A culture of speech
Good afternoon, dear colleagues!
- We would like to thank you for taking the time to come to the seminar.
The art of speaking beautifully has always been highly valued by society.
(2) “Eloquence is the art of speaking in such a way that those to whom we are addressing listen not only without difficulty, but also with pleasure, so that, captured by the topic and incited by pride, they want to delve deeper into it.” This wise idea was expressed by Blaise Pascal, a famous French mathematician.
A lot of attention has always been paid to the culture of human speech. This is not accidental, because... it testifies to his erudition, intelligence, ethics, and upbringing. Mastery of speech culture is success in society, authority, prospects, and advancement at work. Successful mastery of the teaching profession is impossible without mastering the culture of speech and the culture of communication.
(3) Clip from the movie “We’ll Live Until Monday.”
Speech, and especially the teacher’s speech, is the main instrument of pedagogical influence and, at the same time, a model for students. Therefore, we need to monitor the purity of our speech.
But what is speech culture? What definition can you give?
(4) Professor Lev Ivanovich Skvortsov gives a definition according to which “Culture of speech” is “mastery of the norms of oral and written literary language (rules of pronunciation, stress, grammar, word usage, etc.), as well as the ability to use expressive language means in different conditions of communication in accordance with the goals and content of speech.”
(5)Components of speech.
However, while monitoring the content and beauty of our speech, we need to not forget about non-verbal means of communication.According to the French researcher F. Sulger, only 7% of information during communication we receive from the content of the statement, 38% - intonation, 55% of reliable information - through posture, facial expressions, expressive movements.
Now we'll practice a little.
(6) Exercise “Actors and spectators”(goal: developing teachers’ sensitivity to non-verbal means of communication).
I suggest you stage several phenomena. Preparation time - 30 seconds. Then the teams show each other dramatizations and try to guess the meaning of the phenomenon shown.
Dramatizations:
Go:
Against the wind;
So as not to wake anyone up
At a business meeting and suddenly realize that you forgot important documents;
And suddenly you see the person you want to please.
Now let's move directly to some rules of the Russian language. We divided our seminar into several parts. Today Maria Efimovna will tell you about grammatical errors in speech, Natalya Sergeevna will show spelling in all its glory, and I will work with you on pleonasms and tautology. (7)
Define the terms.
(8). These terms are related to each other.
(9) The record holders for the number of speech errors are the media. People who are not linguists read articles, reports, listen to news on TV and radio, and unwittingly become “infected” with speech errors. Let's look at a few common mistakes.
As you can see, most mistakes are made where borrowed words are used, the meaning of which may not be entirely clear. However, our Russian language also has domestic pleonasms. (10)
To be fair, it must be said that pleonasm in linguistics is not considered exclusively a speech error. Scientists define it more broadly. This is precisely a speech pattern that, under certain circumstances, either goes beyond the boundaries of the norm or is considered completely acceptable. In colloquial speech it can be used to enhance emotion or comedy. In works of art this can be considered an artistic device. (eleven)
I note that, unlike pleonasm, tautology is considered a more serious speech error. If pleonasm is an unreasonable excess, verbosity, as they say, “woe from mind,” then tautology is considered a more serious speech error, since it usually indicates a poverty of vocabulary and illiteracy.
Let's now check: can you find pleonasm and tautology in the sentences?
- Go against the wind.
- Walk in such a way as not to wake anyone.
- Go to a business meeting and suddenly realize that you forgot important documents.
- Walk and suddenly see the person you want to please.
Find and highlight speech errors in the sentences.
1. We were unable to leave because a torrential downpour began.
2. His palms immediately began to sweat.
3. You should first consult with your work colleagues.
4. The price list hung on the window.
5. The guest tried to collect the pieces of the broken vase.
6. In conclusion, the narrator told another funny story.
7. Rider number 5 is in the lead.
8. There is no longer any significant difference between nature and man.
9. The work was done carelessly and sloppily.
10. Even under unfavorable conditions, the process of plant development continues.
11. As soon as you read a book, immediately return it back to the library.
12. The speech was chaotic, ill-conceived, so it was difficult to grasp its main essence.
13. “The Thunderstorm” exposes the tyranny, despotism and arbitrariness of merchants.
14. It took more than two hours to complete this task.
15. In the kiosks of our city you can buy memorable souvenirs and gifts.
16. The people will be able to defend their independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
17. We saw him both from the side and in profile.
18. The old methods of leadership were recognized as incorrect and erroneous.
19. Some managers do not focus on solving necessary and pressing issues.
20. The exchange of existing experience was very useful.
21. The forest, shrouded in darkness, terrified us.
22. The writer showed how young, almost teenage youth fought against enemies.
23. Warm spring days occurred at the beginning of April.
24. Students are actively preparing for the winter session and exams.
25. A progress report should be prepared by March.
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Slide captions:
A culture of speech
Eloquence is the art of speaking in such a way that those to whom we are addressing listen not only without difficulty, but also with pleasure, so that, captured by the topic and incited by pride, they want to delve deeper into it. Blaise Pascal
Speech culture is knowledge of the norms of oral and written literary language (rules of pronunciation, stress, grammar, word usage, etc.), as well as the ability to use expressive language means in different communication conditions in accordance with the purposes and content of speech. Professor L.I. Skvortsov
Components of speech Remember the components of speech Rainbow colors will help. After all, a rainbow, like speech, I note, is playful, sonorous and simple. Logic, correctness and precision of lines, richness of colors, purity, How expressive, beautiful, all her colors are appropriate!
