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Vadim Shlahter, Sergey Kholnov
The Psychodynamics of Witchcraft, or an Introduction to Paralogy
to his first guides in this wonderful world
INTRODUCTION
Thinking man, this book – not to think. Believe me, inner comfort and fun, strength and power – all this luxury is by no means from thought. Alas. In our world, only anxieties, regrets, failures, misfortunes, and, most importantly, – a poisonous fear of experiencing all this, constantly poisoning the life of all bipeds, or almost all. Therefore, we invite you to slip away from the yoke of logic into the magical world of paralogy, look at yourself from there and suddenly like yourself. We seem to have heard somewhere that it is there that a thinking person is transformed into something else, perhaps more perfect and, in any case, happier. Ultimately, the goal of any logic – condemn the world and justify oneself, while the most understandable task of paralogy – settle down in the world with maximum comfort and learn to really laugh. But this – only one of its tasks and certainly not the most important.
In fact, the realm of logic is disproportionately small compared to the realm of paralogy. The first correlate with the second, as the plane with space. And a thinking person is only a point on the logical plane. We offer you one day to turn around from this faceless point into a luxurious spatial figure.
Now – a few words about ourselves. Within logic, we have many functional designations, or pseudo-names. Practicing psychologist, hypnotist, candidate of science, master of hand-to-hand combat and bullet shooting, instructor for training special forces soldiers, sempai – that's far from complete list logical labels of one of us; the second can be logically defined as an editor, a journalist, a writer. But in the paralogical space we are always what we set out to be together. Occasionally, a mage will converse with you through his competent translator of normal magical language into subnormal human language. At another time, you will be offered, for example, two cheerful interlocutors to laugh together. In general, this is already exclusively your problem. – feel who exactly communicates with you at one time or another. By the way, the last – the most important and, perhaps, the most difficult.
Meanwhile, the success of any communication directly depends on the language code used, more precisely, on how unambiguously the terms are interpreted by both parties. Here it is simply necessary that each word be perceived exactly in the meaning in which it is pronounced, and, if possible, with all the nuances and shades and in all its ambiguity. In the logical world, this simply does not happen.
For example, you say the word “house” to mean a fenced-in, comfortable space where a beautiful wife makes coffee for you in the morning. But the failed builder listening to you recalls the unfinished frame of the structure he once erected, in which, for some unknown reason, two floors suddenly collapsed. Will you understand each other? Of course not. This is the case even with the simplest words. – especially with those that denote complex concepts.
In this regard, we are reminded of a very amusing incident that took place in the glorious capital of culture, the city of St. Petersburg. An artist friend of ours was commissioned to sign a sign for his office, on which, at the urgent request of the customer, the heroic Trojan Aeneas was to be depicted. (The fact is that the customer company, engaged in the production of bottles and other glass containers, was called “Eney”. In general, our artist brings sketch signs. Customers examined it, scratched their heads and say, as they say, without enthusiasm:
- Not bad, of course ... Only we need another Aeneas. We are dealing with glass, so our Aeneas is simply obliged to blow - well, as in an Italian painting by an unknown master (unknown - this is for us, but for you, the artist, this canvas must certainly be known).
The poor artist even sweated: how is it to blow?! And what kind of picture is this, in which a Trojan fugitive is not sailing on the sea, not fighting enemies, not beguiling women, but blowing vulgarly, like a Kustodiev merchant's wife for tea?! However, the artist was quick-witted, and therefore soon realized what they wanted from him. It turned out that the customers had in mind the ancient ruler of the winds Eol, only a little mixed up the name.
Even the ancient Aryans, to their considerable chagrin, noticed that a thinking person interprets any word as he pleases at a given moment, and in the next - in a completely different way; this sad fact is said abound in their sacred writings.
In general, in order to reveal the originality of a particular people, it is enough to turn to its language. For example, the Yakuts have more than fifty words for wind. And they are not exactly synonyms. One word defines a strong and cold northeast wind, another - a moderate west wind, and so on. Of course, for reindeer herders wandering in the tundra, the wind is an essential phenomenon.
The Mansi, taiga hunters, have twenty words for taiga, forest. Indians use many words to refer to various aspects of human consciousness. It is no coincidence that this period gave rise to so many religions and philosophical systems. Perhaps someone will be interested in what life phenomena are most fully represented today in our native Russian or, say, in almost our own, but, thank God, not yet native English. Perhaps it is something from the field of trade ...
Unfortunately, a thousand words, and even an entire dictionary, as a rule, is not enough to adequately convey the simplest things. (Fortunately, this is true only in the plane of logic.) That is why poetry exists in the world. In our opinion, true poetry is an attempt by linguistic means - rhythm, sound, metaphor - to convey the inexpressible. In other words, poetry reflects a person's unconscious instinctive desire for paralogy. Real poetry, even if it is incomprehensible, is nevertheless intelligible. The same can be said about music, and painting, and dance - and in general about any art. So, paralogy is a true art, or the quintessence of all arts.
What, from our point of view, is the difference between science and art? Science - as, indeed, art - is called very heterogeneous phenomena. For example, physics is a science; history is also a science. What do they have in common? Yes, the fact that in both the subject of knowledge is considered as if from the outside. In other words, the scientific comprehension of something implies a division into subject and object, into the seer and the visible, into the knower and the known. In art, the creation and the creator are merged into one. Often our language demonstrates glaring poverty, highlighting only one word to designate completely different phenomena. For example, medicine that studies the influence of certain factors on human health. It is, of course, science. But the actions of a surgeon who removes a tumor from a patient is already an art. Nevertheless, we, without hesitation, call both medicine or even scientific medicine. We repeat, paralogy is an art and even something more than just art, but the life-giving force of all possible arts.
Now back to language. Our keywords are the verbs "understand" and "know". So we want you to understand and know the meaning that we put into them. In our opinion, multiplying some two numbers on a calculator and finding out what their product will be does not at all mean finding out. Moreover, even if you do the entire multiplication procedure yourself - say, on a piece of paper in a column - you still will not really know the result. Because a simple fixation in the mind of abstract information, as well as the acquisition of any information mechanically, from the point of view of paralogy, is not cognition. Now, when you want to eat or drink, then you truly know it. We are trying to show that in the process of understanding, allowing something to know our whole being must be involved.
Logical knowledge of something contains negation in itself – at least in the form of a doubt. When you say yes, you create a hypothetical opportunity to say no. This is how our mind, our consciousness, is arranged. But in the subconscious, in the subcortex, in our nervous system there is no denial at all, the Subconscious is not able to deal with those things that simply do not exist in the world. This is the prerogative of the mind. Barely born, a person is already knows that it exists. And on this score he does not have the slightest doubt. From here – Christian "I am" or Hindu "Tata tvam asi" which means "I am that" or "I – existing."
