlook in the development of the image, the discrepancy to the chosen image are perceived as author's mistakes, inaccuracies. Finally, accuracy can be understood as matching the style of the situation. The notion of accuracy in an oratorical speech, in an artistic, publicistic work presupposes a psychological aspect.

Often inaccuracy can be used as a “fiction figure” as a literary device. In particular, A. Bely spoke about such inaccuracies in the description, but rather about the uncertainty in the characterization of the characters, analyzing some literary techniques by N.V. Gogol - in the book "Gogol Mastery". He says that the true core of the “Dead Souls” plot is a solid fiction figure, or a system of half-hearted properties: “not at all empty questions”, “not without pleasantness”, “neither loudly, nor quietly”, “some kind of blue paint like greyish, ”“ not that clear, not that gloomy, ”or“ God knows what! ”.

Here is how N.V. Gogol appearance Chichikov:

A gentleman was sitting in a chaise, not handsome, but neither of a bad appearance, nor too thick, nor too thin; can not be said to be old, however, and not so that too young.

The whole action of the poem occurs in "some" time and "some" space. If you count the hours spent on the road, and compare them with the "inscribed" miles, you get a lot of rubbish. Then in an hour he gave a deaf forty miles away, then in a day he cannot reach Sobakevich — and he goes to Korobochka in the opposite direction [7].

Fixing the meaning of uncertainty in describing the perception of the subject of observation is a characteristic detail of Gogol's stylistics. Take at least the following example:

One of the buildings of Chichikov soon noticed some kind of figure, which began to fuck up with the peasant who arrived on the cart. For a long time he could not recognize what sex the figure was: a woman or a man. The dress on her was completely vague, very much like a female hood, on her head a cap like the village yard women wear, only one voice seemed to him somewhat hoarse for a woman. “Oh, baba! - he thought to himself and immediately added: - “Oh, no!” - “Of course, woman!” He said at last (Dead Souls).

M. Bulgakov often resorts to such inaccuracies (or uncertainties) in the description, for example: Some kind of not sick, not sick, but strange, pale, overgrown with a beard, in a black cap and in some kind of dressing gown went down with unsteady steps (The Master and Margarita).

According to D.S. Likhachev, inaccuracies of artistic material - a special kind. “Artistic work is“ inaccurate ”to the extent that is required for co-creation of the reader, the viewer or the listener. Potential co-creation is inherent in any work of art. Therefore, deviations from the meter are necessary for creative reproduction by the reader or listener of rhythm. Deviations from style are necessary for creative perception of style. Inaccuracy of the image is necessary to fill this image with the creative perception of the reader or viewer ”[8].

The criterion of clarity and accessibility (clarity) is entirely focused on the addressee.

The comprehensibility of the text is the ability to determine the meaning, clarity - the ability to overcome the “obstacles” that arise during the transfer of information.

Both criteria are directly related to the efficiency of text perception. Perceiving someone else's speech (in this case, the text) to some extent, ahead of its movement [9].

This is explained by the fact that the addressee owns the “logic of things” and “logic of speech construction,” he knows the laws of the coupling of speech units. Therefore, if this process of advancing is disturbed, then subsequent perception becomes difficult. The speech structure of the text loses its clarity.

Perception can be difficult for a number of reasons, for example because of the complexity of the thought itself for a given addressee; because of the unexpectedness of this thought, its unusualness; due to the confusion of its presentation, expression of thoughts; when rejecting thought to the side; finally, because of an unfamiliar word, etc.

The ambiguity of the expression may be unintentional and intentional.

The first is evaluated as a flaw in the author's textual formation, the second - as a deliberately used technique.

The scientific text, business and educational should be very clear in content and expression of thought. Uncertainties that reduce the clarity and comprehensibility of the text can arise when oversaturation of, for example, a popular science text with highly specialized terminology and with the complexity of the syntax. In the study text, ambiguities are provoked by the absence of definitions in terms. In all these cases, the criterion of clarity and accessibility requires an unambiguous use of conceptual nominations and their definitions when ignorance by the addressee is assumed.

Even the general graphic appearance of the text, its dismemberment or indivisibility into paragraphs, chapters and cupolas, can either raise the degree of its clarity or reduce it. For example, the text of an official business or instructional document, not divided into paragraphs, becomes very complex and unclear if the volume of sentences used in it is excessively large. This complication occurs with long lists of rules, recommendations, instructions, etc. So there is a need for the dismemberment of complex in terms of syntactic constructions.

The text of the art has its own laws, its own attitude towards clarity - ambiguity. Vagueness can be deliberate, especially as regards the speech of characters, when vagueness of the presentation of thoughts serves as a characterological tool. Unconfirmed, uncertainty, darkness of content can be planned by the author, meet his text idea.

For example, in A. Blok’s “Stranger” poem, deliberate semantic ambiguities serve the purpose of conveying the romantic elevated state of the lyrical hero, the nebula of the picture drawn here shifts objects, everything becomes unsteady, fluctuating, obscure by outlines and actions moving in a “foggy window”:

And ostrich feathers bowed

In my brain swing,

And they are blue bottomless

Blossom on the far shore.