Actors and spectators
Pleonasm and tautology
PLEONASM (“excess”) – the use in a sentence or text of words that are CLOSED IN MEANING, creating semantic redundancy. TAUTOLOGY (“the same thing”) is a type of pleonasm; the use of the same root words in a sentence or text.
The most common pleonasms An unpleasant incident - an incident (according to the dictionary of S.A. Kuznetsov) is an incident, an incident of an unpleasant nature; misunderstanding. The main essence is the most important and essential thing in something. First premiere Other alternative Available vacancy Price list
“Domestic” pleonasms Torrential downpour the month of March ultimately return back first met gesticulated with hands nodded head blinked eyes illegal gangs true truth short moment personally me unconfirmed rumors step back pre-planning warn in advance joint meeting hear with one’s own ears employment for a job go up/go down On the stairs.
Examples of artistic pleonasms O field, field, who littered you with dead bones? Whose greyhound horse trampled you in the last hour of the bloody battle? A.S. Pushkin “Ruslan and Lyudmila” “Take this case for example... I disperse the people, and on the shore on the sand is the drowned corpse of a dead man. For what reason, I ask, does he lie here? Is this order? A.P. Chekhov “Unter Prishibeev”
PLEONASM (“excess”) – First debuted Interior interior Commemorative souvenir TAUTOLOGY (“the same thing”) – Ask a question Young girl
In linguistics, the term “lexical pleonasm” (examples of it will be discussed later in the article) refers to figures of speech that contain duplication of some semantic element. In addition, the same “excesses” include the use of several linguistic forms that have the same meaning in any completed segment of speech or text.
Close in essence to pleonasm is tautology, which we will also talk about later.
The most common violations in oral speech
In the process of communication, we often - sometimes out of a desire to be accurately understood, and sometimes for “beauty” - abuse linguistic excesses. “The main essence”, “in the month of December”, “to meet for the first time” - each of these phrases is a pleonasm. Examples of them are very frequent in everyday speech, and in journalistic reviews, and in the mouths of officials giving interviews. Unfortunately, such contamination is a very common occurrence.
Pleonasms are especially common when using borrowed words, for example: free vacancy (“vacancy” is a “vacant position”), price list (“price list” is a price directory), most optimal (“optimal” is the most favorable) .
Surely many of you have repeatedly heard about “prospects for the future”, received a “memorable souvenir” or carried out “timing of time” - all these are vivid examples of pleonasms included in the speech of undemanding citizens. But the word “prospects” already implies plans for the future, and a “souvenir” is already a keepsake, not to mention the word “timing”, translated as “measurement of time.”
Pleonasm: example sentences
Pleonasms in linguistics are divided into semantic and syntactic. If redundancy concerns the use of auxiliary parts of speech, then such a phenomenon is defined as syntactic pleonasm. Examples of unnecessary use of conjunctions are found not only in the writings of schoolchildren learning the basics of linguistics, but also in official documents.
“He did not hear what the employees said” (in this situation, “that” can be omitted without distorting the meaning of the sentence). The same redundancy is observed in the sentence: “I know that I will have to face problems” (the conjunction “that” is redundant in combination with the phrase “I know”).
Note that both sentences above are grammatically correct, but nonetheless suffer from redundancy.
What is perissology?
Perissology, the so-called synonymous repetition, is considered as a type of semantic pleonasm. It involves the use of combinations of words in which the meaning of one is already included in the other, as already mentioned above.
In business speech, such mistakes are very common:
- labor activity (labor is activity);
- negotiation, educational or work process (but negotiations, study and work are already a process).
Even in laws you can find more than one pleonasm. Examples of such combinations of words are probably well-known to everyone: money (money is money), penalties (a fine is a punishment, that is, a sanction), legal possibilities (right means the possibility of something).
There are many similar pleonastic expressions that can be cited, and they gradually become fixed in the language, turning over time into normative ones.
What is a tautology?
Examples of lexical errors - pleonasm - often include the use of words that not only have a similar meaning, but also sound the same roots. For example: “Solve unresolved problems,” “lean on your elbow,” “throw the door wide open,” or “resume activity again.” This phenomenon is called tautology. It blurs the impression of what was said and often reveals the speaker’s low level of linguistic culture.
But in speech there are also examples of the use of tautological expressions that have become firmly established in our speech without causing any complaints: “black ink”, “white linen”, etc. Although I would especially like to note the rooted expression “today”, which is also tautology. The fact is that the word “today” can easily be decomposed into “this day,” that is, “on this day,” which means that we essentially say: “on this day.” Instead of this cumbersome phrase, it is better to say: “for today.”
Pleonasm can enhance speech
But our speech is not a dry set of rules. It lives and changes, so the desire for correctness should not be taken to the point of absurdity. It is impossible to painlessly remove from communication or from poetic lines stable constructions that formally represent pleonasm. Examples: “I saw it with my own eyes”, “he heard it with his own ears”, “I don’t know”, “I don’t know” or “live and live”, “sea-ocean”, “bitter grief”, “darkness” dark" and others.