In general, if you intend to perceive with the mind and analyze our words, then it is better to just close and put away this book. We can't do anything with you. We want you to try to feel, to feel with your whole being what is being said on these pages. This does not require any effort at all. It is enough just to tune in to the perception. And then, perhaps, you will find something for yourself here.
We may be objected: they say, the mind is also needed for something – it is not for nothing that a person is endowed with it. Definitely a logical mind – useful thing, sometimes even necessary. That is why we will in some cases appeal to him. Only he is far from suitable everywhere and not always, but everywhere he sticks his boastfully upturned nose.
In general, we will try to use fewer terms. And if you follow our advice regarding the way this book is perceived, then everything will be clear to you, and tricky questions will stop tormenting you. Unfortunately, this won't happen right away.
And since questions are still possible for the time being, let's try to predict at least some of them and answer them in advance. (Mostly, in order to wean you from asking questions at all in the future.) We think that the very title of this book will disturb someone's inquisitive mind first of all. So:
– What is a paralogy anyway?
– Please. Paralogy is a certain way of thinking that differs from the usual, logical one. But this is "not just logic inside out, but rather – a feeling, an unshakable inner confidence flowing from the very foundations of our being. Did you understand anything? – That's right, nothing. If we could verbally answer this question, then paralogy would not be worth discussing at all. Read this book and try-then answer it yourself. Unless, of course, you are still interested in it ... But we hope that this will not happen.
Hearing about some new theory or doctrine, many people immediately begin to be tormented by the question:
– And how does it relate to religion, ethics, morality?
– Let's start with the fact that paralogy is not at all a theory or a doctrine, and therefore it simply does not have points of contact with ethics and, moreover, with morality. As far as religions are concerned, the situation is more complicated. In fact, paralogy is the mother of all religions. But her daughters, as they say, having made it to the people, but not gaining intelligence (or, on the contrary, having "picked up" his excess), are often self-willed and deny their true relationship. Well, and the mother, again in a kindred way, sometimes does not deny herself the pleasure of flicking her child who has played out on the nose. Worse still, the siblings can't get along with each other, even though neither of them has any real advantages over the others. But the imaginary advantages of each – take it easy! The latter just belong to the jurisdiction of ethics and morality. We remembered an old, but quite good anecdote, one might say, on this topic.
Jew comes to the rabbi:
“Rabbi, I have a great sorrow! My own son, Isaac, decided to be baptized!
The rabbi raises his hands.
Oh, this is indeed a great grief! But how can I help you?
“Then I came to you so that you could ask our Heavenly Father for advice.
- Better not to persuade! It would be terribly tactless. He and his Son have the same troubles.
Hindus have a saying: "Challenge dharma("dharma" – faith, duty, set of principles; Skrt.) of another person means to demonstrate your own stupidity. That's all it would be!
If the first hypothetical questions dealt primarily with semantics, then perhaps the next one will be related to lexicology.
– Why did you use the word “introduction” in the title of your book?
– Yes, because in this area we can only give you an initial push. Please note: the highest paralogy (and only the highest paralogy exists) is for everyone. It is not transmitted, and it is pointless to discuss it.
Finally, what good is it to be abnormal?
We will have to answer this question with a question.
- Is it normal if you suddenly earn a lot of money - a thousand times more than usual? - Probably, not.
– Will it be good? - Of course good. We hope the issue is resolved and you are satisfied.
Chapter 1
For starters, let's make you happy. We nevertheless decided to spice up this book, paralogical in its essence, with a bit of logic - so to speak, for taste. There is more of it in the first chapters; in the next - less. Just please don't let your mind take advantage of our indulgence to puff out your cheeks too much.
Now imagine (we do not intend to draw anything yet) two intersecting, as they should be, coordinate axes. On the vertical we will agree to postpone the quantitative values of the activity of the human psyche. In this case, scientists usually talk about all sorts of impulses, radiations and rhythms of the brain; they even somehow measure them; only we, fortunately, have nothing to do with all this. On the horizontal axis, we will determine the volitional potential of a person, and this is a certain mysterious force that binds together all the subpersonalities that make up the complete personality of each of us.
Imagine that you had a strong drink in a friendly company, and then told all sorts of nonsense to your friends, and besides, you broke your hostess's favorite service or did something else. Under normal circumstances, this would never happen to you. The next morning you remember all this and feel not very comfortable. And even begged by the phone “Come on, with whom it doesn’t happen ...” does not bring peace to your weary soul. You replay yesterday's situation over and over again in your mind and still cannot understand why you behaved the way you did. After all, it is precisely in this way that you are unpleasant, first of all, to yourself; This is exactly how you really don't want to accept yourself.
Meanwhile, everything is very simple. Alcohol slowed down the functions of your cerebral cortex, and the subcortex prevailed. And this means that your ordinary personality - the one that others know, with which you have already got used, and which is the result of all your many subpersonalities - temporarily gave way to one of the latter. Here it is, this very subpersonality, the existence of which you, perhaps, did not even suspect before, and arranged all this leapfrog. But, having sobered up, you have become the same, and now your logical mind, wholly and completely belonging to the cortex of your brain, does not allow you to admit that yesterday you were literally not you.
By the way, such an experience can be very useful. You just need to gather some courage in yourself and not be too lazy to use it. You can act like this. Honestly remember yourself in that state. Replay the whole picture over and over again in your mind: what you then felt by whom felt themselves How perceived the world and the people in it How wanted to appear before them... Experience it all over again.
It is important to avoid one mistake here. In no case do not correct, do not correct the situation and yourself. Let everything go the way it really was. Just observe yourself and then try to reproduce yourself psychologically in that very state. However, for this experience it is not at all necessary to use memories of a feast that is unpleasant for you. You can recreate any situations in general (including pleasant ones) in which you felt unusually and behaved unusually. Although, of course, it is unexpected troubles that, as a rule, most easily release our hidden selves. Your task is to realize (and therefore, as we agreed, and to feel) that the world around you and you in it are capable of changing. In fact, this is one of the aspects stalking Carlos Castaneda. And the situation described above in his code system is explained by a slight shift of your assemblage point under the influence of alcohol.
Now we will try to scare you. In the subconscious of any person, a huge number of subpersonalities doze. Some of them are more alive and active, others less. These are your relatives and friends (including the deceased), various characters (historical, mythological, artistic), all kinds of animals, birds, trees, rocks - everything that makes up your mental world. And in it all these subpersonalities are real, for they are clothed in the living flesh of your subconscious. (In this sense, some Winnie the Pooh for a child can be much more real than, say, Hitler, Yeltsin or Pugacheva.) By the way, here is the starting point for all kinds of acting transformations and even for magical transformations, so vividly described by Carlos Castaneda.
However, back to our horizontal coordinate axis. Let's conditionally call it the axis of will or integrity - that's how you like it more (a psychiatrist could call it a scale of schizophrenia). The more to the right along the axis of the will is the point we have chosen, the more strongly the subpersonalities of the person to whom it corresponds are cemented. Thus, on the right, we will have whole and strong-willed natures, and even more to the right - paranoid ones; on the left, we will place the so-called complex natures, which, as we move further to the left, will be replaced by all kinds of schizophrenics and, finally, former people with a devastated psyche. We repeat, the will, from our point of view, is the force that gathers all human subpersonalities together, into one resulting personality.
