A precedent phenomenon versus an allusion in discourse

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King Danylo University, Ivano-Frankivsk

A precedent phenomenon versus an allusion in discourse

Mykhaylenko V.V.

The present paper is focused on the study of precedent phenomenon and its functions in the political discourse [see other registers of discourse: 2(religion); 15 (scientific); 22 (poetry)]. The origin, semantics and functions of the precedent text and precedent name and its corresponding stylistic term `allusion' are under investigation. The phenomenon is one, but its varying labels reflect the scholars' approaches: (1) inter- texteme [intertext, expression of intertextuality]; (2) precedent phenomenon [precedent name, a symbol of culture]; (3) historical [social, political] or literary [theatrical] metaphor “common figure of speech that makes a comparison by directly relating one thing to another unrelated thing; (4) textual reminiscence;

logo-episteme “lingual-cultural domain” [or linguocultureme];

a component of vertical context; (7) antonomasia “a literary term in which a descriptive phrase replaces a person's name and allusion as varieties of rhetorical tropes and figures; (8) proper name, used in the meaning of a common noun (converted to a common noun). We consider the precedent name from two angles: (1) Theory of Text and the category of intertextuality and its relationship with the traditional stylistic figure of allusion. And (2) parallelly the formation of the discourse contensive plane takes place where the precedent item plays the linking function as well as the ethnic-cultural marker of discourse.

The precedent phenomenon is a general term which stands for the whole paradigm of means of expression: a precedent text, a text fragment, a sentence, a phrase - a language unit of any length.

The object of the given research is a proper noun or “a precedent name” in the English political discourse.

Yu. Karaulov (1987) is considered the “pioneer” of the concept “precedent text” studies and defines it as a text cognitively and emotionally significant for the Speaker. [8; 15, p. 249] Precedent-related phenomena and their functions (manipulative, the nominative, the expressive, and the function of characterization and widely discussed in linguistics recently (Gudkov, 2004; Krasnykh, 2003, 2008; Kutyaeva, 2013; Morozova, 2010; Nakhimova, 2011; Popova, 2012; Slyshkin, 2008; Chistova, 2009 et al.).

The methodology of our research is based on the cognitive linguistic theory (Boldyrev, 2008; Demyankov et al., 2016; Lakoff, & Johnson, 1980; Popova, 2012; Popova & Sternin, 2003; Fillmore, 1982, et al.); pragmatic linguistics (Arutyunova, 1999; Stalnaker, 2005, et al.) and discourse analysis (Arutyunova, 1999; Dijk, 2008, et al.). There are two tendencies in the phenomenon investigation: communicative-pragmatic (Anisimova, 2004; Valgina, 2003; Karaulov, 1987; Karasik et al., 2014, Kostomarov, 1999; Lisochen- ko, 2007; Slyshkin, 2008) and cognitive supporters (Vasiliev, 2010; Gudkov, & Kovshova, 2007; Krasnykh, 2008). We can mention some of the contemporary publications on the topic, for instance, the ludic (“spontaneously playful”, 1940, a term in psychiatry, from French ludique, from Latin ludere “to play”) function of the language in media discourse [26, p. 70; see also 12], though it must be a component of the author's intented meaning and the reader's background knowledge otherwise it fails its target [see alsoSalimova and Puchinina, 2017]; connotative precedent names in media texts [5]; precedent religious names and precedent texts, in particular idioms containing theonyms [2, p. 295-298]; macrocontextual nature of precedent names [3] wherein the precedent items are considered to be “integral discourse markers” which are used by the author as creative elements to motivate the addressee to “read” his intended meaning. Media discourse is characterized by intertextuality, where precedent names play a significant role -the strategy of the author and the discourse register or genre is to manipulate the reader's consciousness and his/her behaviour. The precedent name, according to І. Gaiduk (Гайдук) is a symbol of a particular precedent situation; a historical figure; an appeal to a well-established phenomenon; an appeal to an invariant of perception of a precedent name [5, p. 63]. S. Hurbanska (Гурбанська) investigates the close interdependence of precedent names and their context in postmodern literary discourse [6, p. 101. O. Kolomoychenko and Yu. Atanova work out an algorithm of interpreting precedent names in media discourse [17, p. 56]. A. Berestova (Берестова) stresses that a precedent name is a multifunctional category in most discourse registers [2, p. 295; 13, p. 11fl.; 11; 9, p. 158; 4, p. 34].