The use of pleonasms in literature makes it possible to make the hero or his speech bright, rich and, paradoxically, not requiring additional descriptions. Just remember Chekhov’s non-commissioned officer Prishibeev with his “drowned dead corpse” or the heroes of Mikhail Zoshchenko’s stories who walked “on their own legs” to a “Negro negro operetta” or sat in line “to see a nervous doctor for nervous diseases.” This literary device is called lexical amplification.
Pleonasm cannot be judged unambiguously
As you can see, pleonasm and tautology, examples of which were given in the article, are very ambiguous phenomena. Redundancy, excessiveness, of course, should not be welcomed in an ordinary speech situation - it clogs up speech and burdens it with words that do not carry additional information. But the conscious use of pleonasm as a literary device is completely justified.
Speech redundancy- this is a problem born largely due to the author’s reluctance to spend time and effort on polishing his own text. That is, instead of indicating his thought with a couple of precisely formulated phrases, the writer embarks on long explanations, which give us verbal redundancy.
Speech redundancy in a text can manifest itself in various forms.
Sometimes you can observe an obsessive explanation of already known truths: Daily consumption of milk is a healthy habit; not only children, but also adults eat milk; the habit of milk can persist until old age. Can this habit be called harmful? Should I give it up? Of course no!
Speech redundancy also occurs when the same thought is conveyed repeatedly. For example: Russian athletes arrived at the Olympic Games in order to take part in competitions in which not only ours, but also many foreign athletes will participate.
In some cases, the manifestation of speech redundancy may border on the absurd: The body was clearly dead and showed it with all its appearance. In literary theory, such examples are called Lapalissiades. The name of the term is derived from the name of the French marshal Marquis La Palis, who died in 1525. The fact is that the soldiers composed a song about the deceased commander, which contained the following words: Our commander was alive 25 minutes before his death. Lapalissades add inappropriate comedy to speech, asserting obvious truths. And inappropriateness, as a rule, is expressed in the fact that such phrases emerge in situations associated with the most tragic circumstances.
Pleonasm.
Pleonasm (from the gr. pleonasmos - excess) - this is the use in speech of words that are close in meaning and therefore unnecessary ( foresee in advance, speak out loud, dark night, etc..). Pleonasms arise mainly due to the stylistic negligence of the author. For example, when connecting synonyms: boring and boring; helped and contributed; nevertheless, however; for example.
However, in addition to obvious errors and oversights, there is the concept of “ imaginary pleonasm", which the writer uses consciously as a means of enhancing the expressiveness of speech: Not will go back a time when the history of our country was rewritten to suit someone's petty interests. Such a deliberate discrepancy attracts the reader’s attention, enhancing the expressive effect.
It would not be out of place to mention that the use of pleonastic combinations is very characteristic of folklore. As is known, expressively colored pleonasms have long been used in oral folk art, such as once upon a time, sea-okiyan, path-path and others.
Tautology.
A special case of pleonasm is tautology. Tautology(from the gr. tauto - the same, logos - word) arises as when repeating words with the same root ( ask a riddle, stop at a bus stop), and when combining a foreign and Russian word that duplicates its meaning ( young prodigy, first debut, interior). The second case is often called hidden tautology, and often this indicates that the speaker does not understand the exact meaning of the borrowed word.
In general, tautology - and in fact, the unintentional use of combinations of words with the same root - is a very common mistake. And even with careful proofreading of the text, it is not always possible to detect all tautological connectives. However, I believe that such repetitions should not always be considered as errors. Indeed, in many cases it is simply impossible to avoid tautology, and excluding a single-root word from a sentence and replacing it with a synonym does not always give the desired effect - very often this leads to a distortion of meaning or impoverishment of speech. It can be considered that a pair of cognate words in a close context are stylistically justified if such words are the only carriers of the corresponding meanings and they cannot be replaced by synonyms ( edit – editor; cook – jam, etc..)
Exceptions include the use of terminological vocabulary, which also often gives rise to tautological combinations ( dictionary of foreign words, investigation by investigative bodies, etc..)
12. Correlation of the concepts “bureaucracy”, “stamp”, “standard”.
When analyzing errors caused by the unjustified use of stylistically colored vocabulary, special attention should be paid to words associated with the official business style. Elements of official business style, introduced into a stylistically alien context for them, are called bureaucracy. It should be remembered that these speech means are called clericalism only when they are used in speech that is not bound by the norms of official business style.
Lexical and phraseological clericalisms include words and phrases that have a coloring typical of the official business style ( presence, for lack of, in order to avoid, reside, withdraw, the above, takes place and so on.). Their use makes speech inexpressive ( If there is a desire, much can be done to improve the working conditions of workers; There is currently a shortage of teaching staff).
As a rule, you can find many options for expressing thoughts, avoiding bureaucracy. For example, why would a journalist write: Marriage is a negative aspect of the enterprise's activities if you can say: It’s bad when a company produces defects; Marriage is unacceptable in work; Marriage is a great evil that must be fought; We must prevent defects in production; We must finally stop producing defective products!; You can't put up with marriage! Simple and specific wording has a stronger impact on the reader.
