Repetitions in literature. What is lexical repetition? What is lexical repetition in Russian
Lexical repetition is understood as the repetition of a word, phrase or sentence as part of one utterance (sentence, complex syntactic whole, paragraph) and in larger units of communication, covering a number of utterances.
“Repetition,” writes Vandries, “is also one of the techniques that emerged from the language of efficiency. This technique, when applied to logical language, turned into a simple grammatical tool. We see its starting point in the excitement that accompanies the expression of feeling brought to its highest tension.” 1
Indeed, repetition as a stylistic device is a typified generalization of the means of expressing an excited state available in language, which, as is known, is expressed in speech by various means, depending on the degree and nature of the excitement. Speech can be sublime, pathetic, nervous, tender, etc. Excited speech is characterized by fragmentation, sometimes illogicality, repetition of individual parts of the statement. Moreover, repetitions of words and entire phrases (as well as fragmentation and illogicality of constructions) in emotionally excited speech are a regularity. Here they do not serve any stylistic function. For example:
"Stop!" - she cried, “Don’t tell me!” I don"t want to hear; I don"t want to hear what you"ve come for. I don"t want to hear"
(J. Galsworthy.)
1 Vandries J. Language. Sotsekgiz, M., 1937, p. 147.
The repetition of the words "I don"t want to hear" is not a stylistic device. The emotional expressiveness of the repetition of words here is based on the appropriate intonation of the statement and expresses a certain mental state of the speaker.
Usually in the text of works of art, where such an excited state of the hero is described, the author's remarks are given (cried, sobbed, passionately, etc.).
The repetitions of individual words and expressions in folk poetry have a completely different meaning. It is known that oral folk poetry widely uses repetition of words in order to slow down the narrative, give a song-like character to the story, and is often caused by the requirements of rhythm.
In some works of art, repetitions are used to stylize folk song poetry. We find examples of such stylization of folk song repetitions, for example, in the following poem by R. Burns:
My heart"s in the Highlands, my heart is not here, My heart"s in the Highlands a-chasing the deer. Chasing the wild deer and following the roe, My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.
Repetition can be used not only for stylistic purposes, it can also be a means of giving clarity to a statement, helping to avoid vagueness of presentation. So, in an example from “The Pickwick Papers”:
"A casual observer, adds the secretary to whose notes we are indebted for the following account, a casual observer might have no ticked nothing extraordinary in the bald head of Mr. Pickwick..."
The repeated combination a casual observer does not serve the purpose of emphasis, but is used to give clarity to the presentation. Such repetitions usually appear in complex sentences containing a chain of subordinate attributive clauses, or in the presence of an extended author's remark.
Repetitions used in the stylistic functions of emphasis are usually classified according to the compositional principle, that is, the place of the repeating unit within a sentence or paragraph.
This is how the repetition of words, phrases and entire sentences that are located at the beginning of segments of speech (sentences, syntagmas, speech groups) is highlighted. Such repetitions are called anaphora (uniform beginning). For example:
For that was it! Ignorant of the long and stealthy march of passion, and of the state to which it had reduced Fleur; ignorant of how Soames had watched her, seen that beloved young part of his very self fair, reach the edge of things and stand there balancing; ignorant of Fleur"s" reckless desperation beneath that falling picture, and her father"s knowledge there of - ignorant of all this everyone felt aggrieved.
(J. Galsworthy.)
Thomas Hood's poem "November" is entirely based on anaphora. The negation repeated at the beginning of each sentence ends with a pun. The word November is perceived in the chain of anaphors as other combinations with “by”.
No sun - no moon! No morning - no noon -
No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day-No sky - no earthly view-No distance looking blue - No road - no street - no "t"other side the way" No end to any Row No indications where the Crescents go - No top to any steeple No recognition of familiar people! No warmth - no cheerfulness, no healthy ease, No comfortable feel in any member; No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, November!
Repetitions at the end of a sentence (paragraphs, etc.) are called epiphora (ending). In the following passage from Dickens's novel Bleak House, epiphora is a whole phrase:
"I am exactly the man to be placed in a superior position, in such a case as that. I am above the rest of mankind, in such a case as that. I can act with philosophy, in such a case as that."
Repetition can also be designed in this way: a repeating unit (word, phrase, sentence) is located both at the beginning and at the end of the passage, forming a kind of frame. This repetition is called a circular repeat (framing). For example:
Poor doll"s dressmaker! How often so dragged down by hands that should have raised her up; how often so misdirected when losing her way on the eternal road and asking guidance! Poor, little doll"s dressmaker!