DEFINITIONAL ANALYSIS. Etymologically the word precedent came into English in early 15c., “a case which may be taken as a rule in similar cases”, from Middle French precedent, as a noun use of an adjective, from Latin praecedentum (nominative prae-

cedens), present participle ofpraecedere “go before” (see precede). The meaning “thing or person that goes before another” is attested from mid-15c. as an adjective in English from c. 1400 (Etymological Dictionary). Merriam-Webster differentiates between (a) an earlier occurrence of something similar; (b) something done or said that may serve as an example or rule to authorize or justify a subsequent act of the same or an analogous kind a verdict that had no precedent; (c)the convention established by such a precedent or by long practice; and (d) a person or thing that serves as a model.

The Legal Etymological Dictionary specifies the meaning of precedent in the word combination precedent decision as “a decision issued by a court having a function to be an example or a guideline to follow by the other courts in cases having the same or similar facts , therefore required the application of the same principles of law”. In Duhaime's Legal English “precedent is “a case which establishes a novel legal principles to a certain set of facts, coming to a certain conclusion, and which is thereafter authoritative, to be followed from that point on, when similar or identical facts are before a court.” The US Legal E-Dictionary and other encyclopedic sources specify precedent as legal principle, created by a court decision, which provides an example or authority for judges deciding similar issues later [see 20. p.383]. As far as we understand that it is obligatory within a Common Law system. The comparison of the original and present-day Legal English meanings of precedent helps us define the main pragmatic component “obligatory to follow” within the given jurisdiction.

In linguistics the term “precedent text” was first introduced by Yuri Karaulov (1987) in his work on lingual identity: as a special text significant (1) for the Speaker due to its informative and emotive values; (2) for the Speaker and his/her community of various generations; and (3) a well-established allusion of the Speakers on a societal level [8, p.216]. One can see that Yu. Karaulov employs the legal term precedent but changes its dominant legal component “case” for the component of “value” and `quantifies the speaking community which we shall reformulate and expand in the following way: From individuum -- in the communicative model --to the limited community (family, age, profession, social, etc) --^either to a country-wide community, or a global community (intellectual or professional).

Alla Evtyugina (EBTroraHa) gives her own definition of precedent text which is based on assumptions of its status in a language system. From the point of the theory of intertextuality she defines it as a cultural sign which fulfills a special pragmatic function and establishes a relationship between two texts, one of which is stored in the collective memory of a socio-cultural group [7]. In literary studies intertextuality is a sophisticated literary device making use of a textual reference within some body of text, which reflects again the text used as a reference. Instead of employing referential phrases from different literary works, intertextuality draws upon the concept, rhetoric, or ideology from other writings to be merged in a new text. Intertextuality has been a much frequently used term since its first introduction by Julia Kristeva in her work of the late- 1960s, notably her essay of 1969, translated as “Word, Dialogue and Novel.” The fundamental concept of intertextuality is that no text, much as it might like to appear so, is original and unique-in- itself; rather it is a tissue of inevitable, and to an extent unwitting, references to and quotations from other texts. These in turn condition its meaning; the text is an intervention in a cultural system, see: Kristeva's veiw [18, p. 69] and other followers of Mikhail Bakhtin and Yuri Lotman's theory of intertextuality which is a literary device that creates an `interrelationship between texts' and generates related understanding in separate works. Although, both these terms seem similar to each other, though they are slightly different in meaning.

One of the functions of the precedent unit is that of allusion as a stylistic figure, a brief and concise reference that a writer uses in another narrative without affecting the storyline, cf.: “a reference, usually brief, often casual, occasionally indirect, to a person, event, or condition presumably familiar but sometimes obscure or unknown to the reader” [24]. It usually is treated as a literary term, for instance is to refer solely to literary allusions [25, p. 171]. Inter- textuality, on the other hand, uses the reference of the full story in another text or story as its backbone [24, p. 38]. Norman Fair- clough distinguishes between two types of textual analysis: linguistic analysis and intertextual analysis [see also 14]. He argues that diverse approaches to discourse analysis can be enhanced through systematic use of these two forms of analysis [see the text analysis: 16, p. 51 fl.]. In Literary studies and Stylistics precedent name or unit is defined as an allusion or indirect reference. The term formerly included metaphors, parables, and puns, but now it is an implicit use of someone else's words. Whereas quotations usually come with acknowledged sources, allusions are indirect, even cryptic, sometimes dropped in passing, with little thought, sometimes used with care, so that a speaker or writer can share an understanding with certain listeners or readers [see also 19, p. 68]. Clive Seale et al. specify its function as a container of world treasury or the world of experience or allusion exists, however, in a kind of `repertoire of collective knowledge' [23, p. 198]. M. Zolotarev admits a possibility to define the precedent phenomenon as a special language unit describing objects or situations relevant to speakers and further the author refers it to the traditional allusion reference [27]. Yu. Karaulov points out that these are ready-made intellectual and emotional blocks used by a linguistic personality as a tool that facilitates and accelerates the switching from the “factual” context of thought to the “mental” one [8, p. 220].

