Textual periphrases in the semantic structure of N.M. Karamzin's sentimental historical novel "Natalia, the Boyar's Daughter"

Mikhailenko Arina Yur'evna ORCID: 0000-0001-9687-1490 Junior Researcher, Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences 119334, Russia, Moscow, ul. Leninsky Prospekt, 32 A arina.mikhaylenko@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

The semantic structure of the text as a system "sensitive" to the influence of extralinguistic circumstances of various types at the turn of the XVIII–XIX centuries has a number of unique features. The above period is characterized by the lively development of the genre system of Russian fiction prose, which for several decades has been accompanied by the appearance of a large number of new authors, the expansion of the audience of readers, the development of aesthetic sensitivity as a person perceiving verbal art, and the personality that generates it. A special place among the prose genres in a given period is occupied by the genre of sentimental historical story – within the framework of which the documentary and artistic components of the narrative come into contact for the first time.

The analysis of the aesthetic potential of linguistic units as part of the semantic structure of a work is an urgent problem of modern linguistics, the solution of which occurs in the direction noted in the works of L.A. Novikov devoted to the aesthetic function of a literary text: "The poetic or aesthetic function is characterized by a focus on the message itself ..." ^{[1, p. 494]}. A generic feature of a literary text is its arousal of the creative perception of the message in the reader, who must turn the poetic contour into a perceived image. "The aesthetic function of language, its poetry, characterized by a developed system of metaphoricity, semantic diversity, historically go back to mythology ..." ^{[1, p. 498]}. The generalized toolkit of means of expression of the text of a work of art and comments on the author's intention expressed by them constitute its semantic structure.

The central provisions of the aesthetic system of sentimentalism:

· following sensualism, the focus of attention shifts to the sensory sphere of a person;

· idealized sensitive characters who see the world through their experiences;

· the view of the world is transmitted with the strengthening of the personal beginning of the narrator, who leads a confidential conversation with the reader.

Sentimentalism in art as a whole is characterized by the desire for contemplation. In a literary text, this tendency manifests itself in the replacement of a verb with a turnover consisting of a phrase or syntagma, when replaced, there is a loss of predicative connection, which leads to the impression of a lack of action. An important feature of the organization of N.M. Karamzin's story "Natalia, the boyar's daughter" is the presence of periphrases only in the narrator's speech, dialogues are modeled by other language means. Periphrastic expressions make the text extended and give it a special contemplation; on the one hand, they demonstrate the possibilities of language, and on the other hand, they cause the movement of the aesthetic sense of the reader. Periphrases are frequent in the introductory part of the story.

Russian Russian literature is known to be undergoing a period of ascent in the XVIII century, which, under the influence of French sentimental literature, is accompanied by a change in preferred stylistic tools, in particular, an increase in the frequency of periphrases in the literary text: "Abstract, figurative meanings developed that did not directly follow from the semantic system of the Russian language and found full correspondence only in the semantic properties of French speech" ^{[2, p. 177]}. The French verbal tradition of the period under consideration is characterized by the ability of elegant nomination, unusual combination of words in order to create a beautiful form, competition in allegorical designation. The periphrases of French sentimental literature are a style-forming element that creates the emotionality of the narrative ^[3]. Periphrases are a special way of nominating an object, which contains the intention of creating an image; periphrases are considered in linguistic literature as a sign of belonging of a literary work to one of two literary trends: classicism and sentimentalism ^{[4, p. 69]}.

Periphrasis as a subject of linguistic research

Periphrasis in linguistic literature is considered in such aspects as:

– a means of creating imagery, tropes, however, it should be noted that the attribution of a periphrasis that does not contain a metaphorical transfer to tropes is debatable ^[5];

– the method of nomination, which means a verbal expression that is the result of a communicatively motivated, secondary, characteristic motivation ^[4]; a detailed design of a semantic segment, an allegorical expression of thought that is freely and spontaneously born, far from stereotyping and cliche ^[6];

– a trope that characterizes a certain literary direction ^{[2; 4]}.