Among other compositional forms of repetition, anadiplosis (pickup or junction) should be mentioned. The word that ends a sentence or short segment of speech is repeated at the beginning of the next sentence or segment of speech. So, for example, in the “Manifesto of the Communist Party” of Marx and Engels, the word fight is highlighted in the statement with a catch:
"Freeman and slave... carried on an uninterrupted, now hidden, now open fight, a fight that each time ended, either in a revolutionary re-constitution of society at large, or in the common ruin of the contending classes."
Sometimes a chain of catches is used as part of one utterance. Such repeats are called chain repeats. 1
"A smile would come into Mr. Pickwick"s face: a smile extended into a laugh: the laugh into a roar, and the roar became general."
"For glances beget ogles, ogles sights, sights wishes, wishes words, and words a letter." (Buron.)
What is the purpose of repetition as a stylistic device? What are the functions of repetition in different styles of speech?
The most common repeat function is the boost function. In this function, repetition as a stylistic device comes closest to repetition as a norm of lively excited speech. For example:
Those evening bells! Those evening bells! (Th. Moor e.)
Repetitions that have a reinforcing function are usually very simple in composition: repeating
the words are next to each other. Other repeat functions
1 See Kukharenko V.A. Types of repetitions and their stylistic use in the works of Dickens, Ph.D. diss., M., 1955.
are not so directly related to the emotional meaning that these repetitions have in live spoken language. The function of other repetitions is usually revealed in the context of the utterance itself.
So in the following passage from Dickens's novel Our Mutual Friend, repetition has the function of sequence. It appears even without the final then, which clarifies this function.
"Sloppy . . . laughed loud and long. At this time the two innocents, with their brains at that apparent danger, laughed, and Mrs Hidgen laughed and the orphan laughed and then the visitors laughed."
The repetition of the word laughed, reinforced by polyunion, serves the purpose of figurative reproduction of the described scene.
Sometimes repetition takes on the function of modality. For example:
"What has my life been? Fag and grind, fag and grind Turn the wheel, turn the wheel." (Ch. Dickens)
Repetition is used here to convey the monotony and monotony of actions. This function is realized mainly by rhythm, which is formed due to the repetition of words and phrases. The various repetitions in “The Song of the Shirt” by Thomas Hood have the same function of modality. For example:
Work - work - work!
Till the brain begins to swim! Work - work - work!
Till the eyes are heavy and dim! Seam, and gusset, and band,
Band and gusset, and seam, - Till over the buttons I fall asleep,
And sew them on in a dream!
The tedious monotony and monotony of actions is expressed in different ways. The most important thing, of course, is the very meaning of the revolutions. Till the brain begins to swim! and Till the eyes are heavy and dim! But the lexically expressed fatigue caused by work does not yet indicate the monotony of the work itself. This is conveyed by repetitions of the words work and seam, and gusset, and band.
Another function that is implemented quite often by repetition is the ramp function. The repetition of words contributes to greater power of expression and greater tension in the narrative. This function is related to the first function above. The difference is that a build-up expresses a gradual increase in the strength of an emotion. For example:
I answer to all these questions - Quilp - Quilp, who deludes me into his infernal den, and takes a delight in looking on and chuckling while I scorch, and burn, and bruise, and maim myself - Quilp, who never once, no, never once, in all our communications together, has treated me, otherwise than as a dog - Quilp, whom I have always hated with my whole heart, but never so much as lately. (Ch. Dickens.)
Repeating the name Quilp increases the tension of the statement. Such repetition urgently requires intonation strengthening (raising the tone).
Anaphora is often used in a connecting, unifying function. So, in the example below, the writer’s idea to connect, unite the disparate objects of observation of his hero into one whole is carried out by repeating the word now.
There stood Dick, gazing now at the green gown, now at the brown head-dress, now at the face, and now at the rapid pen in a state of stupid perplexity. (Ch. Dickens.)
In some cases, repetition serves to express the repetition or duration of an action. In this function, repetition is a typification of folklore repetitions. For example: Fledgeby knocked and rang, and Fledgeby rank and knocked but no one came.
In the function of multiple actions, adverbs separated by the conjunction and are especially often repeated. For example: Not played the unhappy tune over and over again.
Often the repetition of an action or the duration of an action is supported by the meaning of explanatory words and phrases. For example: "I sat working and working in a desparate manner, and I talked and talked morning noon and night." Here duration is expressed by the form of the verb, repetition and the phrase noon and night.