Similarly, on the vertical axis, which we will call the axis of mental activity, the highest points will correspond to people who are in the manic phase of psychosis, and the lower ones to depressants. Accordingly, the so-called normal people will be accommodated in the intermediate area; and the stronger the "acceleration" them psyche, the higher their place on the axis of mental activity.
Now let's try to get a "taste" this the most mental "acceleration". Recall yourself in a state of extreme excitement. Perhaps one day you "fell" on the exam and suddenly unexpectedly for yourself found the correct answer to the "failed" question, or during a duel on totami you suddenly felt an extraordinary surge of strength and clearly won the battle ... Everyone in life had moments of intense increase in mental activity. Remember one of them, remember your state at that moment and try to relive it.
Now remember yourself at that moment when you were endlessly tired, and you didn’t care about anything else at all. All you need is just a bed. Realize yourself in a state of inhibited mental activity.
These exercises are explained in detail in the book by W. V. Shlakhter "The Man-Weapon", which we recommend that you read if you are seriously interested in irrational psychology. But in this case, you only need to feel in yourself the states of increased and decreased mental activity and by experience to isolate their components.
How to take it on? Here are the most simple circuit. So, having “dispersed” your mental activity, first try to isolate and then suppress the emotional activity; then do the same with mental activity. This is not so difficult to achieve. Now watch what's left. It seems that you, as before, are excited to the limit, but at the same time your emotions subsided, and your mind calmed down ... It is this remaining part of the mental tension that is the very activity that we are talking about. True, there is still the activity of perception, or our attention. But we will talk about it in detail in another chapter.
Now, one helpful tip. While engaging in psychic experiments, remain dispassionate. Set yourself up as if you are doing all this not at all for yourself, but for someone else. In other words, do not desire the result, otherwise the desire itself will cross out all your efforts: after all, it is also an emotion.
Suppose, thanks to your own practice, you are gradually mastering our mental coordinate system. This means we can move on. Then imagine that one day, having pricked the point of intersection of mental axes (will and activity) with the tip of a compass, a certain psychiatrist drew an ominous circle. And then all the rest of his colleagues gathered around her and collectively decided to consider the people who were inside this circle as normal, and those who, for some reason, were outside, to be accepted as their patients. Since then, they have been "treating" these poor fellows, that is, they have been trying - and in the vast majority of cases unsuccessfully - to lock them in their circle.
Meanwhile, not a single person has a permanent place in the psychic coordinate system. Let's say you wake up at seven in the morning and, as they say, tear your eyes with difficulty. In these moments, even just throw back the covers and go for a shower. you are a problem. The activity of your psyche should rather be called passivity, and there can be no talk of a minimum concentration of will and in general. Of course, in this case, the state of your psyche will correspond to some of the points of the lower left sector of our coordinate system. And about two of the same day, your Zhiguli car suddenly stalled right on the street. And you urgently need to get somewhere. You desperately "stop", as they say, with your own chest, any car that has fallen into your field of vision. Where is your mind at this moment? Most likely, in the upper right sector, unless it “splashed” out of it at all higher or to the right of the norm.
It seems the time has come for a significant remark. Keep in mind that everything we have said so far in this chapter is complete nonsense. We tried to push logic where it doesn't exist. So do not make any mental constructions based on what you have read, just try to find in yourself what you have learned. And then our words will “work” - they will simply indicate to you: yes, this is it ...
Think about how you walk on the ground, how you dance, eat, drive a car ... If your every action was coordinated by reason, which, in turn, would be based on a logical scheme, on an accurate scientific description of the action itself, then you will would not have had time to take, probably, even five steps. Think about it. Do you know, for example, how to bring a fork to your mouth? Of course not - from the standpoint of science. After all, you do not have in your head all the numerous parameters of this simple action, which, perhaps, would not fit in ten volumes. You feel how it's done and that's it. Only more is not required in this case ...
And now we offer you approximately the same way to feel the state of your own psyche. This is also very easy. You just didn't pay attention to such "little things" before. First, you should learn to distinguish them in yourself (God forbid you to do this only at the level of the logical scheme proposed by us). And only then can you try to control your states of mind, or mental positions, and then transform them and even form new ones.
Let's see who we consider mentally ill. Probably, the one whose psyche, having once gone beyond certain established parameters, no longer obeys his master. In other words, society recognizes as abnormal only those who, firstly, are not able to control their own psyche, and secondly, and this is the most important condition, - whose mental parameters do not correspond to the norm. But the vast majority of people either do not have control over their mental states at all, or control them very weakly and not always. Only the mental positions of these conditionally normal people usually do not leave the area established for them, or, if this does happen, they return to their own circle on their own and soon enough - until psychiatrists get down to business. On the other side, different kinds human activity require different mental positions. For example, if you decide to generate a brilliant idea, then it will be easiest for you to do this in a deep state of lack of will, almost personal decay, in which your subpersonalities get the opportunity to express themselves. But in order to bring this idea to life, you will need the purposefulness of a paranoid. In a state of inhibited mental activity, you can most successfully perceive new information. But you will be able to defeat a serious opponent in the ring only at the maximum mental “acceleration”. Thus, any action requires from us an appropriate state of mind, a special mental position with optimal parameters. This means that it is essential for a person to master at least a normal mental space, and if he strives for more, then it is essential to tear apart its boundaries.
Unfortunately, no logic will help you with this. Of course, paralogy itself is also just a shell. But it is possible only in the presence of something else that is generally not amenable to definition and, moreover, to discussion. It can be said that there is something serious behind paralogy, while behind logic there is emptiness.
Author of theoretical works on grammar, lexicology, semantics, spelling and lexicography of the French language. Under the editorship of Gack, a number of textbooks and manuals, as well as dictionaries of the French language, were published.*click on title to download
Learn to read a newspaper in French - 1963 - Gak V. G. - IMO Publishing House - The tutorial is intended for people who do not know French at all. Its goal is to help the reader to acquire French passively, that is, to learn to read and understand simple newspaper materials. This book teaches, first of all, the reading of articles and notes of political content, describing the events of the international or domestic political life of the country. However, it also provides samples of information on cultural issues and cultural relations. At the same time, having mastered the material of the self-instruction manual, the reader will be able to further improve his knowledge by reading newspaper publications of any content and any complexity with the help of a dictionary.
Comparative typology of French and Russian languages- 1976 - Gak V. G. - Enlightenment. This book by the outstanding Russian linguist and teacher V. G. Gak is dedicated to comparing the facts of the French and Russian languages. The nomenclature of the facts of these two languages has not been definitively established. Questions about the number of phonemes, parts of speech, verb tenses, moods, etc., remain controversial. In such cases, the most common representations were taken into account first of all and the most significant differences in opinion were indicated. The book consistently compares the French and Russian languages within the framework of phonology and spelling, grammar, vocabulary and style, as well as the lexical and grammatical organization of the utterance and text.
