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Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 11 -12 (2020) ' Philology and linguistics - ISSN 2310-5593 (Print) / ISSN 2519-1209 (Online) -
UDC 81 "42 DOI: 10.29013/AJH-20-11.12-54-60
E. A. OGNEVA 1
1 Belgorod State National Research University, Belgorod, Russia
LITERARY CONCEPTUAL DOMAIN AS KNOWLEDGE FORMAT
Abstract
Relevance of the problem: the article deals with the literary text structure studying as the conceptual domain. Literary text is identified as knowledge format of writer's worldview projection. The literary conceptual domain is structured as a unit of literary concepts which consist of literary subconcepts.
Objective: to identify the specific features of the literary conceptual domain as knowledge format of writer's worldview projection and analyse the literary concept named "Russian landscape" represented in the novel "World and Peace" by L. Tolstoy as one of the most important concepts in the literary conceptual domain of this roman in Russian and English.
Methods: cognitive-hermeneutical modeling, context analysis.
Scientific novelty: the cognitive-comparative model of literary conceptual domain is represented as knowledge format. The specific features of the literary concept named "Russian landscape" represented in the novel "World and Peace" by L. Tolstoy are identified. The tendencies
Results: the literary conceptual domain consists of literary concepts which include literary subconcepts. Nominative fields of literary concepts and literary subconcepts are the units of different types nominates. The literary concept named "Russian landscape" has complicated structure. The nominative field of the literary concept named "Russian landscape" transformed at the interpreting from Russian into English.
Practical significance: the material of this scientifical development can be successfully applied at the lecture and practical causes by cognitive linguistics, text theory, text modeling, and translation studies.
Keywords: literary conceptual domain, literary concept, writer's worldview projection, knowledge format, nominative field.
For citation: Ogneva E.A. Literary conceptual domain as knowledge format// Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2020, No. 11-12. - P. 54-60. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29013/AJH-20-11.12-54-60
Introduction
The contemporary cognitive-discursive potential of linguistic studies opens up new perspectives in the text study. Text is identified as one of the ways of fixing, storing, representing of knowledge and experience of the cultural and linguistic space of the ethnos.
The text refers to "a holistic communicative formation of a linear format. The text components are combined by the communicative intention of the author into a single hierarchically organized semantic structure as a sequence of linguistic signs" [1, p. 6].
The text is represented as complex multi-vector object of study in linguistics. Therefore, it is the most valuable object of study in linguistics, because text is the purpose and result of the language action. It is the highest unit, the form of speech.
According to G. Ya. Solganik, all language units and language categories gain true life precisely in the texts [20, p. 8].
It is evident, all text aspects are explored in the process of their conceptual domain studying as a unit of concepts. In such point of view concepts identify as "mental realities, conceptual structures of knowledge and experience, opinions and assessments, plans and goals, attitudes and beliefs" [13, p. 13].
The theory of text implementation of the concept forms a unique field of cognitive linguistics. Literary text has a special place in the system of speech implementations of the concept, being a fixed version of the individual-author concept, which sets the semantic configuration of the literary conceptual domain as a set of literary concepts.
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The literary concept is meant as "a component of the author's literary conceptual domain, which includes those mental signs and phenomena that are preserved by the historical memory of the people, are cognitively pragmatic in the author's mind for the development of the plot and create a cognitive aura of the text" [17, p. 8].
As a result of a deep cognitive-hermeneutic analysis of the literary conceptual domain it was established that its architectonics are the unity ofthe semantic and formal levels.
The semantic level of the conceptual domain is the sum of cognitive formations and their representative knowledge formats. Knowledge formats is meant as "a certain form of representing knowledge at the thought (conceptual) or language levels|" [8, p. 26].
The relationship of cognitive formations in the text structure is hierarchical. In such hierarchy each subsequent formation is a derivative of the predecessors' ones. So, the component of meaning is the minimum cell of the conceptual domain. It is evident, the unit of meaning components forms a concept-element.
The unity of concept elements forms a sub-concept. A unity of sub-concepts is a concept. The unity of literary concepts is the literary conceptual domain represented by a unit of conceptually simple and conceptually complex knowledge formats.
Conceptual-complex formats are divided into two forms: the first form named many-component formats such as proposition, frame, script, etc. The second form named integrative formats such as category, matrix, etc. [see about knowledge formats: 8, p. 27-28].
The formal level of the literary conceptual domain is the unity of linguistic structures that verbalise as static as dynamic conceptual structures of the literary conceptual domain.
Research Result
Studies of the material showed that the dynamic segment of the conceptual domain is represented as usual by a script, and a scene. The static segment is represented by a frame.
