Structural and semantic features of occasionalisms in the example of the novel "Lavr" by E.G. Vodolazkin

Chzhao Pan' ORCID: 0009-0002-6448-0229 Postgraduate student; Faculty of Philology; St. Petersburg State University 7-9 Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russia 15829039984@163.com

Introduction. Occasional studies are currently the focus of attention of researchers studying the linguistic phenomena of modern Russian literature. Scientists propose various definitions of this phenomenon, describe its functions, and develop classification approaches. Thus, N.G. Babenko, who devoted fundamental research to occasionalism, considers it as a conscious deviation from the linguistic norm by the author in a certain context, emphasizing that such units function exclusively within the literary text and are absent from the usage ^{[2, p. 7]}. E.D. Rosenthal and M.A. Telenkova give a similar definition: occasionalism — this is a lexeme based on an unproductive model and relevant only in a specific author's speech situation ^{[13, p. 282]}. O.S. Akhmanova offers a similar interpretation, calling accidents words that are outside the usage and norm, created by the author in accordance with his individual style and the requirements of the context ^{[1, p. 274]}.

According to E.A. Zemskaya, occasional expressions are characterized by a limited scope of use, strictly tied to a specific text. Unlike neologisms, they retain their novelty regardless of the time of their appearance. In addition, their education is accompanied by a violation of existing linguistic norms, which makes it possible to call them "lawless words" ^{[9, p. 15]}. V.V. Vinogradov notes that occasionalisms reflect the dialectic of linguistic development, arising as a reaction to social changes and the communicative need to nominate new realities ^{[5, p. 202]}.

A significant contribution to the study of the historical aspect of occasionalism was made by S.V. Valiulina, who analyzed 247 occasional units in the poetics of A.S. Pushkin. According to her observations, most of them are based on productive word-formation models (suffixation, prefix, addition), but their functioning is limited to a specific artistic context ^{[3, p. 229]}. These conclusions are consistent with the opinion of T.I. Vendina, according to which occasionalisms, unlike neologisms, do not capture collective linguistic experience, but express an individual author's principle, which explains their absence in normative dictionaries ^{[4, p. 17]}.

Z.V. Shakhmatova's study of 19th century composites shows that occasional terms were often created as an alternative to foreign terms in the context of a shortage of Russian scientific vocabulary. For example, complex adjectives such as cold-working or five-part illustrate attempts to calculate and adapt borrowed concepts by way of word composition ^{[14, p. 154]}.

N.V. Devdariani and E.V. Rubtsova emphasize the fundamental difference between neologisms and occasional ones: the former denote new realities and can gain a foothold in the language, while the latter are situational speech formations that are not intended for long—term existence ^{[7, p. 44]}. Despite this, according to V.V. Lopatin, occasional expressions, even if they remain marginal, enrich the language, demonstrating its creative potential and ability to expressive improvisation ^{[12, p. 62]}.

In recent years, attention to occasional vocabulary has been increasing due to the development of corpus and discursive methods of analysis. Modern researchers emphasize the need to consider occasionalisms not only as units of language play, but also as elements of the author's conceptual style ^{[15; 17; 19]}. In particular, the works of A. L. Tokareva and D. U. Ashurova, carried out in line with cognitive linguistics, reveal the role of metaphorical and figurative units in the formation of an individual author's worldview, which makes their approach especially relevant for the analysis of occasionalisms in modern fiction ^{[15; 17]}. B. T. Dzusova focuses on cognitive mechanisms metaphorization as the basis of the author's interpretation of reality, which makes it possible to expand the understanding of the pragmatic and semantic functions of occasional nominations ^{[20, p.278]}. In addition, A.V. Borovkova's research demonstrates the potential of occasionalisms as a means of expressing cultural values and evaluative meanings by actualizing metaphorical models ^{[21, p. 36]}. The application of corpus linguistics methods is also an important direction, which makes it possible to identify the frequency and contextual patterns of the use of occasional units. In this context, the works of Ivanova (2022) and Selivanova (2023) are of interest, contributing to the clarification of their typology and systematization ^{[16; 18]}.

Thus, occasionalisms should be considered as a complex and multifaceted linguistic phenomenon combining the features of norms and deviations, traditions and innovations. Their research requires an integrated approach that covers both the structural-semantic and extralinguistic levels, which is especially important for studying the functioning of these units in the author's discourse.