Comparative lexicology- 1977 - Gak V. G. - International relationships- This book is an experience of comparative study of the vocabulary of two languages - French and Russian. Based on the analysis of dictionaries and translations, some general and particular semantic features are traced in it. French words and the patterns of their use in speech in connection with the peculiarities of the organization of the utterance in French. The book is intended for students and graduate students of philological universities, teachers and translators, as well as for all those interested in the French language. The coverage of the problems of general semantics and the applied methods of comparative study of the vocabulary of two languages in the system and in speech may be of interest to a wide range of philologists.
Learn to read French. Tutorial- 1984 - Gak V.G. - Higher School - Self-instruction manual "Learn to read in French" is intended for people who do not know French at all. Its goal is to learn to read and understand simple texts.
Russian versus French- 1988 - Gak V.G. - URSS - In this manual, a systematic comparison of the forms of Russian and French is carried out, much attention is paid to the differences between the two languages. The book consists of sections: "Grammatic categories", "Grammatic connections", "Sentence structure", "Structural features of dialogic speech". In each section, exercises are given on the analysis of phrases taken from the original literature, and exercises on translation, and at the end of the manual - the keys to the exercises.
Learn to read French in 30 days- 1997 - Gak V.G., Muradova L.A. - ILBI - This tutorial sets a more specific goal: to help you learn quickly and without special work read French. But he guarantees the achievement of this goal within a few weeks. It uses elements of programmed learning and uses a specially developed original methodology that will allow you to master the basics of French grammar and memorize more than 2000 words without referring to other textbooks and dictionaries, after which you can read any French texts with a dictionary..
Theory and practice of translation French- 2003 - Gak V.G., Grigoriev B.B. - Interdialect + - The book is a systematic translation course, built on materials of a socio-political and regional nature. The texts of the textbook introduce students to the basic French and Russian socio-political vocabulary, turns of newspaper speech, phraseology, and the most important stylistic and genre features of French journalism. The textbook is structured thematically. It is intended for students, as well as all persons who wish to master the skills and practical methods of translating social and political materials from French into Russian and from Russian into French.
French orthography- 2005 - Gak V.G. - Dobrosvet - The book is a very complete and systematic presentation of the rules of French orthography. Significant factual material is presented in accordance with the principle of movement from meaning to expression. Various orthographic models are discussed both from the point of view of functional load (phonetic correspondences, distinctive function, etc.) and from historical considerations (spelling tradition, etymological principles). This approach allows us to reduce the complex and branched system of French spelling to a set of intuitive and easy-to-use models. The set of proposed mnemonic rules will also be useful to the reader.
V. G. Gak COMPARATIVE STUDIES AND TRANSLATION ANALYSIS(Translator's Notebooks. - Issue 16. - M., 1979. - S. 11-21)
The relationship between translation and linguistics has received increasing attention in recent years. The works dealing with this problem are so numerous and diverse that it is already possible to outline a general typology of studies devoted to the problem of "translation - linguistics". They can be divided into three groups: I) works in which the provisions of linguistics are used to substantiate the theory and practice of translation. Such are the well-known books of A. B. Fedorov, V. N. Komissarov, A. D. Schweitzer, Ya. I. Retsker, L. S. Barkhudarov, and others; 2) works that show the refraction of general linguistic (or general semiotic, psycholinguistic) problems in translation as in special form speech activity, as in a bilingual linguistic experiment. There are a number of publications on this aspect that are of interest, but as far as monographs are concerned, this "ecological niche" still remains unfilled; 3) works in which the translations themselves are reasonably used for linguistic research. These are articles, dissertations, monographs of a comparative nature. Of course, there are no impenetrable boundaries between the three types of research, and elements of research from all three directions are often found in the same work; we are talking about the dominant direction, about the "super task" of the work. It should also be noted that comparative studies do not necessarily refer to translations. If the comparison is carried out at the level of forms or values, then the use of translation data is by no means necessary. However, the latter becomes appropriate if the functioning of words or forms in speech is studied, if the comparison is carried out at the level of statements. Although the distinction between these three types of research is self-explanatory, it is useful to dwell on it again, especially on the specifics of the first and the latter, because if this distinction is not clearly understood, one can make unreasonable wishes for certain works and expect from them what they are. should not give by their very nature. For example, the authors of the article "On Criteria for Evaluating Translation" reproach some comparative works for the fact that in them "the stylistic evaluation of translation is either not formalized at all, or is reduced to an evaluation of the choice of a variant from a number of stylistic synonyms" . But the evaluation of translation, the exposition of the principles of which is the most important task of works of the first type, is by no means included in the task of comparative studies. Of course, the researcher - "comparator" (or "contrastivist"), comparing the translation with the original, mentally evaluates the phrases of the translation. But the very fact that he cites this translation in his work next to the original, using it as an illustration or as a basis for linguistic conclusions, indicates that he positively assessed this fact of translation in all its aspects - semantic, stylistic, pragmatic, - that he identifies with the translator and the editor of the translation (if any). Otherwise, if the translation seems inadequate to him, he simply does not use it. In the approach to the evaluation of translation by the "translator" and the "contrastivist", the difference is not only that in the first case the evaluation is explicated, motivated, and, if necessary, the shortcomings of the translation are noted, while in the second it is implicit (unsuccessful, with the researcher's point of view, options are usually not discussed, but simply not given). A "translator" evaluates the entire given segment of the text (word, phrase, sentence, superphrasal unity, etc.) globally, in all its aspects and relationships. The "comparator" who analyzes a certain phenomenon has the right to confine himself to this latter, neglecting the question of the quality of the translation of the rest of the passage, even omitting it, if this does not affect the equivalent rendering of the linguistic phenomenon that interests him at the moment. For example, in the book "Comparative Lexicology" to illustrate the contextual interchanges of centripetal verbs (such as receive) and centrifugal (type give) a phrase is given from V. Aksenov's story "Oranges from Morocco" and its translation, published in France: "Street boys snooping underfoot were given cuffs" - Les gamins qui couraient de-ci de-la dans la foule, recevaient quelque calotte . From a translation point of view, if we are interested in evaluating this translation, the question arises as to whether the expressive verb is adequately translated "snooping under the feet" by the phrase qui couraient de-ci de-la, where courir means the neutral "to run" and instead of "under the feet" appeared "in the crowd", does the word calotte match the word slap. However, for the linguistic problem of interest to us in this case (correlation receive - give) is a side effect and participial with its translation equivalent, it could be omitted from the illustration altogether. Thus, in a comparative study, not all the details of a given segment of a translation are evaluated, but this does not mean that they are ignored altogether. Just a comparative analysis provides an objective scientific justification, a tool for assessing the correctness of many aspects of translation. In the same Comparative