On the Question of Particularization in Russian: the adjective "literal"

Syui Xiujuan associate professor, Department of Russian Language and Literature, Jilin University of Foreign Languages 130024, China, Changchun, Jingyue Street, 3658 247338326@qq.com Other publications by this author

Tokarchuk Irina Nikolaevna PhD in Philology associate professor, Department of Russian Language and Literature, Far Eastern Federal University 690922, Russia, Vladivostok, Russian Island str., village. Ajax, 10 tockarchuck.ira@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

The categorical feature of particles as one of the classes of service words in the Russian language is "the expression of the meanings of the communicative plan", and not the organization of syntactic constructions – unlike prepositions and conjunctions ^{[14, p. 3]}. To express this kind of diverse meanings, E. A. Starodumova notes, "numerous lexical units that exist in in Russian only (or mostly) as particles or as different parts of speech" [Ibid., p. 5]. In other words, those units can be attributed to particles, regardless of their specific morphological formality, for which the communicative-pragmatic function is the only or main one, which allows, due to the inability to clearly define the boundaries of this morphological class, "to represent particles as a functional class" ^{[15, p. 5]}. With this approach, this class is represented by "a large number of lexemes bordering on other classes of words" – in addition to the particles themselves [Ibid.]. Particles functionally correlate not only with adverbs or conjunctions that are genetically close to them, but also pronouns, modal words, interjections, as well as some verbs and even adjectives.

A striking example of this kind of units is the word whole, which, with syntactic components with quantitative semantics, expresses a purely pragmatic meaning associated with the assessment of quantity as large ^{[2, p. 137]}. In such uses, the role of the adjective whole is comparable to the function of the restrictive particle of everything, expressing the opposite assessment. E. V. Paducheva qualifies the whole – along with the word total – as a particle ^{[9, pp. 224-225]}. In the "List of particles and particle-like units", in addition to the above, another pragmatic use of this hybrid unit is recorded (You have a whole drama there, but I don't know anything) ^{[14, p. 61]}. The authors of the "Brief Explanatory and Grammatical Dictionary of Functional Homonyms" also record the data of the use of the word whole, qualifying the latter as a determinative pronoun categorically correlating with the adjective name, or without distinguishing such cases from the use of the adjective proper, while at the same time offering the wording of the meaning "similar to something in its importance; real" for examples like there's a whole science here ^{[10, pp. 148-149]}. At the same time, however, the "immigration potential of a particle" along the line "adjective – particle" is not marked in this dictionary [Ibid., p. 139]. 

E. A. Starodumova draws attention to the fact that some adjectives like real, shaped, existing, pure and under. in their colloquial implementations, they act as "particle-like" units of a hybrid type, since they combine in one use the communicative-pragmatic function and grammatical properties of the significant part of speech ^{[14, p. 7]}. Considering combinations of the type a real German, L. P. Krysin notes that "the evaluative adjectives real, true, authentic /.../ are used in the context of comparing the properties of a person with the properties of a representative of a reference ethnic group in this respect" ^{[6, p. 173]}, i.e. we are not talking about a real German, but about a man very much like him. The adjective real implements in such cases a value that has an evaluative character and is associated with the meaning of ‘completely similar to someone-something-n., undoubted’ ^{[8, p. 386]}. Similarly, E. S. Yakovleva assesses the role of desemanticized adjectives such, such, such, existing, in which, as a result of modalization (i.e., "reflection in their meaning of knowledge, experience, etc. of a particular speaker"), their "syntactic independence" has become weaker: if logical, accentuated allocation is impossible, the author questions their ability to act "as independent and full-fledged members of the proposal" ^{[17, p. 269]}. These adjectives serve as an "intensifier of assessments made by the speaker" ("expressive modifier of the predicate lexeme") [Ibid.].

Our observations show that the adjective literal is also involved in this process.

Adjective literal: semantics, compatibility, usage

The adjective literal is characterized, according to the information from the explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language, by two meanings: 1) ‘verbatim', ‘fully /exactly corresponding to something' (‘one that fully corresponds to something').') ^{[16, p. 200; 12, p. 122; 13, p. 807; 8, p. 59; 7, p. 37; 5, p. 57]}; synonymous adjectives in this case, according to the dictionary entry of the "Complex Dictionary of the Russian Language", are verbatim and exact ^{[5, p. 57]}; this meaning is presented in combination with the following nouns: translation, response, coincidence, reproduction (of someone's thoughts / text), retelling; 2) ‘accurate’, ‘direct’, ‘such that has a direct, not a figurative meaning’ ^{[16, p. 200; 12, p. 122; 13, p. 807; 8, p. 59; 7, p. 37; 5, p. 57]}. Let's pay attention to the interpretation of the second meaning with the help of synonyms not figurative ^{[8, p. 59; 5, p. 37]}, not metaphorical ^{[13, p. 807]}, in the "Big Explanatory Dictionary" – through the synonym true, as well as using the antonyms figurative and allegorical ^{[3, p. 102]}, which allows to concretize the meanings expressed by the words precise and direct, most often used to explain this meaning of the adjective literal. In all these dictionaries, as an illustration, examples of the meaning of nouns are given, as well as the meaning, see: to understand literally ^{[3, p. 102]}, the Father listened to him with his mouth open – not in a figurative sense, but in the literal sense of the word ^{[5, p. 57]} and under.