Periphrasis was also considered in the aspect of etymology ^[7] in the functional aspect ^{[8; 9]}, as the realization of a linguistic personality ^[10], etc.

In the study of peripheral means of N.M. Karamzin's sentimental historical story "Natalia, the boyar's daughter" ^[11], we divided the periphrases into types on the following grounds: 1) thematic groups of periphrases; 2) models for constructing periphrases; 3) functions of periphrases.

Thematic groups of periphrases

By the object of the nomination, we can classify the periphrasis as

· naming object (snow depths in the meaning of ‘snowdrifts'):

(1) "Already the horses were beginning to get tired and with difficulty pulled their feet out of the depths of the snow" ^{[11, p. 643]};

· feeling / emotional state (for example, a huge temple to which thousands of people, men and women, hurried with joyful faces, holding each other's hand – ‘love'):

(2) "Sometimes her inflamed thoughts imagined a huge temple to which thousands of people, men and women, hurried with joyful faces, holding each other's hand" ^{[11, p. 631]};

· a sign of an object or phenomenon (a radiant day in the meaning of ‘happy'):

(3) "<...> look at the golden-domed Moscow, from which the radiant day removed the foggy cover of the night" ^{[11, p. 626]};

· the period / time of a person's life (the onset of the evening of life in the meaning of ‘old age', etc.):

(4) "<...>already a quiet fluttering of the heart heralded the onset of the evening of life and the approach of night" ^{[11, p. 625]};

· action (darkness thickened in the air in the meaning of ‘it got dark'):

(5) "The moon has descended – already part of it has gone beyond the circle of the earth – the darkness in the air has thickened – the roosters have begun to sing – the moon has disappeared, and a silver ring has been struck at the boyar gate" ^{[11, p. 641]}.

N.M. Karamzin's novella "Natalia, the boyar's daughter" belongs to the works of art of the sentimental direction, which explains the author's great attention to the description of the feelings and experiences of the main characters of the work (Natalia Andreeva and Alexey Lyuboslavsky, boyar Matvey Andreev, nanny Natalia Andreeva).

The thematic group love is represented by several types of periphrases. Thus, assessing love as the highest emotional expression of feeling, the author uses a number of periphrases based on the semantics of fire to indicate a bright, strong, all-consuming feeling:

· pour fire into the heart – ‘cause strong love’:

(6) "You poured some kind of fire into my heart with your first glance <....>" ^{[11, p. 648]};

the periphrasis to pour fire into the heart has the meaning of "to cause strong love", the noun love is used in the nomination, which is the nuclear unit of the lexico-semantic group that implements the image of fire.

The idea of nominating love with the help of units of a lexico-semantic group that implements the image of fire is continued by epithets, for example,

· love ardently:

(7) "And whoever, having loved ardently in his life, has not acted in anything against strict morality, is happy!" ^{[11, p. 640]};

· boiling heart:

(8) «<….> both depicted fiery feelings, a boiling heart of love" ^{[11, p. 638]};

· fiery fiery eyes:

(9) "At these words, uttered in a firm voice, he stood up and looked with fiery, fiery eyes at the beauty" ^{[11, p. 640]};

the epithet looked with fiery fiery eyes has the meaning of ‘looked in love’, two adjectives with the seme ‘fire’ are used in its formation.

The second type includes periphrases using the metonymic designation of love through other feelings, for example:

· new admiration – in the context of ‘with love':

(10) "Alexey embraced her with new admiration" ^{[11, p. 640]};

the periphrasis with a new admiration is constructed using the nomination of an emotional feeling of supreme satisfaction, delight in combination with an adjective marking the feeling that has arisen; 

· attract the soul – in the context of the story in the meaning of ‘fall in love at first sight’:

(11) "You poured some kind of fire into my heart with your first glance, attracted my soul to you with your first glance, which immediately loved you as her own" ^{[11, p. 648]};

the periphrasis to attract the soul is constructed using the soul nomination, i.e. it indicates the essence of a person that determines his ability to feel;

· true sensitivity – ‘true love':

