Научная статья на тему '“COMPUTATIONAL” AND ELECTRONIC LITERATURE OF THE 21ST CENTURY'

“COMPUTATIONAL” AND ELECTRONIC LITERATURE OF THE 21ST CENTURY Текст научной статьи по специальности «Языкознание и литературоведение»

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Ключевые слова
electronic literature / traditional literature / fanfiction / play-by-post role-playing game / gamebook

Аннотация научной статьи по языкознанию и литературоведению, автор научной работы — Lis Y.V.

The article deals with the present state of traditional literature and how it is influenced by new technologies. Its main focus, however, is the notion of electronic literature and its most important genres. Both wide-spread as well as less independent forms of this phenomenon are highlighted. This work also touches on the complex relationships between electronic and traditional printed literature.

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Текст научной работы на тему «“COMPUTATIONAL” AND ELECTRONIC LITERATURE OF THE 21ST CENTURY»

воспроизводимая ошибка в реализации просодической структуры слова.

При озвучивании многосложных лексических единиц допускались случаи редукции конечных безударных слогов, которая является типичной для русской речи. По сути, это интерферирующее влияние русского языка можно обозначить как слияние

2-ух слогов в один, что обусловливается отсутствием правила в русском языке образовывать слог с помощью комбинаций сонорной и щелевой фонем: / э у А ¿п /, / Кэ 1 е уп /.

Рис. 3 Noise + sonant = a syllable. / э у A d_n

Поскольку двуязычные люди имеют в сознании больше чем одну языковую систему, они невольно допускают в речи некоторые отклонения от норм отбора языковых средств, т.е. интерференцию. При совмещенном двуязычии речь на том языке, который человек знает хуже, строится с использованием средств первого языка [3, 171].

По результатам исследования можно сделать вывод, что при обучении акцентуации важно уделять внимание не только правилам постановки ударений в английском языке, но и отличиям акцентуации английского языка от акцентуации русского, поскольку проявление его достаточно велико и ощутимо в речи студентов. Глубина и объем интерференции могут быть разными. Они зависят от множества субъективных и объективных факторов. На данном этапе работы эти факторы обобщаются, анализируются и приводят к созданию стройных комплексов упражнений («графических», «схематических», «акустических»), которые создаются для осуществления сознательного подхода к изучению такого сложного и многогранного аспекта как акцентуация.

Список литературы

1. Вайнрайх У. Одноязычие и многоязычие / У. Вайнрах. Новое в лингвистике. - М.: Изд-во «Прогресс», 1992, С.33.

2. Байбурова О.В. К вопросу о фонетической интерференции при восприятии английского слова. / О.В. Байбурова. // Вестник С.-Петербургского университета. - 2008. - Сер. 9, вып. 2, ч. 2. - С. 97.

3. Мечковская Н.Б. Социальная лингвистика. / Н.Б. Мечковская. - М.: Аспект Пресс, 1996. - С.171

4. Н.Д. Светозарова. Интонационная система русского языка. / Светозарова Н.Д. - Л.: Изд-во Лен. ун-та, 1982. - 176 с.

4. Сидешова З.Г. О лингвистической интерференции. [Электронный ресурс] // Режим доступа: https ://articlekz.com/article/magazine/110

6. Щерба Л.В.Языковая система и речевая деятельность: сборник работ/ Под ред. Л.Р. Зиндер, М.И. Матусевич. - М.: УРСС, 2004. - 432 с.

7. Gimson's Pronunciation of English / Revised by Alan Cruttenden. - 7th Ed. -London: Hodder Education, 2008. - 362 p.

"COMPUTATIONAL" AND ELECTRONIC LITERATURE OF THE 21st CENTURY

Lis Y.V.

Mozyr state pedagogical university named after I. P. Shamyakin, 4th term student of Faculty of Philology, Foreign Languages and Teaching Methodology Department (English, German)

Abstract

The article deals with the present state of traditional literature and how it is influenced by new technologies. Its main focus, however, is the notion of electronic literature and its most important genres. Both wide-spread as well as less independent forms of this phenomenon are highlighted. This work also touches on the complex relationships between electronic and traditional printed literature.

Keywords: electronic literature, traditional literature, fanfiction, play-by-post role-playing game, gamebook.