Discussion. In E. G. Vodolazkin's novel "The Laurel", various means of linguistic expression are actively used, among which occasional expressions occupy a special place. One of the first lexical accidents in the text is the anthroponym "Rukinets". So, at the very beginning of the narrative, describing the hero, the author writes: "He also had two nicknames. One of them, Rukinets, referred to Rukina Sloboda, the place where he was born" ^[6]. The anthroponym Rukinets is a lexical occasionalism formed by suffixing. It is noteworthy that his semantics turns out to be twofold: for example, the nickname of the hero indicates not only his belonging to a certain place, but also his occupation (medicine): "The ability to lay a hand, to relieve pain by laying on a hand, to some extent determined Arseny's first nickname - Rukinets" ^[6]. This example illustrates the conceptual function of occasionalisms, highlighted by A.L. Tokareva, where metaphorical nominations become key markers of the author's worldview ^{[15, p. 19]}. In particular, the name "Rukinets" reflects not only the place and profession, but also the sacred idea of the "hand" as a symbol of healing. Thus, the lexeme performs not only an identifying, but also a symbolic function, fitting into the religious and philosophical context of the novel and expanding the lexical norm due to semantic capacity.

One of the most striking examples of semantic occasionalism in the novel is the word "duality", used in the following fragment: "On one of the long July evenings, Ustina asked Arseny to teach her literacy. This request surprised him at first. Everything they needed to read, he could read, and that was part of their duality."^[6] The word "duality" is defined in the dictionary as an inseparable part of certain phenomena or features ^{[8, p. 313]}. However, in the context of a literary text, "duality" acquires a unique semantic meaning — it denotes the mystical, almost sacred unity of two characters, their metaphysical involvement.

Such a semantic reappraisal, according to B. T. Dzusova, demonstrates the cognitive mechanism of secondary nomination, in which the lexeme activates hidden conceptual connections related to religious and ethical semiotics. In the context of the novel, "duality" not only describes the relationship of the characters, but also structures their plot transformations: Arseny dominates this union, which symbolically expresses the imbalance of spiritual will. His desire for exclusivity leads to the death of Ustina and their child, but even after death, their unity persists in the form of the hero's self-sacrifice and renunciation of his own personality. This meaning is reinforced by the final scene in which Arseny takes the name of his beloved. Thus, a conceptual fusion of the physical and the spiritual takes place, reflecting the ambivalent author's position: love as unity becomes both a blessing and a fate. Thus, the lexeme "duality" goes beyond its usual semantics and acts as a semantic contingency that performs an interpretative and symbolic function in the discourse of the work.

We can also talk about semantic accidents in the following examples: "Arseny pressed his forehead against an oak tree and felt woodiness flow into him. You give him a kiss from me. Just a kiss" ^[6]. In this context, woodiness acquires the properties of spirituality and undergoes personification, thereby forming a new semantic content. By "woodiness" is meant not only the physical quality of wood as a material (hardness, immobility, rigidity), but also the symbolic state of the hero, who is in the process of spiritual rebirth. This new meaning is evident in the episode where Arseny is pressed against an oak tree — and it is this act of contact with a natural element that accompanies his transition into another hypostasis. Thus, the lexeme "wooden" is used with non-standard, contextually determined semantics. It should be noted that in the novel, the motif of the hero's merging with nature is repeated repeatedly, and natural objects (for example, trees, wind, light) acquire signs of animation. According to B. T. Dzusova (2019), such a semantic transformation reflects the cognitive mechanism of metaphorization, through which the material properties of objects are translated into ontological categories ^{[20, p. 278]}. In this case, the tree acts not only as a natural object, but also as an intermediary between worlds. The hero's fusion with the tree highlights his desire for purification through dissolution into nature. The personification of these elements of nature serves as a marker of the semantic transformation of the corresponding lexemes, which can be regarded as semantic accidents.

The given example is of interest not only from the point of view of lexical innovation, but also from the point of view of grammatical transformation. So, in the final remark (not woody, but human and prayerful), the forms of short feminine adjectives are observed, which in this semantic configuration function as grammatical accidents. Formally, the word "human" is indeed attested in dictionaries (cf. gramota.ru However, in the usus of modern Russian, it is extremely rarely used in comparison with such rare or occasional formations as "prayer". As E. A. Zemskaya emphasizes, such syntactic failures can be considered as "aesthetic anomalies" that enhance the expression and metaphysical register of the narrative ^[9]. In this scene, the transformation concerns not only the hero, but also the language, which becomes a vehicle for metaphysical experience. The occurrence here is manifested not in a violation of the norm, but in an unusual compatibility, contextual anomaly, and aesthetic labeling of the syntactic series. Such a structure not only gives expression to the speech utterance, but also enhances the image of the metaphysical transformation of the hero.