We share the opinion of Yu. Karaulov and other scholars who distinguish the term precedent name within the precedent text theory which plays a significant role in securing intertextuality from the semantic point of view and supports cross-cultural unity of soci- ums. We shall attempt also to initiate one more pragmatic component in the semantic structure of the precedent name or unit a pragmatic marker of cross-generation or in a broader sense as a marker of cross-civilization unity. The text or discourse bereft of precedent names would sound as an Annual Survey of the Dept. of Statistics.

Kolomoychenko (KonoMomeHKo) et al. write about the journal texts where the precedent names refer to actual «here and now»,

e. in the mass-media discourse the precedent names of today prevail, but in fiction or philosophy the historical items are abound [17, p. 59].

CORPUS ANALYSIS. The diachronical approach to the study of the precedent name semantics reveals the true dominant component in its lexical meaning which is actualized in the vertical context. Within the time the dominant component of precedent names may either undergo melioration or pejoration. The fact is that language is a communicative activity that is highly dependent on context, wherein the lexical meaning can realize its positive or negative component. Much recent work on semantic change has focused, not on results of change, but on pragmatic enabling factors for change (Oxford Research Encyclopedia in Linguistics On-Line) in discourse. For example, in the modern portrait of Margaret Thatcher (its frequency is 539) lexemes with a positive component prevail: prime minister, with a cast iron will, politician, self-determined, undaunted, powerful woman:

Mrs Margaret Thatcher's remarkable drive to revive the economy.

Margaret Thatcher's strength was that people knew exactly where she stood;

Margaret Thatcher had created a ' supermarket society'.

How the miracle of the turn-round and recovery under Margaret Thatcher's leadership was rightly hailed as an inspiration worldwide.

Margaret Thatcher was remarkable, of course, for being the first woman Prime Minister.

However, even in those early days of government, was Margaret Thatcher's stamina.

Margaret Thatcher had kept her word given over five years before.

However as a Conservative MP she was a staunch champion against Labour tax policy, as a Minister of Education she cut education spending and caused public displeasure when she ended the provision of free milk for primary school children.

Margaret Thatcher was getting a very bad press at a time.

The chairman of Cheltenham Conservatives has accused former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of being disloyal to the Government.

Not one student has signed up for the ten weekly lectures under the title Margaret Thatcher -- Fact or Fiction.

The love-hate relationship goes on: you voted Margaret Thatcher both most interesting and most boring woman

This earned her the nickname `Thatcher the Milk Snatcher'. Therefore, the Labourists considered that she was destroying the livelihoods of millions of workers. Even after her death, she remains a controversial figure - “loved and loathed”.

That reminds me that it was Margaret Thatcher who said, nobody would remember the Good Samaritan, if all he had was...

Nevertheless, the negative component was neutralized on the background of the country progress. And her family name gave rise to “Thatcherism” which includes the three big components: the conduct of macroeconomic policy through monetarism; deregulation of markets, removing state control over private business and household choices; and the privatization of state owned entities”. (Sir Vince Cable).

The treasurer of Conservative Way Forward, a group of Tories dedicated to preserving Margaret Thatcher's ideas and policies.

They can be safely admired from a distance, like Margaret Thatcher or Mikhail Gorbachev; Winston Churchill has the advantage of falling into both categories.

As for pejoration of the precedent name lexical meaning we can illustrate it with the Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President of the United States in 1969-1974. His portrait description employs positively charged lexemes: brilliant lawyer (anticrime laws), successful, a war veteran, peace-maker(ended American fighting in Vietnam, improved US relations with the USSR), but then occurred the “Watergate” scandal (a break-in at the offices of the Democratic National Committee during the 1972 campaign) and he became the only president who had resign the office for his covering up the crime and diverting the investigation into bugging the Headquarters of the Democratic National Committee during the 1972 campaign housed in Watergate hotel. Though in his last years, Nixon gained praise as an elder statesman, but in the vertical context the negative component in the lexical meaning of the precedent name “Richard Nixon” dominates.

S. Anisimova (Анисимова) says that the precedent phenomenon in the cognitive framework refers to the source sphere which in its semantic organization is a frame containing a set of slots represented as sub-spheres [1, p. 79]. The thesis is that the precedent phenomenon is contextually located, whereas it is fully comprehended by the recipient. On the contrary, the meaning of the precedent phenomenon is limited or rather narrowed by the sentence context, cf.: Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics. Though in the sentence, for instance, `We have an Einstein in the class,” i.e. “There is genius in physics in our class” and his/ her other characteristics redundant for the given context. Let's take another illustration “Oh, here comes our Napoleon,” where the proper noun Napoleon stands for the conqueror only.

