A discourse marker «АЖ» within the dynamic system of utterance and text

Abstract

Background. The research of discourse units, which in recent decades has gained popularity in foreign and Ukrainian scholarly literature, is aimed at the functional, semantic, and pragmatic interpretation of such units within textual structures, particularly in literary texts. This is closely related to the issues of cohesion and coherence, as well as the architectonic characteristics of utterances and texts. Special attention is given to the dynamic aspect of analysing such discourse words and phrases that serve as a means of intensifying and enhancing the expressivisation of the literary structure of the texts.

Methods. The following methods were used: descriptive, componential, and discourse analysis. These were applied for the general analysis and systematisation of the studied units, as well as for their semantic, contextual-pragmatic, and interpretative-evaluative characterisation.

Results. On the basis of semantic-pragmatic descriptions of discourse units in the works of Ukrainian scholars, the role of the discourse marker АЖ has been analysed in structuring dynamic formations expressed across various syntactic segments. These formations are considered in connection with different forms of expression (lexico-grammatical, parallel, phraseologised, and others). They are found to be key contributors to the development of the dynamic and figurative system of a given literary structure.

Conclusions. The discourse marker АЖ serves as an important element in maintaining the cohesion and coherence of textual structures, plays an indispensable role in the dynamisation of both individual utterances and the literary text as a whole. This discourse unit serves a distinct dynamic-actualising function: a) in the predicative-rhematic position of the utterance, particularly when combined with a verbal component, repeated verbs, or other parts of speech capable of intensifying a quality; b) when introducing truncated verb forms and adverbial predicates such as глядь, гульк, раптом, which produce an effect of suddenness or surprise; c) in contexts based on syncretism of features (e.g., синій, аж чорний – blue, almost black; солоний, аж гіркий – salty, even bitter; веселий, аж сумний – cheerful, nearly sad); d) in phraseological constructions, etc. The repetition of the discourse marker and the syntagms it forms within a given text can convey the dynamic nature of the compositional and figurative structures of a literary work’s overall organization.

Information about the author:

Anatolii Moisiienko – Doctor of Philology, Professor of the Department of Ukrainian Language and Applied Linguistics, Educational and Scientific Institute of Philology, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

E-mail: a.moisiienko@knu.ua