The motif of merging with the natural element in the novel can also acquire a negative connotation. This can be seen, for example, in the following fragment: "Does it really matter who I am, Arseny answers, whether it's an angel or a human being. You used to rob the living, but now you've become a grave robber. It turns out that during your lifetime you acquire earthy properties and therefore you can become earth overnight" ^[6]. In the above example, the combination of "earthy properties" and "become earth", the expressions "earthy properties" and "become earth" acquire a symbolic meaning — a metaphor for the extreme degree of the fall and the loss of spiritual substance. Outside of this context, they do not have such semantic content, which allows us to consider them as semantic neologisms that arise within the author's artistic world.

Such expressions can be interpreted as semantic accidents, since they arise exclusively in the author's discourse and activate cultural and religious associations. These lexemes become not just figurative, but conceptual markers of the character's internal disintegration and ontological transformation. Thus, these lexemes perform a double function: on the one hand, they denote a specific symbolic state of the hero, on the other, they mark the boundary between life and death, flesh and dust, acting as a means of cognitive marking of moral decay. In this sense, they represent high-level semantic accidents with a pronounced interpretative load.

It is noteworthy that the novel actively uses the Old Russian language, in which the characters communicate and read (at the same time, modern Russian is actively interwoven into the narrative along with this). The writer's professional knowledge of ancient Russian culture and literature, as well as the Holy Scriptures, allows him not only to cite large passages from these texts and style the narrative accordingly, but also to create his own text. For example: "I'm in a strange body, Arseny thought."^[6] To some extent, this phrase can also be called original, although in a sense it correlates with a phrase from the Canon of St. Peter. the Martyr Tryphon: "... as in an alien suffering body" ^[11]. But in the text of the novel, the complex context significantly affects the meaning of the phrase / quote, indicating both the character's stay in someone else's clothes, unpleasant to him, and the increasing rejection of his personality and transformation in Ustin. This phrase acquires a sacred meaning and the properties of semantic occasionalism. In this case, occasionalism is realized through intertextual adaptation: the familiar religious phrase is reinterpreted by the author within the framework of artistic intention. Such a technique can be classified as semantic-contextual occasionalism, where an already existing expression actualizes other concepts — not the alienation of the body in the Christian sense, but the dissolution of the personality for the sake of redemption.

As O. A. Selivanova (2023) emphasizes, quotation constructions included in the author's discourse, under certain conditions, begin to function as individual stylistic units, losing their original religious meaning and acquiring a new one — personal, expressive, symbolic ^{[18, p. 40]}. In this example, the sacred formula is transformed into a metaphor of spiritual reincarnation, which enhances the effect of an internal dialogue between the hero, the text and the tradition.

A similar example is observed in the following episode: "Ustina was sitting in a corner with her hands folded in her lap. She was examining the floor, where the hay lay strewn with soot. Her clothes seemed to be an extension of this hay, black and matted. And it wasn't even clothes, it was something that wasn't meant for humans."^[6] In this case, clothes become not just clothes, but a symbol of transition to a new state, to a new life. In the interpretation of the context, this passage demonstrates how, through the modification of lexical semantics, the author creates a figure of "clothes-not-things", or an existential shell that is not intended for a living being. This technique allows us to interpret clothes as a marker of the transition between worlds — from life to death, from the human to the nonessential.

The motive of getting rid of the old vestments is reinforced later, when Arseny burns these clothes, recalling a fabulous archetype (perhaps the "Frog Princess"), where the loss of the old form means a symbolic break with a past life. As emphasized by A. L. Tokareva (2020), occasional nominations often perform the function of reconfiguring cultural archetypes in the author's style ^{[15, p. 3]}. In this case, there is a semantic extension of the usual lexeme, which turns "clothes" into a conceptual sign of transformation.