Lexicology, special chapters are devoted to an analysis of what is usually included in the stylistic coloring of a word (we emphasize that the title of the book makes you pay attention primarily to the word, and not to the phrase or other units of the language). The section "Logical and expressive" shows that in French there are fewer "picturesque" verbs than in Russian, which supplement the designation of an action with an expression of expressive coloring. Therefore, often in the context, expressiveness in a Russian phrase is expressed by a special verbal lexeme, while in the French lexeme it is neutral, and expressiveness is expressed in circumstances and other elements, and sometimes it is revealed only situationally. These are the jeter correspondences considered there - toss(not only quit), suivre qn- trudge along(not only follow smb.) and others. Against the background of this general pattern derived from comparative studies, it seems contextually quite reasonable to translate dart around (underfoot) - courir (literally, "run") de-ci de-la. Probably, this is not only a contextual equivalent, for the Russian-French Dictionary, ed. L. V. Shcherby translates verbs dart and snoop combination courir par-ci par-la. Linguistic component analysis allows you to check the correctness of the translation of a single word. So, in the above sentence slap translates to calotte, while the same dictionary gives another equivalent: taloche. Let's analyze the equivalents using dictionary definitions. In the Russian dictionary the word slap is defined as "a blow to the back of the head with a hand", and in both examples it is given to boys, so this can be considered as a potential seme of the word. Hence the general semantic formula of the word: slap(light) blow + on the back of the head + (given to children). French dictionaries define taloche and calotte as tape, but differ in differential semes: taloche Benac: light blow + on the head or cheek + (for punishment) P. Robert: light blow + (special children) Lexis: (light) blow + on the face calotte Benac: light blow + on the head P. Robert: light blow + on the head Lexis: light blow + on the head or cheek + given to children We see that neither word corresponds exactly to Russian slap (another example of non-equivalent vocabulary!), however, the French calotte (a slap on the head) turns out to be closer to it in terms of its seme composition, based on later dictionaries. The definition of Benak's dictionary and the translation of Shcherba's dictionary seem to reflect an outdated usage. Thus, comparative analysis justifies in one case the coincidence, in the other - the discrepancy between the translator's decision and the dictionary's recommendations. The very replacement of the verb in the example under consideration also acts not as an accident of translation, but as a manifestation of the pattern of discrepancy between the two languages. The verb to give (donner) is, as is known, a three-place predicate with the following actant arguments: (1) A (who) gives B (what) C (to whom) When choosing B or C as a syntactic subject, structures are formed: (2) C (who) receives B (what) from A (from whom) (3) B (what) passes to C (to whom, where) from A (from whom) As with any centripetal orientation of the process (cf. passive), clear from a situation or an indefinite semantic subject (A) may not be expressed. The French language tends to start a sentence with the subject, Russian willingly starts it with an object-circumstance. Therefore, with syntactic inversion associated with a change in the actual division of the sentence in the Russian text, the structure (1) or (3) with inversion is chosen, and in French - (2): The boys (C) were given cuffs (B). - Les gamins (C) recevaient des calottes (B). The sun (B) did not enter the room (C). - La chambre (C) ne recevait pas de soleil (B). Divergence in sentence structure using conversive verbs is a typical means of achieving equivalence in translation involving French and Russian. We see that linguistically it is possible to explain and substantiate the regularity, and, consequently, the adequacy of a variety of phenomena in translation. The relationship between comparative research and translation analysis can be described as follows: "contrastivist", pragmatically determining the adequacy of the translation in all its parameters (semantics, style, etc.), compares it with the original and inductively obtains interlingual correspondences, which are then subjected to verification by deduction, based on linguistic theory. These conclusions, in turn, can serve as an objective tool in the analysis of translation. When using translation as a source for linguistic research, it is necessary to overcome the randomness and subjectivity on the part of the translator. To do this, you need to rely on statistical data. We can consider that we find an objective correspondence between the forms of two languages if we encounter the same phenomenon of translation repeatedly, when translating by different authors, by different translators, when translating from a given language and into the same language. In the evaluation of translation, it seems appropriate to distinguish between two "floors". At the highest "floor" the assessment is based on the adequacy of the reaction of the recipient of the translation. The literature correctly pointed out that this criterion is not amenable to formalization and is practically unused. Moreover, it can be added that different people react differently not only to the original and translation, but also to the same text, especially a literary one. The language is characterized by fundamental variability of means of expression. In many cases, the choice between synonyms is not relevant in speech, and here it is also impossible to look for objective evaluation criteria. But at a lower "floor" translation can be assessed from its "technical" side, in relation to the adequacy of the means used. At the same time, the technical side is understood not only as words and constructions, but as stylistic features, sound, and pragmatics of the text in the social aspect. When assessed at this level, as shown above, benchmarking can bring great benefit, since in many cases it makes it possible to discover that this decision of the translator is not random, but reflects interlingual patterns. To eliminate the individual-subjective in determining the adequacy of the translation, it is proposed to use the methods of questioning. This is a completely natural approach. However, here, as is always the case, when the questionnaire concerns a language norm, each respondent will proceed from his linguistic competence, in this case from his intuitive idea of the discrepancies between the two languages. But translators and editors in their work also proceed from their linguistic competence regarding the correlation of two languages. Therefore, the analysis of the methods of translation of the same type of phenomena in a number of different translations can be considered as a kind of questioning, the object of which is the translation practitioners themselves. Comparison of published translations with originals - The best way develop a general and particular theory of translation (provided, as noted above, a combination of induction and deduction). Knowledge of the materials of comparative analysis allows the translator to work more confidently and more accurately, acquaints him with precedents, shows him what changes are generally possible and acceptable during translation. At the level of forms, these changes are reduced to transformations of a morphological-syntactic nature. The transformations at the semantic level are more complex, but even they are calculable, since in the end they are reduced to general logical relations between concepts, such as expansion and contraction, relations by contiguity and opposition, metaphorical and metonymic transfers. The latter are especially important, reflecting stable objective relations between the elements of the described reality. The analysis of translations reveals characteristic discrepancies that are almost impossible to foresee if we limit ourselves to intralinguistic paraphrasing. No matter how different the ways of describing the situation in the original and the translation, if this translation is adequate, one can always find characteristic types of semantic transitions. The article by V. N. Komissarov and G. Ya. Turover gives an example of the translation of a phrase from the novel "The Way Up": I couldn "t go wrong -" I felt extraordinary self-confidence. "With the external dissimilarity between the words of the original and the translation, there is a natural correlation at the semantic level.The English phrase literally means: "I could not fail." Verb " be able" (in many languages) when related to a non-future action, expresses not physical ability action (as, for example, in