A clerical flavor of speech is often given verbal nouns formed using suffixes -eni-, -ani- and etc. ( identifying, finding, taking, swelling, closing) and suffixless ( sewing, stealing, time off). Their clerical tone is aggravated by consoles Not-, under- (non-detection, under-fulfillment). Russian writers often parodied the syllable “decorated” with such bureaucracy [ The matter of gnawing the plan by mice(Hertz.); The case of a crow flying into and breaking glass(Writing); Having announced to the widow Vanina that in her failure to attach a sixty-kopeck stamp...(Ch.)].
Verbal nouns do not have the categories of tense, aspect, mood, voice, or person. This narrows their expressive capabilities compared to verbs. For example, the following sentence lacks precision: From the side of the farm manager V.I. Shlyk showed a negligent attitude towards milking and feeding cows. You might think that the manager milked and fed the cows poorly, but the author only wanted to say that Farm manager V.I. Shlyk did nothing to ease the work of the milkmaids or prepare feed for the livestock. The inability to express the meaning of voice with a verbal noun can lead to ambiguity in the construction of the type professor's statement(Professor asserts or him claim?), I love singing(I love sing or listen when they sing?).
In sentences with verbal nouns, the predicate is often expressed by the passive form of the participle or a reflexive verb; this deprives the action of activity and enhances the clerical coloring of speech [ After visiting the sights, tourists were allowed to take photographs of them.(better: Tourists were shown the sights and allowed to photograph them)].
However, not all verbal nouns in the Russian language belong to the official business vocabulary; they are varied in stylistic coloring, which largely depends on the characteristics of their lexical meaning and word formation. Verbal nouns with the meaning of person ( teacher, self-taught, confused, bully), many nouns with the meaning of action ( running, crying, playing, washing, shooting, bombing).
Verbal nouns with book suffixes can be divided into two groups. Some are stylistically neutral ( meaning, name, excitement), many of them -nie changed in -nye, and they began to denote not an action, but its result (cf.: baking pies - sweet cookies, boiling cherries - cherry jam). Others retain a close connection with verbs, acting as abstract names of actions, processes ( acceptance, non-detection, non-admission). It is precisely such nouns that most often have a clerical connotation; only those that have received a strict terminological meaning in the language do not have it ( drilling, spelling, joining).
The use of clericalisms of this type is associated with the so-called “splitting of the predicate”, i.e. replacing a simple verbal predicate with a combination of a verbal noun with an auxiliary verb that has a weakened lexical meaning (instead of complicates, leads to complication). So, they write: This leads to complexity, confusion of accounting and increased costs., or better yet write: This complicates and confuses accounting and increases costs..
However, when assessing this phenomenon stylistically, one cannot go to the extreme, rejecting any cases of using verbal-nominal combinations instead of verbs. In book styles the following combinations are often used: took part instead of participated, gave instructions instead of indicated etc. Verb-nominal combinations have become established in the official business style. declare gratitude, accept for execution, impose a penalty(in these cases the verbs thank, fulfill, exact inappropriate) etc. In the scientific style, terminological combinations such as visual fatigue occurs, self-regulation occurs, transplantation is performed and so on. Expressions function in the journalistic style workers went on strike, clashes occurred with the police, an attempt was made on the minister's life and so on. In such cases, verbal nouns cannot be avoided and there is no reason to consider them clericalisms.
The use of verb-nominal combinations sometimes even creates conditions for speech expression. For example, the combination take an active part more capacious in meaning than a verb participate. The definition of a noun allows you to give the verb-nominal combination a precise terminological meaning (cf.: help - provide emergency medical care). The use of a verbal-nominal combination instead of a verb can also help eliminate the lexical ambiguity of verbs (cf.: give a horn - blow a horn). The preference for such verbal-nominal combinations over verbs is naturally beyond doubt; their use does not damage the style, but, on the contrary, gives the speech greater effectiveness.
The influence of official business style often explains the unjustified use denominative prepositions: along the line, in section, in part, in business, by virtue of, for the purposes of, to the address, in the region, in plan, at the level, at the expense of etc. They have become widespread in book styles, and under certain conditions their use is stylistically justified. However, often a passion for them damages the presentation, weighing down the style and giving it a clerical coloring. This is partly due to the fact that denominal prepositions usually require the use of verbal nouns, which leads to a string of cases. For example: By improving the organization of repayment of arrears in the payment of wages and pensions, improving the culture of customer service, turnover in government and commercial stores should increase- the accumulation of verbal nouns, many identical case forms made the sentence ponderous and cumbersome. To correct the text, it is necessary to exclude the denominal preposition from it, and, if possible, replace verbal nouns with verbs. Let's assume this edit option: To increase turnover in government and commercial stores, it is necessary to pay wages on time and not delay pensions for citizens, as well as improve the culture of customer service.
Some authors use denominative prepositions automatically, without thinking about their meaning, which is partly still preserved in them. For example: Due to lack of materials, construction has been suspended(as if someone foresaw that there would be no materials, and therefore construction was suspended). Incorrect use of denominative prepositions often leads to illogical statements.
The exclusion of denominative prepositions from the text, as we see, eliminates verbosity and helps to express thoughts more specifically and stylistically correctly.