(12) "Then the young man began to speak — not in the language of novels, but in the language of true sensitivity ^{[11, p. 638]};

the periphrasis of true sensitivity is constructed using the lexical unit sensitivity, which is frequent in sentimental literature, since the image of the feelings and experiences of the hero is the central element of a literary work of this style. Especially important for the author of a sentimental work is the heightened ability to understand feelings in women (see example 13). In example 12, a single–root lexical unit of the sensitive is used, the model is a metonymic transfer in the nomination of love to another feeling;

· sensitivity – ‘love’:

(13) "Are you asking me? – she said with sensitivity – in the context of ‘with love' ^{[11, p. 640]};

· sensitive – in the context of ‘loving’:

(14) "and what is most important is to leave a kind, sensitive, tender father..." ^{[11, p. 640]}.

N.M. Karamzin pays the greatest attention (plot and figuratively) to the love of the main character. Here are examples of periphrases nominating the love of the main character:

· a huge temple to which thousands of people, men and women, hurried with joyful faces, holding each other's hand – ‘love':

(15) "Sometimes her inflamed thoughts imagined a huge temple to which thousands of people, men and women, hurried with joyful faces, holding each other's hand" ^{[11, p. 631]};

· to see that in the flickering of a distant dawn, some kind of image is carried, a charming, sweet ghost that beckons to itself with an angelic smile and then disappears into the air - ‘to anticipate love':

(16) "<...> it often seemed to her (not only in a dream, but even in reality) that in front of her, in the flicker of a distant dawn, there was some kind of image, a charming, sweet ghost, which beckoned her to him with an angelic smile and then disappeared into the air" ^{[11, p. 631]};

· favorite of the soul – ‘beloved person':

(17) "Natalia was alarmed by the nurse's exclamation, grabbed Alexey by the hand and, looking into his eyes with some concern, but with full confidence in the darling of her soul, asked" ^{[11, p. 631]};

• standing in the vestibule of the temple – ‘not to have a loved one':

(18) "Natalia also wanted to enter it, but an invisible hand held her by her clothes, and an unknown voice told her, "Stand in the vestibule of the temple; no one without a dear friend enters its interior" ^{[11, p. 631]}.

Another set of examples are the periphrases nominating the time period, the time of the year:

· the year has turned on its axis – ‘the opposite season has come (summer-winter, spring-autumn)’

(19) "Time in the old days flew as quickly as it is now, and while our beauty sighed and languished, the year turned on its axis <....>" ^{[11, p. 632]};

in this example, a periphrase is used, marking the change of the astronomical time of the year;

· the terrible queen of the flood sat on her icy throne and breathed blizzards on the Russian kingdom – ‘winter has come’:

(20) "<...> the green carpets of spring and summer were covered with fluffy snow, the formidable queen of the flood sat on her icy throne and blew blizzards on the Russian kingdom, that is, winter has come <...>" ^{[11, p. 632]};

the whole sentence of Example 20 can be attributed to the periphrasis with the meaning ‘winter has come'.

It is necessary to note the existing intersection of the periphrastic images at the level of the periphrastic values, so the periphrastic luminary simultaneously enters the structure of two images (the sun and life), combining them:

· luminary – ‘the sun’:

(22) "Only the first rays of this magnificent luminary appeared from behind the morning cloud, pouring liquid, intangible gold on the quiet earth <...>" ^{[11, p. 627]};

here the periphery of the luminary has the meaning of ‘sun’, a concrete concept, a material object of reality. The luminary token is also found in other contexts. However, in combination with the definition of the setting token itself becomes the object of the nomination with the meaning of ‘end of life time’:

(23) "He goes forward fearlessly, enjoys the last rays of the setting sun, turns a calm gaze on the past and with a joyful — though dark, but no less joyful foreboding puts his foot into the unknown" ^{[11, p. 625]};

· sunrise of the sun – ‘the time of the beginning of life’:

(24) "Your eyes shine like suns; your lips turn red like the morning dawn, like the peaks of snowy mountains at the sunrise of the day, – you smile like a young creation smiled on the first day of its existence, and I am delighted to hear your sweetly thundering words: "Go on, my dear great-grandson!"" ^{[11, p. 623]}. In the latter context, the luminary also acts as the object of the nomination. The periphrastic combination of the sunrise of the day gives the meaning of ‘the time of the beginning of life'.