Once the place of writing in the human society was development of computer technologies. While the his-unclear, its foundation shaken by the invention of print- tory of paper literature is bound to the evolution of ing. So it is today, roiled into turmoil with the continued books, so does the so called "electronic literature" make

its revolutional appearance, bound to the ever changing

digital computers as they shrink from the huge room-sized machines to small pcs and laptops.

A number of scientists see digital computer as an inflexible brute force machine, useful only for a limited range of operations (calculating, for example). This assumption is only partially true: of course there's a binary code, executing all the operations computers are tasked with; but this fact does not necessarily limits its abilities to simple mechanical tasks, devoid of creativity or originality. In the modern society computers and people are increasingly bound together, existing in a complex psychological, economic, social and physical environment. All over the world, especially in the countries which are considered to be "developed", a broad range of intelligent machines surrounds people. Gifted with sensors and actuators of all kinds, the ability to process data flows, mobile technologies and smart nanodevices, they influence our lives and our society in a very complex way: a citizen in a technologically developed society - a young person, among others, - is being constantly "reengineered" through their interaction with such computational devices [1; p. 43]. And so is this citizen's every creation, including literature.

At this point we approach the notion of "computational" literature, processed and inevitably influenced by the digital devices with the help of which it is created. In the age of modern technologies, the vast majority of print books are actually stored as digital files before they can make it to the real world. It's with the help of computers they are composed, edited, composited and later produced as books. The print tradition is the main factor here, determining how the work is conceived and written; but digitality obviously leaves its mark [1; p. 80]. It gives birth to new ways for innovative typography, new capabilities and models for marketing, new aesthetics and styles for book design. For example, there's a fresh trend for some bookstores to invest in new generation xerography machines, capable of producing books right on the spot from digital files. The cover design, the content and the binding are all variable. There also exist special electronic devices which can be taken to a bookstore for purchasing a set of files, comprising a text which is downloaded on these electronic "books" and can be read on them.

Of course, books, computational with the help of computers, differ significantly from the so called "electronic literature". It's a completely new form of creative writing, born under heavy influence of new technologies and meant to be performed in digital media. It has its own set of distinctive features:

• Electronic literature requires electricity (computer or Internet access) to be created and available for reading;

• It's non-linear and allows different routes of following the plot which insures its interactivity;

• Electronic writing is rich in multimedia, it combines text with various graphic, audio and animated elements;

• One can read a traditional book only where it is located; a piece of electronic literature is not bound to the place where it was first created or the hard disk where it is now stored;

• It's impossible to transfer a piece of such writing to paper without losing some or all of its distinctive features: electronic literature is almost never intended to exist outside of the World Wide Web.

• Electronic literature is most often of a noncommercial nature and "publishing" it on the Internet does not require going through the long process of proofreading and censorship;

• Unlike in the case of traditional literature, the author may choose to remain completely anonymous on the Internet, hidden behind a fictional profile;

Based on these features, the notion of "electronic literature" emerges: it's a form of literature that is "digital born", i.e. created on the Internet and not suitable to exist outside of it. It is only natural that with so many peculiarities a number of most wide-spread genres of electronic literature can be determined:

1. Fanfiction

It's fiction about characters or events, based on an original work of fiction, created by fans of that work rather than by its creator. As one of the genres of electronic literature, fanfiction possesses the majority of its features. Such works can be found on specialized websites where they exist in a complex system of settings, fandoms, subgenres, age restrictions and pairings of characters. According to these and other multiple factors they are classified for the readers to be able to easily find a work which would be interesting for them. This system, being one of the distinguishing features of fanfiction, cannot exist on paper. It's an important fact to comprehend as fanfiction isn't defined only by text, but also by its ability to offer the readers comfortable search engine and the opportunity to leave their feedback; on the other hand, the author can not only share their work with a certain fandom, but also get a reward in the form of positive comments or an incentive in the form of constructive criticism. It's worth noting that this popular form of fan labor does not involve getting a profit from the platform or the readers and can be considered a hobby. There's no obligatory censorship, the author is only required to mark their work with certain restrictions if there's any content potentially undesirable for the readers. With due diligence it's also possible to find a person who would agree to proofread and assess the work or even help with writing it.