The influence of official business style is usually associated with the use of speech cliches. Speech stamps words and expressions with erased semantics and faded emotional overtones become widely used. Thus, in a variety of contexts, the expression to obtain registration begins to be used in a figurative meaning ( Each ball that flies into the goal net receives a permanent registration in the tables; Petrovsky's muse has a permanent residence in our hearts; Aphrodite was included in the permanent exhibition of the museum - now she is registered in our city).
Any frequently repeated speech device can become a stamp, for example, stereotyped metaphors, definitions that have lost their figurative power due to constant reference to them, even hackneyed rhymes ( tears - roses). However, in practical stylistics, the term “speech stamp” has acquired a narrower meaning: this is the name for stereotypical expressions that have a clerical overtone.
Among the speech cliches that arose as a result of the influence of the official business style on other styles, we can highlight, first of all, cliched figures of speech: at this stage, in this period of time, today, emphasized with all acuteness and so on. As a rule, they do not contribute anything to the content of the statement, but only clog up the speech: At this time, a difficult situation has arisen with the liquidation of debt to supplier enterprises; At present, the payment of wages to miners is under constant control; At this stage, the crucian carp spawns normally, etc. Excluding the highlighted words will not change anything in the information.
Speech stamps also include universal words, which are used in a wide variety of, often too broad, vague meanings ( question, event, series, carry out, unfold, separate, specific and so on.). For example, noun question, acting as a universal word, never indicates what is being asked about ( Nutrition issues are especially important in the first 10-12 days; The issues of timely collection of taxes from enterprises and commercial structures deserve great attention.). In such cases, it can be painlessly excluded from the text (cf.: Nutrition is especially important in the first 10-12 days; It is necessary to collect taxes from enterprises and commercial structures in a timely manner).
Word be, as a universal, is also often superfluous; You can verify this by comparing two editions of sentences from newspaper articles:
Unjustified use of linking verbs is one of the most common stylistic flaws in specialized literature. However, this does not mean that linking verbs should be prohibited; their use should be appropriate and stylistically justified.
Speech stamps include paired words, or satellite words; the use of one of them necessarily suggests the use of the other (cf.: event - carried out, scope - wide, criticism - harsh, problem - unresolved, urgent etc.). The definitions in these pairs are lexically inferior; they give rise to speech redundancy. Speech cliches, relieving the speaker of the need to look for the necessary, exact words, deprive speech of concreteness. For example: This season was held at a high organizational level- this sentence can be inserted into a report about hay harvesting, and about sports competitions, and about preparing housing for winter, and about harvesting grapes...
The set of speech cliches changes over the years: some are gradually forgotten, others become “fashionable”, so it is impossible to list and describe all cases of their use. It is important to understand the essence of this phenomenon and prevent the emergence and spread of cliches.
Language standards should be distinguished from speech cliches. Language standards are called ready-made means of expression reproduced in speech, used in a journalistic style. Unlike a stamp, “a standard... does not cause a negative attitude, since it has clear semantics and economically expresses thoughts, facilitating the speed of information transfer.” Language standards include, for example, the following combinations that have become stable: Public sector workers, employment services, international humanitarian aid, commercial structures, law enforcement agencies, branches of Russian government, according to informed sources, - phrases like consumer service (nutrition, health, relaxation etc.). These speech units are widely used by journalists, since it is impossible to invent new means of expression in each specific case.
A cluster of verbal nouns, chains of identical case forms, and speech cliches firmly “block” the perception of such statements that are impossible to comprehend. Our journalism has successfully overcome this “style”, and it “decorates” only the speech of individual speakers and officials in government institutions. However, while they are in their leadership positions, the problem of combating bureaucracy and speech cliches has not lost its relevance.
13. Literary editing as one of the components of the journalist’s profession: the concept of literary editing; the place of literary editing in the process of preparing a manuscript for publication; literary editing tasks
Literary editing is the search for the most accurate verbal expression of formulations, certain ideas, specific judgments or concepts, as well as arguments proving the author’s position. Literary editing - this is a reading of the text that may require not only the correction of individual errors, but also the reworking of individual fragments of the text, the restructuring of sentences, the removal of unnecessary repetitions, the elimination of ambiguity, etc., so that the form of the text best matches its content.
Literary editing involves correcting stylistic flaws. Stylistic errors are understood as various types of errors associated with a violation of style and the Literary norm in general, including the incorrect choice of word form, the choice of an inappropriate stylistic option that does not correspond to the general style of the text, etc.
Problems lit. edits:
Evaluation of the manuscript in terms of relevance of the text to the purpose
Identification of substantive advantages and disadvantages, verification of the accuracy and reliability of facts
Assessment of the literary qualities of the text: compositional, genre, stylistic and logical
Speech redundancy- this is a problem born largely due to the author’s reluctance to spend time and effort on polishing his own text. That is, instead of indicating his thought with a couple of precisely formulated phrases, the writer embarks on long explanations, which give us verbal redundancy.
Speech redundancy in a text can manifest itself in various forms.
Sometimes you can observe an obsessive explanation of already known truths: Daily consumption of milk is a healthy habit; not only children, but also adults eat milk; the habit of milk can persist until old age. Can this habit be called harmful? Should I give it up? Of course no!
Speech redundancy also occurs when the same thought is conveyed repeatedly. For example: Russian athletes arrived at the Olympic Games in order to take part in competitions in which not only ours, but also many foreign athletes will participate.