The special organisation of text architectonics, the high frequency of frame reprinting of cognitive formations that form the literary conceptual domain contributed to a large analysis of this static knowledge format. As a result the following relationships were revealed.
Firstly, frame is a multi-component conceptual structure presenting a static segment of the concept.
Secondly, frame is a unit of sub-frames representing a static part of subconcepts.
Thirdly, a subframe is a unity of frame elements that represent a static part of concept-elements.
Finaly, a frame-element is a combination of nominees representing a static part of meaning components.
Having studied in detail the formal level of architectonics of the literary conceptual domain it is appropriate to recall the statement ofA. A. Zalevskaya who noted "the original meaning embedded in the text by its author is transmitted through the meanings of the words used, which is the mediator in a five-membered connection such as author — text projection — text body — text section — reader, moreover, the meaning and spontaneous interpretation of the text proceeds on the basis of personal experience and related experiences of different people" [10, p. 71].
It is evident the ontological triad "the system of the world — the system of language — the conceptual system of man interpretation is associated with man, his acceptance and evaluation of the system of the world and the system of language" [6, p. 15-16].
In this way the readers' perception of literary concepts created by the writer is carried out in literary discourse as a sphere of author's design re-reading by readers' perception.
Literary discourse is a cognitive-communicative interaction forming 'a single fund of knowledge and ideas about the world, a system of norms and assessments, knowledge about strategies and tactics of speech behavior, typical expletive and implicit ways of its linguistic expression" [9, p. 164].
This phenomenon allows to consider discourse as a generator of meaning, a speech phenomenon of a nonlinear nature that engages with the cognitive categories of the readers.
According to N. F. Alefirenko the discourse is" both a process of speech activity and its result (text), representing a communicative event" [2, p. 6].
Determining of the literary discourse significance in the system of speech implementations of the concept is one of the stages of a comprehensive study of such a multifaceted phenomenon as a concept that is remote from the writer in time and space, which leads to a "new creation of literary concepts" [3].
Such "new creation of literary concepts" in the literary conceptual domain should be called as "the primary new creation of the literary concept".
In the mind of the translator as a reader of the original text, first of all, there is a "primary new creation of
Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 11 - 12 (2020)
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Philology and linguistics
ISSN 2310-5593 (Print) / ISSN 2519-1209 (Online)
literary concepts" which in the translation process leads to a "secondary new generation of literary concepts".
The relationship between "primary new creation of literary concepts" and "secondary new creation of literary concepts" in the translator mind influences to some facts such as:
a) the degree of transmission of linguistic structures architectonics verbalised literary concepts by means of another language,
b) the adequacy level of the semantic interpretation of a literary idea as a complex linkage of discursive-cognitive images [24, 22].
It is identified that the relationship between "primary new creation of literary concepts" and "secondary new creation of literary concepts" in the translator mind influences to culturally conditioned images too.
As the result, the role of interpretation as a cognitive process increases to establish the meaning of the text, determine the parameters of its cognitive communicative space [5, 12, 23].
In this case, the interpretive activity is based on one or another level of knowledge formats standardization. In this way all participants should know the principles of knowledge formats standardization.
Such information is useful in "communication of members of the cultural, national, territorial, social, professional or other community of people" [7, p. 26].
It is evident the interpretive activity is based on knowledge hierarchisation reflected in the literary text which transformed at the translation as a result of linguistic and extralinguistic factors" influence.
It is evident that readers' perception of the literary concepts of the translated text is a "tertiary new creation of the literary concept" [18, p. 119].
A comparative study of the literary conceptual domain in original and translated versions of literary text establishes that the coherent contours of literary concepts during their primary and tertiary "new creation" differ from each other.
The reason of such difference doesn't stay between the individual concepts' volume of the original text readers and the individual concepts' volume of the translated text readers.
Such difference is a result of the literary concepts' transformation during "secondary new creation" by the translator.
In this way it is so important fact that the inverse kernel of the literary concept' meaning is kept, but the na-
tional specific marked periphery of the literary concept' meaning is transformed.
Due to linguistic transformations, the altered cognitive aura of the literary conceptual domain contributes to the formation of transformed literary image in the perception of foreign-cultural readers [18, p. 125].
A cognitive-comparative study of the literary conceptual domain of the original text and the literary conceptual domain of the translated text reveals the trends and degree of linguistic structures' transformation that recruit cognitive ones. Linguistic structures' transformation is a necessary condition for their cognitive-comparative modeling.
Such kind of cognitive modeling has the purpose to understand the interfacing mechanisms of linguistic reality categories which correlate with cognitive categories as a result of the interpretive mastery of the world by the language consciousness of the author and the translator.
