L.M.Takumbetova

Bashkir State Pedagogical University named after M.Akmulla,

Ufa, Russia

INTERDISCURSIVITY IN RUSSIAN PRINTED MASS MEDIA

Interdiscursivity is a phenomenon of textual heterogeneity, one of the manifestations of intertextuality. The term intertextuality was introduced by J. Kristeva (10) and it presupposes interpenetration of texts, i.e. inclusion of either whole texts with a different subject of speech or fragments as marked or unmarked, altered or unaltered quotations, allusions and reminiscences into the given text (1). Intertextuality is also treated as syntactic interrelation of discourses (2).

Interdiscursivity is the facet of a discourse that relates it to other discourses, that is, integrates it into an interdiscourse (M.Angenot, V.K Bhatia, D.Bruce, J.-J.Courtine, N. Fairclough, M. Foucault et al.). Modern Russian mass media discourse encompasses a variety of discourses: religious texts, folklore, belles-lettres texts, prose as well as poetry, discourses of historical prose, cinema, theatre, songs. Such texts, also called “precedent” texts, (3) are like bridges connecting the cultures of the past and present, cultures of modern Russia and other nations. They are inclusions of fragments of one discourse into another. To such texts, according to I.V.Arnold, above all belong the Bible, Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’, ‘Don Quixote’ by Servantes, all the Shakespeare; Pushkin, Lermontov, Griboedov, Gogol specifically for Russian literature, also myths, fairy-tales, songs, prayers. Citation of the genii of the past, as I.V.Arnold puts it, enables us to compare the modern world with the worlds of other epochs with their ethical and spiritual values (Arnold, p.365). Precedent texts are of value to a human being. Knowledge of precedent texts is the token of one’s adherence to the given epoch and its culture (3, p.216).

According to our investigation of about 400 examples of precedent texts from the Russian daily “Argumenty i Fakty” (Arguments and facts) – АиФ, the precedent texts include allusions, quotations, reminiscences from the following sources:

1) Religious and mythological:

Among them can be found allusions: Иисус Христос, Бог, Господь Бог, Аллах, Библия, Евангелие (Jesus Christ, God, God Almighty, Allah, the Bible, Gospel, etc.). An example of a mythological allusion: «Появляются люди, которые чистят авгиевы конюшни» (АиФ № 8, 2012) ‘There appear people who clean the Augean stables’. Marked biblical quotations are introduced with mentioning the Holy Book and God’s name, e.g. «Христос говорил апостолам: «Вас будут гнать во имя моё » (АиФ, № 3, 2011) ‘Christ said to the apostles, “You shall be cast out for my name’s sake” (АиФ, № 3, 2011).

Well-known quotations may be unmarked: «Вполне в духе известной цитаты: «Какою мерою мерите, такою же отмерится и вам» (АиФ, № 11, 2012) ‘With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you’. An example of a biblical reminiscence: « Смысл – библейский: горе тому, через кого соблазны приходят (АиФ № 11, 2011) ‘The sense is biblical: but woe into him, through whom the temptations come’.

2) Folklore texts including fairy tales, folk tales and authors’ folk tales (A.N.Tolstoy, H.Ch.Andersen, Ch.Perrault ), proverbs, sayings and the like. Folkore reflects and forms national stereotypes, representing cultural traditions. These stereotypes are present in various manifestations of political life as reflected in mass media, e.g. «Борьба с коррупцией в России напоминает сказку про белого бычка» (АиФ № 35, 2012) ‘Fighting corruption in Russia reminds of a white bull tale’, the implication being that fighting corruption is too slow. Folklore characters are also stereotypical. They are well-known folk tales personages like Ivan, the fool, Yemelya, a stereotypical lazy-bones: «У нас главный герой сказок – Емеля на печи» (АиФ № 42, 2009) ‘Our main fairy- tales character is Yemelya on a furnace’.

3) Precedent texts from Russian classics: A.S.Pushkin, M.V.Lomonosov, F.M.Dostoevsky, L.N.Tolstoy, A.P.Chekhov, N.V.Gogol, M.Yu.Lermontov, N.A.Nekrasov, A.N.Ostrovsky, I.A.Krylov and others. They represent a wide range of allusions, quotations and reminiscences crystalized in human memory. Some of them may be considered prototypical in the authors’ world views. For instance prototypical for A.P.Chekhov may be allusions: вишнёвый сад (АиФ № 4, 2010) ‘cherry garden, «Три сестры» (АиФ № 19, 2012) “Three sisters”, Нина Заречная и дядя Ваня (АиФ № 19, 2012) Nina Zarechnaya and Uncle Vanya; quotations: «Надо по капле выдавливать из себя раба, в том числе и на выборах» (АиФ, № 16, 2012) ‘One should squeeze a slave out of oneself, also at the elections’, etc.

