Repeated nomination in fiction

The semantic-structural and communicative organization of the text is carried out as a result of following certain rules, among which an important role is played by the choice of re-nomination method, word order, modality type, etc. First of all, when creating a coherent text, the question of re-nomination inevitably arises, i.e. choosing means of verbal substitution for an already named subject or object. So, in order to avoid repeating the same words, there is a need for lexical replacements. However, such replacements are not always convenient and permissible. In particular, difficulties arise in the creation of special texts, where it is not possible to find, say, another name for a scientific concept because of the clear indication of its content. In this case, the repetition of keywords (terms) is inevitable.

The same artistic, journalistic texts reveal the desire to diversify the names in the stream of speech, to update the verbal inventory. However, the possibility of substitutions and here has certain textual limitations. In addition, the lack of substitutions (with lexical repetition) can increase the semantic and stylistic tension of the text and, consequently, increase its expressiveness.

Here are some examples of the possibility (impossibility) or desirability (undesirability) of substitutions when re-nominated.

1. We met in one sanatorium. We walked together, recalled the Novgorod forests, cloudberries, deaf villages. Our family then lived in the district center, Lychkove. Not far from our house was a two-story house with iron bars on the windows of the lower floor. This house was interesting to me because in the evenings there was always a light ... We boys, for some reason, avoided this house by the side, did not look into the windows, did not climb into the garden, and did not even talk about this house among themselves. Some danger surrounded him . Then this institution was called OGPU. People who were brought there , disappeared. They were spoken of in a whisper (D. Granin. The Anatomy of Fear. Lit. Gas. 1997, March 12).

The long name “a two-story house with iron bars on the windows of the lower floor” (the first presentation of the object) is replaced by the brief “this house” (and the index word “this” refers us to the name above). And finally, at the end, the meaning of "this house" is revealed by the precise indication of the address: a new nomination appears: "this institution was called the OGPU." So from the external description of the object, the text leads us to the disclosure of its inner essence. In this passage, there are other indicators of repeated information - spatial and temporary nature ( then, there, there ), but the combination “this house” remains the dominant one, the repetition of which reinforces the impression of the significance of this object.

2. In fact, to know about the Pan and have some interest in the legendary life of a wandering poet and sage Bulgakov had since childhood : after all, it passed in Kiev, in Ukraine, where even in conversations no-no and you will hear a joke , saying or aphorism, attributed to the pan . In addition, Skovoroda was especially honored by all who ever studied after him at the Kiev Theological Academy , and the father of the writer , Afanasy Ivanovich, was a graduate and teacher of this educational institution (IL Galinska. Riddles of famous books. M., 1986. S. 81).

Here we have replacements, Bulgakov is a writer; childhood is it; Pan - he (after him), the poet and sage; Kiev Theological Academy is an educational institution. It turned out to be impossible to replace in one case: “The pan was read by everyone ...” - the repetition of the name is connected with the fact that the replacement could be attributed to Bulgakov.

3. ... In The Master and Margarita, the theory of the three worlds: earthly, biblical, and cosmic is obviously embodied in an artistic way. The first in the novel are people. The second is biblical characters. The third is Woland with his companions.

The theory of such “three worlds” could be borrowed by Bulgakov only from the one who created it , from the Ukrainian philosopher of the 18th century. GrigorySavvich Skovoroda . The latter , by the way, often signed his writings with the words "Bible lover" ...

The theory of the "three worlds" of the Frying Pan, which he expounded in his treatise "The Flood of the Zmiin", represents an objectively idealistic concept close to pantheism. According to this theory, the most important world is the cosmic, the universe, the comprehensive macrocosm. Two other worlds , according to Skovoroda, are private. One of them is a human, microcosm; the other is symbolic (“symbolic,” Skovoroda writes), i.e. biblical world (IL Galinsky. Mysteries of famous books. M., 1986. p. 77–78).

Replacements by re-nomination: three worlds - first, second, third; theory is its creator; the one who ... - the Ukrainian philosopher ...; Pan - the last; Pan - he (set out by him); two other worlds - one of them, the other.

The replacement “according to this theory” seems to be unsuccessful: the Pans theory is meant, and the text grammar, due to the contact position of the corresponding combinations, indicates that this replacement is related to the front-facing mention of an “objective-idealistic concept”.

4. A figure appeared on the bottom of the stairs and slowly crawled up the stairs. The figure was walking on sick feet and shaking a white head. On the figure was a wide double-breasted jacket with silver buttons and colored green buttonholes. In the jumping hands , the figurine had a huge key (M. Bulgakov). (Example taken from the article: TM Nikolayev. On functional categories of linear grammar // Text syntax. M., 1979.)

The repetition of one name (the keyword “figure”) in this case seems quite natural due to the “singularity” of the very name of the object of the subject-objective world: in the main statement, a figurative and metaphorical replacement has already taken place (the “figure” cannot be the original name of the subject) , that is why in the following text the direct name is already excluded, otherwise it would be necessary to replace the substitute (cf. impossibility: The figurine was walking ... There was a jacket on this person ). In addition, the replacement of the “figurine” at the third mention is also impossible because a purely formal need arises to break the chain connection of two adjacent sentences, otherwise the “double-breasted jacket” will be on the “white head”.

Re-nomination in an artistic text can serve as an effective means of characterizing a character. Here's how, for example, M. Bulgakov characterizes Azazello, without first directly naming him. The narrative is in terms of the perception of another person, Annushka. For her, the observed face was unknown, and gradually as the observation progressed, her face became surrounded by a number of externally defined signs. And only at the end of the scene described by the author calls his specific name. Here is the text:

... Shutting up the procession of short stature, a limping foreigner with a crooked eye, without a jacket, in a white vest coat and with a tie. All this company by Annushka proceeded down. Then something knocked on the site <...>. In her hands [Annushka] there was a napkin with something heavy <...>.