Sometimes repetition acquires the function of softening the sharpness of the transition from one level of utterance to another. So, for example, in the next stanza from Byron's poem "Don
Juan" repetition of the words and then serves the purpose of softening the transition:
For then their eloquence grows quite profuse:
And when at length they"re out of breath, they sigh,
And cast their languid eyes down, and let loose
A tear or two, and then we make it up:
And then - and then - and then - sit down and sup.
There are cases when repetition acts in a function that contradicts the very purpose of repetition, as a means of highlighting individual parts of a statement. Repeated units, words and phrases serve only as a background against which other, non-repeating units of utterance stand out sharply. So in the following examples, repeated words are not the element of the statement that should be highlighted,
"I am attached to you. But I can"t consent and I won"t consent and I never" did consent and I never will consent to be lost in you."
At last I hope you got your wishes realized - by your Boffins. You"ll be rich enough - with your Boffins. You can have as much flirting as you like - at your Boffins. But you won"t take me to your Boffins. I can tell you - you and your Boffins too! (Ch. Dickens.)
The functions of repetition listed here do not in any way limit the potential of this stylistic device. Like any product designed for an emotional effect, this product is multifunctional.
Of particular note is a function that is secondary, but which in most cases accompanies the other above-mentioned repeat functions. This is a rhythmic function. The repetition of the same units (words, phrases and whole sentences) contributes to a clearer rhythmic organization of the sentence, often bringing such rhythmic organization closer to poetic size. Here is a sentence in which the repetition of and upon his creates a certain rhythm:
"The glow of the fire was upon the landlord"s bold head, and upon his twinkling eye, and upon his watering mouth, and upon his pimpled face, and upon his round fat figure." (Ch. Dickens.)
As a result of frequent use, some combinations, repeated unchanged, form phraseological units, for example, again and again or better and better, worse and worse. These combinations are so united in semantic-structural terms that they are already phraseological units of the English language. They are usually used to express the extent of the process of formation of a new characteristic. In this case, repetition acquires a purely semantic function. This becomes especially obvious if we compare the previously given examples with the following example, where the repeated word again does not appear as part of a phraseological unit:
"...he arose and knocked with his staff again, and listened again and again sat down to wait." (Ch. Dickens.)
A special type of repeat is a so-called root repeat. 1 The essence of this technique is that to a noun or verb that has expanded its meaning, a word of the same base is added as a definition, which, as it were, returns the true meaning to its defined. For example:
"That live again in the youth of the young." (J. Galsworthy.) or: "He loves a dodge for its own sake; being... the dodgerest of all the dodges." (Ch. Dickens.)
Schemmer, Karl Schemmer, was a brute, a brutish brute.
The last example is a combination of different types of repetition: the initial repetition of Schemmer, the name of the hero - and the word characterizing him - brute, reinforced by the root repetition. In root repetitions, shades of meaning are especially varied. In this regard, root repetitions are close in their stylistic functions to the technique of playing with words and other means based on the use of polysemy of a word.
1 Wed. Vinogradov V.V. Gogol's language and its significance in the history of the Russian language. Sat. "Materials and research on the history of the Russian literary language." Academician Sciences of the USSR, 1953, vol. III, page 34. V.V. Vinogradov calls such a repetition “an imaginary tautology.”
Let's look at such a stylistic device as lexical repetition, which can be used when writing various texts.
What is lexical repetition in Russian
Lexical repetition is a stylistic technique that involves the deliberate repetition of words or phrases.
Its function in a poetic text is usually to impart expressiveness, coherence, and visibility to the reader. This technique emphasizes the author's main idea. It can mean monotony and monotony of an action, or it can be used to give rhythm to the text.
But in a student’s essay, for example, lexical repetition may be considered a mistake by the teacher. This may happen if:
Repetition does not serve as a connecting link in the text and does not serve as an emphatic function.
There are usually four types of lexical repetition:
- Lexical anaphora: repetition of the initial parts of two or more stanzas, verses or hemistiches;
“The winds did not blow in vain,
It wasn’t in vain that the storm came.” - Epiphora: repetition of identical words at the end of adjacent segments of speech;
“- The sigh is not the same!
- The move is wrong!
- Laughter is not the same!
“The light is not the same!” - Anadiplosis: the phrase of the first part of a segment of speech or the last word is duplicated at the beginning of the next part;
“...where will my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord..." - Simploc: combines epiphora and anaphora: the beginning and end of the text are repeated.