Chichikov resorts to “ambiguity” in the presentation of thoughts in conversation with Manilov, although, turning to Sobakevich, he is very clear. On the uncertainty, "ambiguity" is built the whole plot of "Dead Souls".

So, as in other cases, the criterion of clarity, clarity and accessibility sharply demarcates artistic and non-artistic texts. The nature and purpose of the text imposes its own requirements on these qualities: either indispensable and rigid if the text is implemented in subject-logical structures; or the vagueness itself becomes a stylistic tool, a method of constructing a text, if this text is oriented towards associative-shaped structures.

Clarity assumes clarity, but not everything clearly stated may be accessible to everyone, and what is unclear is not always bad and defective.

All these qualities - accessibility, clarity, clarity - related to the content side of the text, are directly aimed at perception, i.e. are determined by the reader. But then the question arises about the reader himself, his ability to adequately perceive the text. Naturally, the perception depends on the reader's outlook, the degree of his education and erudition. But, as was shown in the paragraph “Meaning and Meaning”, “the depth of reading the text” is not necessarily related to its logical analysis. This depth may depend on the emotional subtlety of the reader, and not on the degree of development of his intellect [10]. Можно понять логическую структуру текста, проанализировать значение сообщения, но не понять того смысла, который стоит за этим значением, не воспринять подтекста, который и является внутренней сутью этого текста, мотивом его создания.

При характеристике тональных или стилистических качеств текста действует прежде всего критерий эстетический. Этот критерий складывается из оценки чистоты и благозвучия речи, ее выразительности в тексте.

Чистой признается речь, в которой нет нелитературных элементов языка, и прежде всего элементов языка, отвергаемых нормами нравственности[11].

К категории нелитературных элементов относятся диалектизмы, жаргонизмы, арготизмы. Засоряют речь вульгаризмы, бранные слова, слова нецензурные, слова-паразиты.

В последнее время наблюдается явное стремление у некоторых «модных» писателей, а также у газетных журналистов и корреспондентов «подкрашивать» свою речь (именно авторскую, а не только персонажей) нецензурными речениями. Эти процессы детабуизации обсценной лексики в конечном счете обусловлены снятием запрета на обсуждение интимной жизни людей, на публикации эротического содержания. В связи с этим возрастает актуальность проблемы чистоты русской речи.

Чистота речи, таким образом, истолковывается не только как соответствие литературному эталону (норме), но и как соответствие нравственной стороне нашего сознания. В принципиальном смысле критерий чистоты речи не выдерживается и при злоупотреблении иноязычной лексикой, и термин «варваризм» актуален сегодня как никогда.

Чистота речи – требование непременное для таких видов текста, как официальный, специальный, учебный. Однако в других случаях строго нормированная речь производит впечатление речи в высшей степени обесцвеченной, нивелированной, даже в каком-то смысле искусственной, без изюминки. Поэтому художественный текст не может всецело подчиниться такому пониманию критерия чистоты речи. И диалекты, и народное просторечие, и даже в меру употребленные жаргонизмы и арготизмы, а также профессионализмы служат цели создания ярких, правдоподобных речевых характеристик или своеобразных стилистических имитаций. Произведения В. Тендрякова, В. Белова, В. Шукшина, В. Астафьева, В. Распутина и других мастеров слова активно впитывают в себя народное просторечие и диалекты. Это возможно при высоком уровне писательской культуры.

Вот пример использования просторечия в художественном тексте:

Мать Степана рассказывала какой-то пожилой бабе:

– Кэ-эк она на меня навалится, матушка, у меня аж в грудях сперло. Я насилу-насилу вот так голову приподняла да спрашиваю: «К худу или к добру?» А она мне в самое ухо дунула: «К добру!»

Пожилая баба покачала головой.

– К добру?

– К добру, к добру. Ясно так сказала: к добру, говорит.

– Упредила.

– Упредила, упредила. А я ишо подумай вечером-то: «К какому добру, – думаю, – мне суседка-то предсказала?» Только так подумала, а дверь-то открываю – и он вот он, на порог.

– Господи, господи, – прошептала пожилая баба и вытерла концом платка повлажневшие глаза. – Надо же!

Бабы втащили на круг Ермолая. Ермолай, недолго думая, пошел вколачивать одной ногой, а второй только каблуком пристукивал <...>.

– Давай, Ермил! – кричали Ермолаю. – Утя сёдня радость большая – шевелись! (В. Шукшин. Степка).

Однако, как уже было сказано, в текстах массовой печати, в литературных произведениях замечается снижение этого уровня культуры. Ложно понятый тезис о свободе слова привел к полному размыванию границ между языком литературным и нелитературным. Табуированная лексика в массовой печати не может быть оправдана никакими «художественными» задачами. Общий процесс демократизации литературного языка нашего времени вполне объективен и закономерен, однако издержки этого процесса очевидны.

