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Copyright © 2022 by Cherkas Global University
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Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie)
E-ISSN 2729-8132
2022. 18(2): 253-258
DOI: 10.13187/me.2022.2.253 https://me.cherkasgu.press
"Russian Language Extension" in Media Discourse and Principles of Linguoecology
Ella Kulikova a , *, Zaira Tedeeva b
a Peoples' Friendship University of Russia (RUDN), Russian Federation b South Ossetian State University after A.A. Tibilov, South Ossetia
Abstract
Solzhenitsyn's formulation used in the title of the archaic lexis dictionary (Dictionary of the Russian Language Extension) contained the idea: "Archaisms very often do not deserve "premature death" and should be used in order to protect the Russian language from the harmful average standard". Solzhenitsyn's idea is believed not to be developed and followed. Meanwhile, the analysis of modern media shows that the best texts invariably include units not from central common lexis. Nowadays archaization and dearchaization of lexis are natural and active language processes. A characteristic feature of the Russian language development at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries is fairly considered to be the archaization of lexis that is objectively "chronologically stable". The article is devoted to the analysis of functions of archaic lexis in the media discourse from the point of view of modern linguistic ecology ideas. Archaisms are necessary for the modern language to nuance the thought, they are necessary as an opportunity to create a pathos media text, as a tropeic means with the widest range. Based on the modern media text the authors used communicative and pragmatic analysis study the role of archaic lexis in the creation of figurativeness and expressiveness.
Keywords: media discourse, lexical, grammatical archaisms, ecological linguistics.
1. Introduction
Nowadays archaization and dearchaization of lexis are natural and active language processes. A characteristic feature of the Russian language development at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries is fairly considered to be the archaization of lexis that is objectively "chronologically stable". It is well known that many lexical units connected with the designation of moral concepts such as honour, dignity, reputation have been out of active use. For example:
"How long have you heard the word "reputation" in talks or the saying "a real person"? I have long been. I have been heard "reputational risks" and more often "a real bastard"..." (Polyakov, 2021: 12);
"Now, for the new generation, characterized by direct idiosyncrasy, even to a hint at ideology, the word "worker" will be accompanied in dictionaries by the mark "archaic". And then, alas, my dad's words that with such disregard for basic values, soon the working person will become archaic will be prophetic. Here you are, exactly you, who did you congratulate on the Labour Day? See, even the word itself sounds old-fashioned: "labour"" (Kushanashvili, 2017: 362).
* Corresponding author
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (E. Kulikova)
Rearchaization (it means return, "rebirth"), typical for the 90s of the XX century, was connected with the introduction into everyday use of words-realities of pre-revolutionary Russia, which for obvious reasons were archaized in Soviet times. Today's rearchaization reflects, first of all, the desire to get away from the average standard language, to rely on tradition - literary classics.
At one time, the ideas of the native language wealth saving were developed by A.I. Solzhenitsyn. Three thousand units from "Dictionary of the Russian Language Extension" by A.I. Solzhenitsyn, published in 1990 (Solzhenitsyn, 1990), are lexical and (less often) grammatical archaisms, which, according to the author, do not deserve complete oblivion, which at least from time to time can and should be used. It is a well-known fact, that the Russian language enrichment after the 90s went mainly due to English-language borrowings, and not due to the "root stream". Today, the rearchaization of outdated lexis is typical not only for historical fiction, where such units have always used as a means of stylization, not only for the poetry of "archaic innovators", for example, Maxim Amelin, but also for media discourse.
2. Materials and methods
Based on the modern media text the authors used communicative and pragmatic analysis study the role of archaic lexis in the creation of figurativeness and expressiveness.
3. Discussion
Archaisms are essentially connected with such a phenomenon as agnonymy. Agnonyms are evaluated negatively (Deligiaouri, 2018; Mihailidis, Viotty, 2017) because they "obscure" the utterance (Boulianne, 2019; Hoffmann, Suphan, 2017; Jang, Kim, 2018). It is not for nothing that the use of archaisms without sufficient motivation is considered to be a stylistic flaw, and sometimes a gross stylistic error incompatible with the linguistic and ecological parameters of communication. If we consider clarity to be the main feature of good speech (Lehmann et al., 2017), then archaisms, especially from the category of "completely dilapidated", do not contribute to the realization of this quality in any way. Meanwhile, media texts (Harcup, O'Neill, 2017; Lehmann et al., 2017) prove that the use of archaisms is a favourite stylistic technique of leading media authors, well-known publicists, film and theatre critics (Golan et al., 2019).