The priority tasks of cognitive-comparative modeling of the literary conceptual domain include the study of some discussion problems such as:
(a) hermeneutics of the model relationship between text and discourse;
(b) modeling of the cognitive structure of the literary conceptual domain in the theory and practice of trans-latology;
(c) establishing principles for the transfer of the cultural and cognitive aura of the conceptual domain in the original text by means of language translation.
In this point ofview, it should be taking into account the fact "what kind of knowledge structures are behind certain linguistic and which language forms should be used to present certain knowledge formats" [14, p. 7].
This article considers language structures that verbalise the literary concept named Russian landscape as a static knowledge format. This static knowledge format represents the eponymous ethnocultural literary concept.
According to V. N. Levina "a landscape in the literary text is a special means of accumulating, storing and transferring knowledge. It is an instrument of reality understanding that allows to comprehend a national mentality" [15, p. 401].
It is obvious that a detailed study of national mentality is relevant for the contemporary state of cognitive linguistics. According to E. S. Kubryakova "mental entities having verbal constructions are the key to considering the specific features of human intelligence and human cognition" [13, p. 13].
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It is obvious that "the cultural paradigm is the base for intellectual knowledge" [11, p. 272]. The results of intellectual knowledge are embodied, including in landscape units. A landscape unit refers to a complex compositional component of literary text as unit of literary concepts.
The verbalisation of literary concept named "Russian landscape" is explored by the material of the novel "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy.
This book is a masterpiece of Russian classics that is why there are a lot of translated texts of this novel in different language. Many foreign readers are interested in this novel.
A detailed consideration of the literary concept's field structure named "Russian landscape" represented in the studied novel "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy identified a number of literary subconcepts.
These literary subconcepts are the components of kernel-peripheral structure of literary concept's nominative field.
One of the significant components of the kernel zone in the studied literary concept is the literary subconcept named "old oak". This literary subconcept has so great status in the literary concept's nominative field because the oak is due to the special ethnocognitive symbol in the Russian landscape. As it is known, oak is cultural dominance in the ethnocognitive world view of Russian man.
The literary subconcept named "old oak" is the eth-nocultural symbol in the literary conceptual domain of the novel "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy.
Being the ethnocultural symbol the literary subconcept named "old oak" is a synergistic subcategory formed by the culture and language. This ethnocultural symbol is a complex and multi-tiered mental formation.
This ethnocultural symbol as mental structure has "evaluation and relational evaluation semantics containing information about the attitude of a person to a reflected subject" [1, p. 144]. We emphasize that in the legend of the Slavs, oak was mentioned as a world tree. Legends about oaks that existed before the creation of the world have survived [4].
The oak as the ethnocultural symbol is presented in the legend of the Slavs. The oak is mentioned as a world tree in the legend of the Slavs. There are the legends about the oaks that existed before the creation of the World [ibid].
Y. M. Lotman whote the work named 'Analysis of the poetic text. The structure of the verse". This scientist pays attention to the fact that the ideological structure of the
oak image as a symbol of immortality is connected with "the microspace grave with the universe" [16, p. 192].
This point ofview correlates with the idea ofN. F. Ale-firenko who said that "the key concepts of culture focus in themselves the entire system of the semantic organisation of ethnic consciousness in the unity of its paradigmatic, synthagmatic and lingvocultural connections" [1, p. 152].
It is evident the meaning of the oak image in the novel "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy is also symbolic. Moreover, L. N. Tolstoy as the great literary world creator composed two images of old oak on the novel's pages. This article is about the first oak image presented by the following description (in translit):
Na kraju dorogi stojal dub. Verojatno v desjat' raz starshe berez, so-stavljavshih les, on byl v desjat' raz tolshhe i v dva raza vyshe kazhdoj berezy. Jeto byl ogromnyj v dva obhvata dub s oblomannymi, davno vidno, sukami i s oblomannoj koroj, zarosshej stary-mi boljachkami. S ogromnymi svoimi neukljuzhimi, nesimmetrichno-rastopyrennymi, korjavymi ru-kami i pal'cami, on starym, serditym i prezritel'nym urodom stojal mezhdu ulybajushhimisja berezami. Tol'ko on odin ne hotel podchinjat'sja obajaniju vesny i ne hotel videt' ni vesny, ni solnca [21]. The cognitive analysis of the investigated material showed that the description of the old oak tree is a collection of ten nominants representing the subconcept "old oak". Among ten nominants eight nominants which describe the oak tree are adjectives. Two nominants of them are verbs.
