Paragraph-related means in M. Petrosyan's novel "The House Where..."

Ekonomova Aleksandra Dmitrievna ORCID: 0000-0002-2385-4602 PhD in Philology Associate Professor; Department of Philology; Moscow Financial and Industrial University 'Synergy' 125190, Russia, Moscow, Leningradsky str., 80 G aleksabondareva@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

The metamodern paradigm in culture, reflecting the worldview of a modern person, reveals itself in all manifestations of his activity, including in discursive practices. Principles of constructing a modern text (such as intermediality, allusiveness, rhizomaticity, polycode, collage, etc.) They manifest themselves in various linguistic and paralinguistic phenomena, one of which is paraphemics.

We understand paragraphemics as a branch of paralinguistics that studies "non-verbal means secondary to language that accompany written speech and contribute to the reader's perception and understanding of the text" ^[4]. "Paragrahemics presents the system of graphical elements, which exist along with the graphene system but are not included in the set of proper differential-graphic oppositions" ^[13]. Para-system tools include various methods of graphic variation of text: color (chromography), illustrative (iconic supragraphemics), punctuation (syntactic), font (supragraphemics), planar (topographic) ^[9]. Paragraph–based tools, complementing the verbal component of a written text, are designed to more accurately encode the meaning of an utterance in the process of its generation and decode it in the process of perception.

Since the fact that at least one third of information is transmitted by non-verbal means is a common place in science today ^[2], paraphemics is studied on the basis of various texts: electronic (S.A. Stroikov) scientific (A.A.Gavrilova), advertising (N.V.Lazovskaya), political (M.B.Voroshilova), prosaic (Semyan T. F.), poetic (Yapishina A.E.), etc.

The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze paragraph-specific tools based on Mariam Petrosyan's novel "The House in which ...".

Relevance. Artistic understanding of constantly changing reality (events, processes, people, interpersonal relationships) requires new forms of representation of the results of such understanding. Therefore, despite the considerable study of the manifestations of paragraph-based means in literary texts, the comprehension of new (fresh) material seems to be very relevant. The study of modern texts from the standpoint of paraphemics will allow us to more fully present the diversity of PS and their functions. In a literary text, paragraphs, as well as para-lexemes, being paralinguistic markers, "are aimed at an aesthetic effect on the reader, which is manifested primarily in the fact that paralinguistic means contribute to the disclosure of a person's inner spiritual world, his emotions, intellect, and behavior" ^[1].

The novel "The House in which..." presents a wide range of font variations. One of the most frequent means of this is italics, which performs various functions in the text.

Text fragments that are foreign to the main text in terms of genre are highlighted in italics. The confession of one of the characters (Macedonian), the fairy tales that the characters tell each other during the Longest Night, the Smoker's diary, the Tobacco instruction (rules of conduct for a migrant), the songs that the characters of the novel listen to and sing, the poems diversify the text not only in terms of content, but also visually. Graphical (visual?) The coherence, heterogeneity, and heterogeneity of the text reflect the variety of forms in which human speech-thinking activity can take place.

The next function that italics perform in the novel is to mark the change of the communicative register in those chapters in which the narration is conducted in the third person. Italics appear in cases where the thematic register (objectified author's narrative or inappropriate direct speech) is replaced by situational (external or internal speech of the characters). For example, "He stood up, pushing away stupid thoughts. If they need a caregiver, there are enough of them here without me... and no one needs a crazy caregiver, neither them nor me. He went to the window, pulled the latch and opened one sash." according to Petrosyan, M. The house in which... Moscow: Livebook, 2017. 752 p.). Another example: He [Ralph] closed his eyes, shaking off the image imposed on him. Idiot! The owner of the House is in front of you! Ralph walked over to the window, saying over his shoulder, "Sit down." In such examples, there is a combination of improper direct and direct speech (external or internal).

Italics also appear to indicate the character's entry into the inner world, his feelings and visions: "The walls crept towards Ralph, obscuring the sixth from him, but while this slippery gray curtain was closing, he managed to catch: The yellow light of the gym's netted lamps, the oily green of the floor, painted with circles, a scream… A dark figure struggled on the floor, spraying blood... and immediately the walls closed in, covering the fragments of the visions with gray, discoloring them and erasing them. He had seen enough to know that whatever had happened to Pompey, they had been present as a pack, and the memory of what they had seen, sucked to bitterness on their tongues, haunted them."

Improper-direct speech is two-dimensional in itself ^[10]. Complicated by italicized accents of direct speech, it becomes even more expressive, voluminous, three-dimensional. This creates the illusion of almost simultaneous vision of what is happening with the external and internal eyes (subjectively-objectively; stereoscopy).