"August - asters,
August - stars
August - grapes
Grapes and rowan
Rusty August!
Many people wonder what is the difference between lexical repetition and and other figures. Of course, they are all similar. But, for example, anaphora differs in that it is a narrower concept, implying, as was written above, unity of command in the text. Lexical repetition is a broader concept that includes many types of figures; it can be called any repetition of words. The same applies to other types of lexical repetition.
Examples from fiction
In the classics, examples of lexical repetition occur quite often. Let's list just a few of them.
“I swear by the first day of creation,
I swear on his last day,
I swear by the shame of crime
And triumph of eternal truth.”
()
“The winds did not blow in vain,
It was not in vain that the storm came.”
()
“You hear: the drum is rumbling.
Soldier, say goodbye to her, say goodbye to her.
The platoon leaves into the fog, fog, fog
And the past is clearer, clearer, clearer”...
()
"Don't worry,
Do not Cry,
Don't bother
Don't torment your hearts if you've exhausted your strength.
Are you alive,
You are inside me,
You're in my chest
Like a support
As a friend and as an occasion."
()
“I’m driving, driving in an open field;
Bell ding-ding-ding.
Scary, scary involuntarily
Among the unknown plains!
()
“Don’t be shy for your dear fatherland...
The Russian people have endured enough
He also took out this railway -
He will endure whatever the Lord sends!”
()
"But the infantry is coming
Past the pines, pines,
There are endless pines."
(V. Lugovoi)
"And on the left on the move, on the move
The bayonets arrived in time
They were pushed into the water, into the water.
And flow the water for yourself”...
()
“Here it is, my joy is dancing,
And it rings and rings and disappears in the bushes.
And far, far away it waves invitingly
Your patterned, your colored sleeve.”
()
"Wait for me and I will come back.
Just wait a lot
Wait when they make you sad
Yellow rains...
()
“Dear friend, and in this quiet house
The fever hits me.
I can't find a place in a quiet house
Near the peaceful fire!
()
"Calls me,
Your moan is calling.
He calls and brings you closer to the coffin.”
()
Repetition is the repetition of words or phrases, due to which the attention of the reader (listener) is fixed on them and thereby their role in the text is enhanced. Repetition gives a literary text coherence, enhances its emotional impact, and emphasizes the most important thoughts.
Repetitions can be widely used in prose: stories, novels, novels. These are most often semantic repetitions. For example, in F. M. Dostoevsky, the image of a bell that persistently disturbs Raskolnikov’s consciousness throughout the novel evokes various feelings and thoughts in the reader and contributes to a deeper understanding of the work. A.P. Chekhov often resorts to repeating characteristic details: the unchanging ritual of receiving guests in the Turkins’ house (“Ionych”), “case” details in Belikov’s descriptions (“Man in a Case”)
But the role of repetition in poetry is especially great. Poems are built on a clear alternation of commensurate rhythmic quantities - syllables, stresses, lines, stanzas. Rhyme and other sound correspondences form sound repetitions. A special type of verbal repetition in poetry is the refrain (chorus).
The most common type of repetition is parallelism.
Elements that are repeated each time at an equal distance from each other, in a previously expected place (for example, a chorus in a song), form an ordered (regular) repetition, as opposed to an irregular one (this is how they are repeated irregularly in A. S. Pushkin’s poem “The Daylight Has Gone Out... " lines "Noise, noise, obedient sail, // Worry under me, gloomy ocean").
Folklore is characterized by threefold repetition, with the last repetition being contrasted with the first two. Thus, the first two attempts of the hero of a fairy tale are usually unsuccessful, and only the third brings success. In fairy tales with the so-called chain composition (“Kolobok”, “Teremok”, “Turnip”) there are usually more repeating episodes. In a literary work, elements of particular importance may be repeated many times. Due to their similarity to musical repetitions, such repetitions, which act as carriers of the main ideas of the work, are usually called leitmotifs.
Repeating elements can be nearby and follow one another (constant repetition), or they can be separated by other text elements (distant repetition). A special type of constant repetition is the doubling of a concept (tautology), most common in folklore: “early, early”; in Pushkin’s sketch of one of the “Songs of the Western Slavs”: “They broke the cramped prison”; from M.I. Tsvetaeva: “Every house is alien to me, every temple is empty to me, // And it’s all the same, and everything is one...”