the sentence "I can come to you tomorrow"), but hypothetical (cf.: "I could be wrong" - "Maybe I was wrong"), When negative form he expresses confidence: "I could not be mistaken" - "Of course, I was not mistaken." Translators used this doubly antonymous relation ("Of course, I was expected to succeed"). The logical correlation of cause and effect allowed us to move on to the phrase: "Of course, I was expected to succeed" -> "I felt extraordinary self-confidence." Thus, semantic-logical analysis shows the adequacy of two statements (there is only the question of the appropriateness of the intensifier "extraordinary"). Comparative analysis shows the features of describing the same type of situation by means of different languages. Here, first of all, the problem of redundancy or economy of speech arises when describing the situation, as well as its description with different parties(vector and multi-aspect nominations). In the article mentioned above, R. Bradbury's phrase is translated into Russian: A moment later she sat up, startled, gasping - "A moment later, she straightened up frightened in her chair, panting" (p. 27). At first glance, the translator's decision to introduce the words "in the chair" into the translation may seem subjective or arbitrary, although this clearly follows from the situation described. However, comparing Russian and French texts, we find similar facts. Here are segments of phrases from I. S. Turgenev's novel "Smoke" and its translation, published in France. One of the young generals got up off the chair. Un des plus jeunes generaux se leva. He rose out of bed. Il se leva. He left the house, walked a little. Il sortit, se promena un peu. This suggests that in Russian the designation of a place is used excessively when describing the position or movement of a person, when it comes to such localizers that are clear from the situation, such as a seat, a bed, a room, a yard, a house, a street, etc. Therefore, when translating the French phrase Et elle sortit (Flaubert), it would be logical to introduce an addition corresponding to the situation: "And she went out to the yard", and, on the contrary, when translating the Russian phrase: "Irina has a headache. She lies in bed and does not get up" (Turgenev), one can and should omit the indication of the place: Irene avait mal a la tete, elle etait couchee et ne se leverait pas avant le soir. Comparison of translations clearly shows the functioning of words and forms in speech, in direct correlation with the situation The presupposition acquires great importance here, which includes the encyclopedic knowledge of the speakers and their knowledge of the specific situation at the moment of speech ("wide" and "narrow" presupposition). It allows you to eliminate the designation of one or another element of the situation in accordance with the norms of constructing speech on Concerning the possibility of transforming the type "He heard a dog barking" -> "He heard a dog", Yu. D. Apresyan believes that they affect a narrow class of contexts, because "we can hear a dog not only when it whines, howls or scratches at the door ". However, two cases should be distinguished here. Among the manifestations of an object, the actions performed by it or on it, there are those that are most typical th, unmarked, normative. The idea of these attributes of an object is included in the broad presupposition of the speakers. These properties of an object reflect stable relations between objects of reality and are described by logic as its dispositional predicates. It is the indications of such actions and properties that can be "crossed out" when paraphrasing or when translating. So, for example, a dog can bark, and whine, and scratch at the door, but it is barking - in Russian - that denotes the typical voice behavior of a dog. The rest of the actions - whine, howl, etc. - are "marked", specific, they may not be mentioned only in conditions of a "narrow" presupposition, when, for example, this was reported in the previous phrase. So, the paraphrase "He heard a dog barking" - "He heard a dog" is quite normal (for example, for French) and does not add anything new to the information, while the transformation "He heard a dog scratching" - "He heard a dog" is not linguistic in nature, but purely speech and is permissible only in a narrow context. The cannon can make a sound when fired, when dropped, when transported over a bumpy road, and finally, if it explodes. But the first is characteristic of her. This is her raison d "etre: the gun is "held" in order for it to shoot, just as a dog was tamed primarily for the sake of its barking, and not howling or scratching at the door. Therefore, the phrase from Zola: (Weiss) ecouta: c " etait le canon the translator - since, in accordance with the norm of Russian speech, he had to introduce a process word here - quite naturally translated: "Weiss listened: thundered guns" (it could be: "rumbled", "fired", but already the choice between these synonyms refers to more high level analysis of translation is not of interest to us here either). We encounter different representations of stable object relations by different languages at every step. We are not embarrassed that we translate the sentence "The house is on the corner" into English or French with a verb of general meaning like to be, ignoring, as it were, the vertical position of the object, since standing is the normal position of the house, the idea of which is included in the general broad presupposition. Another thing is if the house occupies an atypical position, for example: it looks sideways. In this case, we must necessarily reproduce the verb in translation. Thus, the rule according to which a word in translation (paraphrasing) can be omitted if it reflects stable connections and features of an object included in the general presupposition, and should be semantically reproduced if it denotes optional features, covers a wide range of contexts and allows explaining many real translation transformations. Comparison of texts, taking into account changes in lexical and grammatical forms, semantic correspondences, logical correlations and connections, and extralinguistic reality, allows us to exhaustively derive translation patterns that reflect the competence of persons who speak two languages, patterns that, in turn, can serve as a tool for an objective assessment of a number of essential aspects of the translations themselves.
Notes 1. See, for example: Kuzmin Yu. G. Translation as a mental and speech activity. - Translator's Notebooks, no. 12. M., Intern. relations, 1975. 2. The diversity of approaches in comparison can be given, for example, by the materials of the collections: Byuletin for a comparative study of the Bulgarian ezik with other ezits. Sofia, 1977. N 1-2 (Bulgarian and French), N 3 (Bulgarian and German), N 4-5 (Bulgarian and English), N 6 (Bulgarian and Russian). 3. On the criteria for evaluating translation. - Translator's Notebooks, no. 15. M., Intern. relations, 1973, p. 5.4. Gak V. G. Comparative lexicology. M., Intern. relations, 1977, p. 5. 5. Dictionary of the Russian language in 4 volumes. T. III. M., Mrs. foreign publishing house and national dictionaries, 1959, p. 260; Benac N. Dictionnaire des synonymes. P., 1956; Le Petit Robert, Dictionnaire alphabetique et analogique de la langue francaise. P., 1967; Lexis, Dictionnaire de la langue francaise. P., 1975. 6. See: Zwilling M. Ya., Turover G. Ya. On the Criteria for Evaluating a Translation, p. 6.7. Komissarov V. N., Turover G. Ya. Translation as a linguistic source. - Translator's Notebooks, no. 12. M., Intern. relations, 1975, p. 27. 8. Examples are given in the book: Gak V. G., Roizenblit E. B. Essays on the comparative study of French and Russian. M., Higher School, 1965, p. 187.9. Apresyan Y.D. On one rule for adding lexical meanings. - Problems of structural linguistics, 1971. M., Nauka, 1972, p. 442.
GAK Vladimir Grigoryevich (06/13/1924, Bezhitsa, Bryansk region - 06/24/2004, Moscow) - linguist; Doctor of Philology (1968); Professor of the Department of Romance Languages (1969); Honored Worker of the Russian Federation (1997); head cafe French Grammar (1979); member of scientific councils on the theory of linguistics, lexicology and lexicography at the Russian Academy of Sciences; member of specialized councils at the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Moscow State Pedagogical University; member of the editorial boards of the journals “Issues of Linguistics”, “Scientific Reports of the Higher School. Philological Sciences”, “Translator's Notebook”, “Foreign Languages at Higher School”, “Comparative Linguistics” (Bulgaria); Vice-President of the All-Russian Association of French Language Teachers; member of the Paris Linguistic Society (1966); Member of the Board of the Society "USSR-France" (1958); President of the Association of Friends of France.
