Zeugma as a Method of Pragmatic Focusing in a Literary Text (Based on the Material of the German Language)

Introduction.The article analyses the specifics of the functioning of the zeugma in artistic speech. Despite the popularity of this rhetorical figure since ancient times and its use in various spheres of communication, there is still no complete clarity about the essence of this linguistic phenomenon.

Methodology and sources.The article considers various interpretations of the zeugma, determines its place in the circle of other rhetorical figures, conducts a structural analysis of zeugmatic constructions, identifies its syntactic and morphological variations, analyzes the stylistic potential. As an empirical material, lyrical and prose texts of German-language literature of the XIX–XX centuries are used, including works by H. Heine, A. Döblin, G. Trakl, G. Benn, K. Edschmid, H. Böll and other authors.

Results and discussion.As a rhetorical figure, zeugma is built on the conflict of syntax and semantics, representing several syntactically homogeneous, but semantically heterogeneous elements. Zeugma, as a rule, has a nuclear word in its composition, in which, in conjunction with various actants, different meanings/shades of meanings are actualized, although “non-nuclear” zeugmas are also found. The role of the reference element is most often a verb-predicate, less often the core of the construction becomes an adjective, participle, adverb, noun. The elements of the paratactic series are usually nouns (homogeneous subjects, additions, circumstances), but the analysis also reveals cases of illogical combinations represented by other parts of speech, as well as examples with heterogeneous morphological forms within the same zeugmatic construction. The functional analysis of the zeugma demonstrates the rich stylistic potential of this rhetorical figure, which acts as a means of humor and satire in literary texts, serving to convey emotional states, semantic saturation of the utterance, and the increment of new meanings.

Conclusion. Zeugma acts as a significant method of pragmatic focusing in a literary text, being especially widely represented in modernist literature, characterized by semantic multilayering and intensity of artistic expression.

1. Vinogradov, V.V. (1963), Stilistika. Teoriya poeticheskoi rechi. Poetika [Stylistics. The theory of poetic speech. Poetics], ANSSSR, Moscow, USSR.

2. Vinokur, G.O. (1990), Filologicheskie issledovaniya: lingvistika i poetika [Philological Research: Linguistics and Poetics], Nauka, Moscow, USSR.

3. Rubert, I.B. and Timralieva, J.G. (2017), “Poetic Language as the Object of Linguistic Research”, Izvestiya SPbGEU, no. 3, pp. 95–100.

4. Zherebilo, T.V. (2010), Slovar’ lingvisticheskikh terminov [Dictionary of linguistic terms], 5th ed., revised and enlarged. Piligrim, Nazran’, RUS, available at: https://lingvistics_dictionary.academic.ru/ (accessed 12.01.2021).

5. Akhmanova, O.S. (1969), Slovar’ lingvisticheskikh terminov [Dictionary of linguistic terms], Sovetskaya entsiklopediya, Moscow, USSR.

6. Kvyatkovskii, A.P. (2013), Poeticheskii slovar’ [Poetic Dictionary], 3rd ed., сorrected and additional, RGGU, Moscow, RUS.

7. Wahrig, G. (1971), Deutsches Wörterbuch, Bertelsmann, Güterslohn, DEU.

8. Brandes, M.P. (1990), Stilistika nemetskogo yazyka [German stylistics], Vysshaya shkola, Moscow, USSR.

9. Riesel, E.G. and Schendels, E.I. (1975), Stilistika nemetskogo yazyka [Deutsche Stilistik], Vysshaya shkola, Moscow, USSR.

10. Krahl, S. and Kurz, J. (1970), Kleines Wörterbuch der Stilkunde, VEB Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig, DEU.

11. Sowinski, B.(1973), Deutsche Stilistik, Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main, DEU.

12. Fleischer, W. and Michel, G. (1977), Stilistik der deutschen Gegenwartssprache, VEB Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig, DEU.

13. Beregovskaya, E.M. (1985), “Problems of studying zeugma as a rhetorical figure”, Voprosy Jazykoznanija, no. 5, pp. 59–67.

14. Riesel, E. (1959), Stilistik der deutschen Sprache, Verlag für fremdsprachige Literatur, Moskau, USSR.

15. Volker, H. (2015),Einführung in die Lexikologie, WBG, Darmstadt, DEU.

16. Friedrich, H. (2010), Struktura sovremennoi liriki: Ot Bodlera do serediny dvadtsatogo stoletiya [Die Struktur der modernen Lyrik: Von der Mitte des neunzehnten bis zur Mitte des zwanzigsten], Transl. by Golovin, E.V., Yazyki slavyanskikh kul’tur, Moscow, RUS.

17. Timralieva, J.G. (2017), “The linguistic picture of the world of German literary expressionism (based on the analysis of small-format texts)”, Abstract of Dr. Sci. (Philol.) dissertation, SPbSEU, SPb., RUS.