Models for constructing periphrases

Based on the material of the analyzed examples , we have identified the following models for constructing periphrases:

· adjective + noun, the meaning of each member is preserved in the phrase, for example: boiling heart with the meaning of ‘loving heart’;

· adjective + noun with a common meaning, for example: [rays of] a magnificent luminary with the meaning ‘sun’;

· several dependent words + a noun with a common meaning, for example: to the hospitable inhabitants of the Volga shores ‘Tatars’

· verb (verb form) + a controlled noun in combination with an adjective with a common meaning, for example: fell asleep in an eternal sleep ‘died’;

· verb (verb form) + controlled noun in combination with a noun with the preservation of the meaning of each part, for example:to rush on a cloud from the other world – ‘to appear in the world of the living’;

· periphrasis, which has a defined word in the nomination, for example: Moscow white stone;

· periphrasis that does not have a definable word in the nomination, for example: to the country where the Sviyaga River flows into the majestic Volga and where numerous peoples worship the false prophet Mohammed ‘Kazan Khanate'.

Functions of periphrases

Based on the material of the analyzed examples , we have identified the following functions of periphrases:

– selection of a feature, object, action in a sentence: on the fast wings of imagination:

(25) "At least I love these times; I love to fly (action) on the swift wings of imagination into their distant gloom <....>" ^{[11, p. 622]};

In this example, the periphrasis on the fast wings of imagination with the meaning of ‘creating new ideas in the mind based on the processing of existing ones; fantasy’ highlights the action, also expressed by the periphrasis of flying into their distant gloom in the meaning of ‘remembering the past’;

– co-use of periphrases:young creation + on the first day of its existence

(26) «<….>you smile like a young creature smiled on the first day of its existence, and i am delighted to hear your sweetly thundering words: "Go on, my dear great-grandson!"" ^{[11, p. 623]};

in the analyzed example, the periphrasis on the first day of its existence in the meaning of ‘day, moment of birth’, the combination with the periphrasis of a young creation in the meaning of ‘newborn child’ express a single idea of ‘new, just appeared, pure’;

– "blurring" of the direct nominated feature of the subject, object, feeling, content of the nomination: in the realm of shadows, in the realm of imagination:

(27) "In order to lighten the burden of my memory a little, I intend to inform kind readers of a story or a story I heard in the realm of shadows, in the realm of imagination, from my grandfather's grandmother, who at one time was considered very eloquent and almost every evening told fairy tales to the queen NN" ^{[11, p. 623]};

periphrases in the realm of shadows, in the realm of imagination in the meaning of 'a very long time ago', used as homogeneous members of the sentence, "blur" the indication of time expressed by the phrase heard from my grandfather's grandmother x, which also has the meaning of 'a very long time ago';

– to put a foot in the unknown – ‘expect death’:

(28) "He goes forward fearlessly, enjoys the last rays of the setting sun, turns a calm gaze on the past and with a joyful – though dark, but no less joyful foreboding puts his foot into the unknown" ^{[11, p. 625]}.

Conclusion

The study showed that N.M. Karamzin's historical novel "Natalia, the boyar's daughter" contains periphrases of different thematic representation (love and time), differing in the object of nomination (subject, feeling, sign, period, action); periphrases differing in structure (adjective + noun; adjective + noun with a common meaning; several dependent words + a noun with a common meaning; a verb (verb form) + a controlled noun in combination with an adjective with a common meaning; a periphrase that has a defined word in the nomination; a periphrase that does not have a defined word in the nomination and a periphrase formed by a syntagma). According to the functions of the periphrases, they are classified into distinguishing a feature, an object, an action in a sentence; combined with other periphrases; blurring the direct nominable feature of the subject, object, feelings, the content of the nomination.

Thus, periphrases, along with the nomination of objects, are the central means of the semantic structure of the work, its style-forming element, a tool for creating poetic imagery, and the work itself is characterized as a historical sentimental story.