Next research step focuses on the cognitive-comparative analysis of this ten nominants in the nominative field of literary subconcept "old oak" represented in the original text of the novel "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy and in the translated text into English:
At the edge of the road stood an oak. Probably ten times the age of the birches that formed the forest, it was ten times as thick and twice as tall as they. It was an enormous tree, its girth twice as great as a man could embrace, and evidently long ago some of its branches had been broken off and its bark scarred. With its huge ungainly limbs sprawling unsymmetrically, and its gnarled hands and fingers, it stood an aged, stern, and scornful monster among the smiling birch trees. Only the dead-looking evergreen firs dotted about in the forest, and this oak, refused to yield to the charm of spring, or notice either the spring or the sunshine [25].
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In this cognitive-comparative study reliable results are obtained that reveal the degree of conformity between the architectonics of the original nominants and the translated nominants due to the use of a comprehensive comparative analysis of the nominanats' structures and nominants' meaning.
According to R. G. Piotrovsky, "the nominants' meaning usually controls the synergy of the the nominanats' structures" [19, p. 18].
The comparison of the architectonics of the original nominants and the translated nominants are the base to:
(a) identify the tendencies of adapting this literary image to the perception English-speaking readers,
(b) determine the degree of permissible translation transformations which don't transform ethnosymvolism of oak image, reflected in the original text of the novel "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy.
There are the results of the nominanats' translation:
(1) the first nominant 'v desjat' raz starshe berez' is the chroneme. This chroneme is translated symmetrically into English as 'ten times the age of the birches'.
(2) the second nominant 'v desjat' raz tolshhe' is translated symmetrically into English as 'ten times as thick (as they)'.
(3) the third nominant 'v dva raza vyshe kazhdoj ber-ezy' is translated asymmetrically into English as 'twice as tall as they'. The component of nominative field of literary subconcept named "old oak" the word-compositon 'kazhdaja bereza' means the ethnosymbol of Russia, but in the English text this nominant was replaced by the ward 'they'. This nominant replacing transfomed the landscape of Russian plain represented into English text.
(4) the fourth nominant 'ogromnyj v dva obhvata dub' is translated asymmetrically into English as 'an enormous tree, its girth twice as great as a man could embrace'. The ethnosymbol 'dub (oak)' was replaced by the ward 'tree', i.e. Russian ethnosymbol is absent in the translated English text.
(5) the fifth nominant 's oblomannymi, davno vidno, sukami' is translated asymmetrically into English as 'evidently long ago some of its branches had been broken off.
(6) the sixth nominant 's oblomannoj koroj, zaross-hej starymi boljachkami' is translated asymmetrically into English as 'its bark scarred', i.e. the word-combina-
tion such as 'oblomannoj' koroj' and 'starymi boljach-kami are absent in the translated English text.
(7) the seventh nominant 'ogromnymi svoimi neu-kljuzhimi, nesimmetrichno-rastopyrennymi, korjavymi rukami i pal'cami' is translated asymmetrically into English as 'with its huge ungainly limbs sprawling unsymmetri-cally, and its gnarled hands and fingers'.
(8) the eights nominant 'starym, serditym i prezritel'nym urodom' is translated asymmetrically into English as 'an aged, stern, and scornful monster'.
(9) the ninth nominant 'tol'ko on odin ne hotel podchinjat'sja obajaniju vesny' is translated asymmetrically into English as 'this oak, refused to yield to the charm of spring'
(10) the tenth nominant 'ne hotel videt' ni vesny, ni solnca' is translated asymmetrically into English as 'notice either the spring or the sunshine'.
It is evident the most part among ten nominants of nominative field in the literary subconcept "old oak" is translated asymmetrically from Russian into English/
Conclusion
As a translation result of the novel "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy from Russian into English, the nominants in the nominative field of the literary subconcept "old oak" as a component of the literary concept "Russian landscape" were transformed.
In such way the translator's secondary creation at the forming level and meaning level of the literary subconcept the image of hundred oak tree transformed into different image in the English translated text of the novel "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy.
The cognitive comparative analysis of the nominants of the literary subconcept named "old oak" in Russian text and in English text revealed that ethnosvolism in the original description of the oak tree was transformed.
Such translator's act led to the distortion of this significant component of the Russian plain landscape as the symbol of the Russian people existence and the mysterious Russian soul in due to translation transformations and changes in the parameters of literary discourse.
The ethnosymbol of the novel "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy has not been translated in full to the perception of a foreign-cultural readers.
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Information about the authors
Elena A. Ogneva, Doctor of Philology, lecturer, Head of the Departement of Foreign languages, Belgorod State National Research University
Address: 85 Pobeda Str., 308015, Belgorod, Russia, tel.: +7(920) 584-58-57 E-mail: ogneva@bsu.edu.ru