In some cases, the manifestation of speech redundancy may border on the absurd: The body was clearly dead and showed it with all its appearance. In literary theory, such examples are called Lapalissiades. The name of the term is derived from the name of the French marshal Marquis La Palis, who died in 1525. The fact is that the soldiers composed a song about the deceased commander, which contained the following words: Our commander was alive 25 minutes before his death. Lapalissades add inappropriate comedy to speech, asserting obvious truths. And inappropriateness, as a rule, is expressed in the fact that such phrases emerge in situations associated with the most tragic circumstances.
Pleonasm.
Pleonasm (from the gr. pleonasmos - excess) - this is the use in speech of words that are close in meaning and therefore unnecessary ( foresee in advance, speak out loud, dark night, etc..). Pleonasms arise mainly due to the stylistic negligence of the author. For example, when connecting synonyms: boring and boring; helped and contributed; nevertheless, however; for example.
However, in addition to obvious errors and oversights, there is the concept of “ imaginary pleonasm", which the writer uses consciously as a means of enhancing the expressiveness of speech: Not will go back a time when the history of our country was rewritten to suit someone's petty interests. Such a deliberate discrepancy attracts the reader’s attention, enhancing the expressive effect.
It would not be out of place to mention that the use of pleonastic combinations is very characteristic of folklore. As is known, expressively colored pleonasms have long been used in oral folk art, such as once upon a time, sea-okiyan, path-path and others.
Tautology.
A special case of pleonasm is tautology. Tautology(from the gr. tauto - the same, logos - word) arises as when repeating words with the same root ( ask a riddle, stop at a bus stop), and when combining a foreign and Russian word that duplicates its meaning ( young prodigy, first debut, interior). The second case is often called hidden tautology, and often this indicates that the speaker does not understand the exact meaning of the borrowed word.
In general, tautology - and in fact, the unintentional use of combinations of words with the same root - is a very common mistake. And even with careful proofreading of the text, it is not always possible to detect all tautological connectives. However, I believe that such repetitions should not always be considered as errors. Indeed, in many cases it is simply impossible to avoid tautology, and excluding a single-root word from a sentence and replacing it with a synonym does not always give the desired effect - very often this leads to a distortion of meaning or impoverishment of speech. It can be considered that a pair of cognate words in a close context are stylistically justified if such words are the only carriers of the corresponding meanings and they cannot be replaced by synonyms ( edit – editor; cook – jam, etc..)
Exceptions include the use of terminological vocabulary, which also often gives rise to tautological combinations ( dictionary of foreign words, investigation by investigative bodies, etc..)
12. Correlation of the concepts “bureaucracy”, “stamp”, “standard”.
When analyzing errors caused by the unjustified use of stylistically colored vocabulary, special attention should be paid to words associated with the official business style. Elements of official business style, introduced into a stylistically alien context for them, are called bureaucracy. It should be remembered that these speech means are called clericalism only when they are used in speech that is not bound by the norms of official business style.
Lexical and phraseological clericalisms include words and phrases that have a coloring typical of the official business style ( presence, for lack of, in order to avoid, reside, withdraw, the above, takes place and so on.). Their use makes speech inexpressive ( If there is a desire, much can be done to improve the working conditions of workers; There is currently a shortage of teaching staff).
As a rule, you can find many options for expressing thoughts, avoiding bureaucracy. For example, why would a journalist write: Marriage is a negative aspect of the enterprise's activities if you can say: It’s bad when a company produces defects; Marriage is unacceptable in work; Marriage is a great evil that must be fought; We must prevent defects in production; We must finally stop producing defective products!; You can't put up with marriage! Simple and specific wording has a stronger impact on the reader.
A clerical flavor of speech is often given verbal nouns formed using suffixes -eni-, -ani- and etc. ( identifying, finding, taking, swelling, closing) and suffixless ( sewing, stealing, time off). Their clerical tone is aggravated by consoles Not-, under- (non-detection, under-fulfillment). Russian writers often parodied the syllable “decorated” with such bureaucracy [ The matter of gnawing the plan by mice(Hertz.); The case of a crow flying into and breaking glass(Writing); Having announced to the widow Vanina that in her failure to attach a sixty-kopeck stamp...(Ch.)].
Verbal nouns do not have the categories of tense, aspect, mood, voice, or person. This narrows their expressive capabilities compared to verbs. For example, the following sentence lacks precision: From the side of the farm manager V.I. Shlyk showed a negligent attitude towards milking and feeding cows. You might think that the manager milked and fed the cows poorly, but the author only wanted to say that Farm manager V.I. Shlyk did nothing to ease the work of the milkmaids or prepare feed for the livestock. The inability to express the meaning of voice with a verbal noun can lead to ambiguity in the construction of the type professor's statement(Professor asserts or him claim?), I love singing(I love sing or listen when they sing?).
In sentences with verbal nouns, the predicate is often expressed by the passive form of the participle or a reflexive verb; this deprives the action of activity and enhances the clerical coloring of speech [ After visiting the sights, tourists were allowed to take photographs of them.(better: Tourists were shown the sights and allowed to photograph them)].