It is also important what position the repeating elements occupy in a line, stanza, or paragraph. If they stand at the beginning of the construction, this is an anaphora: “When horses die, they breathe, // When grasses die, they dry, // When suns die, they go out, // When people die, they sing songs” (V. Khlebnikov). The repetition at the end of fragments is called epiphora. The epiphora, which stands at the end of the line after the rhyme (rediff), is characteristic of the poetry of the East. Anaphora is more common among Russian poets.
Words that appear at the end of one line and form the beginning of the next are called a joint or a pickup - a construction especially loved by folklore: “The barrels were rolled with a fierce potion. // With a fierce potion, with black gunpowder.” This technique is also widely used by poets: “Oh, spring without end and without end - // Without end and without end, a dream!” (A. A. Blok). Picking up especially clearly demonstrates the role of repetition as a means of achieving coherence in a literary text.
It happens that one repetition combines its various types. So, the line “Well, what else do you want from me?” begins and ends the poem by A. A. Voznesensky “Confession” (ring). The same line appears at the end of several stanzas of the poem (epiphora).
The repetition can be exact (repeat-copy) or inaccurate (repeat-echo). Inaccuracy can manifest itself in a change in the sequence of elements or in the variability of the elements themselves. Let’s compare the beginning and end of Blok’s poem: “Night, street, lantern, pharmacy... - Night, icy ripples of the canal, // Pharmacy, street, lantern.” Both the sequence of elements and their number have changed. A repetition in which elements (lines or words) appear in reverse order is called mirror repetition.
Inaccurate repetition can be caused by compression of the original text (reduction) or stretching it (amplification), as in the example just given.
A special group consists of intertextual repetitions. In folklore, as well as in medieval literature, the most important artistic images passed from one work to another (constant epithets, beginnings and endings of fairy tales, pictures of battles in ancient Russian chronicles and stories - for this reason they should not be taken as an accurate description of any specific battle ). In the literature of the Middle Ages, one work served as a kind of echo, an echo of another. Thus, in “Zadonshchina” - the story of the victory on the Kulikovo Field - there are many elements correlated with “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”.
Classification of repetitions
Scientists such as K. Kozhevnikova, O.S. Selivanova, G.Ya. Solganik, D. Tannen, state that there is a close relationship and interaction between repetitions at different levels of language. Within each level, repeats are classified depending on their specificity. Thus, according to the type of connection, repetitions are divided into lexical-semantic and semantic.
Speaking about text-forming logical-semantic connections within the text, L.G. Babenko, Yu.V. Kazarin distinguishes a complete identical repetition; partial lexical-semantic repetition; thematic repetition; synonymous repetition; antonymic repetition; deictic repetition, syntactic repetition.
There is such a thing as lexical repetition, i.e. repetition of a word or phrase within one sentence, paragraph or entire text.
Lexical repetition is “the reproduction of one word or group of words that have the same lexical meaning, act as one part of speech, and perform the same syntactic function.” “Lexical repetition is a necessary factor in creating... a text.” A.E. Suprun notes that functional repetitions serve to structure the text and thereby ensure its integrity and unity. Thanks to repetitions, discrete elements, individual words, form a single whole.
The phenomenon of lexical repetition is twofold, since, on the one hand, the unmotivated repetition of words, and sometimes entire phrases, is a disadvantage, and, on the other hand, “it can also be an advantage if speech becomes more understandable in this way and the meaning is clarified.” . E.A. Ivanchikova writes about lexical repetition as an expressive technique of highlighting, underlining, and fixing attention.
Based on the location of lexical units, contact, distant and adjacent lexical repetitions are distinguished. Contact replay? reproduction of words located next to each other. Distant repeatability? reproduction of words separated from each other by a word, group of words or sentence. Adjacent repetition is the reproduction of words that are nearby, but included in different phrases or sentences. Words of different parts of speech may be repeated: noun, adjective, verb, gerund, adverb, etc. Thus, substantive, adjective, verbal, adverbial, pronominal repetitions, as well as repetitions of auxiliary parts of speech (conjunctions, prepositions, particles) are distinguished. Phrase repetition is a repetition of more than a word, part of a sentence, an individual sentence, or a group of sentences. “Phrase repetition,” notes O.Yu. Korobeynikova, ? is a means of organizing the text, a means of its architectonics. Phrase repetition also serves as a method of semantic structuring of the text.
The distance between repeating units and the number of repetitions may vary, but must be such that the reader can notice the repetition. If repetition is not combined with the use of ambiguity, then its function can be intensifying, or emotional, or intensifying-emotional. Among the lexico-syntactic repetitions, anaphora, epiphora, analiplosis, symploca, chiasmus and frame construction are distinguished.