In 1949 he graduated from the Moscow Military Institute foreign languages and the Faculty of History of Moscow State University (in absentia). In 1952 he defended his PhD thesis. In 1968 - a doctoral thesis on the topic: "Problems of the lexical and grammatical organization of sentences (based on the French language in comparison with Russian)". Having defended his doctoral dissertation, Gak became a professor at the Department of Romance Languages of the Faculty of Philology of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. V. I. Lenin, and later took the place of the head of the department of grammar of the French language.
Research interests: general problems of linguistics: relation of language to reality, asymmetry in language; problems of utterance, symbolic nature of the language, semantic syntax; the theory of nomination, semantic redundancy in the statement, syntactic syntagmatics, functional approach to linguistic facts, etc.; learning French: grammar, lexicology and semantics, spelling, lexicography.
For linguistic concept G. is characterized by broad multidimensionality - a combination of historical and linguistic analysis with synchronous analysis, analysis of intralinguistic patterns of the functioning of the language with a comprehensive account of external linguistic factors.
G. based his concept on the principle of studying language-speech. G. proposed to divide the level of speech into two sublevels: the norm of speech or usage (a more abstract sublevel) and a more specific, individual sublevel.
G. showed that it is necessary to study not only the language as a system, but also the statement or speech act, and in conjunction with the speaker, the addressee, the background knowledge of the communicants, the purpose of the message and its communicative organization. He paid attention to the variability of speech nomination - the variety of names of the same object in the text.
G. contributed to the consideration of interlingual, or contrastive, or comparative method in linguistics. He showed that this approach can be applied to all levels of the language: grammar, lexicology, phonology, graphics, spelling, style.
For the development of translation theories, G.'s concept meant a transition from a "semantic" model (based on the interpretation of meaning as a translation invariant) to a "situational" model (taking not meaning, but situation, as a translation invariant). Thus, G. first in Russia drew attention to the problem of irreducibility.
G. proposed a new, expanded interpretation of the asymmetry of the sign, not limited to the paradigmatic aspect. According to his concept, asymmetry manifests itself in six planes.
One of the central places in G.'s concept is occupied by his theory of the functions of a language unit. Language units are polyfunctional, primary (reflective) and secondary (neutralization, transposition, desemantization) functions are distinguished.
A special merit of G. is a comprehensive classification of nominations, including a universal typology of linguistic signs.
He was the developer of such methods and problems of theoretical linguistics as: the study of language in the process of communication, in its connection simultaneously with thinking and with the extralinguistic situation, attention to the phenomenon of sign asymmetry, the general calculation of asymmetry in language, the study of the "reflective function of language", the use of component analysis to explain the lexico-grammatical coherence of a sentence, an onomasiological approach, an active implementation grammar, the creation of a semantic typology of languages, the selection of situation elements in the organization of an utterance and their classification.
Prepared over 30 candidates of sciences. Awarded with the Order Patriotic War and 12 medals. Awarded with the badge "Excellent student of higher education". Knight of the French Order of Merit.
Op.: Learn to read French. M., 1984; French orthography: Proc. allowance for ped. in-tov . M., 1985; Theoretical grammar of the French language: Syntax: Proc. for in-t and fact. foreign lang. M., 1986; Russian language in comparison with French: Proc. allowance for foreign students . M., 1988; Language transformations. M., 1998; Theory and practice of translation: Fr. lang. M., 1999; French-Russian Dictionary of Active Type = Distionnaire français-russe. M., 2000.
Gak V.G. Language transformations . - M .: School "Languages of Russian Culture", 1998. - 768 p.
The book under review was written by one of the most famous representatives of Russian functional linguistics, the author of a huge number of works on the theory of language.
The main task of this study, as indicated in the preface, is the creation of a general typology of language transformations, that is, a typology of transitions from one way of designation to another (p. 9). The book summarizes the author's many years of research in this area.
The main text consists of four parts.
The first part "Some aspects linguistic science at the end of the 20th century" consists of five chapters. Considering the issue of pluralism in linguistic theories in the first chapter, the author sees the most significant difference between the new trends "not in the system of specific concepts and approaches used in a particular theory, but in general provisions relating to the theory of knowledge" (p. 13). There are two groups of factors that determine the pluralism of scientific interpretation (p.16):
- objective, or internal in relation to the object: indiscreteness and multidimensionality of many linguistic phenomena, as well as the asymmetry of many linguistic signs;
- subjective, relating to the subject of research and related to the peculiarities of human thinking: the non-rigid nature of the concepts that people operate, and "the plasticity of human thinking and perception, closely related to pragmatism, with the interests and needs of a person at the moment of speech" (p. 27).
Since “the number of various theoretical interpretations concerning a certain linguistic phenomenon is not infinite” and is determined by the very specifics of this phenomenon, “sometimes solutions duplicate each other, although the authors resort to different terminological designations” (p. 25). However, “anarchy” is eliminated “thanks to the calculus of the variants of scientific
142 decisions” (p. 31). The most important role is also played by “non-rigidity, plasticity of a person’s thinking at the time of speech creation, his linguistic thinking” (p. 32), which is manifested, among other things, in the formation and designation of logical classes in the language, as well as in the interpretation of sentences with “asymmetric anaphora”. For example, in microtext He took Machine's book. She was unhappy pronoun she refers to the name Masha, but not book. Having considered the naming of the concepts “truth” and “fate” in folk proverbs and aphorisms, the author comes to the conclusion that “the differences in nominations, the change in the relationship of nomination are explained by the change in the view of the naming subject on the named object” (p. 43).
The second chapter demonstrates the position that “true accuracy in linguistic research lies not only in determining the frequency of a phenomenon, but in identifying and taking into account all forms of existence of this phenomenon, all existing ways of expressing any meaning in the language being studied” (p. 62). It is for this that logical calculus is used in linguistics: “having logically identified all theoretically possible forms, the researcher seeks to find them in the real field of phenomena he is studying” (p. 63). This technique is used both to explain forms within one language and to compare languages (p. 99). Moreover, "it is possible to calculate not only the facts of the language, but also the theoretical explanations of these facts" (p. 101). Therefore, limited and calculable pluralism is inevitable in linguistics (p. 102).
The third chapter shows how the idea of symmetry / asymmetry is used in linguistics. Historically, three types of symmetry can be distinguished in this area (p. 109):
is the static symmetry of an individual object,
- homological symmetry - the relationship of two objects,
– dynamic symmetry in the development of objects.