However, not all verbal nouns in the Russian language belong to the official business vocabulary; they are varied in stylistic coloring, which largely depends on the characteristics of their lexical meaning and word formation. Verbal nouns with the meaning of person ( teacher, self-taught, confused, bully), many nouns with the meaning of action ( running, crying, playing, washing, shooting, bombing).
Verbal nouns with book suffixes can be divided into two groups. Some are stylistically neutral ( meaning, name, excitement), many of them -nie changed in -nye, and they began to denote not an action, but its result (cf.: baking pies - sweet cookies, boiling cherries - cherry jam). Others retain a close connection with verbs, acting as abstract names of actions, processes ( acceptance, non-detection, non-admission). It is precisely such nouns that most often have a clerical connotation; only those that have received a strict terminological meaning in the language do not have it ( drilling, spelling, joining).
The use of clericalisms of this type is associated with the so-called “splitting of the predicate”, i.e. replacing a simple verbal predicate with a combination of a verbal noun with an auxiliary verb that has a weakened lexical meaning (instead of complicates, leads to complication). So, they write: This leads to complexity, confusion of accounting and increased costs., or better yet write: This complicates and confuses accounting and increases costs..
However, when assessing this phenomenon stylistically, one cannot go to the extreme, rejecting any cases of using verbal-nominal combinations instead of verbs. In book styles the following combinations are often used: took part instead of participated, gave instructions instead of indicated etc. Verb-nominal combinations have become established in the official business style. declare gratitude, accept for execution, impose a penalty(in these cases the verbs thank, fulfill, exact inappropriate) etc. In the scientific style, terminological combinations such as visual fatigue occurs, self-regulation occurs, transplantation is performed and so on. Expressions function in the journalistic style workers went on strike, clashes occurred with the police, an attempt was made on the minister's life and so on. In such cases, verbal nouns cannot be avoided and there is no reason to consider them clericalisms.
The use of verb-nominal combinations sometimes even creates conditions for speech expression. For example, the combination take an active part more capacious in meaning than a verb participate. The definition of a noun allows you to give the verb-nominal combination a precise terminological meaning (cf.: help - provide emergency medical care). The use of a verbal-nominal combination instead of a verb can also help eliminate the lexical ambiguity of verbs (cf.: give a horn - blow a horn). The preference for such verbal-nominal combinations over verbs is naturally beyond doubt; their use does not damage the style, but, on the contrary, gives the speech greater effectiveness.
The influence of official business style often explains the unjustified use denominative prepositions: along the line, in section, in part, in business, by virtue of, for the purposes of, to the address, in the region, in plan, at the level, at the expense of etc. They have become widespread in book styles, and under certain conditions their use is stylistically justified. However, often a passion for them damages the presentation, weighing down the style and giving it a clerical coloring. This is partly due to the fact that denominal prepositions usually require the use of verbal nouns, which leads to a string of cases. For example: By improving the organization of repayment of arrears in the payment of wages and pensions, improving the culture of customer service, turnover in government and commercial stores should increase- the accumulation of verbal nouns, many identical case forms made the sentence ponderous and cumbersome. To correct the text, it is necessary to exclude the denominal preposition from it, and, if possible, replace verbal nouns with verbs. Let's assume this edit option: To increase turnover in government and commercial stores, it is necessary to pay wages on time and not delay pensions for citizens, as well as improve the culture of customer service.
Some authors use denominative prepositions automatically, without thinking about their meaning, which is partly still preserved in them. For example: Due to lack of materials, construction has been suspended(as if someone foresaw that there would be no materials, and therefore construction was suspended). Incorrect use of denominative prepositions often leads to illogical statements.
The exclusion of denominative prepositions from the text, as we see, eliminates verbosity and helps to express thoughts more specifically and stylistically correctly.
The influence of official business style is usually associated with the use of speech cliches. Speech stamps words and expressions with erased semantics and faded emotional overtones become widely used. Thus, in a variety of contexts, the expression to obtain registration begins to be used in a figurative meaning ( Each ball that flies into the goal net receives a permanent registration in the tables; Petrovsky's muse has a permanent residence in our hearts; Aphrodite was included in the permanent exhibition of the museum - now she is registered in our city).
Any frequently repeated speech device can become a stamp, for example, stereotyped metaphors, definitions that have lost their figurative power due to constant reference to them, even hackneyed rhymes ( tears - roses). However, in practical stylistics, the term “speech stamp” has acquired a narrower meaning: this is the name for stereotypical expressions that have a clerical overtone.
Among the speech cliches that arose as a result of the influence of the official business style on other styles, we can highlight, first of all, cliched figures of speech: at this stage, in this period of time, today, emphasized with all acuteness and so on. As a rule, they do not contribute anything to the content of the statement, but only clog up the speech: At this time, a difficult situation has arisen with the liquidation of debt to supplier enterprises; At present, the payment of wages to miners is under constant control; At this stage, the crucian carp spawns normally, etc. Excluding the highlighted words will not change anything in the information.
Speech stamps also include universal words, which are used in a wide variety of, often too broad, vague meanings ( question, event, series, carry out, unfold, separate, specific and so on.). For example, noun question, acting as a universal word, never indicates what is being asked about ( Nutrition issues are especially important in the first 10-12 days; The issues of timely collection of taxes from enterprises and commercial structures deserve great attention.). In such cases, it can be painlessly excluded from the text (cf.: Nutrition is especially important in the first 10-12 days; It is necessary to collect taxes from enterprises and commercial structures in a timely manner).
