UDC

81’367.522

Authors

Inna V. Kovtunenko
Southern Federal University; ul. Skazochnaya 103, Rostov-on-Don, 344058, Russian Federation;
e-mail: ivkovtunenko@yandex.ru
Ol’ga M. Kholomeenko
Southern Federal University; prosp. Kosmonavtov 17/1, Rostov-on-Don, 344092, Russian Federation;
e-mail: kholol2012@yandex.ru

Abstract

Being a figure of speech, inversion is undoubtedly expressive, and in a literary text it mostly acts as an expressive means. It is not always possible to distinguish inverse word order as a means of expressing author’s intentions from culture-specific word order currently in fashion. However, in some cases, the rearrangement of members of a sentence may have to do with the meaning of the lexemes in that sentence. It should be noted that inversion takes place when a lexeme is put in a position that is unpredicted by the context. If this lexeme is located at the beginning or the end of the sentence, the so-called actualization occurs. This article aimed to determine the relationship between the structural and semantic peculiarities of inverted constructions, actualization models allowing us to introduce key words of the context, and author’s intentions. The analysis of syntactic constructions with atypical order of subjects or predicates identified the models of inversion widely used by Zakhar Prilepin in his works. Members of a sentence can take the position of either the topic or the focus depending on the content of the context. In the strong accentual positions of the beginning and end of a sentence the author puts those lexemes whose semantics better conveys his idea. Using Z. Prilepin’s works as an example, the paper singles out actualization models allowing us to establish the relationship between the word order, the topic–focus articulation, and the semantics of key words and author’s intentions. The findings of the research can be of interest to scholars dealing with syntax, stylistics, and language theory. Moreover, the paper can find practical applications in classes in stylistics, modern Russian, and philological analysis of the literary text.

Keywords

inversion, topic–focus articulation, actualization model, subject group, predicate group, author’s idea, Z. Prilepin

References

1. Matezius V. O tak nazyvaemom aktual’nom chlenenii predlozheniya [The So-Called Topic–Focus Articulation]. Prazhskiy lingvisticheskiy kruzhok [The Prague School]. Moscow, 1967, pp. 239–245.
2. Peshkovskiy A.M. Russkiy sintaksis v nauchnom osveshchenii [Russian Syntax in Scholarly Works]. Moscow, 1956. 511 p.
3. Raspopov I.P. Stroenie prostogo predlozheniya v sovremennom russkom yazyke [Structure of a Simple Sentence in the Modern Russian Language]. Moscow, 1970. 191 p.
4. Krylova O.A. Kommunikativnyy sintaksis russkogo yazyka [Communicative Syntax of the Russian Language]. Moscow, 2009. 176 p.
5. Sirotinina O.B. Poryadok slov v russkom yazyke [Word Order in the Russian Language]. Moscow, 2003. 172 p.
6. Il’enko S.G. Rusistika: izbrannye trudy [Russian Studies: Selected Works]. St. Petersburg, 2003. 674 p.
7. Yokoyama O.B. Kognitivnaya model’ diskursa i russkiy poryadok slov [Cognitive Model of Discourse and Russian Word Order]. Moscow, 2005. 420 p.
8. Florya A.V. Poryadok slov v khudozhestvennom tekste [Order of the Words in the Fictional Text]. Uchenye zapiski ZabGGPU. Ser.: Filologiya, istoriya, vostokovedenie, 2011, no. 2, pp. 131–132.
9. Kryuchkova L.S. Zakonomernosti poryadka slov v russkom yazyke [Regularities of Word Order in Russian]. Mezhdunarodnyy aspirantskiy vestnik. Russkiy yazyk za rubezhom, 2011, no. 2, pp. 41–45.
10. Kovtunova I.I. Sovremennyy russkiy yazyk. Poryadok slov i aktual’noe chlenenie predlozheniya [The Modern Russian Language. Word Order and Topic–Focus Articulation]. Moscow, 2006. 240 p.
11. Pavlova A.V. Psikholingvisticheskiy aspekt inversii [Psycholinguistic Aspect of Inversion]. Voprosy psikholingvistiki, 2006, no. 4, pp. 73–80.
12. Arzyamova O.V. Innovatsii gibridnogo sintaksisa v aspekte svoeobraziya yazykovoy lichnosti avtora (na materiale khudozhestvennoy prozy Karine Arutyunovoy) [Innovations of Hybrid Syntax in the Aspect of Peculiarity of a Writer’s Linguistic Personality (Based on Literary Prose by Karine Arutyunova)]. Filologicheskie nauki. Voprosy teorii i praktiki, 2016, no. 3, pt. 1, pp. 80–82.