This opposition is used in the semantic description, in the study of predication, phraseology, even in sociolinguistics and linguo-cultural studies. The use of aspect in some constructions of the Russian language is treated further as one of the compensatory mechanisms.
Another general philosophical analogy - between language, tools and goods - is considered, in a functional way, in the fourth chapter. Finally, the fifth chapter demonstrates the principles of a functional approach to the history of language. When analyzing polysemantic grammatical forms, three points of view are possible (p. 190):
- pluralistic: in each of its separate meanings, the linguistic form forms a special unit (grammatical homonymy),
- unitary, or globalist: all the meanings and uses of this form are reduced to a single common sense(monosemy),
– functional: yes different meanings, irreducible to one common meaning, and some meanings may follow from others (polysemy).
The second part "From Situation to Statement (Representative Function of Language)" consists of nine short chapters. In a functionalist vein, the following are characterized: the tasks of onomasiology (first chapter), the opposition of full signs to partial ones (second chapter), the relationship between language and reality (third chapter), semantic relations in language from a dialectical point of view (fourth chapter). The statement, unlike the sentence, corresponds to the aspect in which it is meaningful to talk about the connection with the situation (chapter five).
On the basis of situational properties, deep semantic structures are established, “isomorphically reflecting reality” (p. 271); therefore, we can accept that it is pure syntactic properties sentences can be both asemantic and fully semantic (ibid., chapter six). The reflection of the element of the situation in terms of content forms a semanteme (it corresponds to a lexeme in terms of expression), and the reflection of an aspect forms a semantic category (it corresponds to a seme represented by a morpheme, p.274). The author shows in the seventh chapter that "the study of syntagmatics at the semantic level comes down to identifying iterative semes (syntagmemes) and determining their functions in the organization of the utterance" (p. 297). To be complete, a model of language synthesis at the level of speech must include (pp. 299-300, chapter eight):
- a list of all ways of expressing a certain value (structural model),
- establishing the relationship between these synonymous means of expression (semantic model),
– establishing the pattern of choosing specific language means from among
143 - permissible by the system and the norm of the language in the given context and situation (situational model).
The ninth chapter disputes the thesis that “grammatical means differ from lexical ones by the absence of a nominative function” (p. 316). After all, the nominative means include syntactic means, “if they perform their meaningful function. The semantic linear aspect even has word order” (ibid.). The author sees the dependence of the use of linguistic forms on the designated reality in an indirect nomination, when “words denoting objects that are really incompatible” are combined, for example: time creeps, there is silence.
Part three "Types of language transformations" consists of six chapters. Here it is proposed to look at linguistic variability as a particular manifestation of variation in general, a process that has a cause, a form of movement and a result (first chapter). The following distinction is made between the linguistic transformations of a sentence taken out of the situation (chapter 2): transformation - "a change in the grammatical model while maintaining the lexical composition and meaning (meaning), periphrase - a change in the model and lexical content while the content of the statement remains unchanged" and derivation - "a change in all aspects of the sentence, including its semantic content” (p. 374). The third chapter shows that the four types of lexico-semantic transpositions (concretization, anatomical translation, semantic development and compensation), identified in the theory of translation, correspond to the four main types of logical relations between concepts.
In Chapter 4, it is proposed to call deep structures those in which the syntactic structure is similar to the structure of the situation, and surface structures are created by transforming deep ones, when the parallelism of syntactic and semantic actants is violated. Moreover, nominations (for example, nominations of action) form a vague set (p. 452). The specificity of the structure of the language, and especially the lexico-semantic structure, as shown in the fifth chapter, is determined by the peculiarities in the use of language universals (which is especially clear from the implementation of anthropomorphism in different languages) and the presence of “non-universal” phenomena (p. 454). It also gives a general typology of metaphorical nominations (p. 460) and shows that different types of metaphors are represented to varying degrees in the languages of the world. Thus, in Russian, partial metaphors are represented more than full ones, cf. French manger and Russian eat and fret, menotte – pen and handcuff etc. (p. 488). An interesting idea is to draw up a “general“ map ”of metaphorical connections between individual words-concepts” (p. 496). A special case is represented by quantitative transformations (Chapter 6), when, when translating from one language to another, in accordance with the grammatical structure of the target language, some element is omitted or added, certain constructive and / or communicative tasks are solved, or an unnecessary semantic shift is avoided.
As indicated in the brief preface to the fourth part "Factors and spheres of the implementation of language transformations", language transformations (in the history of the language, in translation and in comparison of languages) are especially facilitated by: repeated nomination (secondary name of the subject), especially for stylistic purposes, and emotional and pragmatic factors. Renomination, as shown in the first chapter, can be considered from paradigmatic (relationship of the name to the object), syntagmatic (distinguish between distant and conjugate renominations) and functional points of view (distinguish between neutral and expressive renomination). The pragmatic approach, “lowering” the level of linguistic analysis, makes it “more meaningful and in-depth” (second chapter, p. 559), demonstrating polyphony in statements (p. 560).
In the third chapter, the variation of the nomination is considered in translations from Old Russian into Russian, from Old French into modern French and from French into Russian and vice versa. It is shown that the main forms of variation in all these cases are similar to each other (p. 587), and therefore it is hardly justified to talk about the progress and improvement of the language structure in the lexical area (p. 606). Variation underlies the construction of “emotive blocks” within the framework of an utterance (which, as shown in the fourth chapter, is a means of dividing texts and strengthening the psychological impact on the addressee): similar elements are concentrated at the beginning, at the end or in the middle of such a block.
Considering the transformations in lexico-semantic fields (Chapter 5), the author gives an interesting systematization of words in the field of mentality, spatiality, time and speech. A special semantic space is formed by lexemes correlated by etymon, for example, all derivatives in Russian from horse / horse, from Latin caballus and from Greek hippos. This analysis, in terms of semantic transformations, is carried out for groups Earth, arm, head(Sixth chapter), which gives the author the opportunity to assert “the commonality of the patterns of human thinking, despite the difference in languages” (p. 719).
Continuing this idea, the author shows in the seventh chapter how the same reality can receive nominations of various external and internal forms in different languages. The material was the field names daughter-in-law and semantic shifts associated with them in European languages, as well as a comparison of biblical phraseological units in Russian and French usages. It is shown that in Russian there are more quotation phraseological units, they are less variable and give fewer derivatives, but they are common in all styles of speech (p. 743). Finally, “in most cases, the individual creativity of the authors comes down to the specific individual use of common types of linguistic variation” (p. 745), which is shown by the example of B. Pilnyak’s works and by comparing La Fontaine’s fables with the texts of I. A. Krylov in the eighth chapter.
The reader constantly experiences the joy of the abundance of new facts (especially from the French and Russian languages), with which the book is simply overflowing. The facts are carefully checked and lovingly selected. The author's observations are non-trivial, reliable and often unexpected, sensational in a good sense of the word.
We can wish V. G. Gak further scientific publications, and myself - pleasant meetings with new wonderful works of this talented researcher.