Word be, as a universal, is also often superfluous; You can verify this by comparing two editions of sentences from newspaper articles:
Unjustified use of linking verbs is one of the most common stylistic flaws in specialized literature. However, this does not mean that linking verbs should be prohibited; their use should be appropriate and stylistically justified.
Speech stamps include paired words, or satellite words; the use of one of them necessarily suggests the use of the other (cf.: event - carried out, scope - wide, criticism - harsh, problem - unresolved, urgent etc.). The definitions in these pairs are lexically inferior; they give rise to speech redundancy. Speech cliches, relieving the speaker of the need to look for the necessary, exact words, deprive speech of concreteness. For example: This season was held at a high organizational level- this sentence can be inserted into a report about hay harvesting, and about sports competitions, and about preparing housing for winter, and about harvesting grapes...
The set of speech cliches changes over the years: some are gradually forgotten, others become “fashionable”, so it is impossible to list and describe all cases of their use. It is important to understand the essence of this phenomenon and prevent the emergence and spread of cliches.
Language standards should be distinguished from speech cliches. Language standards are called ready-made means of expression reproduced in speech, used in a journalistic style. Unlike a stamp, “a standard... does not cause a negative attitude, since it has clear semantics and economically expresses thoughts, facilitating the speed of information transfer.” Language standards include, for example, the following combinations that have become stable: Public sector workers, employment services, international humanitarian aid, commercial structures, law enforcement agencies, branches of Russian government, according to informed sources, - phrases like consumer service (nutrition, health, relaxation etc.). These speech units are widely used by journalists, since it is impossible to invent new means of expression in each specific case.
A cluster of verbal nouns, chains of identical case forms, and speech cliches firmly “block” the perception of such statements that are impossible to comprehend. Our journalism has successfully overcome this “style”, and it “decorates” only the speech of individual speakers and officials in government institutions. However, while they are in their leadership positions, the problem of combating bureaucracy and speech cliches has not lost its relevance.
13. Literary editing as one of the components of the journalist’s profession: the concept of literary editing; the place of literary editing in the process of preparing a manuscript for publication; literary editing tasks
Literary editing is the search for the most accurate verbal expression of formulations, certain ideas, specific judgments or concepts, as well as arguments proving the author’s position. Literary editing - this is a reading of the text that may require not only the correction of individual errors, but also the reworking of individual fragments of the text, the restructuring of sentences, the removal of unnecessary repetitions, the elimination of ambiguity, etc., so that the form of the text best matches its content.
Literary editing involves correcting stylistic flaws. Stylistic errors are understood as various types of errors associated with a violation of style and the Literary norm in general, including the incorrect choice of word form, the choice of an inappropriate stylistic option that does not correspond to the general style of the text, etc.
Problems lit. edits:
Evaluation of the manuscript in terms of relevance of the text to the purpose
Identification of substantive advantages and disadvantages, verification of the accuracy and reliability of facts
Assessment of the literary qualities of the text: compositional, genre, stylistic and logical
Sometimes our speech is clogged tautology And pleonasm .
Tautology(from Greek tauto- the same thing logos- word) is the repetition of the same words or case forms of one word within a small text, or a paragraph in writing, or a fragment of a speech, or even within one phrase.
An example from a student’s review of a journal article by Professor L.I. Skvortsova “What threatens the Russian literary language?”:
Author The articles are categorically against clogging the Russian language with foreign words. Author is of the opinion that if we use “foreign” words, then our culture will no longer be purely Russian. Author writes that the extinction of Rus' is already felt.
An example from a student’s response to a survey question: “What role does speech culture play in the legal profession?”
Everyone needs to improve their speech culture people but this is especially important for of people, who work with people: for lawyers, journalists, teachers, doctors, sellers.
To avoid tautology in your speech, it is enough to replace one of the identical words with another word or some pronoun. So, in the second example, the genitive form of the noun (for people) should be replaced with a similar form of the demonstrative pronoun (for those).
Pleonasm(from Greek pleonasmos- excess) is a speech excess when one of the two words carries unnecessary, duplicative information.
There is such an episode from the biography of A.M. Gorky. While reading the manuscript of a story by one aspiring writer, he came across the following phrase: “ Don't poke his nose where it shouldn’t.” A.M . Gorky underlined this phrase and made the following note in the margin of the manuscript: “Is it possible to poke someone else’s nose?”
Other examples with pleonasm:
December month (since December is the name of the month)
One hundred rubles money (since ruble is the name of a banknote)
twenty five people students (one of the last two words is redundant)
whites with meat (there are no whites without meat)
my autobiography(this foreign word itself, literally translated into Russian, means “my biography”)
price-list prices (literally translated into Russian, the word price list means “current price”).
A type of pleonasm is the use in one phrase of a 3rd person pronoun (he, she, it, they) after a noun in the role of the same member of a sentence (most often the subject).
For example:
Studies, she requires a lot of effort. Legend, she was created during the life of the artist Malevich(from a TV show).
Pronoun 3rd person here it is possible only in a new phrase.
For example:
It was a legend; it was created during the life of the artist Malevich.