Unlike the dictionaries presented above, the "Active Dictionary of the Russian language" gives one meaning of the adjective literal with an interpretation that reflects both of the above interpretations, cf.: "One that corresponds to the exact meaning of the words" ^{[1, p. 377]}. In the examples given, the adjective in question is used mainly with the noun translation, as well as with the words understanding, embodiment and meaning, see: When literally translated, the text often looks strange; Literal understanding is inappropriate in this case; And Kozhev, Gamov and Blunt represented a living literal embodiment of the Nechaev ideal, including penetration into royal and presidential palaces; It wasn't just these last miserable months when I lost sight of her in the literal sense of the word [Ibid.]. Thus, in this dictionary, two meanings of the adjective are not opposed, its corresponding contextual uses are considered in the same row, as well as the words exact and literal given as analogues [Ibid.]. Note that in the "Complex Dictionary" these synonyms are attributed only to the first of the two meanings of the adjective literal ^{[5, p. 57]}. Meanwhile, through the exact synonym in a number of dictionaries, as noted above, the second of the two distinguished meanings of the word literal is interpreted ^{[16, p. 200; 7, p. 37; 8, p. 59]}. The possibility of interpreting both meanings using one synonym allows you to see their commonality. However, depending on the semantics of the noun being defined, differences can be seen in the literal meanings expressed by the adjective.

For example, in the following case, literal is compared with the contextual antonym literary and can be understood as ‘literal’, ‘made word for word’, ‘not literary’, cf.: Any translation – not only literary, but even literal – due to the difference in the structure of languages – inevitably introduces some subtle modifications into the meaning of the text (example from ^{[1, p. 377]}). In such cases, the meaning of the word in question gets concretization.

In addition, the wording of the meaning of the adjective literal in the "Active Dictionary" contains a mandatory component "word" (corresponding to the exact meaning of the words, and not something else that does not have a verbal form) - unlike the interpretations in other dictionaries. Cf. the interpretation of this adjective in the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian language" by V. I. Dahl: "transmitted orally or in writing, exactly, letter to letter, word to word; translated accurately; verbatim" ^{[4, p. 139]}. These interpretations are based on the etymology of the adjective literal (tracing paper from the French litteral from the Latin litteralis – littera ‘letter’ ^{[11, p. 20]}, cf. also literal), while the possibilities of its compatibility determine the expansion of its semantics.

So, most of the examples given in dictionaries suggest just such an interpretation – ‘in accordance with the meaning of words, text'. However, in the statement, a literal understanding is inappropriate in this case ^{[1, p. 377]} it is not specified whether the understanding of something – words or something that does not have a verbal nature or form - is in question. At the same time, understanding as a mental action is associated with comprehending the meaning of something and usually involves correlating this meaning with existing meanings, ideas expressed verbally.

The following case differs from those discussed above in that the meaning of the adjective is not related to the correspondence of something to words or text, cf.: Even in the ornament, literal coincidences can be noted (Lazarev, Russian. srednevek. painting) ^{[13, p. 807]}. Its meaning can only be conveyed by the synonym exact (cf.: exact matches in the ornament, i.e. one ornament exactly corresponds to another, repeats it).

The compatibility of the adjective literal, as follows from a number of examples presented above, is characterized by its use with abstract verbal nouns with the meaning of speech or mental activity or its result, such as translation, understanding, embodiment, reproduction, retelling, response, coincidence for the first meaning (if they are distinguished), and for the second – with words meaning and significance.

Observations on the material of the main body of the NKRR (2285 occurrences of the full form of the adjective in different numerical, generic, case forms) showed that the word literal most often appears with nouns meaning and translation. For example: In addition to the literal meaning, these words should have meant that Oleg is not afraid of Mansur (E. Chizhov. Translated from the subscript, 2012); Meanwhile, the northern capital (which is exactly how the name of Beijing sounds in literal translation) does not lend itself well to radical redevelopment (V. Ovchinnikov. Reflections of a Wanderer, 2012). In these cases, the phrases literal meaning / translation use nouns denoting speech, text, speech work, word, which corresponds to the wording of the adjective meaning in the "Active Dictionary". There are 84 occurrences with the word translation, and most occurrences with the word meaning are obviously due to the frequency expression in the literal sense with 1297 uses for the entire main subcorpus.