Italics indicate access to memories, someone else's speech, fragments of which are introduced into speech in chapters where the narrative is conducted in the first person: "The day is divided into four parts. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. There's a movie once a week on Saturdays. There are meetings on Mondays.

Isn't it time for us to...?

I've been paying attention...

Yes, undoubtedly, the classroom is poorly ventilated.

It affects us.

You know, such strange noises...

I'm afraid they're rats after all.

To protest against the unsanitary conditions in the premises, contributing to the spread of rodents… And posters. Endless posters." Italics allow you not to use quotation marks and not to formalize sentences as complex, conveying indirect speech. Thus, the syntax of the text is transformed, and the subject of the narrative acquires a syncretic character. Note that if the text of a novel is broadcast through an audio channel (for example, in the popular audiobook format today), the reader performs the font selection function by changing the timbre of the voice, imitating the voice of another character. In this vein, it is interesting to note A.S. Stroikov that "on the one hand, paragraph–system elements are analyzed from the point of view of letter graphics and punctuation, on the other hand, from the point of view of another code, namely images, video and audio" ^[8]. We assume that parallel analysis of the printed and audio variants can be very productive.

Someone else's speech, which appears in the character's memory, differs from his own internal speech by the presence of quotation marks.: "The moose laughed and said he was exaggerating. "They know perfectly well what Appearance is and what it looks like. They go to summer resorts every year. They enjoy watching movies."

The function of italics as marking intertextuality is also represented in the analyzed text. For example, in "House" a quote from "Celtic Twilight" by B.W. Yeats is marked in italics.: "As I drive up to the Intersection, I remember: "Amadan-na Breena, he changes his appearance every two days. One minute he's coming, you look at him from the side, like a young kid, or he'll turn into some kind of terrible creature, and then watch out. I was told not so long ago that someone shot him, but I was wondering who would shoot him like that."

There are examples in the novel illustrating the emphatic function of italics.:

"The vulture leaned against the wall: "There are no changes in my pack," he reported. "I don't mind other people's business." Not so well-mannered."

"I wasn't happy. But I wouldn't trade anyone else for it. None of them. If that's what you're interested in. If that's what you meant when you spoke of my joy. I had nothing to do with his death, if that's what you meant. And if you were referring to my dislike of him, then it's true." In such examples, italics (a means of graphic selection) is at the same time a phonation medium that conveys a change in the tone and strength of spoken speech.

Close to italics is slanted text selection, which, unlike italics, does not change grapheme glyphs, but only tilts them to the right. So, in the novel, interludes are marked in slanted font – fragments of text that deal with events from many years ago. The oblique selection is introduced by the author, despite the fact that each interlude has its own name and begins on a new page. That is, in general, the score function of the slanted font (marking a plot and compositionally new piece of text) is redundant. It can be assumed that in this case, the oblique selection (as well as the italics) enhances and emphasizes the otherness of the text. Also, the main text (describing the present events) and the interlude (describing, it would seem, the events of the past) alternate with each other. The natural sequence of the event presentation (when the past precedes the present) is disrupted. This alternation of "regular" and oblique texts is a specific supragraphemic feature of "House" and allows it to be interpreted as an argument in defense of the thesis that the novel presents the concept of a nonlinear flow of time (the events revealed in the interludes occur in parallel with the events described in the main text).

The texts of announcements, news, and messages used by the residents of the house to cover its corridors and doors are also undergoing a graphical transformation (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Font variation in M. Petrosyan's novel "The House in which".

Note that in this case, a planar variation is added to the font variation (the texts of the ads on the page are randomly arranged), which at the visual level creates the impression of the spontaneity of the appearance of texts, the multiplicity of authors; at the same time, the responsibility of the real author for what the reader sees on the page is removed.

Interestingly, an echo effect is superimposed on fragments of text representing wall or overhead inscriptions in an audiobook. With such sound effects, the compilers of the audiobook are trying to find an adequate equivalent of font transformation.

The issues of the Samizdat newspaper "Blum" are marked with a graphic transformation imitating a handwritten text. There is font variation here, which creates the illusion of handwritten texts (a function of naturalization, "documentality" of authenticity of texts). Graphic means combined with the polyphony of the presentation (the events taking place in the novel are presented from the positions of several characters at once) create a sense of collective authorship of the text, and, as a result, its objectivity, deliberate verification.

One of the options for font variation is capitalization (writing individual words or parts of them in capital letters). In the studied material, the names of members of one or another "flock" (group) are capitalized: Pheasants, Rats, Dogs, Plague Wheezers. Not being proper names (each of the characters has a nickname/name), these words are capitalized. It can be assumed that in this case, the name of the character by belonging to one or another "pack" replaces the patronym (part of the generic name). This allows us to draw parallels between the relationships of the inhabitants of the house and intra–family relations (i.e., the house is one big family). The key words that are significant for the novel are written with a capital letter, which have passed into the category of proper names: House, Forest, Inside out, Exterior. This is how their significance and semantic load are emphasized.