Archaisms in the media language have their own functional and stylistic specifics. First of all, they are used as identity tropes (in an extended understanding of the trope as a transformation, and not just figurative use (Khazagerov, 2018). The tropeic function of archaisms was noted in the Dictionary of Linguistic Terms by O.S. Akhmanova (1966), but later linguistic reference books noted only the possibility of archaisms to act as stylistic synonyms for central common words. Meanwhile, it is clear that archaisms are close to periphrases, traditionally included in the identity tropes. This idea is consistently developed in the research: (Korosteleva, 2015), while it is noted that, like periphrases, archaisms are able to enrich the expressive possibilities of modern high style. Moreover, "the ecological crisis of the Russian language can be overcome, inter alia, by the actualization of expressive archaisms" (Korosteleva, 2015: 11). Modern media present numerous examples of the use of archaisms in their original function - to create a high-pathos text with an actual social sound: "No, no, Ksenia Sobchak is only partly the dshcher' (Russian archaism daughter) of her parents. She is the dshcher' of another father, another mother, whose name is d'yavoroditsa (Russian archaism Devil's Mother). Her role is the darkening of Russia" (Prokhanov, 2021: 1). "I don't see any popechenie (Russian archaism care), any plan, any program, and even I don't see any love, any understanding of people who are engaged in culture and art!" (Moskvina, 2020).
In the meaning of 'providing patronage and assistance, protecting something or someone' s interests', the word popechenie is marked by dictionaries as archaic.
In the work of D.A. Apkarimova and O.V. Shatalova we read: "the analysis of the archaic words use in the modern language situation has shown that they lose their sublimity and archaic essence, they are a part of publicistic, literary and even colloquial speech, becoming interstyling lexical units" (Apkarimova, Shatalova, 2019: 75). Of course, some units of the linguistic periphery, including archaic words, for one reason or another may approach the central common words. We think, however, that in the modern language situation (Baek et al., 2019; Brusenskaya et al., 2018; Brusenskaya et al., 2021), archaic words are interesting for their well-presented archaic essence, and often for their sublimity. Therefore, they are used for creating a high-pathos media text. This is exactly what the examples given before demonstrate.
The tropeic function of archaism is clearly manifested in the following example: "As for the "Copper Grandmother", I do not intend to talk about her, I leave my plays to those mytar' (Russian archaism tax collector) who receive their desired degrees for this work" (Zorin, 2019: 524).
Tax and duties collectors and profiteers, aroused people's hatred, were called mytar'. The dramatist and publicist L. Zorin used this ancient word to call some Soviet theatre critics unable to understand the innovative play.
When Yu. Polyakov calls appeals to power authorities chelobitnaya (Russian archaism complaint, the author uses this word in quotation marks), he emphasizes that the essence of relations with the authorities has changed little since the days of Ancient Russia, and therefore an allusion to the ancient Russian literary work of the XIII century "The Prayer of Daniil the imprisoned" is fair, where the author begs the duke for help:
By the way, whenever the chelobitnaya (Russian archaism complaint) reached where it should be, they were amazed: "Of course, we will fix it. Immediately!" Then the paper with the resolution dived into the "black box" of the device, where it disappeared. Expectation. Again begin from the beginning. Letters, appeals, moleniya zatochnikov (phrase made up of archaisms prayers of the imprisoners) of Russian Press" (Polyakov, 2022: 16).
4. Results
Archaisms are sometimes necessary to comprehend the deep meaning of events taking place in our days. For example, the headline in the Russia's Newspaper from March 16, 2022: Svyato mesto (Russian phraseological unit Holy place) and the subtitle What will we replace foreign brands with? The phraseological unit svyato mesto contains a grammatical archaism svyato - a short adjective in an attributive, not predicative function. This expression was used in order to outline the situation with foreign companies after the introduction of sanctions against the Russian Federation.