In modern times English employs some names of the personalities who contributed much to the society: Queen Elizabeth II, William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, Oliver Cromwell, Horatio Nelson, Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana, "Beatles” and others which can constitute a national conceptual domain “PILLARS OF NATION,” some of them, like Isaac Newton or William Shakespeare may join the global conceptual domain “PILLARS OF CIVILIZATION,” [see concept, conceptual domain or field: 19, p. 138; 1, p. 78]. Linguistic-cultural area of the interdisciplinary study is based on linguistics and culture and it is aimed at investigating cultural values of the socium expressed in language [10, p. 222]. And a system of precedent phenomena is one of the ways of transferring cultural values from generation to generation or from nation to nation.

FINDINGS & PERSPECTIVES. The etymology of the precedent refers us to the past event and the precedent name refers us to the personality, hero, god, or situation in the past whose characteristics are used as indirect nomination of the present personality, hero, or event. On the one hand, this phenomenon plays the linking function of the given text with the preceding one and further develops the given text. On the other hand, it connects the episode described with the past event and adds a pragmatic component to the lexical meaning of the precedent name.

Here comes the Theory of Text and the category of intertextuali- ty and its relationship with the traditional stylistic figure of allusion. And parallelly the formation of the discourse contensive plane takes place where the precedent item plays the linking function as well as the ethnic-cultural marker of discourse.

The precedent name presents a significant difficulty for translation / interpretation and discourse analysis, for it actualizes some mental spaces of the past indirectly, but demands translating or interpreting unless the meaning of the text or speech can be distorted. And naturally the focus of our next research will be the changes in the translation of precedent names from English into Ukrainian.

precedent name discourse text

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Summary

The present paper is focused on the study of precedent phenomenon and its functions in political discourse. The origin, semantics and functions of the precedent text and precedent name and its stylistic correspondence `allusion' are under investigation. The phenomenon is one, but its varying labels reflect the scholars' approaches which label them as: (1) intertexteme, (2) precedent phenomenon, (3) historical or literary metaphor, (4) textual reminiscence; (5) logo-episteme or linguo-cultureme, (6) a component of vertical context; (7) antonomasia, (8) proper name, used a common noun. Yu. Karaulov employs the legal term precedent but changes its dominant legal component “case” for the component of “value” and `quantifies the speaking community which we shall reformulate and expand in the following way: individuum ^ communicative model ^limited community (family, age, profession, social, etc) ^ a country-wide community and a global community (intellectual or professional). The precedent name is as an indirect nomination of the given personality, hero, or event; it is used as linking element of the present text and the preceding one; it refers the episode described to the past event; it realizes a pragmatic component of the lexical meaning of the precedent name; and it is a lingual-cultural marker of the society.

Key words: precedent phenomenon, precedent name, allusion, discourse, function, cognitive.

Статтю присвячено вивченню прецедентного феномена (імені) та його функцій у політичному дискурсі. Прецедентне ім'я дає декілька трактувань: (1) непряма номінація цієї особи, героя або події; (2) сполучник поточного тексту з попереднім; (3) покажчик співвіднесеності імені/епізоду з минулим ім'ям/епізодом; (4) актуалізатор прагматичного складника лексичного значення прецедентного імені; (5) мовно-культурний маркер соціуму; (6) одиниця вертикального контексту; (7) літературна антономазія; (8) транспоноване власне ім'я в загальне. Походження, семантика та функції прецедентного тексту та прецедентного імені розглянуто з різних підходів, тому що вони до цього часу не мають єдиного трактування.

Ключові слова: прецедентний феномен, прецедентне ім'я, алюзія, дискурс, функція, когнітивний.

Статья посвящена изучению прецедентного феномена (имени) и его функций в политическом дискурсе. Прецедентное имя - (1) косвенная номинация данного лица, героя или события; (2) соединительный элемент текста с предыдущим; (3) показатель соотнесённости имени / эпизода с прошлым именем / эпизодом; (4) актуализатор прагматического компонента лексического значения прецедентного имени; (5) линвокультурный маркер социума; (6) единица вертикального контекста; (7) литературная антономазия; (8) транспонированное имя собственное. Происхождение, семантика и функции прецедентного текста и прецедентного имени рассмотрены с различных подходов, так как они до сих пор не имеют единой трактовки.

Ключевые слова: прецедентный феномен, прецедентное имя, аллюзия, дискурс, функция, когнитивный.

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