In addition to these frequency words, literal is often used with nouns such as quotation, following, execution, expression, interpretation, interpretation, coincidence, repetition, copy, record, similarity, similarity, etc. Basically, such phrases have either the meaning of transmitting some text, documents, records, etc. word for word, or the meaning of understanding speech, text, word in the literal sense, for example: Since, we repeat, reasoning before the incomprehensible is just a probable, plausible reasoning, since the truth can be seen, as the medieval said thinkers, only "with the eyes of the heart": "no literal interpretation is possible here" (S. S. Neretina, A. P. Ogurtsov. Paths to universals. Section II. The Creator and the genus, 2006) – that is, a literal interpretation, direct, not taking into account deep meanings; If otherwise, then literal adherence to all established rules and norms could completely paralyze the work of the Russian labor market (R. Kapelyushnikov. Plastic model // "Domestic notes", 2003) – meaning the exact adherence to the rules set out in the form of a text, the performance of any actions in accordance with the fixed norms; /…/ So the story ends. Having started working on the script, the Strugatsky brothers did not follow the path of a literal film adaptation. They immediately changed the structure and name, using only the basic premise (M. Turovskaya. 7 with 1/2 and the Films of Andrei Tarkovsky, 1991) – a literal adaptation is understood primarily as an accurate reflection of the text of the story, its composition, etc. in the script of the film, the correspondence of the text of the script to the text of the story, which is then presented in the film itself.

In addition, the factual material shows that the adjective in question is combined with other nouns, the meaning of which is not related to one or another type of speech or mental activity directed at the text, or with the meaning of ‘meaning’, for example: Perhaps the Great Wall of China shows us the literal handwriting of the total landscape of the true border of any letter, but this it does not save us from the need to defend ourselves – with new and new handwriting – from the omnipotent variability of the place surrounding calligraphy that is unwritten, undescribed, non-geographical, non-calligraphic (D. Zamyatin. Geoarchitecture and geocalligraphy // "The Cardinal Directions", 2010) – this context contains the metaphor of landscape handwriting, associatively associated with the concepts of writing and calligraphy, meaning outlines that are exactly repeated by the wall: the drawing of the wall repeats the natural drawing of the landscape; Vadim is his literal peer: in 1915, when the story begins Vadim, a sixteen-year-old, like Nabokov, is in the last grade of the gymnasium (N. Struve. A mystery novel, 1990) - here his literal peer is a real peer, a peer in the literal sense of the word, meaning full age correspondence. In these cases, it is not about the transmission or understanding of words or text, but about non-verbal phenomena. The adjective literal has the meaning of ‘exactly (completely) corresponding to something’, which is not limited to the area of the word or text.

In the material of the main body of the NKRR, a number of uses of the adjective have been identified, which cannot be considered typical. These include cases when the literal is combined with such nouns as agency, dance, village, map, death, life, reality, limits, dolls, minutes, theologians, weapons, explosion, shot, freshness, loneliness, slavery, poverty, continuity, superficiality, restlessness, submission, burial, complicity, hunger, survival, frenzy, beating, flight, neighborhood, and many others. In general, more than 90 lexemes belonging to different lexico-grammatical categories and not having any common semantic or grammatical features were noted. On the one hand, a significant number of such words speak about the expansion of the possibilities of combining the adjective literal. On the other hand, each of these uses has a single character (in most cases it is recorded 1 time or – rarely – 2-3 times in the text of one author), in contrast to the typical compatibility.

Cases of atypical compatibility have their own specifics. For example: This local hem is a village, and quite literal: everything is on hills and ravines (E. Gerstein. Mandelstam in Voronezh (according to S. B. Rudakov's letters), 1985-2002) – literally refers to the noun village not only to explain the characteristics of the described area, but also to make a subjective assessment, since the described place is part of the city of Voronezh, which has no urban features, corresponds to the idea of the village, and the speaker wants to convince the addressee of this; /.../ they gradually pulled the entire government to their side, and soon the emperors turned into literal dolls, who sat on the throne, at the will of the ruling regents, still perfect children and were expelled as soon as they reached adulthood and could become dangerous for usurpers (I. P. Rapgof. Secrets of the Japanese court. A novel from modern Japanese life, 1904) – by the phrase literal dolls, we mean the so-called puppet emperors, cf.: real dolls, because they are very similar to dolls (puppets), but in fact not dolls (i.e. not real dolls).  Consequently, the adjective literal in use with words that do not denote speech or mental activity or the result of this activity acquires a certain pragmatic function associated with the intention to convince the addressee of the correctness, accuracy of the chosen nomination based on the available grounds for comparison and establishing similarities.