It is interesting, that the frequent use of an archaic word in a tropeic function can lead to the formation of a stable figurative meaning. Thus, the word guillotine has come to mean 'a sharp, radical reduction; cancellation, liquidation of something', which can quite fairly enter modern explanatory dictionaries. Also, for example, the term regulatory guillotine, meaning 'an instrument of large-scale revision and cancellation of regulatory legal acts negatively affecting the overall business climate and regulatory sphere'.
The punning use of archaism is also possible: "Now, as political scientists come together in a circle, the words "elite", "counter-elite", "anti-elite" fly in all the directions... So that it is immediately clear: the first are those who are in power, and therefore with money. U kormila (Russian archaism at the helm), simply put. The second want to move the first and sit on the vacant seats. U kormila zhe (Russian archaism at the helm). Still others, rebellious, ask for storms (an allusion to a line of the poem by M.Y. Lermontov and he, rebellious, asks for a storm) but then, after admiring the ruins, rest assured, they will also reach for the same kormilo. However, all of them are sure that the kormilo comes from the word korm (in Russian feed), in the sense of "grub", and not from the word korma (in Russian stern), where the kormovoe veslo (in Russian stern paddle)" (Polyakov, 2021: 12).
The archaism kormilo (Russian archaism helm) means "the rudder of the vessel, the stern paddle, with which the course of the vessel, the boat is controlled". There are stable expressions u kormila vlasti (in Russian at the helm of power) and u kormila pravleniya (at the helm of power, at the helm of the board); due to the homonymous root korm (feed) Yu. Polyakov could talk about the "semantic confusion".
The word otets (in Russian father) has an archaic meaning, which, as a rule, is implemented in the plural: 'the most honorable respected people standing at the head of something'. For example, this form is used by T. Moskvina: "In the satirical fantasy by the Strugatsky brothers, the "Inhabited Island" planet is ruled by "unknown ottsy (in Russian fathers)", a mysterious gang that makes key decisions. Such "unknown ottsy (in Russian fathers)" ruled and rule the "planet" of Russian culture. However, under the Soviets, these ottsy (in Russian fathers) were more sane. Who made the decision in 1950 to give Leningrad Lenin Komsomol Theater to Georgy Tovstonogov (he was 35 years old)? And in 1973, Mark Zakharov (he was 40 years old at the time) was assigned to head the Moscow Lencom? Nobody knows. Some unknown Soviet HRs. But how much foresight and common sense they showed. "Unknown ottsy (in Russian fathers)" of modernity make mysterious and short-sighted decisions, moreover, no one is responsible for anything.
Exactly after Zhenovach finally decided to remove Bogomolov's play "The Ideal Husband" from the repertoire (the most boring antics on the topic "their morals in the Kremlin", I endure only one action and ran away). For no reason, such tricks do not happen - obviously, there was an order and payment for the harassment of the Zhenovach, and now it has become known that the "Ideal Husband" is returning to the stage. The question is: if those who ordered the discrediting of Zhenovach, a top-class professional, use such methods of struggle, what are these citizens capable of in principle? Those unknown ottsy (in Russian fathers) and mothers who stand behind the innocent, of course, Konstantin Khabensky.
Yes, I am annoyed by this murky "Byzantium" in culture - in the sphere where a person strives to be better and higher and which is prescribed full clarity by heaven, and not the machinations of "unknown ottsy (fathers)".
When the "unknown ottsy (in Russian fathers)" appointed cheeky, talkative amateurs to run theatres instead of professionals (let me remind you at least about the fate of the Moscow theatre "Modern") - where were you?
In brief, those who know, for example, the names of "unknown ottsy (in Russian fathers)" who make decisions in culture - tell me these names. Tell us what's going on and who's guilty. And then they treat one thing, cripple another - and everything is anonymous" (Moskvina, 2021: 19).
Basing on archaic meaning, T. Moskvina in some fragments achieves through the use of this form a high, socially significant sounding of her text, in other fragments (those unknown ottsy (in Russian fathers) and mothers expresses irony and even sarcasm.
