ON THE LINGUOCULTURAL ESSENCE OF THE TITLE OF A LITERARY TEXT

Abstract

The present paper deals with the linguocultural study of literary titles. Different aspects of titles have always been the subject of scholars’ interests. However, there are still some problems that require special attention. One of such issues concerns the revelation of their linguocultural essence that should be carried out via interdisciplinary and interparadigmatic research methodology. The novelty of our approach to the literary title lies in the fact that we consider it as a linguocultural phenomenon which should be studied both in relation to the work it entitles and in the context of the literary-cultural paradigm within which the work was created. If we apply functional methodology of linguistic analysis to the title, it can be defined as specific type of a text − a pre-text or a foretext, encompassing in a compressed form the conceptual nucleus of a literary work or its aesthetic evaluation, which can unfold and expand simultaneously with the main bulk of the text located beneath it. Due to its prior position, the title acts as an orginizing dominant of the text, structuring it semantically and compositionally in such a way that brings the main ideas and emotions of the work into focus. We assume that within the framework of modern linguistic thought, when lingual units are analyzed with the help of the three-dimensional semiotic model integrating semantic, syntactic and pragmatic aspects of reasearch, the title is considered as a specific aesthetic sign. This assumption relies on the fact that the literary title is chosen by the author only after completing the process of writing the text, and presumably after serious consideration of the ways of presenting the main idea most effectively. We claim that diachronic comparative analysis of literary titles reveals the fact that their structural-semantic typological dynamics reflects the alternation of literary-cultural paradigms that is predetermined by epochal changes of literary thought.  

Keywords: interparadigmatic, literary title, typological dynamics, aesthetic-conceptual meaning.