4) Widely represented are Soviet and post-Soviet authors: M.A.Bulgakov, A.M.Gorky, V.V.Mayakovsky, B.L.Pasternak, A.A.Pasternak, A.I.Solzhenitsin, I.Brodsky, etc., which is stipulated by the fact that they are closer to current events.

A.I.Solzhenitsin: «Вместо красного колеса по России покатилось жёлтое…» (АиФ № 23, 2012) ‘Instead of the red wheel, a yellow wheel rolled across Russia’… Precedent texts are often used for assessing modern realities, mostly negative: «Лезут в баре, а повадки - как у твари», как говорил один из героев горьковской пьесы «Дети солнца» (АиФ № 44, 2011) “They aspire to higher circles, but their habits are low”, as one character from Gorky’s play “The Children of the Sun” said.

5. Foreign literature is represented mostly by English and American (W.Shakespeare, Ch.Dickens, W.Faulkner, O’Henry, Th.Wilder, J.Steinbeck, Th.Wilder, etc.), German (I.W.Goethe, F.Schiller, B.Brecht), French (F.Rablais, О. de Balzac, А.Dumas, V.Hugо, А.dе Saint-Exupery), Spanish (M.de Servantes, G.G.Markes) authors. Many allusions and quotations are universal treasury. Shakespeare’s King Lear, Hamlet Ophelia, Romeo are prototypical names; «Весь мир – театр, и люди в нем – актеры» (АиФ, № 13, 2011) ‘All the whole world is a stage, and all the men and women are merely players.’ «И что нам гадание Гамлета - «быть или не быть», если мы точно знаем, кто будет президентом…» (АиФ № 48, 2011) ‘And what is Hamlet’s “to be or not to be” for us, if we know for sure who will be president...’ However, journalists are not always sure of the readers’ awareness of foreign authors, as is the case of the next reminiscence, where a reference is given in parentheses: «Как У.Фолкнер (американский писатель – Ред.) всю жизнь описывал один городочек, так и я пишу про одну деревню» (АиФ, № 47, 2010) ‘As W. Faulkner (an American author – Ed.) was describing one township all his life, I am describing one and the same village.’ Precedent texts of foreign authors in modern Russian mass media also represent a dialogue of cultures in time and space: from Shakespeare to modern authors, on the one hand, and modern Russian mass culture, on the other.

6. Song lyrics also refer to precedent texts. Such texts include Soviet patriotic songs authors (V.I.Lebedev-Kumach, M.V.Isakovsky, M.L.Matusovsky, А. А. Frenkel), bards (B.Sh.Оkudzhava, V.S.Vysotsky, А.А.Galich, Yu.I.Vizbor, Yu.A.Kukin, А.М.Gorodnitsky, А.V.Makarevich, Yu.Yu.Shevchuk, B.B.Grebenschikov), and also some pop singers (A.B.Pugacheva). Most popular are bards B.Sh.Оkudzhava, V.S.Vysotsky, Yu.Yu.Shevchuk, B.B.Grebenschikov, who express protests against social and political realities, e.g., «Как у Окуджавы: «Люди царства своего не уважают больше»» (АиФ, № 1-2, 2012) ‘According to B.Sh.Оkudzhava: “People have no respect for their kingdom anymore”’; Lyrics are associated with music, hence song lyrics incorporate the unity of verbal, musical and performing arts, which is also one of the aspects of dialogue of cultures.

The table below represents the statistics of precedent texts used in printed mass media:

Sources	Authors	Total	Allusions	Quotations				Reminiscences
				marked	nmarked	altered	unaltered
Religio-us		34	18	5	1		6	10
Tales		21	8	1	1		2	11
Pro-verbs		32				14	18
Russ. classics	19	106	52	28	9	3	34	17
Soviet/ post Soviet	35	88	30	41	10	6	45	7
Songs	22	76	21	35	17	3	49	3
Foreign	27	45	22	9	6	2	13	8
Total	103	402	151	119	44	28	167	56

References:

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4. Angenot, Marc. Social Discourse Analysis: Outlines of a Research Project Yale Journal of Criticism, 2004, 17, Number 2, pp. 199–215.

5. Bhatia V.K. Interdiscursivity in professional communication // Discourse & Communication // February 2010 4: 32-50,

6. Bruce, Donald. (1995). De l'intertextuality à l'interdiscursivity. Toronto: Les Editions Paratexte.

7. Courtine, Jean-Jacques (1981) Analyse du discours politique (le discours communiste adressé aux chrétiens) Paris: Langages 1981, 5-128.

8. Fairclough, Norman. (2003) Analysing Discourse - textual research for social research. New York: Routledge.

9. Foucault, Michel (1969). L'archéologie du savoir. Paris: Gallimard.

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