According to Yu, M. Skrebnev, anaphora is the identical beginning of one or more elements in adjacent segments of the text, the purpose of which is to strengthen repeating words. For example:
Each bait hung head down with the shank of the hook inside the bait fish.Each sardine was hooked through both eyes.Each line was looped onto a stick.
An epiphora is the identity of the final elements in two or more segmented texts. It regulates the rhythm of the text and brings prose closer to poetry. For example:
How do you feel, hand ? How does it go,hand ? Be patient, hand .
Anadiplosis is a repetition in which the final part of a sentence is the beginning of the next sentence:
My choice was to go there to find himbeyond all people. Beyond all people in the world.
The term “symploca” refers to the same beginning and end of statements. For example:
He took the baitlike a male . He pulledlike a male .
Frame structures imply an identical beginning and end of the text: Last for me , head,last for me . As a rule, frame repetition in a literary text is deliberate and natural:
“You damn crook. Damn crook. "Coddamn crook" .
Chiasmus is a lexical-syntactic repetition in which two text segments are parallel constructions, but the members of these segments are swapped: Soldiersface powder , girlspowder faces .
The rhythm of prose, based on the elements of a particular language and using them, is specific only to this language, and therefore mechanical copying of the rhythm of foreign language prose, reproduction of the number and sequence of its constituent elements cannot lead to complete artistic and functional correspondence of the original text and the translation text.
The problem of transmitting English lexico-syntactic repetitions, which are an important stylistically relevant feature of English syntax, may be caused by the fact that in the target language repetitions either do not play as important a role in the formation of the rhythmic-stylistic features of the text, or are absent as an expressive device in the target language . When considering the features of the transfer of lexical-syntactic repetitions from English into Russian, one should take into account such features of the target language as word order, sentence length and traditional expressive means of the language.
O.S. Selivanova offers a classification of repetition depending on which part of speech it belongs to.
A.F. Papina draws attention to: 1) repetitions of words with the same root with the least changes in semantics, but with the possibility of positional changes; 2) repetitions with lexical-semantic and positional heterogeneity; 3) grammatical repetitions in the text with chain and parallel connections.
Z.P. Kulikova developed a classification of types of repetition according to their assignment to language levels: phonetic, word-formative, lexical, semantic, syntactic, lexico-syntactic repetitions.
The structural-semantic model can cover different levels of the expression plan of similative units, including syntactic and phonetic. At these levels, similative units are often characterized by one or another repetition technique. With the help of repetition, additional (along with figurative) motivation for the meaning of the expression is provided. Repetition promotes co- and opposition of images, and through them - elements of meaning. At the syntactic level, the main method of repetition is parallel constructions, and at the phonetic level - alliteration, assonance, rhyme, accent-syllabic repetition (coincidence of accent-syllable structures of semantically compared lexemes), as well as attribute alliteration, in which the consonants do not coincide completely, but only in one or two features (nasality, velarity, etc.). This or that repetition scheme may be a component of a structural-semantic model. For example, the contrast of images is emphasized by alliteration in the following group of expressions built on a single model:
as snug as a bug in a rug (very cozy),
like priest, like people, like master, like man (like the priest, so is the arrival),
like teacher, like pupil (like the teacher, so is the student),
like mother, like daughter (the apple never falls far from the tree),
like parens, like children (the apple never falls far from the tree) .
The technique of co- and contrasting meanings using formal means of repetition is widely used in English phraseology, which can be observed, for example, in the following models:
on the one hand...on the other hand (on one side...on the other side),
day in and out (from day to day).
This model, consisting of prepositions and nouns, is used as introductory words.
Combination of the model day by day (gradually), from time to time (gradually), step by step (constantly), by fits and starts (in fits and starts), bag and baggage (with all belongings), by hook or by crook (by hook or by crook) , one dog-one bull (on equal terms), eggs are eggs (twice two-four) is involved at the phonetic, morphological, word-formation and semantic levels. Although in terms of content these combinations are expressed as nouns, in terms of expression they are adverbial in nature.
Of great interest to a linguist is the problem of distinguishing between repetition as a stylistic device, on the one hand, and repetition as a type of prominence that ensures the structural coherence and integrity of the text and establishes the hierarchy of its elements, on the other. I.V. Arnold emphasizes the uniqueness of repetition as a figure of speech and its potential to become a type of emphasis. Promotion refers to methods of formal organization of text that focus the reader’s attention on certain elements of the message and establish semantically relevant relationships between elements of the same, and more often, different levels. Promotion types form a hierarchy of meanings within a text, i.e. highlight particularly important parts of the message, in addition, establish connections between the whole text and its individual components. These tasks are realized when some types of repetitions appear in combination with other types of repetitions and are intertwined with other stylistic devices, bringing them to the fore.