2. Play-by-post role-playing game

It's a form of role-playing game in which players interact with each other in a particular environment via creating pieces of text or "posts"; those together build a comprehensive plot. The action takes place in a universe, based either on an original setting or on a work of fiction such as a video game, a book or a movie. Peculiarities of the storyline, various restrictions and a system of rules are predefined by the game master(s), a person or a group of people who create the environment on a specialized website or forum. In order to join other players one should submit a profile of the character, intended to participate in the game, containing his or her story, personal traits, appearance and other information, required by the rules. The action takes place in different zones and the process is controlled by the game master or their moderators. The emergence of forum play-by-post role-playing games has given people

the ability to participate in role-playing collaborative writing; and the Internet technologies allow them to communicate in a fantasy environment while using different multimedia elements to make the game process even richer.

3. Interactive novel or gamebook

This form of interactive fiction can be identified as a hybrid of a book and a video game. The reader is both a player and a character that makes certain choices while following the plot. These choices ultimately alter the route of the narration. Thus any gamebook can be read or "played through" more than once. The interface of such a book may consist purely of text; it may also include graphical or audio elements. Being partially a form of a role-playing game, gamebook offers the reader to pick their character which would later influence the environment, other characters and the whole plot by means of text commands. This particular genre can be considered the best example of electronic literature as modern gamebooks are not only rich in multimedia elements; they possess non-linear plot which can unfold in various scenarios, allowing the reader to actively participate in the story. Such works can never be transferred to paper without losing their interactivity. As the genre develops, more new features are added to its framework: interactive novel Dragon Age: the Last Court, for example, also includes elements of a card game. This story-driven digital gamebook being an interquel for the famous video game franchise can be considered a major sign of how popular and important electronic literature has become in this age of new technologies.

A group of secondary genres of electronic literature can also be determined. While being less widespread or not fully recognized as a form of creative writing, these phenomena possess some of the important features of electronic literature:

• Locative narrative, used in automotive navigation systems;

• Units of text, encountered in virtual reality (e.g., a video game world); those can be hints, plot fragments, descriptions, etc.

• Codework or net.writing;

• Chatbots, simulating conversation with human users;

• Blogs and their guestbooks;

This interaction between creative writing and new technologies has not only given birth to new peculiar genres, but also made literature more "democratic". Today anyone can write stories or keep a diary and share

them with the whole world via the Internet where the work will be on display without publishing houses, long checks and exhausting procedures. It is, perhaps, the main advantage of electronic literature over its traditional form. However, it may also become its fatal failure: the literature of World Wide Web shelters both great talents and those who fill it with rubbish, pursuing a hobby they don't have the slightest affinity for. Moreover, today the Internet is open to everyone and does not place many restrictions on its content; few people see this space as a harbor for high-quality literature. At the same time plenty of authors, pursuing their hobby online, see it as only a low stage on the long journey to the world of printed books.

But regardless of this popular opinion, such a complex system, this whole new field with its own rules and opportunities cannot exist without leaving its mark on traditional printed literature. As it's already been noticed, almost all books are processed and influenced by digital devices where they are stored before making it to the real world. Katherine Hayles, for example, sees both traditional and electronic literature act as two components of a complex and dynamic media ecology, consistently interpenetrating one another [1; p. 153].

The whole new range of the ways used to process the creating of literature and improve its capabilities is made possible by the existence of computers. These machines have ultimately given birth to electronic literature which now "threatens" to mark the new age in the history of books. And at the same time brings about a number of important questions. Can this new phenomenon be considered literature at all? Opening publication to anyone, democratizing it, will the Internet in the long run result in a flood of low-quality chaff? Can qualitative literature exist in in digital media or is its electronic embodiment inferior to printed books? Will this spread of digital culture lead to revolutionary changes in our society and what does it mean for the future of writing? As for now, these questions remain unanswered. One thing, however, is clear: electronic literature, as well as the complex process of digital influence on printed books, have firmly rooted themselves in the modern writing culture and are here to stay.

References

1. Hayles N. Katherine. Electronic Literature. New Horizons for the Literary/ N. Katherine Hayles // - Notre Dam, Indiana, 2008.

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