In the last examples we have given, the adjective literal is desemanticized, losing its original meaning, or rather, it acquires the meaning of ‘real’, as noted above, but with an evaluative character, correlating with the meaning of ‘completely similar to someone–something-n., undoubted’ ^{[8, p. 386]}. The adjective has the meaning 'not real', 'similar' based on a comparison of the described fact with some ordinary, standard, characteristic manifestation of the situation, feature, object, etc., for example: "The enemy aircraft was shot down by accurate rifle and machine gun fire of our battalion units." He falls not far from the meat processing plant, and a literal pilgrimage begins to him, despite the shelling and the shouts of the commanders. Nekrasov. In the trenches of Stalingrad, 1946) – the described situation is not a real pilgrimage in the literal sense, but it very much resembles it. Such uses of the adjective literal can be defined as particulars, approaching the colloquial uses of "particle-like" adjectives real, shaped, existing, pure and under.

In other cases, the literal meaning of ‘real’ expressed by an adjective can correlate with the meaning of ‘genuine, valid, not fake’ [Ibid.], for example: And in books they write so. A.I. read, once read a lot. He thought so himself–just a block, just a month ago. But in fact, in literal life, everything turned out just the opposite (M. Vishnevetskaya. The month came out of the fog (1997)] – in real, real life, and not invented by the authors of books. In this and the following examples, the meaning of the adjective literal (‘real’, ‘authentic’, ‘real’) is concretized due to the juxtaposition or opposition expressed in the context: friendly trials took place here, and literal fights, although rare, had their place in this Masonic lair (K. S. Petrov-Vodkin. My story. Part 2. Euclid's space, 1932); I'm not talking about the torture of wars, prisons, executions and literal torture in prisons... (V. Soloukhin. Laughter behind the left shoulder, 1989); Here are umbrellas, for example. This protection from rain and sun has long been perceived as a symbol of power and a weapon in the social struggle. The weapon, of course, is not literal, but still powerful: in Thailand, the umbrella was mentioned in the title of the ruler (Yu. Zubtsov. The schedule of lessons // "Brownie", 2002.09.04); In view of literal loneliness (he did not associate with his comrades, and even they considered him too strange and a little sketchy and treated him slightly disdainfully), he, not to mention the experience of an adult in matters of life, does not even have some experience inherent in a sixteen-year-old boy (A. Batyuto. Diary, 1937); /.../ to mentally approach what is literally unthinkable, to comprehend with the mind the intelligible distances, sizes, temperatures /.../ (A. Dmitriev. Closed Book, 1999); /…/ For example, from your selection: "The crunch (exactly whimper) of the newspaper / crumpled his hand into his stomach." Who crumpled whom here is not quite clear. Where is the metaphor, and where is the literal action? What is it all about? (collective. Hamburg account: Marianna Plotnikova // "Belsky expanses", 2013) and under.

In addition, in rare cases, also due to the context, the meaning of the adjective is more likely to be interpreted as ‘in the literal sense of the word’, cf.: This is, first of all, the experience of passing death – and in those literal minutes when he was waiting for execution, tied to a post, and in those empty and filled years that he spent in a Dead house (A. Sinyavsky. Dostoevsky and hard labor // "Syntax", 1981] – in the literal (literal) sense of the minute. However, it is also possible that in this case the adjective emphasizes the brevity of the time period (minutes are small compared to years), acquiring particle properties based on the evaluation function, as in the cases of expressing the meaning ‘completely similar to something’.

Conclusions

Thus, the adjective literal has a number of meanings in modern Russian in terms of characteristic compatibility (‘literal’, ‘exactly corresponding to the words / meaning of words’, ‘direct’, ‘not figurative’; ‘exactly corresponding to something (non-verbal)’) and uncharacteristic compatibility (‘real’, ‘authentic', ‘real'; ‘not real', ‘similar to something'). The meaning of ‘not real', ‘similar to something’ is purely pragmatic, in connection with which the adjective can be considered as a particle-like unit with hybrid properties (i.e., a unit with a communicative-pragmatic function, while preserving the morphological and syntactic properties of the significant word). In this usage, literal is a typical example of the process and result of the particularization of adjectives. It replenishes a number of words like existing, pure, real, shaped and under.