E. Hemingway's story “Cat in the Rain” demonstrates the “chaining” of repetitions at the lexical level (key words), grammatical level (root repetition, repetition of pronouns, parallel constructions), as well as semantic repetition - semantically close words that form one semantic field , regardless of the partial value. Semantic repetitions create high semantic complexity and a special concentration of ideas. Semantic concentration is precisely what helps highlight the main theme. The image of rain, which defines the lives of the main characters, is reinforced by the repetition of verbs drip, glitter, wet, as well as imposing a root repeat. I will repeat the words cat accompanied by repetition of such units as kitty, to purr, whereby " cat/kitten"is associated with warmth, comfort, home, with everything that the heroine is deprived of.
When using semantic repetition, redundancy of information arises, which in a certain sense causes a violation of the norm and at the same time protects the message from interference when interpreting the text. Redundancy leads to the fact that each subsequent element of the text can be, to a certain extent, predicted on the basis of the previous ones due to the relationship with them and creates conditions for “putting forward” the main idea and updating the most significant stylistic devices that help identify this idea. In this case we are talking about a metaphor " Rain-melancholy, heroine-cat in the rain" Repeated repetition, as noted above, turns these metaphors into a symbol of loneliness.
M. Howie adheres to a typology that identifies six types of repetition: simple lexical repetition, anaphora, epiphora, epanaphora (junction) and partial repetition.
T.V. Kharlamova additionally highlights semantic and lexico-syntactic repetitions, and I.V. Arnold is pronominal.
For our research, the concept proposed by D. Tannen is acceptable that, depending on the placement of its components, a repeat can be contact, which consists in the adjacent placement of repeat members when they follow each other or are placed in close proximity to one another. It can also be distant when its members are concentrated and separated by significant segments of the text. And finally, end-to-end repetition is indicated, in which members of the repetition are fixed in the context of the entire work, forming a through line of thematic connection. If contact semantic repetition provides the minimum necessary for the coherence of the unity of the text in a small text block, then distant repetition is able to emphasize the line of communication for some local theme of the work. For its part, end-to-end repetition builds a thematic core of meaning, that is, it highlights the main theme, which can be especially successfully seen in a short literary text.
I.V. Arnold, addressing this issue, adds that the development of a particular microtheme in the whole text is carried out with the help of contact repetition, which performs semantic and structural functions. This type of repetition highlights significant fragments of the text, contributes, on the one hand, to creating coherence of the text and delineating micro-topics, on the other. The use of distant repetition actualizes the reader’s attention and highlights an important detail. Such repetition creates a complex fabric of text structure, serves as a means of communication between different parts of the text, and as a means of combining macrotext.
In translation theory (S.E. Maksimov, G. Howie) such types of repetition in the text are defined as simple lexical repetition, complex lexical repetition, simple paraphrase, complex paraphrase, coreferential repetition or coreference, substitution or substitution.
Let's consider these types in more detail. Simple lexical repetition occurs when a lexical unit (word or phrase) already used in the text is repeated without significant changes from the grammatical point of view of the paradigm. Those. only a change in number, time, person, state, etc. occurs. Note that this type of repetition is considered only between full-valued words. Simple lexical repetition is not a means of communication between function words - articles, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs or shares.
Complex lexical repetition is said to be when two lexical units have a common basis, but are not formally identical, or when they are formally identical, but belong to different parts of speech (or, more precisely, they perform different grammatical functions in a sentence). Some antonyms that have a common word stem also belong to examples of complex lexical repetition.
A simple paraphrase is used when it is necessary to replace one lexical unit with another with the same meaning. This also includes most contextual synonyms.
A complex paraphrase is understood as the presence of one lexical unit, which presupposes the existence of another, although they do not have a common basis. This, firstly, includes some antonyms that do not have a common basis. Secondly, we speak of a complex paraphrase when one word is a complex lexical repetition of the second and a simple paraphrase of the third. In this case, a complex paraphrase is observed between the second and third word. Coreferential repetition or coreference occurs when two lexical units refer to the same object of reality, which is indicated in the context. Substitution means the replacement of lexical units with function words, most often with pronouns. The study of this problem involves the introduction of the concept of lexical-semantic connection nodes, which G. Howie calls “bonds”.