In general, the formation of an ironic utterance is the most important function of archaic lexis. For instance: "If until now the elders tried not to concern the play too much, then they were clearly indignant... Gribov grunted expressively, Petker raised his dlani (archaism hands) to the ceiling, Stepanova smiled coldly" (Zorin, 2019: 524).
L. Zorin recalls the history of the staging his play, where Roland Bykov played his peak role -Pushkin. The work was warmly accepted by the leading Pushkin scholars of the country, but rejected by the "elders" of the Moscow Art Theatre, and not because of some kind of malice. As V. Nepomnyashchy wrote, "they behaved like children spitting out unusual food; they did not understand it" (Nepomnyashchy, 2019: 532). And for L. Zorin, the archaism dlani (hands) in the description of this collision is a means to express an ironic attitude towards the "elders".
In the modern media discourse, various elements are combined: the bookish one with its inevitable archaic and sub-standard (colloquial, slang, invective). Media is the main source of neologization of language, including through the latest Anglo-Americanisms. And the problem is to find the cherished balance of all these elements. Many journalists, for example, O. Kushanashvili, is good at it: "they are tough, even smiling pros, whose life guide is surprisingly original: bablo (dough, jargonism money), zlato (archaism gold), tugriks" (Kushanashvili, 2013: 84); We have been for a long time - not little, but we have known each other for a long time, he seems to me a nice guy, and at one time - in the era of the most severe lack of food - I pestered him with requests, chelobitnye (archaism complaints; the word chelobitnye consists of two parts "beat the forehead"), pleas to find me at least some project, at least some role" (Kushanashvili, 2017: 528).
We can see, zlato (archaism gold) is adjacent to the bablo (dough, jargonism money), and chelobitnye (archaism complaints) with a superbuzzword projects, and this amalgam seems quite organic.
Also, for example, the archaic book title of the heading in the Literary Newspaper -"Columns of yazykotvorec" (archaism language maker and the only article in this heading called Zashkvar (jargonism shame) (Evseev, 2022: 12). Zashkvar is a jargon, a state category word, meaning "shameful, unworthy, indecent, unattractive".
In the E. Generalova's work: it is noted that "the demand for archaic lexis is explained by the pragmatic attitude to manipulation by the reader (by referring to recognizable historical events, realities, epochs), and the stylistic possibilities of this layer of lexis" (Generalova, 2021: 183). It is hardly possible to attribute a manipulative function to archaisms: a reference to historical realities by itself cannot form verbal manipulation, that is, a secretive, dishonest influence carried out to the detriment of the interests of the recipient and with obvious benefit for the sender of the message. It is this understanding of manipulation (and not its identification with any influence at all) is considered in most works investigating this problem (works by G.G. Khazagerov, I.V. Belyaeva, I.V. Sternin, O.N. Morozova, G.G. Pocheptsov, L.A. Brusenskaya, E.G. Kulikova, E.E. Kornilova, K. Bredemayer, A. Tsuladze, K.F. Sedova, G.A. Kopnina and many others). And in general,
"to explain the phenomenon of manipulation, it is necessary to take into consideration not only the specific circumstances in communication, but also the cognitive state of communicants" (Belyaeva, 2009: 35), and therefore it is wrong to attribute a general pragmatic attitude to the manipulation by the reader to the media.
5. Conclusion
Linguoecological approach to language is based on a broad historical and cultural context of lexical units, maintaining linguistic diversity, countering degradation processes such as impoverishment and coarsening of lexis, orientation to "commercial" unassuming literature, formulaic and faceless language.
Archaisms, which are often far removed from the central widely used lexis, are necessary as an opportunity to create a pathos media text, as a trope with a wide range (from subtle irony to sarcastic sarcasm).
It is not for nothing that lexicography has also shown interest in archaisms (before it paid immeasurably more attention to neology); from the latest dictionaries, we note the work of L. Ryzhkova and E. Grishina (Ryzhkova, Grishina, 2019), which gives numerous textual examples of the use of archaisms in Russian classical literature. However, as we can see, the most interesting contexts with archaisms exist in the modern media discourse, and this material is still waiting for its lexicographic embodiment.
6. Acknowledgements
The reported study was funded by RFBR and MES RSO, project number 21-512-07001 "Linguoecological parameters of intercultural communication in post-Soviet space".
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