Capitalization marks individual linguistic units that have an increased emotional load in the text and convey a change in intonation pattern.:

"But I've never been there. I have this, you know... claustrophobia. I'm not even allowed in the elevator.…

"Anyway, I'm afraid of HIM," he whispered, moving closer. — They tell me all sorts of things. You're doing great. I didn't get scared."

Here's another example: "And he ran away. He ran away, already knowing that he would come back to see, to watch to the end, to find out HOW IT WOULD END WITH THEM? Now he realized that he couldn't stop it, no matter what it was, he just needed to know what it would be like." Just as in one of the examples of using italics described above, capitalization in this case serves not only as a graphic, but also as a phonational means of conveying an increase in tone, strength and volume of voice, and a change in timbre. Like any supragraphemic tool, capitalization is designed to focus the reader's attention (reading slows down).

Holophrastic constructions in the text are marked in italics and italics.:

"Let me be the judge. Darling smiles sweetly. I'm your-teacher-never-argue-with-me-fool! "Let me be the judge of who's predisposed to what in this establishment, sweetheart."

"And then PRIP jumps out of the tags altogether and frolics free, stomping and howling like a berserk banshee.

—Get-that-ugly-shoe-out-of-my-eyes-and-sit-properly-in-your-father's-presence!"

The rat takes its foot off the armrest." According to the researchers, holophrasis is used to "enliven the narrative, the variability of the use of linguistic means, puns, wordplay, for semantic compression and generalization of utterance, etc." Endowing the holophrastic design with typeface specifics enhances their expressiveness.Thus, supragraphemic means play "an important role in creating expressive and emotional connotations in the text and enhancing the excretory function of the text" ^[7].

The topographical means in M. Petrosyan's work are presented less variably than the means of font variation, however, they are no less important in the process of interpreting the text.

The topographical feature of the novel "The House in which ..." is the frequency interlinking. As T.F. Semyan writes, "when analyzing the visual aspect of a prose text, the density of filling the page space is taken into account" (Semyan, T. F. The visual appearance of a prose text as a literary problem: abstract of the dissertation... Doctor of Philological Sciences. Samara, 2006. p. 8). One fragment of the text, separated from the other by a space, is perceived as more independent than the one that has only a paragraph indentation. The discreteness of the text, created by frequency interlinking, reflects fragmentation as a way of modern perception of reality. At the same time, spaces, like any deviation from the standardized design of a text array, are pragmatically loaded: they slow down the perception of the text, destroy the automatism of perception, and allow the text to pulse in the rhythm set by the author. On the other hand, the discreteness of the text/narrative reflects the discreteness of consciousness, sensations…

The topographical features of M. Petrosyan's work include the tabular form of information presentation. "The table is a kind of conditional graphical visualization... Due to the conciseness, compactness of a significant amount of information, autonomy and consistent form of organization of the material, the table fills in the verbal ellipse, provides visibility, expressiveness and visibility" ^[3]. At the end of each of the three books, tables are provided with which the reader can organize the information scattered across the pages of the novel. The tables also allow you to extract information that is not directly included in the text, but is important for forming a complete picture of the novel events.: the composition of each of the five groups, the status of individual characters (leaders), the abilities of some of the inhabitants of the House in terms of their movements on its Inside out (walkers, jumpers), the fate of teenagers after Graduation (who went to the Outside, to the Other side, moved to another circle, etc.).

Fig. 2. The table given at the end of the first book.

The characteristic of the tabular form of information representation given by E.A. Dolzhich regarding a scientific text is also relevant to an artistic text: "due to the conciseness, compactness of a significant amount of information, autonomy and consistent form of organization of the material, the table fills in the verbal ellipse, provides visibility, expressiveness and visibility" ^[3]. In addition, since the table is usually used to formalize accurate, objective data, its use in a literary text creates the illusion of rigor, truth, and documentality in the perception of the latter.

The conducted research has shown that M. Petrosyan's novel "The House in which ..." is distinguished by a high degree of representation of various paragraph-system tools in it, due to which a unique visual appearance of the text is formed. The variety of paragraph-based means used in the novel (italics, slanted font, discharge, imitation of a handwritten test, capitalization, interlining, planar variation of the text, tables) is a natural result and reflection of the processes taking place in modern Russian, such as the strengthening of personality, language liberalization, the desire for language play and variability. «Visual rhetoric can be a source of creativity and expression of individuality. It can reflect a unique style, views, ideas, and expressions of the author» ^[12]. Font and planar variation become "graphic rhetoric" ^[6] or "visual rhetoric" ^[11], designed to more accurately interpret the factual and conceptual information contained in the text.