To designate this phenomenon M.P. Kotyurova uses the term “semantic blocks”, based on the contiguity of the meaning of lexical units, which influence the formation of scientific knowledge in the process of its compaction. That is, the scientist attributes these semantic blocks to ways of condensing the content of the text.
To describe this phenomenon G.Ya. Solganik introduces the term “scrapes” - lexical units that act as fixative segments that bind the meanings of all components of the text into semantic nodes. The main function of fixatives is not so much to communicate as to control the author's opinion. This phenomenon is quite natural, since the text does not provide for the development of knowledge, and therefore, the semantic repetition of knowledge, various types of surpluses and obstacles that determine the expansion and development of scientific knowledge in the text.
It is precisely three connections, according to S.E. Maksimov and M. Howe, is enough to assert the existence of connectivity between them. This can be explained by the fact that by establishing less than three repetitions, each sentence will necessarily be connected in one way or another with another, and this will not tell anything new about the various aspects of coherence, except that it really permeates the entire text.
So, words form connections, and sentences that have three or more such connections form nodes. In other words, any two sentences are considered related if they have at least three repeated words.
“If you want to be unique, don’t repeat yourself!” - this is certainly a good rule, but every rule has its exceptions. It’s hard to believe, you say, and I partly agree with you, because any repetition means monotony, a certain narrowness, constraint and poverty. But everything that exists in the world with a minus sign can be transformed into a plus sign. Don't believe me again? Have you heard that in literature there is such a thing as lexical repetition? Let's not suffer and beat around the bush, but let's get to know this phenomenon better.
Lexical repetition is...
I don’t like to teach and lecture, because for the most part it does not bring good results. A person remembers for the rest of his life only what he came to through his own experience. Therefore, let's start not with the rule about what lexical repetition is, but with visual illustrations: “I remember, my love... The shine of your hair... I remember the autumn nights... I remember you told me...” (Sergei Yesenin). Our focus is on words, phrases and even sentences that authors repeatedly use as part of one sentence or statement. As you can see, this use is not accidental, but intentional.
Other examples
In this way, the maximum transfer of feelings and emotions is achieved and the main idea is emphasized. But this is not the only thing lexical repetition is used for. In F. Tyutchev’s poem “Noon” the word “lazy” is repeatedly used, which helps create a feeling of a certain monotony and regularity of the surrounding nature, and at the same time a feeling of unity, beauty and infinity: “The clouds are lazily melting... The river is lazily rolling... The afternoon breathes lazily...” (F. Tyutchev). In Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers, the phrase "bystander" is repeated twice in one sentence to give clarity and precision to the expression, and this is another important function of lexical repetition.
Lexical repetition: examples of forms and types
Depending on where in the sentence or paragraph the author used it, the following types of this stylistic device are distinguished: anaphora, epiphora, anadiplosis, simploca. Their names sound threatening, but don’t be afraid - nothing scary, on the contrary - simple and interesting. “You, who loved me with falsehood... You don’t love me anymore...” (M. Tsvetaeva). The words “you” and “me” are repeated at the beginning of each line, which is a distinctive feature of anaphora. In Bulat Okudzhava’s poem “The poet has no rivals...” at the end of each quatrain the same phrase sounds: “... he’s not talking about you...”; in the poem “Yesterday” by M. Tsvetaeva, three quatrains end with the question “My dear, what have I done?!” - these are all examples of using the same word or whole sentence at the end of adjacent lines. This technique is called epiphora. Anaphora and epiphora are sometimes combined, so that lexical repetition is found both at the beginning and at the end of the passage. This stylistic figure is called simploca: “Frivolity! - Dear sin, Dear companion and my dear enemy! (M. Tsvetaeva). And the last thing - anadiplosis, or repetition-pickup, that is, a double repetition - a new line of the poem begins from the last word or phrase of the line: “And how he takes him by his yellow curls, by his yellow curls and by his white hands, and by his white hands and gold rings" (A.S. Pushkin). This technique is typical for folklore. However, it became a favorite technique among such poets as A. V. Koltsov, N. A. Nekrasov, A. S. Pushkin. The most striking example of anadiplosis is considered to be the poem by K. Balmont “I caught with a dream...”.
Worth repeating
What can we say in conclusion? Any river has two banks: talent and dullness. Lexical repetitions are also different: some are worthy of repetition, while others are “the same thing and all about nothing.” Which shore should we land on? The choice is yours...