Annushka hid the find in her bosom, grabbed the can and was about to slip back into the apartment, postponing her journey to the city, as she grew up in front of her, the devil knows where he came from, the one with white breast without a jacket and quietly whispered:

- Give a horseshoe and a napkin <...>.

White-breasted hard, like bus rails, and equally cold fingers, without saying anything more, squeezed Annushka's throat so that he completely stopped all access of air to her chest. The can fell out of the hands of Annushka to the floor. Having held Annushka for some time without air, the jacket foreigner removed his fingers from her neck. Giving air, Annushka smiled <...>.

Having received a horseshoe and a napkin, the foreigner began to bow in front of Annushka, firmly shake her hand and thank warmly in such expressions, with a strong foreign accent:

- I am deeply grateful to you, madam. To me, this shoe is expensive as a memory. And allow you, for keeping it, to hand over two hundred rubles <...>.

A generous foreigner in a single swing slipped down the flight of stairs <...>.

... Annushka continued to scream by inertia for a long time:

- Mercy! Merci! Merci! - and the foreigner was long gone.

There was no car in the yard. Returning Margarita the gift of Woland, Azazello said goodbye to her <...> (Master and Margarita).

So skillfully “weaving” the text, M. Bulgakov varies the names of the character, and all the options are given from the point of view of the observer from the side who does not know who it really is. It is only at the end that a proper name appears, but already outside the Annushkin perception.

Thus, the choice of means of re-nomination in the construction of the text is subject to both structural-semantic rules and stylistic-compositional. Restrictions on the selection of substitutions can be lexico-grammatical properties, when the chain connection of sentences in the case of an unsuccessful choice of re-nomination shifts the contextual correlation of names. The limited choice can be felt when referring to figurative names. The most indifferent to the named subject are pronominal words, since they have a wide thematic relatedness: “he, she, they” can correlate with the name of the subject, person, quality; “This, this, these” in combination with the names are also not limited in their correlation with other names.

However, the use of pronominal substitutions takes into account the structure of the combined phrases, contactiness or distantness in the arrangement of the words being correlated. For example, in the following context, the pronoun “their” is clearly used unsuccessfully: Many books in the library were old, torn. Children need to be told that they should be protected (it turns out that only torn books should be protected). Possible semantic bias and the use of the word "who" (s, s ): it corresponds to the contact located name.

Repeated nominations perform a text-forming function: they thematically and grammatically connect the components of utterances, interphrase unity. As repeated names can be used pronouns and pronoun-adverbial words ( he, she, that, that, that; there, there, from there ); metaphorically used nouns; words and combinations of indicative meaning ( this question; this information; such conclusions ); paraphrases ( Ostap Bender is a great combinator ), etc.

The nature of re-nominations depends on the type of text: they can be stylistically neutral or have an expressive and evaluative coloring; the amount of information exactly match the named object or expand, to clarify its content. Such diversity leads to functional diversity. Nominative units perform the following main functions: informative-descriptive (for example, the definition is complete or partial with terms; object characteristics: Bender is a young man, about twenty-eight ); situational (characteristic in this situation); expressive-evaluative (characteristic of an object with an assessment of its qualities); reducing (reducing the amount of text).

Stylistically neutral, for example, pronominal reference ( he, she ); expressive and evaluative nominations containing characterological elements ( Pan - poet and sage ). In the scientific text, neutral, reducing and descriptive nominations are preferred; in the artistic - more functionally diverse and branched.

The degree of informativeness of the means of re-nomination, the means of substitution, depends on: 1) the ability of the deputy to combine the substitution function with the function of reporting new, characterizing or classifying information; 2) on the accuracy of the qualification of the content named; 3) on the availability of the terminology equivalent, etc. For example, among the deputies of the designation of the object or person, the deputies transmitting the classifying information are more informative [1].

The most informative are usually alternates in artistic texts. In non-artistic texts, in particular in scientific terms, substitutes are often used, reducing text and stylistically neutral, for example, abstract names of the universal type “phenomenon”, “case” and prepositional combinations such as “in this respect”, “in this sense”, etc. .

Here are examples of neutral name substitutes in a scientific text. They are devoid of character traits, these are direct, formal references to the above-mentioned names:

In recent years, an interest in the so-called “naive picture of the world” has been noted in a number of areas of knowledge. In particular, this concept has gained considerable popularity in linguistics (namely, in semantic research), where it is sometimes specified, so it is referred to as “naive-linguistic” (or simply “linguistic”) “picture of the world” (TV Bulygina , AD Shmelev. Elemental linguistics // Russian language today. M., 2000. P. 9).

The term “Order” is conditional; the choice of just such a designation is caused by its authenticity (cf., for example, the “Orders” by V. Mayakovsky) and rootedness in the scientific tradition (this, however, concerns futurism, but not expressionism). In addition, the dictionary meaning of this word as a whole seems to correspond to the aesthetics of avant-garde (N.S. Sirotin. "Order" in avant-garde poetry // Philological Sciences. 2001. №4).

So, means of re-nomination and methods of their application, with all their verbal diversity, in principle, consist of two main groups: 1) means that enhance the informative qualities of the text, and 2) means belonging to the purely formal indicators of communication of textual components.

The first deepen and expand the content structure of the text; the second ones make it possible to avoid annoying repetitions of the same names. The choice of one or the other may be related to the functional and stylistic belonging of the text (for example, artistic and non-artistic texts to different types of repeated nominations); however, for example, the formal means of re-nomination may be present in any text (both artistic and non-artistic).

[1] See: E. Sorokin Informativeness as a criterion for editorial evaluation of the means of expression in the scientific literature: Author's abstract. Cand. diss. M., 1982.