Освоение печатными текстами нелитературных и даже нецензурных фактов языка настолько активно, что возникла необходимость тщательного рассмотрения и изучения такого языкового материала, его характеристики и систематизации. В связи с этим все больше появляется словарей нового типа, в которых нашли отражение периферийные пласты лексики. Например: Девкин В.Д. Проспект словаря разговорноокрашенной и сниженной лексики русского языка// Лексика и лексикография. М., 1993; Елистратов BC Словарь московского арго. M., 1994; Dictionary of Criminal Jargons / Ed. Yu.P. Дубягина, А.Г. Bronnikov. M., 1991; Юганов И.,Юганова Ф. Русский жаргон 60–90-х годов. Опыт словаря. M., 1994; Словарь образных выражений русского языка/ Под ред. V.N. Телия. M., 1995; and etc.

Говоря о культуре речи, не следует смешивать ее с понятием правильности речи[12].

The correctness of speech (ie, linguistic correctness) is the correspondence to the linguistic norm. This is an indispensable, elementary quality of any text (or better to say, the requirement for any text). The culture of speech is a higher level of mastering a literary language and a method of mastering it. The culture of speech includes assessments not only correctly - wrong, but also better - worse, more appropriate, more expressive, more accurate , etc.

Понятие выразительности речи в тексте имеет разное содержание: выразительность бывает информационная (понятийная), которая достигается логичностью и фактологичностью. И есть выразительность чувственного воздействия. Оба эти вида выразительности могут быть открытыми (экспрессивными) и скрытыми (импрессивными). Например, выразительность в научном тексте достигается путем доказательности, аргументированности, путем прояснения позиции постановкой вопросов, как, например, в следующем тексте:

Скажем так: смысл – это способность порождать другие смыслы.

Разберем это определение сначала формально, а затем и содержательно.

From a formal point of view, this is a bad definition. You could even say, not a definition at all. Everyone will notice that the concept here is defined by itself. What could be worse to determine? What could be unintelligible? What could be illogical? (AV Smirnov. The Logic of Meaning. M., 2001, p. 43.)

In the artistic text, expressiveness is created by visual imagery.

The expressiveness of a business text consists in emphasizing imperativeness, volitional moments.

The expressiveness of the journalistic text is born at the intersection of the speech standard and speech expression. Accordingly, various means of expression are used: informational and stylistic.

Особенно разнообразны и избирательны средства художественной выразительности. В качестве таковых могут быть использованы не только собственно художественно-изобразительные средства языка (метафорические свойства языка), но и мотивированные отклонения от языковой нормы, которые выполняют ряд стилистических функций, придавая тексту особую достоверность и красочность. В частности, отклонения от языковых норм могут иметь целью создание «речевой маски», т.е. становятся характерологическим средством (например, немец русского происхождения у Л.Н. Толстого в «Войне и мире» произносит: затэм , импэратор ), отклонения могут указывать на социальную маркировку языковых фактов (например, женщина из простого народа в «Преступлении и наказании» Ф.М. Достоевского говорит: Девчонку-то с парнишкой зловили? ). С целью имитации «чужой речи» ненормативные факты языка могут служить сигналом связи разных социально значимых речевых систем (например, при обращении к лакею Вронский, как бы подлаживаясь под его речь, произносит чуждое ему «мамзель»; с другой стороны, кучер Филипп тоже берет «чужое слово» из барской речи – «пронимаж»).

Наконец, некоторые отклонения от общеупотребительных норм могут оказаться средством создания художественного образа, средством создания иронии, особого интимного колорита и т.п.

В свое время Л.В. Щерба тонко заметил: «Только безупречное знание языка, грамматики, дает возможность почувствовать всю прелесть отклонения от правил. Эти отклонения становятся средством тонких и метких характеристик».

Even deliberately applied, erroneous spelling [13] can be a stylistic tool. No wonder that Yu. Olesh advised writers to study the “illiteracy” of the language of L. Tolstoy. Artistic flair helped him to feel the significance of such "illiteracy." Similar can be found in A. Blok - in spelling, in grammar. For example, Blok persistently wrote the trottoir , alternated by muddles and blizzards, yellow and yellow , grilles and lattice . At the same time, he persistently guarded his mistakes from the publishers, demanding from them to respect these differences; I left in the corrections instructions on this. “Every grammatical misstep in my poems,” wrote A. Block in a letter to S. Makovsky (1909), “is not accidental, behind it lies something that I cannot sacrifice internally.” They had a figurative aesthetic price for him.

The deliberate deviation from the norm as a literary device gave rise to a new term and the opposition “norm - antinorm” [14].

Conscious speech error, to the place and with the meaning made, gives speech some piquancy. The fact is that ideally normative speech psychologically creates a feeling of dryness and vagueness, it does not touch the emotional strings. As, for example, the correct (grammar) put punctuation marks are not noticed, but unusual signs attract attention. This is a kind of stylistic "charm". No wonder because A.S. Pushkin uttered the following catch phrase: "As the mouth ruddy without a smile, without a grammatical error, I cannot stand the Russian language."

As in many other cases, when it came to the peculiarities of the language structure of the text, such a quality of the language is permissible only in artistic and journalistic texts; in other cases, strict normativity is unconditional.