A peculiar example of occasionalism is also present in another fragment of the novel.: "Arseny spent hours watching the rocking of her udder and sometimes pressed his lips to it. Cow (what's in my udder?) I had nothing against it, although I was only serious about morning and evening milking" ^[6]. The phrase "what's in my udder" is an ironic reinterpretation of a line from the famous poem by Alexander Pushkin "What's in my name?". Here, a pun on words becomes a way to show the hero's increasing separation from the usual conditions of human life, from any comfort, and thus emphasizes the degree of this renunciation. This occasionalism performs several functions at once: intertextual (citation reformatting), expressive-ironic (deconstruction of the sublime), as well as conceptual — as an indication of the dehumanization and antisociality of the fool. As O. A. Selivanova notes, accidents of this kind often serve as "stylistic break points" in which the usual codes fail and a new communicative paradigm is built ^{[18, p. 33]}.

Let us also note another example of a pun that acts as an occasional: "From now on you are not a hard worker, but a fistfighter, Thomas shouted to Prokhor" ^[6]. In this fragment, a pun is implemented based on the replacement of one vowel (a → y), which turns a word with a positive connotation ("baker") into a negatively colored one ("brawler", "rapist"). This occasionalism is based on phonetic-semantic opposition, while the lexical game serves as a tool for social characterization: Thomas uses a verbal device to expose Prokhor as a hypocrite. This binary is reinforced by the idea of the duality of human nature, a motif that is structurally significant for the entire novel. As Z. V. Shakhmatova (2019) emphasizes, the language game in artistic discourse allows the author to create "semantic fractures" in which hidden evaluativeness, irony and conflict between external and internal are manifested ^{[14, p. 155]}.

Although N.G. Babenko does not mention one of the types of occasionalism – graphic, in our opinion, it should be mentioned in this work. Graphic accidents are understood as the visual highlighting of any part of a syntactic construction in a larger font, ellipsis, parentheses, etc. ^{[10, p. 82]}. For example: "On the one hand – the discovery of a new continent, on the other – the expected end of the world in Russia. To what extent (Ambrogio's perplexity) are these events related, and if so, how? Could (Ambrogio's guess) the discovery of a new continent be the beginning of a time-stretched end of the world? And if that's the case (Ambrogio takes Amerigo by the shoulders and looks into his eyes), is it worth giving such a continent its name?"^[6].

Parentheses in the novel function not only as visual markers of inner speech and author's remarks, but also perform an important structural and communicative task. They violate the linear logic of the narrative, creating the effect of polyphony, in which several voices — the character, the author and the narrator - coexist in one fragment. According to O. A. Selivanova (2023), such elements form a visual polyphony characteristic of postmodern narratology, in which syntax and graphics equally participate in the generation of meaning ^{[18, p.35]}.

Graphic saturation of the text (for example, brackets with meta comments) is necessary for the author to represent the ultra-temporal perspective of the hero, who is able to perceive events beyond chronological boundaries. Through such elements, Vodolazkin implements one of the key ideas of the novel — the concept of time and timelessness, reflecting the philosophical dimension of the text and expanding the framework of linear narrative.

Conclusion. The analysis of occasional linguistic units in E. G. Vodolazkin's novel "The Laurel" suggests that the author's neologisms perform a dual function: on the one hand, they represent the structural and semantic dominants of the narrative, on the other hand, they serve as a philosophical and aesthetic code connecting the ancient Russian spiritual tradition and postmodern poetics. The lexemes considered ("Rukinets", "duality", "spiritual fall", "wooden-ness", etc.) demonstrate the transformation of Church Slavonic word-formation models (for example, the suffix "-nets" or abstract substantiations on "-ost") into tools for conceptualizing existential experience.

The dialectic of form and content is of particular importance: graphic deviations — in particular, metatextual brackets — violate the linear chronology of the text, modeling the timeless dialogue of epochs, while semantic occasionalisms such as "prayerful" or "not woody, but human" actualize fundamental antinomies: sacred and profane, temporal and eternal, bodily and spiritual.

Thus, it can be concluded that the occasionalisms in the novel "The Laurel" are not a marginal linguistic element, but serve as the semantic core of the author's worldview. They fit into the polyphonic structure of the narrative, contributing to the internal cohesion of the text and revealing the author's concept of memory, repentance and holiness. The development of the topic through non-standard word forms and contextual new formations indicates that semantic innovation is one of the key elements of E.G. Vodolazkin's individual style. This methodological approach not only continues the traditions of "ontological poetics", starting with Andrei Rublev and ending with the late Tolstoy, but also opens up new horizons for the study of the interaction of linguistic creativity, theological concepts and cultural memory in modern literature.